It's all a question of style

Recently, I've found myself posting less and less in the Crown threads, and have realised it's because I'm growing tired of the IM style of writing there.

As in,

*walks in, looks around nervously* Hello.

I personally (not Adminly, hence why I'm not posting under my Adminly account) would much prefer all In Character threads to be consistent with the third person, past tense 'novel' style of, say, action on land.

As in,

Oxley walked in, and looked around nervously. "Hello," he said, feeling shy.

Though it might just be me. But I think a consistent style might help people - I've slipped into the wrong style before now, generally when posting in the Crown.

What I like about the IM style is that no words are wasted - you have dialogue, and action, and very little description or thought processes. If one is using the Crown threads as a sort of sandbox for writing your character, as I certainly did, it's a good way to settle into mannerisims: instead of just being able to say "Stephen was exasperated", I must try to convey that by actions or speech or basic expressions, and I rely on the other players to try to piece together what I'm trying to convey. There are more misunderstandings (between characters) and less naval-gazing, which is usually a very good thing. It also gets rid of a lot of mind reading, ie.:

A: "A really hoped that someone would invite him into the cabin."
B: B said, "'Oh, A, come in, please.'"

Instead, A has to write something like *shifts from foot to foot, watching the door impatiently*

It also allows for an immediate visual distinction between the Game and the Crown, and allow people to consider their tone accordingly. I like the novel-style, but one must always have a devil's advocate.

Consider the devil advocated - or something.

You have a good point in saying it makes for a good sandbox.

I think, though, that you could just as well write:

A: A shifted from foot to foot, watching the door impatiently, hoping that B would want to talk to him.

If we need a real visual distinction, I can give the Crown its own category, separating it from the IC board on the homepage. Though that wouldn't work actually in Crown threads, of course.

Hmm.

It's a purely aesthetic thing - I for one thing I would write exactly the same things, except as "Stephen frowned" instead of *frowns*.

I think in terms of style writing accents is more detrimental to understanding - the odd word is fine, and even good, but occasionally one has to actively decipher a post before it can be read.

I don't mind either way, but I'll pick up on what Stephen said in it gets rid of some of the mind-junk.

But then again, perhaps the style lends itself too much to silliness? I don't know. I think it was my fault that the IM style for the Crown got started at first on PMPT, just as it seemed to suit the place at the time, but if people want a change I'm alright with that.

So... to get back to the question of IM style or 'longhand'.

Personally I am quite happy with the Crown's IM. It is more spontaneous, less contrived and reserves the real 'plotiness' for the main In-Game threads.

However, it has never been a strict 'criteria' that one must use IM style in the Crown; it is merely a convention that has been carried on from the previous board. Therefore, should people like to experiment and start using 'longhand' posting style that might be an option. Have a couple of trial threads to see if people find longhand to be preferable?

Personally I am quite happy with the Crown's IM. It is more
spontaneous, less contrived and reserves the real 'plotiness' for the
main In-Game threads.

My feelings precisely. I am open to experimenting with a longhand style in one or two threads though.

Fair enough, Latin. I didn't mean to suggest at all that I don't want people to read my threads.

And fascinating as the question of dialect is, the original question was about the style of writing we would prefer to use in the Crown threads. Could we possibly get back onto the original subject?

I have voted, and commented. 'Don't mind' means that I am willing to give proper writing a try, but expect at least some existing threads to continue as they are, because the IM style is working for them.

And I try to read every thread too ...

I basically agree with Rosina - give it a try, but let those threads with IM continue.

And I think I will give up for tonight and go to bed, as my coherency is going fast.

Goodnight all. xx.

I wasn't saying anything about closing those threads! Heaven forbid! They're far too popular and I don't want to find myself lynched, thanks.

I meant let them continue in IM style and not to suddenly change style halfway through. Nopthing about closing threads, God forbid!

See? Coherency = gone. Ta-ta now!

That was what I meant too - keep the threads - but possibly try new ones in prose style.

Yes, that's what I meant when I first suggested 'trying both'. I may even have said it.

I've shifted the posts concerning accents and dialects here to try to help keep this subject on topic. It was a fascinating discussion and should have its own thread. This topic may seem a little disjointed - I can't edit posts to separate out relevant paragraphs.

I went with Don't Mind because I must admit I'd never really given a lot of thought to the posting style of the Crown before. I just followed along with what everyone else did (as I usually do ).

Personally, I'm willing to go with either one. And I'd certainly be up for giving the third person structure a try if we decide to go that route.

I voted no because I like the free and easy style of the Snug. It's more relaxed than the rest of the game, and characters are on much more equal footing. (I tried to post this a minute ago, but it was right as the reorganization of the thread was taking place and I think my post disappeared, or something. Plus my internet is dodgy, so who knows.) I think sharpie mentioned somewhere that her characters talk more than they normally would in the Snug because she doesn't spend as much time writing about their thoughts etc., but I think that's true for a lot of the "lower class" characters (like Maggie) - they talk much more in the Snug than they would in real life, but it's also because they're free to talk to any and everybody. Maggie's had conversations with Stephen and Edrington and Padstowe and even Wellesley, speaking much more boldly and comfortably than she ever would have in the game itself.

Not that the IM style vs. 3rd person style would change that. It was just something I thought of when sharpie said that about her characters being more talkative in the Snug. It's a very different sort of place.

(Oooh bolitho, I lke that icon! That's the nicest one yet!)

I wonder about this - if Maggie has to write her mental reactions to the stunningness that is the Earl of Edrington, she will find it less easy to behave as if he's just this guy she knows. Prose might force it in, where IM is briefer and you get the interaction and the mere basics of gesture and movement. IM style might help in mixing the classes - although at the moment we are dividing up in strange ways...

Maybe so. But even as it is, my lower class characters are still rather awed by the posh ones most of the time in the Snug, even though it's supposed to be a place of equality. Are we dividing up along class lines still? I can't really tell. But then I haven't been in the Snug for a while.

PS I'm working on the assumption that we WANT equality amongst everybody in the Snug, right? Though I have to admit, it's weird and not easy to get used to. Billy wandered into the library just for the small unorthodox discussion of "Billy Budd," since that's who his character is based on (and since it's a story I love), but he would never wander in there normally. It's much too posh for him, and he can't even read.

But I don't mind social inequality. It seems built-in with the characters, for the most part. The Snug is kind of in-character AND out of character. It's slippery and it's never been quite pinned down.

But that's probably a whole 'nother discussion.

The hierarchy is still pretty solid - no one changes rank (except for one former midshipman with delusions of grandeur that are not shared by former berthmates). Sir or versions of it are still used. But conversations are possible, even between ranks.

Maggie - if you stopped doing everyone's laundry, you might be able to talk on equal terms. No one, not even a Private/Rifleman/Trooper thinks of a washerwoman as an equal. Come and talk to Philippa - a sensible girl, with a lovely pair of plaits.

Billy: you didn't have to sidle out. Stay and put your point in. We might be snooty in the Library, but you're as entitled to a cup of coffee and a cigar as anyone.

Can't help it! It's in my characters' nature to not speak until spoken to, etc., and Maggie takes pride in her work anyway, and is content with feeling useful. If she can't be friends (and she's used to assuming that she's friendless) she can at least be a helpful person to have around. (In the game, she can barely even talk to Williams or Sharpe - or Vickery, and she's known him for ages. She managed to talk to Edrington because he brought out her defiant streak.) And Billy's used to being under general threat of flogging or hanging for daring to disagree with an officer. That mindset isn't easy to change. (And besides, I didn't want him to overstay his welcome, since I'd brought him in so unorthodoxly just for that one discussion. That's why I had him asleep behind the sofa - because I doubt he would have walked voluntarily into the library to enter a conversation with a bunch of officers. Plus it was just to be silly, since the Snug is a place for silliness.) It's kind of hard for the lower classes to initiate things - at least, I feel that way about my characters. I did leave time in case anyone especially wanted to stop Billy from leaving, but the conversation seemed better carried out among the gentlemen, and so he slipped away to somewhere less volatile (for himself). Billy doesn't have the vocabulary or the brains or the sense of logic to make a good argument against an officer, nor the inclination to dare it. (And I'd already had my fun by discussing Billy Budd.) Plus he's so cheerful that he would probably think, "Officer knows best, else he wouldn't be the officer!"

And like I said, I don't MIND class divisions. It feels natural. Honest! I don't mind. But the IM style does make it a little more easygoing between the classes, I think. (Oh, and Maggie will certainly be willing to make Philippa's acquaintance, both in the game and out of it, though she'll still call her Miss as a young lady and an officer's daughter.)

But anyway, at the moment I'm so many dozens and dozens of pages behind in the Snug that I have no idea what's going on anymore, so I'll have to wait.

(And sorry, now this is getting off topic too.)

I'll admit the IM style of posting within the Snug doesn't really work for me, based purely on the speed of posting that it allows. It's good for a more real-time feel within threads, but the pace of movement is what tends to keep me out of those threads. I do like the more level playing field that exists there, in terms of In-Character interactions and wish I could keep up with events and conversations there better.

(The sad part on my end is, time constraints make it difficult for me to even post in regular threads. It's pretty distressing to stop by fairly often to try catching up on new posts/threads, but then to get interrupted or distracted. My characters have taken to hibernating and even when I do have time to post, it's a trial to get them interested in doing anything.)

Long story short, I have been trying to adapt my own style to fit within the setting.

I understand and sometimes feel the same way too, now that you mention it. I'll go to bed at page 12 in the Snug and wake up next morning to find we're on page 26 already, and I won't know what's going on. Not that I want people to stop posting or slow down just because I'm slow or in a different time zone, etc., but that is a factor that I hadn't thought of, something that makes me less likely to play there as much.

Heh, maybe we need a fast lane and a slow lane, one with threads where people can post as fast and often as they want, and another that takes a much slower approach, where the action can wait for days if necessary. Sgt. Grey and Jenny's encounter was something like that, where we were posting only once or twice per day because we were never online at the same time, but we wanted to have an interaction.

I am a relatively slow poster most of the time. If I get involved with quick posters, I find that I am still trying to reply to some comment, but since then there have been twently other posts, so I try to modify what I wanted to post, and there are two more. I give up, because if the others are having fun, then why interrupt. Peter in the rifles thread just had to watch everyone else talking and firing rifles, and occasionally, get a word in when they made coffee for themselves or something. The snowman was even worse, since he was swamped by others. He went back to the snug and is now on his third rum and coke. He is not writing a thread about it in either format.

Two handed conversations where the other person has to wait for my perfectly crafted response, works best, and the speed can be what it is.

The snug at least is now set up to allow groups to move at their own pace and not to be interrupted with groups they are not involved with.

And I am very tired and should go to bed soon.