Because I really don't wanna echo the entirety of Ette's post, I'm just going to add onto it with one or two things.
She mentions reading your dialogue aloud. If you've the privacy or the gumption to do so, act out the facial expressions and motions as well. A lot of the time I'm making dumb faces at my monitor so I can figure out the descriptions.
There's also the golden rule of writing:
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Don't purple your prose up too much -- it makes it difficult to decipher what your character is doing. If I'm looking to add character to my post, I'm typically doing so with asides and small details (like an ear flicking or rubbing at the tip of your nose) as opposed to writing 2 paragraphs about my character's specific features. There's a time and a place for going into detail about specifics.
Okay, I lied. There's a third thing to add.
Practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make better.
It's obvious, but the only way to feel good about your writing is to put it out there more and more often. The more you write, the more confident you get about certain things. And the less confident you get about other stuff. It's really just a giant balancing act of what you're feeling insecure about on any given day.
Other than that! Yeah, people are rarely just hangin' around to put on a pity party. If you've made RP friends, there's a pretty high chance that they've enjoyed something of yours they've seen. Nobody expects perfection on a daily basis. Even professional writers have supremely shitty days where they can't write anything coherent to save their lives.
She mentions reading your dialogue aloud. If you've the privacy or the gumption to do so, act out the facial expressions and motions as well. A lot of the time I'm making dumb faces at my monitor so I can figure out the descriptions.
There's also the golden rule of writing:
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Don't purple your prose up too much -- it makes it difficult to decipher what your character is doing. If I'm looking to add character to my post, I'm typically doing so with asides and small details (like an ear flicking or rubbing at the tip of your nose) as opposed to writing 2 paragraphs about my character's specific features. There's a time and a place for going into detail about specifics.
Okay, I lied. There's a third thing to add.
Practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make better.
It's obvious, but the only way to feel good about your writing is to put it out there more and more often. The more you write, the more confident you get about certain things. And the less confident you get about other stuff. It's really just a giant balancing act of what you're feeling insecure about on any given day.
Other than that! Yeah, people are rarely just hangin' around to put on a pity party. If you've made RP friends, there's a pretty high chance that they've enjoyed something of yours they've seen. Nobody expects perfection on a daily basis. Even professional writers have supremely shitty days where they can't write anything coherent to save their lives.
