Twitter, Role-playing and Writing

Creating believable, authentic characters is one of the cornerstones of excellent fiction writing.   One way that you can develop characters is by role-playing. Role-playing can be done in many ways – forums, instant messaging, e-mail, etc.; however, my favorite way to role-play is on Twitter.

There are several reasons why I prefer using Twitter for role-playing.

1. It’s free – ’nuff said.
2. Ease – I can have a role-playing account up and running in less than five minutes.
3. Speed – unlike forum role-playing, role-playing on Twitter moves at a very fast pace.
4. Feedback – because you gather followers on Twitter, you can get plenty of feedback.
5. Fellowship – there are hundreds - probably thousands –  of role-players on Twitter, in all genres.
6. Non-intimidating – you are limited to only 140 characters per tweet.
7. Hones your writing skills – you’re limited to only 140 characters per tweet.

There are more reasons, but those are the main ones.

How to Start

1. Choose the character that you want to be.  If you are role-playing an original character, make sure that you have at least some kind of back story.  Characters that have no background can be frustrating for other role players to interact with.  At the very least, have enough background information to fill in your profile completely.
2. Provide a picture - real life or artwork – that is appropriate for your character.  It helps followers to see what your character looks like, of course, but also to help followers relate to your character.
3. Start tweeting “in character” – use the “voice,” syntax, and mindset of your character.  It is hard at first, but gets easier as time goes on.
4. Find other RPers in your genre to role-play with.  It will help you develop your character and see how he/she interacts with others.
5. Start a character blog.  It helps followers and fans keep up with your character’s storyline.  (Very helpful once your character has a long history.  For example, my main character, Shara, has over 45,000 tweets.)  The blog will also give you plenty of story material as it grows.

Real-life Situations

1. Two of my most popular characters were actually supposed to be temporary characters for only one storyline; however, followers liked them so much that I kept them on – and one even became one of my main characters.
2. One character was created because he had been mentioned often as a non-player character (NPC) – and followers asked that he get his own account.
3. In setting up an alien world, questions from followers and fellow RPers helped me flesh out the environment so I could provides more detail and realism.
4. I actually got hate-tweets when one character was killed off.  It made me realize how passionate followers can be about a character (and is a good indication of how well you’ve portrayed that character).
5. Our role-playing group (RPG) will actually do “twitterfic episodes” – complete with cliffhangers.   It is VERY gratifying to get to the part where you “Fade to Black” at a cliffhanger and have followers IMMEDIATELY start sending messages and replies saying “Noooooooooooooooooooooo!”  You know then that you have a good plot and loyal fans.  It’s awesome.
6. Got an idea for a new character?  Ask your followers what they think!  I can’t tell you the incredible feedback I’ve gotten, plus most followers will follow the new character if they already like your original one.

Examples of Twitter RP Accounts

Shara

Navaar

Emerald

Warlocke

Examples of Character Blogs

Shara’s Blog

Navaar’s Blog (also serves as the RP group blog)

Emerald’s Blog

So get started!  Go to Twitter.com and create your account today, and get writing.

~ Shara O’ Ryan