Posts belonging to Category Exposition
Posted by Ravyn on August 9, 2010
Often, a writer can get away with establishing a character slowly, over time. In this scene, emphasizing this quality. In another scene, another one. A slow, gradual process. A GM with a long-term enough plan, or a player who wants to dole out the information bit by bit, might be able to do the same.
But [...]
Categories: Character development, Character image, Characterization, Characters in the world, Description, Dialogue, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique |
Tags: Characterization, one scene, roleplaying, show don't tell, writing | 
4 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on August 2, 2010
One of the biggest difficulties with an Earth-with-modifications setting is getting across to people the time period in which the story is set, particularly as the setting gets more and more modern and the distinctions less and less obvious. A little slip, and it becomes easy for people to forget that this is supposed to [...]
Categories: Cultures, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Geography, History, Places, Scening, Technique, World-building |
Tags: roleplaying, setting, time, writing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on July 1, 2010
So I’m sitting and talking with one of my former players, and he asks me a question: why can’t these characters let their emotional shields down when the whole group’s around, since they seem to do just fine in sidechat? That gets me wondering. After all, the inner lives of the characters are my favorite [...]
Categories: Character dynamics, Characterization, Characters in the world, Dialogue, Exposition, For Roleplayers, GM Advice, Technique |
Tags: exposition, information, questions, roleplaying | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on June 4, 2010
Despite—and probably because of—loyalty’s strength as a source of characterization and character motivation, it’s also one of those personal forces that can become most grating when overplayed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’d do anything for your friend/organization/major belief/Way of Life, we get it, now please stop talking about it like you do every other chapter/session/episode and [...]
Categories: Character dynamics, Characterization, Characters in the world, Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique |
Tags: Characterization, description, loyalty, motivations, revealing character traits, roleplaying, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on December 28, 2009
People generally like stories. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be reading your work or playing in your games, would they? The fiction section wouldn’t be so large, there wouldn’t be a whole mess of legends that the teachers in elementary and middle school insist on walking you through, and the entertainment industry wouldn’t be the [...]
Categories: Concepts, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, History, Technique, World-building |
Tags: original posts | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on December 2, 2009
It’s pretty rare that a character isn’t going to need at some point to give information to another character. The question isn’t whether; it’s how. Sure, everyone could deliver their explanations in the exact same vocabulary, same style, same tone, but that would be boring, wouldn’t it? The people you and I deal with don’t [...]
Categories: Character image, Characterization, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: original posts | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 29, 2009
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that everyone has the potential to use dreams as exposition or foreshadowing. Unfortunately, not everyone does it well. There are a number of pitfalls that come from leaning on dreams to serve vital roles in a story.
The biggest mistake, of course, is not balancing the level of information with the [...]
Categories: Cliche, Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Scening, Symbolism, Technique, Thematics |
Tags: original posts | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 28, 2009
Yesterday’s dreamscapes were pretty, but that’s only one narrative use for dreams, and one that practically requires lucid dreaming or a way to get into someone else’s head. Most worlds aren’t up to dealing with that, and even those that are sometimes want to do something else with their dreams. But just about everyone has [...]
Categories: Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Symbolism, Technique |
Tags: original posts | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 27, 2009
During yesterday’s riff on dreams, I mentioned the idea of a character’s dreamscape—a semi-constant world created by the typical dream-patterns of a single character. It’s one part alternate world, one part character exercise, and plenty of fun in its own right.
The first thing to consider is the dreamscape terrain; what’s a world if there’s nothing [...]
Categories: Character image, Characterization, Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Scening, Technique, Thematics, World-building |
Tags: original posts | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 14, 2009
One of the biggest problems people have with worldbuilding is that it involves a whole lot of detail—and the paradox that while not all of it is plot relevant, and too much irrelevant detail only bogs things down, you need a certain amount that both is and isn’t plot relevant to make the world seem [...]
Categories: Concepts, Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Scening, Technique, World-building |
Tags: original posts | 1 Comment »