How to Write an Application
Mar 14, 2014 14:41:28 GMT -5
Post by Basil on Mar 14, 2014 14:41:28 GMT -5
Never written a character app (application) before? Feeling overwhelmed by the template? Or maybe you just want a few pointers. Well, you've come to the right place. Follow me in a step-by-step guide through the process.
But, why write an app in the first place? I mean, why does WoD require it? The answer is three-fold.
First, it shows us your writing ability. This is an all-text format, and it is essential that your posts are readable and understandable. What good is posting when your fellow members can't make out what you're saying? Or worse, your posts are so difficult that they are tedious to read? Role-playing is supposed to be fun, but there's nothing fun about slogging through poor writing.
We at Worlds of Disney would like to think we provide a help to aspiring writers, a way to hone their skills, no matter what level they write at. But lines must be drawn, so please try to write at high school level. Or what used to be high school level back when schools actually taught English.
Second, your app shows us what kind of handle you have on your chosen character. If you can't describe his/her personality, then maybe you should play someone else, someone you understand better.
Third, it gives you the chance to expand on your character beyond what is revealed in the film. More on that below.
Before we get into the meat of your app, this one point is absolutely crucial, yet not understood by so many first-timers.
At the bottom of any post you are currently writing, there are 2 tabs to choose from, labeled Preview and BBCode. You MUST click the BBCode tab while pasting in your app template. If you try to do it on the Preview tab, you will lose all your formatting and make your Admin very, very unhappy. And your app will look ugly.
That is so important, I'm going to say it again. Click "Create Thread," click "BBCode," paste in your app template, and go!
Character name The simplest part of all, right? Maybe not. Here's your chance to, as I said above, go beyond the movie.
Many characters have only a nickname, or no surname at all. Why not make one up? Simply writing "Unrevealed" is rather dull, unless there is some reason for your character to keep it a secret.
Using Mrs. Potts? Her parents didn't name her "Mrs," you know. Call her June. Or Arabella. Or Maggie, Mildred, or Ann. And what does the "Q" in Timothy's name stand for? The choice is up to you.
Be advised that some characters have official names already, although they are not in the actual movies: the huntsman is Humbert, Maleficent's raven is Diablo, and the mice in Cinderella are Susie and Perla. Some characters have names revealed in secondary sources, like the novel the film is based on, while some have unofficial fan-favourite names like Beast (Prince Adam); you are not under obligation to use those names, but can if you like. Still, there are scores of characters just waiting for you to give them a nom de guerre.
Age Unless their age is told us, give your best guess. If you're too far off, your admins will let you know. You can give an actual number, or an approximation: "over 65," "early twenties," "around 40," that sort of thing.
Species Creeper's species might be up for grabs, but most other characters are pretty obvious.
Birthplace Pick a place. Country, city, village, whatever; extrapolate on the movie.
Custom title A short phrase to describe your character; this will appear below your name on every post. You have pretty much carte blanche here, but be advised, it should be relatively short. How about a description from the film? For example, "The Elegant Pirate," "Jungle Bum," and "Silly Old Bear" are good, descriptive phrases for Capt. Hook, Baloo, and Pooh.
Why'd you pick this character? A good opportunity to wax eloquent about your favourite. There is really no wrong reason to choose a character, so no fear.
Hair description Unless the answer is "none," try to give us more than just "blonde." Is it long or short? Straight or wavy? Neat or messy? Writing complete sentences will go a long way toward satisfying the admins in this section. "Charlotte wears her blonde hair in a fashionable short bob, curled at the ends."
Facial description/mood/expressions Consider at least one sentence describing eyes, one for the rest of the face, and one for the expressions as your bare minimum. Pretty, ugly, rugged, cheerful, serious, grim...these are some of the things that might get you started.
Clothing style We're not looking for a run-down on their main outfit here; leave that for Edna's fashion shows. "Alice wears a blue dress with a white apron." Is that the only thing in her wardrobe? Or does she have a closet full of identical blue dresses? Tell us instead how she dresses. What's her style? "Alice wears the proper costume of an upper-class early-Victorian English girl: feminine frocks with stiff underskirts, generally with an apron or pinafore over top."
Body build This shouldn't be too difficult. Is he tall or short? Fat or slim? Muscular or scrawny?
Any unique traits (optional) The spot for anything you think of that's not listed elsewhere. Or leave it blank.
Personality Here we come to the heart of the matter. Your character's personality defines what they will do and how they will act and react in the parks. Give a sentence or two (or more) about each personality trait. If you can't name at least 3 traits, you have chosen the wrong character. If all you can say about Grumpy is that he's grumpy, pick someone you understand better.
History We are not looking for a re-cap of the movie here; we all know the plot. Like Ariel, we want more.
Start at the beginning. And when you get to the end, stop. Imagine your character's parents, his home life growing up, his siblings. Was he rich or poor? Where did he go to school? Who were his friends? What happened that shaped his future?
Why did John Smith become an explorer? Following his father's footsteps? Insatiable curiosity? Hatred of city life? Longing for fame? Couldn't hold a job? Extrapolate!
Certainly, there's room here for the events of the film, but we don't need a play-by-play. "One day, Gus hid in a teacup, and Cinderella got in trouble with her stepmother..." Is that really a significant event in Cindy's life? She probably got in trouble every day from some perceived misdeed or other. The day her father died, yes, and that invitation to the ball...not every scene from the movie.
A note about other sources: you can draw upon more than the movie to fill in your character's history. There are Disney comic books, non-Disney versions, and the original source novels, for example. But you are certainly not bound by any of them. Yes, you can make Happy a practical joker (comic stories) and Fflewddur a former king (source novel), but you can't make Jane an American or Quasimodo deaf; that would violate the Disney version.
Now, if you choose a character who is shown from birth in their film you'll have a tougher time than some with your history. But if you try, I'm sure you can come up with some blank areas in Lady's life to write about. A good place to start is with her parents: Where does Lady come from? A pet shop? A breeder? A friend's litter? Is it traumatic for her to move to Jim Dear's house? Or a joy for her?
DO NOT copy your history, personality, or other sections of the application from the Disney Wiki or any other source. You might use the wiki to get ideas or to remind you of some detail you've forgotten. But we will not accept apps that lift text directly from other sources. When you are found out, you will be required to rewrite it or find another site to RP on.
Ambitions Pretty self-explanatory. Think of it as your character's goals; even if he's lazy, he has the goals to relax, do nothing, and be left alone.
Strengths & abilities What is your character good at? What can he do that might come in handy?
Flaws Alas, some characters do appear to be flawless, or nearly so. If you've chosen Jasmine, you'll have your work cut out for you, but try to come up with something.
Likes Again, it's okay to extrapolate here. We'd like more than just a list of other characters from the movie. "Robin Hood likes Maid Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, Alan-A-Dale, Skippy Bunny..." Yawn. How about archery? Adventure? Danger? You can even add puppies, backgammon, and plum pudding, if you want him to like those things. Just make sure you don't violate what we already know about him. You can't make Robin evil, shy, or cowardly. But you can make him a collector of sea shells if you want.
Dislikes As with Likes, try to get beyond the movie antagonist. Your character's personality can be a help here. Is he fastidious? He might dislike untidiness. Is he comic? He might dislike sourpusses.
Fears The common thing here is to write "Being separated from [significant other]," which is okay, but not great. Just think about it a bit more and try to come up with something. Maybe your character is fearless; that's fine, just write it down.
Anything to add? Whatever.
RP SAMPLE Give us a few paragraphs starring your chosen character. Your first post is an easy way to go here: "Scrooge blinked his eyes, and he was in Disney World. How did he get here? He knew it wasn't by paying that ridiculous entrance fee! etc., etc." But it can be any narrative featuring your character.
This is supremely important! If you can't write this, how will you post in a thread? It must be easy to understand, but interesting. "Mulan walked down the street. She looked at the buildings. She looked at the people. She stopped to look in a store window. She continued down the street." Booorrring!
This section must be PAST TENSE ONLY! I know grammar is no longer taught much in school, and many students sleep through it anyway, so if you don't know what 'past tense' means, don't feel bad, just read this thread:
worldsofdisney07.proboards.com/thread/7705/rp-posting-101
Briefly, it would be, "Basil saw; Basil walked; Basil played the violin," not "sees, walks, plays." This isn't Facebook where you tell what you are doing at the moment. Pretend that everything you are writing about took place yesterday.
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A CHARACTER WITH US, PUT "SEE ____"
If you are applying for your second WoD character, you may simply write, "SEE Bongo,: or whoever. Otherwise, you MUST write a sample.
If you're still reading after all that, you are a glutton for punishment. And so I will regale you with a story.
When I chose my second character many moons ago, I picked Panchito. He'd always been a favourite of mine, and was as unlike Basil as you could get. So I sat down to think about his app.
What did I really know about Panchito? I'd never had access to his many comic book appearances, and all I learned from The Three Caballeros was pretty sparse: he's a Mexican cowboy, sings and dances, moves with violent energy, and likes to look at girls. Except for the flying serape, that was it.
So I extrapolated.
I'd been to Mexico, and seen some pretty poor sections. So I started with the proposition that Panchito grew up dirt poor, but happy (can you picture this bird as anything but?) I imagined what it would be like to raise such a boisterous child and created a home life for him in which his parents began by giving him no restraints, until he was totally out of control. This led to the idea that he had older sisters; when his parents finally had the son they craved, they were too pleased to enforce any discipline on him.
Then came the vacquero part. I wrote a scenario whereby Panchito could rise from stableboy to cowboy. Easy enough, except for the flying serape, which took a bit of ingenuity to fit in.
Now he had to meet his best amigos, Donald and Jose, the writing of which turned out to be so much fun, I plan to create a website about it (in my spare time).
Likes and dislikes entailed more extrapolation. Cowboys like horses, and, in Mexico, dogs are more nuisance animals than pets, so I figured Panchito would prefer farm animals to dogs and cats. He's so trigger-happy that he probably likes all sorts of guns. Further than that, how about explosions? Fireworks? Why not?
And since critics have called him "sadistic" (unfairly, if you watch the movie; it's Jose who is the instigator), I added a love of practical jokes.
But I didn't want him to be a lothario, so I gave Panchito the goal of finding a wife and settling down.
And Viola, as Scuttle would say. You have a fully fleshed-out character who is loads of fun to play!
Now get out there and apply!
But, why write an app in the first place? I mean, why does WoD require it? The answer is three-fold.
First, it shows us your writing ability. This is an all-text format, and it is essential that your posts are readable and understandable. What good is posting when your fellow members can't make out what you're saying? Or worse, your posts are so difficult that they are tedious to read? Role-playing is supposed to be fun, but there's nothing fun about slogging through poor writing.
We at Worlds of Disney would like to think we provide a help to aspiring writers, a way to hone their skills, no matter what level they write at. But lines must be drawn, so please try to write at high school level. Or what used to be high school level back when schools actually taught English.
Second, your app shows us what kind of handle you have on your chosen character. If you can't describe his/her personality, then maybe you should play someone else, someone you understand better.
Third, it gives you the chance to expand on your character beyond what is revealed in the film. More on that below.
~~~
Before we get into the meat of your app, this one point is absolutely crucial, yet not understood by so many first-timers.
At the bottom of any post you are currently writing, there are 2 tabs to choose from, labeled Preview and BBCode. You MUST click the BBCode tab while pasting in your app template. If you try to do it on the Preview tab, you will lose all your formatting and make your Admin very, very unhappy. And your app will look ugly.
That is so important, I'm going to say it again. Click "Create Thread," click "BBCode," paste in your app template, and go!
~~~
Character name The simplest part of all, right? Maybe not. Here's your chance to, as I said above, go beyond the movie.
Many characters have only a nickname, or no surname at all. Why not make one up? Simply writing "Unrevealed" is rather dull, unless there is some reason for your character to keep it a secret.
Using Mrs. Potts? Her parents didn't name her "Mrs," you know. Call her June. Or Arabella. Or Maggie, Mildred, or Ann. And what does the "Q" in Timothy's name stand for? The choice is up to you.
Be advised that some characters have official names already, although they are not in the actual movies: the huntsman is Humbert, Maleficent's raven is Diablo, and the mice in Cinderella are Susie and Perla. Some characters have names revealed in secondary sources, like the novel the film is based on, while some have unofficial fan-favourite names like Beast (Prince Adam); you are not under obligation to use those names, but can if you like. Still, there are scores of characters just waiting for you to give them a nom de guerre.
Age Unless their age is told us, give your best guess. If you're too far off, your admins will let you know. You can give an actual number, or an approximation: "over 65," "early twenties," "around 40," that sort of thing.
Species Creeper's species might be up for grabs, but most other characters are pretty obvious.
Birthplace Pick a place. Country, city, village, whatever; extrapolate on the movie.
Custom title A short phrase to describe your character; this will appear below your name on every post. You have pretty much carte blanche here, but be advised, it should be relatively short. How about a description from the film? For example, "The Elegant Pirate," "Jungle Bum," and "Silly Old Bear" are good, descriptive phrases for Capt. Hook, Baloo, and Pooh.
Why'd you pick this character? A good opportunity to wax eloquent about your favourite. There is really no wrong reason to choose a character, so no fear.
Hair description Unless the answer is "none," try to give us more than just "blonde." Is it long or short? Straight or wavy? Neat or messy? Writing complete sentences will go a long way toward satisfying the admins in this section. "Charlotte wears her blonde hair in a fashionable short bob, curled at the ends."
Facial description/mood/expressions Consider at least one sentence describing eyes, one for the rest of the face, and one for the expressions as your bare minimum. Pretty, ugly, rugged, cheerful, serious, grim...these are some of the things that might get you started.
Clothing style We're not looking for a run-down on their main outfit here; leave that for Edna's fashion shows. "Alice wears a blue dress with a white apron." Is that the only thing in her wardrobe? Or does she have a closet full of identical blue dresses? Tell us instead how she dresses. What's her style? "Alice wears the proper costume of an upper-class early-Victorian English girl: feminine frocks with stiff underskirts, generally with an apron or pinafore over top."
Body build This shouldn't be too difficult. Is he tall or short? Fat or slim? Muscular or scrawny?
Any unique traits (optional) The spot for anything you think of that's not listed elsewhere. Or leave it blank.
Personality Here we come to the heart of the matter. Your character's personality defines what they will do and how they will act and react in the parks. Give a sentence or two (or more) about each personality trait. If you can't name at least 3 traits, you have chosen the wrong character. If all you can say about Grumpy is that he's grumpy, pick someone you understand better.
History We are not looking for a re-cap of the movie here; we all know the plot. Like Ariel, we want more.
Start at the beginning. And when you get to the end, stop. Imagine your character's parents, his home life growing up, his siblings. Was he rich or poor? Where did he go to school? Who were his friends? What happened that shaped his future?
Why did John Smith become an explorer? Following his father's footsteps? Insatiable curiosity? Hatred of city life? Longing for fame? Couldn't hold a job? Extrapolate!
Certainly, there's room here for the events of the film, but we don't need a play-by-play. "One day, Gus hid in a teacup, and Cinderella got in trouble with her stepmother..." Is that really a significant event in Cindy's life? She probably got in trouble every day from some perceived misdeed or other. The day her father died, yes, and that invitation to the ball...not every scene from the movie.
A note about other sources: you can draw upon more than the movie to fill in your character's history. There are Disney comic books, non-Disney versions, and the original source novels, for example. But you are certainly not bound by any of them. Yes, you can make Happy a practical joker (comic stories) and Fflewddur a former king (source novel), but you can't make Jane an American or Quasimodo deaf; that would violate the Disney version.
Now, if you choose a character who is shown from birth in their film you'll have a tougher time than some with your history. But if you try, I'm sure you can come up with some blank areas in Lady's life to write about. A good place to start is with her parents: Where does Lady come from? A pet shop? A breeder? A friend's litter? Is it traumatic for her to move to Jim Dear's house? Or a joy for her?
~~~IMPORTANT!~~~
DO NOT copy your history, personality, or other sections of the application from the Disney Wiki or any other source. You might use the wiki to get ideas or to remind you of some detail you've forgotten. But we will not accept apps that lift text directly from other sources. When you are found out, you will be required to rewrite it or find another site to RP on.
Ambitions Pretty self-explanatory. Think of it as your character's goals; even if he's lazy, he has the goals to relax, do nothing, and be left alone.
Strengths & abilities What is your character good at? What can he do that might come in handy?
Flaws Alas, some characters do appear to be flawless, or nearly so. If you've chosen Jasmine, you'll have your work cut out for you, but try to come up with something.
Likes Again, it's okay to extrapolate here. We'd like more than just a list of other characters from the movie. "Robin Hood likes Maid Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, Alan-A-Dale, Skippy Bunny..." Yawn. How about archery? Adventure? Danger? You can even add puppies, backgammon, and plum pudding, if you want him to like those things. Just make sure you don't violate what we already know about him. You can't make Robin evil, shy, or cowardly. But you can make him a collector of sea shells if you want.
Dislikes As with Likes, try to get beyond the movie antagonist. Your character's personality can be a help here. Is he fastidious? He might dislike untidiness. Is he comic? He might dislike sourpusses.
Fears The common thing here is to write "Being separated from [significant other]," which is okay, but not great. Just think about it a bit more and try to come up with something. Maybe your character is fearless; that's fine, just write it down.
Anything to add? Whatever.
RP SAMPLE Give us a few paragraphs starring your chosen character. Your first post is an easy way to go here: "Scrooge blinked his eyes, and he was in Disney World. How did he get here? He knew it wasn't by paying that ridiculous entrance fee! etc., etc." But it can be any narrative featuring your character.
This is supremely important! If you can't write this, how will you post in a thread? It must be easy to understand, but interesting. "Mulan walked down the street. She looked at the buildings. She looked at the people. She stopped to look in a store window. She continued down the street." Booorrring!
This section must be PAST TENSE ONLY! I know grammar is no longer taught much in school, and many students sleep through it anyway, so if you don't know what 'past tense' means, don't feel bad, just read this thread:
worldsofdisney07.proboards.com/thread/7705/rp-posting-101
Briefly, it would be, "Basil saw; Basil walked; Basil played the violin," not "sees, walks, plays." This isn't Facebook where you tell what you are doing at the moment. Pretend that everything you are writing about took place yesterday.
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A CHARACTER WITH US, PUT "SEE ____"
If you are applying for your second WoD character, you may simply write, "SEE Bongo,: or whoever. Otherwise, you MUST write a sample.
~~~
If you're still reading after all that, you are a glutton for punishment. And so I will regale you with a story.
When I chose my second character many moons ago, I picked Panchito. He'd always been a favourite of mine, and was as unlike Basil as you could get. So I sat down to think about his app.
What did I really know about Panchito? I'd never had access to his many comic book appearances, and all I learned from The Three Caballeros was pretty sparse: he's a Mexican cowboy, sings and dances, moves with violent energy, and likes to look at girls. Except for the flying serape, that was it.
So I extrapolated.
I'd been to Mexico, and seen some pretty poor sections. So I started with the proposition that Panchito grew up dirt poor, but happy (can you picture this bird as anything but?) I imagined what it would be like to raise such a boisterous child and created a home life for him in which his parents began by giving him no restraints, until he was totally out of control. This led to the idea that he had older sisters; when his parents finally had the son they craved, they were too pleased to enforce any discipline on him.
Then came the vacquero part. I wrote a scenario whereby Panchito could rise from stableboy to cowboy. Easy enough, except for the flying serape, which took a bit of ingenuity to fit in.
Now he had to meet his best amigos, Donald and Jose, the writing of which turned out to be so much fun, I plan to create a website about it (in my spare time).
Likes and dislikes entailed more extrapolation. Cowboys like horses, and, in Mexico, dogs are more nuisance animals than pets, so I figured Panchito would prefer farm animals to dogs and cats. He's so trigger-happy that he probably likes all sorts of guns. Further than that, how about explosions? Fireworks? Why not?
And since critics have called him "sadistic" (unfairly, if you watch the movie; it's Jose who is the instigator), I added a love of practical jokes.
But I didn't want him to be a lothario, so I gave Panchito the goal of finding a wife and settling down.
And Viola, as Scuttle would say. You have a fully fleshed-out character who is loads of fun to play!
Now get out there and apply!