What worked for me: writing up my own character's story, as it was happening alongside whatever the "cool kids" were doing at the time, and posting it in the Town Square (IC) board. I didn't stop writing when I started catching people's attention/interest, either. I kept writing, then I started getting pokes and Private Messanges and /tells from people. Then I started poking and PMing and /telling them back, asking for chances to RP with them in-game, if they would mind helping along a newb, what times would be good for them, etc.
This won't work for everyone. But it might work for some people who've tried just about everything else they can think of.
This won't work for everyone. But it might work for some people who've tried just about everything else they can think of.