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01: Quantity is not Quality
See those words in the title there? You will be hearing them a lot on this blog. In all my years of roleplaying, I've found that most problems relate back to one single idea: "Quantity is not Quality." Not all problematic behaviors relate back to it, but enough of them do that it's worth making the first post in this blog about the general idea of quantity versus quality.
Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with writing a lot. In fact, you pretty much do need to write a lot in order to make any noticeable improvements in your writing. But the mistake many roleplayers make is in assuming that just because they can write a lot means they can write well. Believe me when I say this is not the case.
I will be the first to admit that I absolutely love writing prose tags. Action tags are okay, but I'll take prose whenever I can get it. Perhaps that is why I can immediately tell when someone is suffering from Windbag-itis. You should be able to recognize it right away: long, flowery paragraphs about tiny little details which are difficult to read through even once. It shouldn't take you five paragraphs to describe how bored your character is, and you shouldn't write five hundred words on how your character has nestled himself into a corner of the library to read.
This idea works in reverse as well: you shouldn't cut a tag so short that you're not writing down what needs to be said. As much as I complain about long, hard-to-read tags, short ones can be a pain as well if they're not engaging. The main idea behind "Quantity is not Quality" is that the length of a piece of writing doesn't determine how good it is. It's the message itself and how coherently it is expressed that makes a piece of writing excellent. It doesn't matter how long or short something is as long as it is meaningful and fully expresses what needs to be said.
Here, take a look at these two examples. Both are describing the same situation, but one is more focused on the message it is trying to get across.
Now compare that to this:
Notice how much tighter the second sample is? This is because the excess introspection has been cut out. We don't need to know how long Adam and Brent have been friends, nor how Brent had been a practical joker for all that time, and we definitely don't need the repetition about how Brent has to be at the center of a joke. The first two things we should already know, especially if Adam and Brent are canonmates, so they don't need to be constantly repeated. The last part is just a short example of how much repetition can be found in paragraphs and paragraphs of writing. When you're more worried about how much you're writing, you forget to make sure that what you're writing is worth reading.
Now I'm not saying that everyone should go to the opposite extreme and write painfully short prose tags, that just creates an entirely different problem. But what you need to do is to say what needs to be said, and leave it at that. It's okay if your tag isn't over two-hundred words or whatever arbitrary guideline is set, as long as you're getting the idea across and you feel satisfied with what you're writing. And if you're worried about a tag being too long? Then go back and re-read it, and edit out parts that are unnecessary. Worried it's too short? Re-read it and see if you have included everything you want in it, and if not then add what is missing. If you're more focused on getting the message across, rather than on taking five paragraphs to do so, the quality of your writing will only improve.
For the end of each post, I'm going to try to come up with some kind of exercise you can do to practice the idea I talk about each week. It's not mandatory by any means, and usually they're just things I've tried in the past to improve myself. This week, I want you to go back and look at one of your tags that you weren't really feeling the mojo for when you wrote it. Read through it, and try to find places you could improve on it. Are there things you could cut out? Are there ways to re-word it to make it sound better? Perhaps you didn't get the idea across well the first time, and you could stand to add more to it? Just remember, Quantity is not Quality. You should be focused on what you're saying, not how many (or few) words you say it in.
Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with writing a lot. In fact, you pretty much do need to write a lot in order to make any noticeable improvements in your writing. But the mistake many roleplayers make is in assuming that just because they can write a lot means they can write well. Believe me when I say this is not the case.
I will be the first to admit that I absolutely love writing prose tags. Action tags are okay, but I'll take prose whenever I can get it. Perhaps that is why I can immediately tell when someone is suffering from Windbag-itis. You should be able to recognize it right away: long, flowery paragraphs about tiny little details which are difficult to read through even once. It shouldn't take you five paragraphs to describe how bored your character is, and you shouldn't write five hundred words on how your character has nestled himself into a corner of the library to read.
This idea works in reverse as well: you shouldn't cut a tag so short that you're not writing down what needs to be said. As much as I complain about long, hard-to-read tags, short ones can be a pain as well if they're not engaging. The main idea behind "Quantity is not Quality" is that the length of a piece of writing doesn't determine how good it is. It's the message itself and how coherently it is expressed that makes a piece of writing excellent. It doesn't matter how long or short something is as long as it is meaningful and fully expresses what needs to be said.
Here, take a look at these two examples. Both are describing the same situation, but one is more focused on the message it is trying to get across.
Adam couldn't help but stare. Brent was up to his usual antics again, it seemed. Really, he shouldn't have been surprised, Brent had been a class clown ever since they had met ten years ago. It was practically his trademark to do ridiculous things, no matter how many times he got in trouble for it. Nevermind that everyone could see them, and that they were probably wondering just what the hell Brent was doing. If there was ridiculousness to be had, Brent had to be at the center of it, and this was no exception. Adam was so beside himself that he couldn't even think of a response to such a ridiculous question. So, with an irritated sigh, he just said, "I give up."
Now compare that to this:
Adam couldn't believe what he was seeing. Had Brent really said that? What in the world was he thinking, asking something like that where everyone and their mother could hear? Adam had hoped Brent would have learned something from all the trouble his pranks had brought him over the years, but apparently not. So, with an irritated sigh, he just said, "I give up."
Notice how much tighter the second sample is? This is because the excess introspection has been cut out. We don't need to know how long Adam and Brent have been friends, nor how Brent had been a practical joker for all that time, and we definitely don't need the repetition about how Brent has to be at the center of a joke. The first two things we should already know, especially if Adam and Brent are canonmates, so they don't need to be constantly repeated. The last part is just a short example of how much repetition can be found in paragraphs and paragraphs of writing. When you're more worried about how much you're writing, you forget to make sure that what you're writing is worth reading.
Now I'm not saying that everyone should go to the opposite extreme and write painfully short prose tags, that just creates an entirely different problem. But what you need to do is to say what needs to be said, and leave it at that. It's okay if your tag isn't over two-hundred words or whatever arbitrary guideline is set, as long as you're getting the idea across and you feel satisfied with what you're writing. And if you're worried about a tag being too long? Then go back and re-read it, and edit out parts that are unnecessary. Worried it's too short? Re-read it and see if you have included everything you want in it, and if not then add what is missing. If you're more focused on getting the message across, rather than on taking five paragraphs to do so, the quality of your writing will only improve.
For the end of each post, I'm going to try to come up with some kind of exercise you can do to practice the idea I talk about each week. It's not mandatory by any means, and usually they're just things I've tried in the past to improve myself. This week, I want you to go back and look at one of your tags that you weren't really feeling the mojo for when you wrote it. Read through it, and try to find places you could improve on it. Are there things you could cut out? Are there ways to re-word it to make it sound better? Perhaps you didn't get the idea across well the first time, and you could stand to add more to it? Just remember, Quantity is not Quality. You should be focused on what you're saying, not how many (or few) words you say it in.