Wilkomen

disclaimer: the below is really just one person's opinion about how to write and it will not gurantee success in every single RPG as different individuals look for different things. If you happen to agree with my method, please do not steal this. � BETTY 2006-2007

Imagine if joining an RPG such as ours was easy as writing one liners under every caption! All you amateurs are probably smiling with glee right now. Or at least you should be.

Well, in the next few seconds, or however long it takes you to read the rest, you won't be. At Hogwarts: Today and many other RPGs that pride themselves in being "advanced/literate/etc" we don't except one liners. Not even two liners. We want a million juicy paragraphs for everything. We want proof; proof that we'll be able to tolerate you.

My hypocrisy is about to begin.

When writing a profile do not make it a million paragraphs. That annoys reviewers the most is when they have to trudge through infinity to the infinite power of paragraphs that describe nothingness. Alot of people tend to do this in Physical Attributes and History section. Why? Because it's harder to load up on personality because it's the hardest part and they feel this insane need to prove that 1337 writing skills include the ability to write alot. Before I move on to what not to describe (not to mention what to describe), a few quotes of advice.

None of the above quotes were in the context for roleplaying but for good writing form. So I would think it wise if you applied them everywhere.

Physical Description
To illustrate such finite details such as the sheer quality of one's back hair, for instance is not necessary unless it has some sort of great impact on themselves or those they associate with. What one must really focus on in a physical description are the things that people will notice first. And most people don't check out people's backs or other obscure places like that unless of course your character has a reputation for walking around topless. Treatement for the diagnosis of physical description diarrhea: first think of your character from a particularly observant outsider's point of view and write down all the things you'd notice and then think of your character if you were your character and all the major things you'd notice about yourself.

Although, there are few must-haves for every physical description: body type (perhaps include eating habits with this); height; weight; physical fitness; the shape of their features (for eg: do they have squinty or large eyes?); hair style; colours (of hair, eyes); dress; way of speaking/walking; demeanor; etc.

Keep in mind that there is some reason why people look a certain way, even in the spontaneous, magical world of Harry Potter. Your average witch or wizard is not going to be born with fuchsia hair or yellow irises -- such attributes would need to have a good explanation to back it up. I mean, we don't want to have MarySues rampaging about, would we?

When writing a Physical Description, imagine you are an artist painting a potrait because essentially, this is what you are doing, just with words not paint. The ideal Physical Description should give the reader a fair image in their mind of what the person looks like without a PB. Sometimes it pays best to go further than the fact that Sarah's eyes are blue but to describe how the glare at the world with angst because Fluffy went bald.

Do not be too scarce with description here and don't try to elongate it much with useless facts if you feel it is too short. If you are below the minimum amount of paragraphs/sentences/words required you probably have written too little. An approximate ideal length would be anything from 4-8 paragraphs taking all variables into account. A reliable check is that if you feel that you have found a very good/the perfect play-by for your character, if your description doesn't give you the same or similar enough person to your play-by you might want to add or take away something.

It is important that you do not just rush through this part as this is usually the first thing people see: not just reviewing but in real-life too (real-life being, a roleplay.) People often say don't judge a book by it's cover, but we often do anyway.

Personality
Crucial. This part is SO IMPORTANTthat I'd have to practice some bookburning sacifice to the gods everytime I saw a personality section poorly done. I mean, that's how IMPORTUNATE this is. Homg. *seizure*

An important principle I have touched on lightly in the Physical section which I will strongly press upon you in this section is that you must perceive the role-playing world AS reality. You are a god creating a human. And the complexity of the human mind is so great so much detail must be taken into account! I'm not asking you to go into every detail of your character's dislikes and loves but rather shed some detail on their emotions. How do they react to everyday situations and confrontations? How do they contain their emotions? Do they even contain them at all? How do they feel about issues in their world? What bothers them? What are their aspirations? How intelligent are they? How do they feel about themselves and others? Are they sociable? This is also the place to mention psychological disorders if your character possesses any.

Also, if you are making a student character, if you are aiming for a certain house, don't try to mould them around the stereotypes we see in the books. Yes those stereotypes do reflect the house qualities, but do realise that originality is rewarded. Never be afraid to make someone "out of the box." The best reference for house qualities are the Sorting Hat's songs.

I have long debated where to make this point but I think I shall mention it here: when writing a profile don't just think of your character as an open page than needs a bunch of adjectives and verbs linked together with prepositions and things to make sentences but think of it as an actual person. And this is why I truly believe that the personality section is the most important part of any profile: an individual is not unique because of the way their eyes are placed on their face, the colour of their hair or their size of their feet but because of the way they act and where they came from. When you cut open a person, dead or alive, you can examine every part of thie body and you can figure out whether they were healthy or not but even if you cut up their brain and examined it with state-of-the art forensic or medical technology you would never find out who they really are: how they acted, what they felt or what they experienced. These are the things that make up who a person is: not a name, not their blood, not a date. Those are just things that make up a what a person is.

HIstory

General Tips for Applying
- To be safe, always write your application in third-person (unless you have read otherwise in the site's rules) or if you really feel you must write it in the first-person, consult the site's admin beforehand if possible. Although, I have observed that many RPGs want applications in the third-person.

- Look at other accepted character's applications. This will give you a good idea of what the reviewers want.


Mary Sues/Gary Stus
We are extremly picky about Mary Sues/Gary Stus. We'll probably criticise your application if you name your character "Artemis" (with the exception of our resisdent genius Artemis Fowl) or "Falcon". On the one hand, this doesn't mean you shouldn't try doing something different with your application; we can generally pick up the 'Sue vibes pretty well through all sorts of factors such as your writing style, choice of character name, history, etcera. Don't be intimidated though! If you're sure of your abilities as a writer and role-player, go ahead!

There is a difference between well-written originality and a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu. I could just list a bunch of things that you shouldn't include in your application. I could just say "no histories involving murder, child abuse, orphans, etc" or "no names like 'Raven, Star, Artemis', etc", but the thing is, some good writers can write an amazing non-Mary-Sue character named Raven who was orphaned.

Don't worry too much about Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus. If you're an appropriate enough writer for our website, we'll notice. If not, you won't need to write a Mary-Sue for us to realise you're no good. Good luck!