I've been roleplaying a long, long time now, only really got into it for fandom rp on LJ/GJ/DW, etc. If I go back and reread some of the first logs I ever did, I cringe at first, but then it goes to "Wow, I've actually come pretty far in this craft!"
For me, because I know that "He said/She said" gets old in a written format (and I did that a lot when I first started out rping/writing,) I try my hardest to use other descriptive words to match the feeling of the scene. Is this character exasperated at the whole ordeal? She's going to say this with a marked heavy sigh to show that. Stuff like that. I'll try to go back over and read what I've written too so I don't do the "Though she did this, though" trap (I still do it on occasion and I mentally go "NOOOOOOOO why did I do that" if it gets late and I'm starting to feel the need for sleep.) Other things are minor like that, mainly, where I try to substitute words here and there so writing doesn't get too stale. I don't abuse the thesaurus, but I do employ it every so often to change things up.
It's the little things that I do that make me want to try to be better. If you can isolate your weaknesses, you can improve on them while improving your craft overall. It's a win/win situation.
For me, because I know that "He said/She said" gets old in a written format (and I did that a lot when I first started out rping/writing,) I try my hardest to use other descriptive words to match the feeling of the scene. Is this character exasperated at the whole ordeal? She's going to say this with a marked heavy sigh to show that. Stuff like that. I'll try to go back over and read what I've written too so I don't do the "Though she did this, though" trap (I still do it on occasion and I mentally go "NOOOOOOOO why did I do that" if it gets late and I'm starting to feel the need for sleep.) Other things are minor like that, mainly, where I try to substitute words here and there so writing doesn't get too stale. I don't abuse the thesaurus, but I do employ it every so often to change things up.
It's the little things that I do that make me want to try to be better. If you can isolate your weaknesses, you can improve on them while improving your craft overall. It's a win/win situation.
