What Kind of Plotter are You?

These days my style is to have a specific character arc in mind, and build off that. In that way I treat my rp characters very much the same as I would a novel character. They have obstacles, wishes, dreams, motivations, goals. Most of that is based off what sort of direction I want to take them and what I'd find fun writing.

 

I find Plotting to be reasonably simple. Whether original or someone else's idea it doesn't matter to me.

I find "organic" writing far more difficult without some kind of direction to know where my characters are heading and why they are on the road to get there in the first place.

This has caused me No End of grief because I seem to pick sites that prefer "organic" writing to "plot" driven threads and storylines instead.

In my experience the Best sites are the ones that have both Site Driven plots that are welcome to the public, and whatever ones you can personally create for your own characters or those you write with which are generally private.

 

I am… not really a plotter at all.

I am in terms of site-wide plots or planning an adventure but when it comes to interpersonal character-to-character plots I’m not particularly fond of it.

I like a more spontaneous approach to most of my threading. Popping two characters together and seeing what happens. Coming up with things on the fly is a lot of fun for me

 

I thought it would be fun to see how much my preferences have changed since 2021.

So, I still prefer to plot with a basic idea or structure for the thread. I enjoy an overall idea like, for example, your character dropped their sketchbook which has some personal sketches and thoughts in it and my character ends up finding it. So, that would be the general set-up of the thread.

I can jump into open topics and the like without prior plotting commitment, as that scene is already established. But, when it comes to replying to plotters/shippers, I am 100% going to try and come up with some general idea for the thread, and still do not work all that well with the "Just throw a post up somewhere and I'll reply to it".

 

It's hard for me to say I am a plotter. I tend to set up goals for a character that aren't really related to other things. They still have to interact with other characters but things tend to happen a little more organically.

This time around I am trying to reach out to plot with people to see how that goes. It's been nice to get involved that way with the players on a site.

 

I'm pretty good at coming up with plots that are woven deeply into the lore and plot of the site itself. I like to find connections and tend to thread them together somehow! inclusivity is everything

 

I like canon characters so that plotting is a bit easier; also tend to take want ads so that there is a plot/s readily available. It's so hit or miss, for me, to make an original character without any plots lined up. Either I can easily plot them or I get no plots. I do think I can come up with plots fairly easily, though, it's just how it's received by others.

 

My style is have an end objective with the middle being vague idea. Can't say it always works but it helps.

 

I like having a goal in mind with a flexible path that players shape. I try to think like a DM first and a novelist second, always letting people shape paths for plotting on their own so by the end it is a shared experience that means more for them and myself.

 

Vague idea with usually a gathering of musical playlist. I tend to not often plan the final, but do come up with chaos and dastardly plot ideas to break characters hearts often. I often approach my rp friends with "I had a terrible idea-" and they enable me.

 

i've had great success with more thought out plots, where we have general sections we're working together but where the overall shape of the plot is determined by characters' interactions and is subject to change as things happen. but i've had even more success with just on-the-fly plotting, so i love both

 

I'll usually expand upon the ideas I've gotten from others. I like unhinged, crazy ideas, the wild concepts that you can only have fun with in your imagination. When I sit down to attempt to brainstorm plot points, I never get to actually playing because I'm too busy refining my plot. But for some reason, when I just run with somebody else's idea(s), that pen hits the paper, so to speak. Maybe I'm just weird.

 

I like to have a vague idea of what we're doing, but I fly by the seat of my pants a lot. Sometimes characters just do things.

From an admin perspective I come up with an outline for site plots and adapt as people post.

 

Honestly, it really depends for me.

Sometimes I am absolutely itching with an idea that I need to detail and explore with a fellow writing partner/willing victim, but on that same note, sometimes I read a wanted AD or an introduced idea and I'm able to participate with no problem. I am a fan of spontaneity, but I am also a fan of a loose plot, with no hard attached strings that make me feel trapped.

Hope that makes sense.