Writing/RP Tip-Line
Let's grow, together

I like the dictation idea. As for me, I have some go-to literary devices that I commonly and intentionally use to bring my clothes/performances to life. Intentional is important here. I think it's crucial to learn about, study, and practice different literary devices if you want to be a better writer.

To the weak writers out there, there's nothing wrong with being a weak writer. The thing with weak writing though, is that you only improve by reading and writing. In that endeavor, AI is a writer's crutch rather than a helpful tool, if you have to rely on it.

There is also a common trap that I think players can sometimes fall into of starting out with a visual (or thinking they're starting out with a visual) representation of their character or what they want their character to be like, and trying to convert that visual into text format as a sort of recipe list to build a character. I call this a trap because visual and literary language is completely different, visuals can communicate details and totality at a glance but needs inference and nuance to communicate meaning, whereas literary language can communicate meaning in an instant but is a serial medium that what the audience reads before, in the moment, and afterwards all shape the outcome. They're two entirely different mediums with different expressive purposes and strengths and trying to hop between them is like trying to translate your work back and forth between languages and expecting to get something clearer. The Irish artist Francis Bacon painted over fifty variations of his Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X to say something, whereas a laconic author might simply state: This is a story about obsession.

I say players can think they're starting out with a visual, but the reality is they rarely are. They're almost certainly starting in their own minds with what a screenwriter would call the high concept. Herminone Granger crossed with the Mad Hatter's Dormouse is the high concept, or a good-natured wall, or the fan fiction favourite a beautiful disaster. These core concepts are the best place to inhabit to avoid straying into endless obscuring ornament trying to recreate a visual work in a paint-by-numbers sort of way. Descriptive prose is meaning, so that's a great strength to play to. Example:

Details:

She had a large mass of ginger wavy hair that was matted on one side where the ringlets had pressed flat and the messy overhang swept her shoulders, an untidy display that had stray fuzz poking out in different directions. Each curl is uniquely shaped, with some spiralling tightly while others formed loose waves of different textures. The messy hairstyle curtained her face and tired looking eyes that still had an active sense to them.

Meaning:

She puffed a curl out of her eyes. She was up, but the head still in bed.

Sometimes you want to have details for particular reasons but the key is never to get too detached from meaning because that's how you're going to understand your own character and how you're going to best convey that understanding to other players.