***Cinders Guide to Length [Or Lack Of]

"Long posts are just streams of incoherent, subconcious ramblings. REAL people do more stuff than just sit around and philosophize to themselves silently."

and

"Short posts are rude, small, excuses for writing. Short posters will never be able to finish a book if they can't write a 500+ word post! Was it something my introduction did wrong? Did I not give enough to them?"

Quality over quantity.
Quantity over quality.

These are all useless statements, my belief is that effort and reason are the trump cards of length vs quality, or length in general.

This thread can't help you become a better writer, but it can explain how to effectively write a long or short post depending on the situation.

TELL ALL

Firstly, take into consideration who you are RPing with.
If the introduction is 500 +/-- words and the writer makes no notes about "not caring how long the reply is" then you should feel free to post in the thread. However if they don't specifically say they don't care, assume that they do. People who write 500+ words tend to like reading 500+ word posts, and the same goes for 500- people as well. So if your writing doesn't match up in length to the other person's, its probably wiser to warn them before replying via PM, or just not reply to the thread in the first place. If you ask for a thread with someone, be specific "this is the style I write in, this is how long my post usually is, what are your specifics?" Imagine going to the tailor and not providing your measurements. How is the tailor supposed to work? Blindly. Yeah, well that was an awful analogy but I hope you guys understand to always tell all.

*take away from this paragraph that informing people you plan to plot with of your length/style of writing is always wise, and replying to threads you should follow along the general length of the intro post, usually a little bit shorter because intro posts can be very long.

PROMPT REPLIES

Another way to succeed in a thread of any length is to be prompt. I can write three 1,400 word posts in a day, so I feel fine taking on five threads and replying to them every few days. Can you? If the answer is no, then limit yourself to ONE long thread, or however many you can handle. Replying three months later with absolutely no excuse or warning to your fellow RP-er is rude. This is another key to "telling all." If you may be very busy in the near future, warn your fellow RPer that your replies will either be shorter or further between than usual.

This is one of the reasons why I like short posting. Arguably, short posts take less time to write. However, the quality of the post matters jus the same.

QUALITY

I'm going to try to invoke the property of "quality over quantity" in this explanation. If your post is short, you still have to include a basic explanation of what's going on in your characters head, on their face, and what they see. Period. Short posts should still be coded to look professional.

GETTING LOST

The issue most seen in long posts is the lost importance. Sometimes people just write everything, and don't edit. Think of a long post like an essay, you should edit out the junk and try to keep to a basic theme so that the post fits. Every post, in my opinion, is an arc-line in your characters ultimate plot (or life) Something should occur in your post - whether that be a realization about your character, the other RPer's character, the world, their situation, an action (such as punching someone) and usually, words being exchanged move a thread along faster. Some form of communication, like letter-exchanges, if your character is mute for instance. The issue with most short posts is that they don't satiate the other RPer, and don't have enough substance to get by.

Balance is key. Whether you achieve balance by lengthening/shortening your post, or simply editing, you should always keep in mind that RPing is a joint effort, and that you reap what you sow. Don't give a bad post and expect the Mona Lisa of all replies. It doesn't happen that way c: