The RPL Compendium- A Glossary of Common and Not So Common RP Terms

RoleplayLives caters to writers of all styles and experience. Due to this, there are many terms and descriptions that some aren't sure of, or don't know how to use. The RPL Compendium's goal is to gather as many RP terms as possible, so writers will have a handy guide for describing themselves, their writing, and understanding the abbreviations used by others on site. If we have blog posts on the Writer's Corner explaining more, those will be linked. Have suggestions for terms or abbreviations not mentioned? Please add them to the comments!



AU-Alternate Universe. This is a marker used by both canon and non-canon characters, to allow them to branch out beyond what their set source materials allow. If you see a character is running two vastly different storylines that contradict each other, chances are one of them is an AU plot.

Admin-The moderator or owner. This is separated into three types. The site/network/forum admin, the page/group admin, and the profile admin. Site admins control the entire site that everyone is a user of. Page/Group admins run the pages/groups they are an admin of. A profile admin is the person behind a character, sometimes called 'muns' or 'drivers'.

AN or A/N-Author's notes. May contain content warnings or other notes. See also: CW

Arc-An arc is a contiuing storyline that goes through multiple threads of connected blogs/stories. The story unfolds over time, with each thread building the character or narrative towards transformation or change. These are often big events, leading to some sort of resolution. For more information on story arcs, see the Wiki page here.

Archive-Archive can be used interchangeably a few different ways on RPL. To archive a banter, it means to copy/paste it into a blog for safekeeping, as status posts aren't saved as true content. To archive your threads, you'd use a thread tracker blog. To archive your content, you can keep copies on your computer, in the cloud, or on a free website service such as Weebly. Technology is not infallible. Things break down, server crashes happen. As RPL users, you are responsible for backing up and archiving your own work. Be diligent, and keep your archives updated as often as you can! A brief overview of creating a Weebly archive is located here.

Artistic License-Artistic license is a colloquial term, sometimes a euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist in the name of art. More detail here.

Auto-Hit-Auto-hitting is a delicate thing that should be discussed beforehand. A form of godmoding, it happens when a character posts that they kick/hit/attack another character, and then go on to describe damage done instead of letting the other character decide if they want to evade the hit or not. It also is not your job to describe the injuries if the person does get hit. That is the job of your writing partner, to describe what s/he's feeling or dealing with directly afterward. For more information on the various forms of godmoding with examples, see here.

Banter-A banter is generally a small, impromptu roleplay done on a photo or status. There is no plot or formal structure, it simply happens organically. Sometimes these are throwaway posts, other times, they can lead into ideas for a larger roleplay. If a banter does morph into something larger, do remember to copy and save it as a blog, since statuses aren't saved as actual content on RPL.

Bio-Your biography for your character is essential. Who is your character? What events have shaped them up till now? Where do they live, work, and travel? What do they do for hobbies? Are they set in a certain world or fandom? Detail is a must. Others will read your bio in order to think of how their character could meet yours, or plots that could bring the two together for a post. Without knowing who you are, no one can effectively find something to write with you. This is doubly important for original characters or ones that aren't portrayed often. Don't assume just because you know a canon character, that others will. We have a few blogs dedicated to effective biographies, located here, here, and here.

Bitchposting/Shitposting-Simply put? Don't do it. Not only is it rude and looks bad on you, it's against the TOS of the site. BP/SP includes complaining about your writing partners, making fun of another's writing, talking badly about someone publicly, sharing private messages or information they wouldn't want others to know, outing character accounts, complaining about people unfriending or blocking you, and in general just being a negative person no one wants to be around. You are responsible for your reputation on RPL. Make it a decent one.

BroTP-A ship for 'bros' or best friends. BroTP's don't have to be strictly male, it's simply a designation of an ideal friendship between two characters of any gender.

CW-Content Warning. These are used in blog tags or the first line of a blog to let readers know what type of content is going to be utilized. If there is adult content, gore, non-consent, or other questionable topics, readers can choose whether to continue or not based on their personal feelings about the content and whether they're interested in reading it or not. It's a polite thing to do, to help others avoid reading things they prefer not to see. More information on content tags and how to best utilize them is located here.

Canon-Characters or groups that are 'canon' go by the information available to them via the source material. This could be books, movies, comics, television series, etc. In general, they will not deviate from that source material unless they set aside blogs strictly for AU work. A 'cannon' is something else entirely.

Closed-When a roleplay is marked 'closed', that means it is not open for bystanders to jump into. Closed roleplays are generally done between 2 or more people who have a set posting order and plot. It is VERY rude to shove yourself into a closed roleplay. Instead, contact the person and ask if they'd be willing to write something with you once they're done with current threads.

Consent-Consent is an important concept in roleplay — it refers to the control you have over your own and other roleplayer's characters. Breaking the consent level for a particular roleplay is bad and can be cause for termination of the roleplay, at the very least. Consent is best negotiated during the plotting stages, before any writing is even started, so no issues creep up. Consent can be boiled down to three basic ranges, which are described in more detail here.

Crackship-A crackship is a ship that is unusual or unlikely to ever become canon. People have their own reasons for crackships, and generally have thought them out well in order to make them make sense. For example, two characters who would be perfect for each other but show no romantic interest in canon or two characters from vastly different fandoms. Another common crackship involves changing sexuality in order to create an AU pairing. In general, crackships end up being a collaboration between two writers to make the ship realistic because it is something they believe fits their characters well.

Crossover-A storyline where two characters from wholly different worlds write together in the interest of finding new things to explore. Examples would be DC/Marvel, Supernatural/Once Upon A Time, Dark Hunters/Black Dagger Brotherhood. For a good crossover to work, you should have some elements that are compatible between the two fandoms. Superheroes, paranormal things, hunting vampires, headquartered in the same city... something has to work to make these two separate things mesh well. It takes some work, but they are usually very fun for everyone involved.

DM/PM/Inbox-Direct or private messages are those sent via the messaging system on RPL, and arrive in your personal inbox. Most OOC conversations should be kept in private messages. This is where you'll say hello, where you'll plot, where you'll let people know if responses might be delayed, etc. In general, users on RPL are OOC in messages. Do read their rules/terms if available to make sure that is the case. If in doubt, stay OOC when messaging someone for the first time.

Edit-For RPL, an edit generally means an edited photo. These belong to the person who created the edit, and are not to be used without their express permission, and sourcing links included. Please note, adding a name or filter to a photo does not qualify as an edit. In order to claim ownership of the photo, you must substantially alter it from its original form. Information and resources for photo editing can be found here.

Epic-Epic roleplayers generally have a large story arc. A lot of times these are the writers that are working on a book, or a series of books. Most times these are done in chapters, as the format is meant to be like a novel. If done in groups, this can be a highly entertaining way to watch a story morph from a main idea to a sprawling world, but it can be hard to do. A huge item is to format the posts, and keep the story how the original story writer wanted it to be. This is fairly rare, but can be successfully done with time, a great idea, and a good group of active writing partners behind you. To read more about posts lengths, see here.

Etiquette-The generally accepted set of polite rules by which roleplaying is conducted. More information on the specifics of this can be found here and here.

Excerpt-An excerpt is a small portion of a larger piece or body of work. Excerpts are commonly used for advertising, to share a current work in progress or to introduce the premise of the story. Most often, a few paragraphs from a comment are posted along with a blog share, to draw readers in and make them want to see what comes next.

Exclusive/Single Ship-Exclusive/Single Ship accounts are accounts that only write romantic storylines with one person, their main writing partner. If an account is listed as single ship, and they are in a relationship, it is considered very rude to pitch romantic plots or inbox roleplays. While they are generally more than willing to write as friends, acquaintances, family, coworkers, etc, they are not interested in romantic roleplays with anyone other than their partner.

Face Claim-Your face claim is the model or actor/actress you choose to represent your character in photos or edits. For canon characters, most prefer to use the face that is most associated with the character for canon sources, but indies and OCs have a bit of leeway, as there are no preconceived notions of what the character should look like. Also sometimes called a "play by".

Fair Use-Examples of fair use in United States copyright law include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, and scholarship. Fair use provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor test. More detail here.

Fandom-A fandom is a subculture composed of fans of a particular thing. It is characterized by feelings of empathy and camaraderie with others who share that common interest. Some fandoms on RPL include Marvel, DC, Doctor Who, BDB, Sherlock, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, etc. You do not need to belong to a fandom in order to roleplay. Many people create independent characters in their own universes, which may or may not cross over into known fandoms.

Favorites/Follows-Favorites are a system utilized on RPL to follow people you want to read more from. With large friend lists, our main feeds are usually chock full of writing, and we can miss posts by our writing partners or group members. Favoriting a profile allows you to get a notification whenever that person posts something new. Favoriting a blog allows you to have easy access to writing in progress and a handy list of blogs you need to respond to. You will not receive notifications from blogs however, so adding a period, dash, or backslash is considered a "follow", and you will get new notifications from that blog. Favoriting should not be a 'favorite for a favorite' or barter system. You also should not favorite everyone you see. It defeats the purpose of the system, which is making it easier to get notifications from your core group of people that you miss recent posts from, or friends in other time zones so you get those notifications when you log in.

Fluff-A humorous or romantic story/RP that has no particular plot. Often written/read just for 'feel-goods'.

Formatting-Formatting is HTML or BBcode used to highlight important items in your text, add photos to blogs and comments, and to style your work in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to you. The Writer's Corner has tutorials for blogs, fonts, and posts.

Ghosting-Ghosting is the term used when you are writing another character for your post, without someone else playing that character. This is usually done in the case of children, as most don't want to create a separate child account. Often, people prefer to ghost less essential characters, like friends, family, or acquaintances that are involved in the story but don't require someone else creating an actual account for that person. Other times, it can be used when your writing partner isn't available, but you need them for a post. If you ghost someone who actually has an account, do so sparingly, and with their permission. Always have a good grasp of how their character would react and speak, so you don't inadvertently godmode them into doing something their character wouldn't actually do.

Godmoding-'God Mode' or taking control of another's character or actions. This is highly frowned upon. If you must do it, do it sparingly and with permission of your writing partner. Sometimes it's unavoidable in order to move a post along, but always ask permission first. For example, bringing a new technology item to Tony Stark, and saying in your post that he couldn't understand it so you have to figure it out not only insults the character you're writing with, but is godmoding because you didn't give Stark a chance to post about whether he understood the new technology or not. For more information on the various forms of godmoding with examples, see here.

Headcannon-This is bad, and will lead to brains splattered all over and require some content warnings. Don't put your head in a cannon. The situation is never that dire.

Headcanon-These are concepts and ideas created by the writer for their character. These items aren't canon, strictly, but are derived from the information that is known. Due to this, they tend to be realistic and feasible based on the source material. Indie characters can have headcanons too, for facts, traits, and idiosyncrasies of their character. Headcanons are highly subjective and highly personal. Since they are not derived from canon material, copying someone else's unique headcanons is bad news, and can get you reported on RPL.

Helpdesk-The Helpdesk is the one stop portal for nearly any question you may have about using RPL. Blogs are categorized in alphabetical order, and there is also a FAQ section. Do make sure to read the available blogs, as they will be a huge help as you navigate the site.

Hiatus-A hiatus is, quite simply, a break from writing. These can be either a full hiatus, where the writer won't be online at all, to a semi-hiatus, where the character might be online and talking, but not really responding to many story threads, if any at all.

IC-An abbreviation meaning 'in character'. A person who is in character speaks, acts, and reacts as their character. In general, on RPL, users should be in character on their profiles, pages, blogs, and statuses as this is not a normal social media site. Most prefer to keep inbox as out of character, but do read any rules to clarify if that is the case per person.

IRL/RL-In real life/real life. This abbreviation is used on RPL most often for letting people know when you aren't going to be online, or other situations potential writing partners should know about. Example- “Super busy at work IRL at the moment, but I'll respond as soon as I'm able!”

Indie-Independent. An indie character is one who is not set in any one fandom. These characters could have traits that allow them to work within multiple fandoms, and are set up specifically to take advantage of the various crossovers their biography allows them to work with. See also: OC

Intellectual Property-In the simplest of terms, this is something you create with your mind. Artistic works such as art and writing are considered the intellectual property of the creator. Anything that is someone's intellectual property may not be used without their express consent, in part or in whole, even with proper attribution. This includes derivative works. Infringing on intellectual property on RPL is not allowed. Read more about intellectual property here.

Literate-A designation in roleplaying that basically means the writer can spell properly and use proper grammar. Often oversold. Come on, we're writers; we should ALL be 'literate'. Seems kind of redundant to us. It's a frequently used term, though, and some consider it a 'style' of roleplaying. More here.

MSL-Stands for Main Story Line. If a character has an ongoing story arc, this would be the MSL. Characters can also have other, different ongoing story arcs, which are usually referred to as "AUs" (see AU above) in order to differentiate them from the main story line. Roleplayers often do both in order to vary their experience and play their character in different ways under different circumstances. It is not required in roleplaying to have any kind of ongoing story arc. It's perfectly acceptable to simply play your character casually and not have a main storyline for them.

Main Feed-The main feed is the screen you see when you first log in. It holds all content from your friends, pages followed, or groups joined. It is set to cache only up to 15 days, so anything older than 15 days will not show on the main feed. If you see content you don't want to see on your main feed, you can unfriend/block/unlike/leave groups accordingly, and that person's posts will no longer be aggregated into your main feed.

Mains-This is the person or people that you write most often with. These can be friends, family, romantic liaisons, even enemies. The difference between a main writing partner and everyone else you may write with is that a main is seen as a more permanent relationship. These are the people that are an integral part of your character's daily life. It's absolutely not necessary to have mains for your character, however, and many people choose not to designate such because it turns into a jealousy situation when writing with multiple people.

Mary Sue /Gary Stu-Is your character a perfect, amazing, brilliant character? Are they impossible to beat in a fight, have tons of super unique traits that add nothing to the character's depth? Can you learn any skill instantly, beat any foe without breaking a sweat, always be the paradigm for 'awesome perfection' in every single thread? You may want to check yourself. No one enjoys writing with a character that has zero flaws, is always right, and cannot be beat or harmed in any way. Give your character some humility, believable flaws, and traits that make sense for the character, and you will see better interactions. See also: self-insert.

Metagame-Another action that is truly frowned upon, metagaming is roleplaying your character with information they should not know. For superheroes that haven't been unmasked, you as the writer know who they are, but your character should not. If your writing partner was thinking something, but didn't verbally say it, your character shouldn't remark on it or bring it up out of the blue. If you have never met someone, you shouldn't immediately call them by name and ask about their family/work/events you weren't at, etc. You only know what the other character tells you or events you were physically present for. A common example is characters mentioning Hulk smashing Loki into the floor in the first Avengers. Your character was not there. It was not on the news. Nobody involved would likely have said anything. Utilizing that as an opening would be metagaming. For more information on the various forms of godmoding with examples, see here.

Multi-Ship-Multi-Shippers are accounts that roleplay more than one relationship at a time. Each ship has its own storyline, and very rarely do they cross. Many choose this as they don't want to limit themselves to only one storyline, or only one writing partner. It helps to branch out and explore different aspects of the characters, but must be handled gently. Discourage jealousy, try to give each ship the same time and dedication. Always be clear with potential writing partners that you are multi-ship, so it is known up front. This helps stop hurt feelings if things progress and the risk of jealousy is higher. A brief overview of running a successful multi-ship profile is located here.

Multi-Verse-The multiverse theory in scientific fields relates to the idea that every action, decision, or change results in multiple possible incarnations or universes. In roleplay, this is commonly used by characters that utilize AU storylines to explore different universes with their own character. For example, if a Harry Potter character roleplays the canon events, but in an AU, roleplays that Vordemort was stopped before coming to full power, they'd explore how those choices and changes affected the wizarding world at large. Perhaps some people weren't born? Others didn't die? One small change can cause half a dozen scenarios. Being a multiverse writer allows you to explore them all.

Multimuse-Multimuse accounts are exactly what they sound like. One account that writes several different characters. It is an elegant way of solving the problem of wanting to write on several different faces without having a million accounts. Each face is its own entity, with its own story, problems, love interests, etc, separate from the other faces, all within a single account. We have a blog dedicated to multimuse writing for further research, located here.

Nerfing-Limiting a character's skill/ability (canon or otherwise) in order to keep it from being OP. It's considered part of Skill Balancing, which is used to keep characters playable and fun.

NPC-A non-player character. It's a term taken from tabletop or video gaming. In roleplay, it generally refers to characters who are ghosted (see Ghosting).

NSFW-This is the abbreviation for “Not Safe For Work”. When used, this content tag means the item is not safe for mixed company, or to open in front of children. This does not necessarily have to mean nudity or adult content, either. If you rely on suggestive photos, gore, violence, or something you wouldn't want your kids to stumble across, it likely could use a NSFW tag. More information on content tags and how to best utilize them is located here. See also: A/N or CW

Non-Canon-Non-Canon roleplayers are those that take a character or inspiration from canon sources, but change them enough that they no longer follow canon. If someone dies in a book, but that character finds a way to cheat death, they would be considered non-canon. So too are characters made to fit into a certain fandom, but are not actually in the books/movies/comics. Changing sexual orientation, relationships, or other aspects that change who the character is can all mean the character is officially non-canon.

NoTP-It means 'not one true pairing'. This is used for relationships that the author can't stand and won't roleplay. In general, this is usually targeted to canon relationships, and the writer is going AU or non-canon to avoid it. This is also occasionally used to 'shame' someone else's ship ideas, which is a crappy thing to do, so don't do it.

Novella-Novella is defined as a piece of writing that is at least 17,500 words in length. Any shorter, and it isn't considered a novella. For this reason, most roleplayers only achieve novella length when working with other characters or in extended solo pieces for their character. This can be in a large, multi-arc storyline, or in a writing group with an ongoing story that utilizes all group characters. If someone describes themselves as a novella roleplayer, they're generally looking for longer than one-liner banters/replies and more than just casual stories. To read more about posts lengths, see here.

OC-Stands for "Other Character" or "Original Character". This is a character that the writer themselves has invented. They may or may not belong to a particular fandom. This is contrasted with "canon characters", which were not created by the people who roleplay them.

OOC-Stands for "Out Of Character". This is anything that you, the writer, say or do or think. See "IC" for what your character does/says/thinks. It's critical to differentiate between the two. On RPL, most writers mark their OOC remarks with some kind of notation like "//ooc comment here" or "{ooc comment here}" to make the difference clear.

OP-Over-Powered. A character with too many skills, abilities, positive traits and few, if any, weaknesses. While this one is a matter of opinion in some cases, just be aware that having a character that seems too OP to other players will make finding RP partners difficult. See also skill balancing and nerfing.

OTP-One true pairing. This is a writer's favorite ship, the one they feel is meant to be together. For most, these are crackships- unlikely to ever happen in canon sources. Due to this, most OTPs are AU or non-canon writing, except in rare cases when canon sources give enough hints to make such a pairing truly plausible eventually.

One-Liner-One liners are just what they sound like, one line per response. Sometimes it can simply be that you've been writing and can't think of anything else to say at that moment, so a one-liner fits perfectly well. Or the flow of conversation is such that the characters are talking as if they are standing together having a conversation. The usage of one-liners is normally discussed beforehand for larger roleplays, or are just random conversation/banter posts and not meant to convey a lot of detail. To read more about posts lengths, see here.

Open-Open roleplays are the opposite of closed or private roleplays. These are starters or posts that are marked as open so that anyone can join in if they like the setting or basic idea being shown. There can be one or more users joining in on an open roleplay, depending how popular the fandom or setting is.

Para/Multi-Para/Semi-Para-These items describe longer post lengths that are common on RPL and are explained in more detail here.

Peeves-Peeves in roleplay are anything that truly annoys a writer. They are highly subjective, and of course, not everyone will be bothered by the same things. Most often, the best place to look for the admin's requirements is in their blog section, under Rules or Terms. For a look at some top reported peeves, see this blog.

Plotting-Plotting is generally the first move for any larger threads or storylines. It is especially necessary if you're doing a complete story arc with multiple blogs involved, or in depth timelines. Plotting involves talking to your writing partner and coming up with what the story will be about. You will decide who/what/where/when/why/how, setting up a basic framework for what needs to be in the post to make the story make sense for both writers. Plotting can be simple or very precise, it just depends on what the purpose of the plot is, and how both writers intend to utilize the story. We have written multiple blogs on different aspects of plotting. They can be found here, here, and here.

Point of View/POV-This is the point of view from which your story is being written. Common POVs used in roleplaying are first person, like "I walked down the street on a sunny day", and third person limited, like "He walked down the street on a sunny day". There are other POV ways of writing, but they don't really lend themselves well to roleplaying. A quick google search on 'writing point of view' should get you more information if you're interested. The important thing about POV is once you've started a piece in a particular POV, don't flipflop. Pick one and stick to it.

Power Play-Another form of godmoding, powerplay means giving your character an unfair advantage. This can cross-over into the other godmoding items as well. Metagaming someone by using things you shouldn't know to control the other character or writing in items that are controlling the other character are both examples of godmoding and powerplay. Characters that are too powerful are boring, and take all the fun out of roleplay. Give them some believable flaws, so others can find ways to interact with them that are fun for both of you. For more information on the various forms of godmoding with examples, see here.

Profile-Your profile is your 'face' here on RPL, your resume. People will find you through clicking to view your profile, so make it worth a look. Keep OOC posts to a minimum. Include blogs, so people can read some of your writing. Utilize the privacy settings to allow users to see enough content to know what your character is about. Decorating your info page is another way to draw attention, and we have a tutorial for that, located here.

Profile Feed-The profile feed is your personal feed of activity. You get to this by going to your profile. Content on your profile feed will go back all the way to when you joined the site. It's a good idea to go through it every once in awhile and clean out OOC posts, abandoned roleplays, photos with no writing, etc. Removing photo, blog, or tagging feeds from your profile itself does not delete the items that are saved properly, only the feed itself.

Promotion/Advertising-Promotion/Advertising is anything done to interest new readers and writers. RPL has many advertising pages that can be utilized for promotion. The best promotions include a bit about your character and a small sample of writing. This helps others see who you are and how you write. You can also include a bit about what you're looking for. Groups can promote their members and group pages by sharing samples of writing, and links to the pages. Promotion can also be done for ongoing storylines, utilizing the "Share" feature of the site to share a blog, with a small sample of the work or description of the plot. When doing advertising, remember less is more. Don't spam all the advertising groups with the same thing all at once. Don't have every member of a group post the same thing right after another. Advertising works best when done sparingly, but with great writing and a clear "Call to Action"- join the page to read more, follow the blog, add me as a friend to discuss a plot, etc. For more tips on promoting yourself, see here.

Punctuation-Punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, and parentheses, are used in writing to separate sentences and to clarify meaning. Not using punctuation makes your writing illegible, and people simply won't read. All writers should have a basic grasp of common punctuation usage in order for their work to be understood. We have gone into more detail about commonly used roleplay punctuation marks here and here.

RPG-This abbreviation is used interchangeably to represent both a roleplay group and a roleplay game, but both are, strictly speaking, the same thing. At their heart, RPGs are simply groups of people getting together to tell stories through roleplay. These can be for a one-off storyline, or for longer story arcs involving multiple characters, settings, and verses. Read more about roleplaying groups here.

Reply Order-For ongoing blogs or threads, a reply order is necessary to keep things moving forward. For writing involving only 2 people, it's fairly easy to simply respond right after each other. Once things become larger, with multiple characters, a reply order is necessary. Setting up who posts in what order will help each writer be able to see what they have to respond to, and the next one be able to respond to the posts above them. If people post out of turn, it can throw everything off for people who were already writing their next responses. Sometimes, you will have a writer ask to be skipped, generally this means there wasn't enough for them to respond to yet, or their character is doing something that would be a short, non-essential comment. When this happens, alert everyone in the chat that their character's response will be skipped for one rotation, so everyone is aware of what is going on and who is up next. Group messages or chats are best for this, as they operate in real time.

Retcon/Retconning-Short for ‘retroactive continuity’. This refers to backtracking and erasing plots from the continuity as if they had never happened. Sometimes this happens because plots brought up some new ideas that didn't fit with the old work, or you realized your timeline was a bit screwed up. Other times, for canon characters, this is a way of going non-canon/AU because something happened in your source material that you don't feel works well for your character. This is not necessarily a bad thing or a mistake - professional writers for television and film do it all the time, as well as some writers of extended story series.

Rules/Terms-The rules and terms vary from each writer, though there are many common items among them. When looking to write with someone new, always check if they have rules or terms available. In general, most specify their styles of writing, a bit about their character, their posting activity level, whether they prefer 1st or 3rd person roleplay, whether inbox is OOC or IC, etc. Knowing these things up front can help you figure out who your writing is compatible with, and who it isn't. Never try to change someone's mind about their rules or terms. They prefer certain things for a reason, respect that.

Sample-A sample is a small piece of your work. This is utilized for advertising purposes, for joining a group that requires an interview, or for sharing snippets of ongoing storylines. When sharing a sample, make sure it is a great representation of your writing, as that's what people will look for when writing with you, or reading your work. Try to keep samples short, to draw people in so they check out more if they like what they see. Think of it like a resume. Most resumes are one page, any longer, and they are usually discarded. Make a case for why others should take the time to read more, by showing them a bit of what they can expect.

Selective-Selective roleplayers are those that are more choosy about who they will write with. This is not a bad thing! Selectivity can vary, with many different kinds of criteria. Some will only write with one of each character to avoid accidental cross-contamination of stories. Others, look for people who write in the same voice as they do, or the same style/length. Some only write in a certain fandom/theme, or don't accept friend requests from a certain fandom. Being a bit choosy can help frustrations, as no one is constantly unhappy with responses. If someone is honest about not being able to roleplay with you, respect that and understand there's likely a good reason you won't mesh well.

Self-Insert-A character that resembles the writer via personality and personal appearance, and is a representation of the writer. We all tend to add a few things that are familiar to us into our characters. However, this sometimes creates an issue if it goes too far. You can't roleplay objectively when everything is that personal. Any slight to your character is taken as a personal slight against you as a person, not the character. You lose the ability to see things from a fresh perspective, to truly grow your character this way, as anything you don't want happening to you, you wouldn't allow- even if it would challenge your character and bring in new story elements to explore.

Shipping-A roleplay term for relationship. These can be platonic or romantic, it simply means the characters have formed some type of relationship through the roleplay. Some profiles are exclusive/single ship, others are multi-ship. Understand the difference and how it would affect your writing partnership beforehand. For more information on shipping, see here.

Skill Balancing-Every character has their strengths and weaknesses. Too strong and it's considered OP; too weak and you just have a whiny mess of fail. The trick is to find some balance there. Some skills and abilities by their very nature are OP: take teleportation or telepathy, for example. To be able to relocate oneself anywhere at any moment or to read the minds of all others are extremely strong skills. Unbalanced, they aren't much fun for other roleplayers to deal with. Balancing just means to introduce limitations to the skill/ability to make it more playable. Maybe your character can read minds, but only while under the influence of a trance-like state that requires rare ingredients to achieve and renders your character vulnerable while doing. Maybe your character can read minds, but only with a sort of permission from the other person, otherwise they risk doing harm to the person they're reading. There are tons of options for skill balancing. Don't be upset if it's it a bit of a process sometimes finding what works well. See also: Nerfing

Smut-Smut is, of course, any adult writing that involves sex or suggestive actions, and isn't censored or 'fade to black'. We are all adults on RPL, so smut is normal. Good smut is even celebrated! Trigger/Content warnings are appreciated so some don't read things they don't want to see, but in general, they aren't required. We have an overview on erotic writing, located here.

Solo-The definition of “solo” is “alone”. For roleplay, solos are single blogs or posts done with your character by themselves. Solos can provide a backbone for an upcoming storyline, share personal reactions and thoughts of a character during a larger storyline, or simply to showcase something about your character you would like people to know that ties into storylines or other active writing going on.

Source-A source is a citation showing where you found the work. If you are using anything you haven't written yourself, such as song lyrics, quotes, excerpts, wiki biographies, or photos, you must include a source link to show others where the original information can be found.

Spelling/Grammar-Spelling and grammar is paramount to a good roleplay. If people have to constantly fight to figure out what you're trying to say or do, they will be far less likely to roleplay with you. It's not anything personal, it just makes writing a chore. There is a spellcheck on the site. If you're typing and red shows up under a word- take the time to check it. ProWritingAid or Grammarly are two resources to help as well. With a built-in spellcheck, it looks lazy or like a writer doesn't care about their own quality when they post things riddled with easily solved errors. Be very careful with commonly misused words that sound the same, like do/due, they're/their/there, your/you're, too/to/two, etc. A good grammar program online like the free ones we mentioned is a great start.

Starter-A starter is the beginning post for a roleplay. It needs to set out the location, character involved, and any details that are necessary for your writing partner to be able to respond adequately. These are best done in blogs, so the writing is saved as content. Most starters should be a few paragraphs long, because you want to give your fellow writer something cohesive to work with. Try to use the story guidelines- who, what, when, where, why, and how. If you can hit a couple of these in the starter, you will have produced something that others find easy to respond to. A few blogs on starters can be found here and here.

Storyline-A storyline is an ongoing plot. These are usually done as blogs, with each blog/part of the story linking to the next one. Storylines are generally longer than simple roleplays or threads, because they encompass a pivotal time in a character's life... either finding a friend, a relationship partner, some big event happening, or an ongoing saga in the character's daily interactions. When storylines are large, it's a good idea to create a thread tracker for readers to follow along with, that way they can find the first post and read things in order. For tips on creating a great, immersive storyline, see here.

Style-Style can mean a number of things depending on the context, but generally it incorporates some of the following elements:

Point of View: This is the point of view from which your part of the story is being told. See Point of View above.

Verb Tense: This is 'when' you are writing your character's actions and events. Common choices are past tense, like "He walked down the street", and present tense, like "He walks down the street". Some people have a distinct preference one way or another, but the important thing is to pick one and stick to it. Changing verb tense in the middle of a piece is generally frowned upon.

Starter/Reply Length: Some people tend to be wordier than others, and that's okay. Just make sure everyone involved in writing the piece is comfortable with a rough expectation before you start the RP. Everybody knows it sucks to write a 1200 word starter to only get three sentences in return. Conversely, it sucks to write just a quick little banter starter and have somebody come along and drop an 800 word reply in your lap unexpectedly. It's best to negotiate this ahead of time and stay roughly equal, though starters may be much longer than replies simply due to the need to get the story set up and rolling.

Genre: Is the story a horror story? A comedy? A tragedy? This is part of the style, especially when you're working on something in a very particular niche, like Gothic Romance or Gritty Noire Suspense, for example. Some genres have specific styles, others are more flexible.

Personal Style: Each writer/character has their own voice, or should. That's the trick to writing believable fictional characters - the elusive concept of "voice". It's sometimes hard to explain, but it's yours and yours alone. Don't let anyone tell you how to write your own voice. This is one point of roleplay that should not be negotiable. If another writer doesn't like your voice, then you're probably not well matched to collaborate together. It's probably nothing personal; not everybody is going to be a good match stylistically.

Tagged-Tagging on RPL works like a tap on the shoulder. When you are tagged, it means someone has tapped you on the shoulder and said "Hey, come look at this." Tagging is utilized in photos, blogs, statuses, and groups to let someone know they are up in a roleplay, a starter has been posted, or there is a photo that requires a response or your notice. Try not to tag yourself in photos though, it really isn't necessary here like it was on Facebook. Tag writing partners or group members when there is something that needs attention, or is something you posted for them.

TBA/TBC/TBU -Acronyms which stand for "To Be Added (or Announced)", "To Be Continued", and "To Be Updated", respectively. (contributed by Newton Scamander)

Thread-A thread is a roleplay done with multiple comments. The starting post is either a blog or a status/photo, but the bulk of the roleplay is done in the comments below the starter. These generally have 2 or more characters interacting, building a scene or story around the starter that was posted.

Thread Tracker-Once you've started branching out, writing with more people, having MSLs and AU's, or just building your own story, you will want to create a thread tracker. This is super simple, and works great. Some use thread trackers to post all their works in progress, for easy access to the links when it's their turn to write. Others use thread trackers to showcase their storylines, breaking each section into posts belonging to that particular storyline. Either way, it allows you to see at a glance what you're working on, and allows others to read and follow along easily.

Trigger/Trigger Warning-These are used in blog tags or the first line of a blog to let readers know what type of content is going to be utilized. If there is adult content, gore, non-consent, or other questionable topics, readers can choose whether to continue or not based on their personal feelings about the content and whether they're interested in reading it. It's a polite thing to do, to help others avoid reading things they prefer not to see. More information on content tags and how to best utilize them is located here.

Unfriending/Blocking-Unfriending or blocking are two actions taken by writers when they don't wish to interact with another writer. Unfriending removes them from your feed, but you can still see their comments or likes on posts by mutual friends. Blocking ensures that you don't see them, and they don't see you. Contact after a blocking via other accounts is a TOS violation. Writers are not obligated to give a reason for either action. Accept it, and move on. Reasons are as unique as our writers, and we expect everyone to respect another's wishes here. For common reasons these actions are taken, see here and here.

Verbal/Nonverbal-As roleplayers, we describe our actions and thoughts, and also what we say out loud. These are separated by quote marks if you're writing novel-style, or asterisks, parentheses, or some other equivalent if you are writing in more of a script-style. No matter how you set them apart, it is a MUST to include some sort of separation between what you are doing/thinking and what you are verbalizing out loud. It is impossible to roleplay when no one knows what the heck you're doing, if they need to respond to something you said, or if you were just thinking it. Some examples can be found here.

Verse-The creative universe a character resides in. This can be a particular fandom, a time period, or independent world. Those that write AUs or are indie/OC characters are usually multiverse, fitting into multiple verses at different times.

WIP-An abbreviation meaning 'work in progress'. This is any writing that is still being worked on and isn't complete yet. These can be solos, partnerships, or group threads. It is a good idea to favorite any WIP blogs, especially if you have quite a few open, that way you can get to them easily when it's your turn to respond.

WP-Writing Partner. This is the person or people that you write most often with. These can be friends, family, romantic liaisons, even enemies. The difference between a writing partner and everyone else you may write with is that a writing partner is seen as a more permanent relationship. These are your 'mains', the people that are an integral part of your character's daily life.