Is my writing intimidating?

[SexyVita]

So, um... I know my writing is good. Many people have told me so, so I'm not basing this solely on my own (often less than humble) opinion. I don't claim to be publish-worthy because I've simply never tried and honestly, I'm not sure I want writing to turn into a job. But something that's been bothering me for awhile. In a place like this, is it sometimes a disadvantage to be too good? And more specifically, does my writing intimate others? So I thought I might ask all y'all for an informal poll.

Take a look at the two posts linked below. Both of these were written recently when my muse was totally on fire (like to the tune of 2100 words for one of them!). Imagine as you do that you are my writing partner.

• Would you be afraid that you would disappoint me if your writing was not as good as mine?
• Would you feel like you had to somehow compete with or at least match my insanely long posts?
• Do I use words that you don't understand or had to look up in the dictionary? (actually been accused of this, once or twice)

I'm not looking to boost my ego here (trust me, it's big enough already), but I really want to know.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you'll look at my posts and give me your honest opinion.

Vita

The Last Fucking Angel On Earth with Vail_Indigo

A female being from the eternal realms is exiled to Earth after all her other brothers and sisters choose the losing side in the celestial rebellion and become sucubi and incubi. She's wandered the Earth for millennia now living out a shadow of her former purpose among the hurting children of man. But she's still hurting herself, unable to truly heal from the wounds inflicted on her when she was cast out of the eternal realm. Something is about to change, something big, she can sense it, but she has no idea what it will be...

The Curse of the Nentir Vale Erotic D&D with RawDog33

Arastina Hardwood, naïve elf maiden and newly minted Journeyman Questing Wizard, believes she has what it takes to become the greatest Questing Wizard the world has ever seen! Little does she know the dark perils she will face, BDSM in the dungeon, gangbangs with orcs, massive troll bukkake, slimy outsider tentacles, and kinky beholder mind control maybe be just of few of the obstacles separating her from her dreams. But who said achieving your dreams couldn't be fun?

 

[jaF0]

A female being from the eternal realms is exiled to Earth after all her other brothers and sisters choose the loosing side in the celestial rebellion and become sucubi and incubi. She's wandered the Earth for millennia now living out a shadow of her former purpose among the hurting children of man. But she's still hurting herself, unable to truly heal from the wounds inflicted on her when she was cast out of the eternal realm. Something is about to change, something big, she can sense it, but she has no idea what it will be...

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I know for certain that there have been a couple of times where I have lost a partner the moment that I write a really strong and detailed opening post. He clicks it, he reads and instantly bails because he feels that he can't match it.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

I’ve written with partners who were definitely better writers than I am, and I feel like it’s a great way for me to help myself rise toward their level. In my opinion, being so afraid of not being the better writer in the thread that you bail is a character flaw. But either way, it’s definitely not your problem.

I will say that if I were your co-writer, that post length might prompt a conversation about what you expect from me in length and frequency, but as the party with concerns, it would be my job to start that conversation, not yours. And if your expectations for me weren’t higher than what I thought I could manage, there would be no problem.

Tl,dr: I say you do you

 

[SexyVita]

Oh heck, even I make the occasional typo. LOL

 

[SexyVita]

I’ve written with partners who were definitely better writers than I am, and I feel like it’s a great way for me to help myself rise toward their level. In my opinion, being so afraid of not being the better writer in the thread that you bail is a character flaw. But either way, it’s definitely not your problem.

Well said. I know for certain that I've written with people over the years that are better than I. I owe a lot of them for pushing me to be a better writer.

I will say that if I were your co-writer, that post length might prompt a conversation about what you expect from me in length and frequency,...

See and that's the thing. I really don't expect that my writing partner is going to write a post of 2100 words. Heck, I don't expect that of myself, it just... happens sometimes when I'm really fired up. Not to mention, both of these examples are introduction posts for the characters, so once I really get into interaction with another character, 2100 words would be way, way too much unless something really unusual was happening to my character.

...but as the party with concerns, it would be my job to start that conversation, not yours. And if your expectations for me weren’t higher than what I thought I could manage, there would be no problem.

I agree, but it seems that I've had people bail on me in the past because they were not willing to have that conversation.

Tl,dr: I say you do you

And so I shall! *flounces away saucily*

 

[SexyVita]

I know for certain that there have been a couple of times where I have lost a partner the moment that I write a really strong and detailed opening post. He clicks it, he reads and instantly bails because he feels that he can't match it.

I've never been for sure. I think this has happened a couple of times, but I've never known for certain, sometimes other things happen. But I certainly have a strong suspicion in a few cases.

 

[SexyVita]

Writing with people who are better than I am makes me work harder, and I love it. Honestly, I'm a markedly better writer now for trying to shine for my partners.

Good to have that perspective from the woman who has to follow my insane 2100+ word post. LOL

P.S. I can't wait, I'm so excited!

 

[VampiricTouch]

I only read your Fallen Angel thread.
No. I don’t think it’s intimidating. It’s just long. Length does not equate intimidation for me.

It’s an opening post. Which means you’re trying to set your character development. Sometimes you will get opportunities in future interactions to establish character but that depends on your story goals and co-writer. (Which. Might I add, Vail is amazing, and nothing intimidates that bad ass woman)

Other times... you may not get another chance to establish the “self” once another character gets mixed in.

There are times when you and the opposite character may go posts before encountering each other... then you have plenty of chances to break up a giant wall of text to establish yourself. But if you’re dropping straight into the fray... your opening might be the only chance. (Short of some flash back vignetting)

 

[Veroe]

I've had lots of people say I'm pretty good too (not trying to boast about that here though), but I don't think it's very accurate to say that. It's much more accurate to say that in the areas I write well in I write very well. In areas outside of those that someone else may excel in I can struggle with. For example: I'm not very good at writing in the brief one paragraph style of posts, but there are some writers that do amazing work using that style of post length. That's only the tip of the iceberg too. There are writers that excel at prose and description but struggle to write natural sounding dialogue that flows with narrative beats to propel the plot forward.

All that is to say every writer has their strengths and every writer has their weaknesses.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I've never been for sure. I think this has happened a couple of times, but I've never known for certain, sometimes other things happen. But I certainly have a strong suspicion in a few cases.

Oh, in one case where I was playing a vulnerable character in story with elements of coercion, my partner ended it (scene 2, somewhere around post 40) and told me that my character felt too real and that it made him feel creepy in the role, so could not continue.

I had another partner once rave about my opener and tell me that he would need time to come up with something worthy as he was worried that he might not be able to. He then ghosted. So yea, he was intimidated ... and it wasn't due to length as I think I was only in the 600-800 word range.

So yea, there's two confirmed off the top of my head. I know that there are more.

I don't think that I've ever written with anyone who wrote better than me. I've had a couple who write roughly as good and I've certainly had more than a few partners show me up here and there, or outdo me in one single aspect or another - which I love because it exposes my weak spots and where I'm slacking and forces me to up my game and round out my style.

 

[cgraven]

SexyVita I read your "The Curse of the Nentir Vale" and found it most interesting not intimating.

I have been writing here at Lit for quite sometime and have written with partners that were better than I, some not as good, and others that were on a par with my writing.

The important thing is that a post sets a mood and advances the story. The length of the post should have this in mind, it should reveal something about the writer's character, their thoughts, fears, and longings. These are all things that create a reaction in the character and reveal so much about them. I find that one or two line posts fail to do this or to capture the imagination, something that all good writing should do.

 

[SexyVita]

SexyVita I read your "The Curse of the Nentir Vale" and found it most interesting not intimating.

Thank you, you're most kind.

The important thing is that a post sets a mood and advances the story. The length of the post should have this in mind, it should reveal something about the writer's character, their thoughts, fears, and longings. These are all things that create a reaction in the character and reveal so much about them. I find that one or two line posts fail to do this or to capture the imagination, something that all good writing should do.

Well, I can completely agree with you on that one. 1 or 2 lines is just saying you didn't care enough to work harder. That might be fine if you were RPing via IM or something like that, but in a forum where people aren't always connected and can rarely respond instantly? You have to put in more effort or it just isn't worth it.

Vita

 

[cgraven]

Post by IM I find are always short lived and seldom have any depth to the posts. Normally it is just slam bank thank you mam, no real story or plot.

 

[Obuzeti]

Constructive criticism follows. Consider yourself warned.

~*~​

It's not so much intimidating as it is blocky and poorly separated. You're producing a wall-of-text effect accidentally, I think, because you're used to solo writing and RP is a completely different beast with different goals. When you're writing RP, you basically always want to be doing one of two things:

1: Giving the other writer something to respond to;

2: Giving the other writer concrete details, worldbuilding, something to invest them in the world you're creating.

Let's take Last Fucking Angel, for example. You have, effectively, four paragraphs of actual material that your partner could respond to (beginning at where you describe your character's appearance and outfit post-shower); everything before that, the dream sequence, the passage in bed, the running and contemplation, they can't interact with that, or have their character know anything about. It's pretty, but for what? This doesn't make your post bad, but it does make it take a lot of effort - and very few people do RP to challenge themselves. We're here to have fun, relax, play with some words, and maybe get off to some smut, right? But if you're dropping what feels like homework on your cowriter, they're very likely to just split rather than struggle with it.

You have what I call Tolkien syndrome: you're frontloading information about the universe you want to set up, telling all about your character's conflict with God, her fall from Heaven, how she's different from a person all in the first post. That's a lot to read through, and it's a classic problem for fantasy or sci-fi writers, where you want to just skip through all the basics and get to writing with the characters. Remember to let your cowriter and your readers enjoy the magic of discovering something strange and different; splice it in a little at a time, let it be mysterious, let them wonder about it. Don't hand them a pamphlet with the tour info of your universe right out the gate and expect them to be amazed, is what I'm saying.

You also do italics for thought, which I personally recommend against. You're writing in third person distant, slipping into first person contemplation, which is a jarring shift. If your character was speaking her thoughts out loud, imagine how awkward all the quotation marks would be. This is also a pretty direct case of telling, not showing; how could you show your character's train of thought without having to directly tell the reader what's going through her brain? Is there some combination of body language, of acts, of compulsive, defensive behavior that could communicate her unease instead?

Lastly, I would argue that writers go through a bell curve of writing length as they grow in talent - first they expand, write more and more, and then they learn how to contract, how to edit their writing down to the finest, purest nuggets of thought and sensation, where your writing crackles with energy. That said, I'm a disciple of Hemingway when it comes to writing style, and you're on a different bandwagon, something closer to Faulkner.

 

[SexyVita]

Constructive criticism follows. Consider yourself warned.

LOL! I'm always up for constructive criticism. I'd be a pretty piss-poor writer if I was not! Every writer needs a good critic (or several, preferably).

When you're writing RP, you basically always want to be doing one of two things:

1: Giving the other writer something to respond to;

2: Giving the other writer concrete details, worldbuilding, something to invest them in the world you're creating.

Agreed.

Let's take Last Fucking Angel, for example. You have, effectively, four paragraphs of actual material that your partner could respond to (beginning at where you describe your character's appearance and outfit post-shower); everything before that, the dream sequence, the passage in bed, the running and contemplation, they can't interact with that, or have their character know anything about. It's pretty, but for what?

OK, so here I sort of disagree with you. I definitely understand your point, that the other person's character cannot know any of what passes before the last few paragraphs, however, this story was a rare case where I did not have a lot of back and forth with my cowriter prior to starting. Call that a fault on my part, I could accept that, but things being as they were, I wanted to set a stage and a tone for the story that I felt would be useful for my writing partner in fashioning her own character.

...but it does make it take a lot of effort - and very few people do RP to challenge themselves. We're here to have fun, relax, play with some words, and maybe get off to some smut, right? But if you're dropping what feels like homework on your cowriter, they're very likely to just split rather than struggle with it.

Now here I again I'll actually agree with you. In my experience you're right, most people here (on Lit, I mean) are exactly as you say, they're here for a bit of fun and are not looking to stretch themselves as RPers or as writers. That said, the key words in your post are very few. There are a few gems here who work to stretch themselves and produce better writing as a result. And in my opinion that effort is worth it regardless of the subject matter. Better written porn isn't just better written, it's better porn. Regardless of what anyone thinks of the current state of my writing, I do endeavor to make it better, and I try to carefully choose writing partners who are doing the same.

You have what I call Tolkien syndrome: you're frontloading information about the universe you want to set up, telling all about your character's conflict with God, her fall from Heaven, how she's different from a person all in the first post. That's a lot to read through, and it's a classic problem for fantasy or sci-fi writers, where you want to just skip through all the basics and get to writing with the characters. Remember to let your cowriter and your readers enjoy the magic of discovering something strange and different; splice it in a little at a time, let it be mysterious, let them wonder about it. Don't hand them a pamphlet with the tour info of your universe right out the gate and expect them to be amazed, is what I'm saying.

Point taken, I've certainly done what you suggest in other RPs and stories that I have done, letting the reader (and often myself!) gradually discover things about the character. I'm not sure exactly why I felt compelled to cram as much as I did into that first post for Last Fucking Angel other than what I mentioned before about setting the stage. That and my muse was on fire and wouldn't seem to let me get away with less. I should probably have let Critical Editor Bitch out of her cage to have a go at it after my muse was finished. LOL

You also do italics for thought, which I personally recommend against. You're writing in third person distant, slipping into first person contemplation, which is a jarring shift. If your character was speaking her thoughts out loud, imagine how awkward all the quotation marks would be. This is also a pretty direct case of telling, not showing; how could you show your character's train of thought without having to directly tell the reader what's going through her brain? Is there some combination of body language, of acts, of compulsive, defensive behavior that could communicate her unease instead?

Duly noted. I'm generally in favor of showing, not telling. I'm not sure I'll change what I'm doing with her thoughts, but I'll at least consider it.

Lastly, I would argue that writers go through a bell curve of writing length as they grow in talent - first they expand, write more and more, and then they learn how to contract, how to edit their writing down to the finest, purest nuggets of thought and sensation, where your writing crackles with energy. That said, I'm a disciple of Hemingway when it comes to writing style, and you're on a different bandwagon, something closer to Faulkner.

I don't doubt that you're right here. As I recall, as much as I loved Lord of the Rings as a child, I kept wishing Tolkien would stop spending two pages describing every little detail and just get on with the story. I mean, we probably have his descriptiveness to thank for so many depictions of Middle Earth being so similar, anf for all the great background material, but think how much more action there could have been! Each LOTR book would have needed two movies!

Obuzeti, thank you for your criticism. Whether it makes me a better writer or not remains to be seen, but at least it's given me some things to think about.

Vita

 

[SexyVita]

Post by IM I find are always short lived and seldom have any depth to the posts. Normally it is just slam bank thank you mam, no real story or plot.

Overall, I agree, but I have done a few RPs this way over many IM sessions that still managed to have plot and depth.

 

[SexyVita]

Oh, in one case where I was playing a vulnerable character in story with elements of coercion, my partner ended it (scene 2, somewhere around post 40) and told me that my character felt too real and that it made him feel creepy in the role, so could not continue.

In one way that's sort of a backhanded complement, like... "You're too good." but in another way I might see that as a legitimate concern for certain types of stories. I'm not sure I'd personally want to write with someone who felt perfectly comfortable taking advantage of a vulnerable person. I'm not saying you did anything wrong in your writing, but some people can only carry the fantasy so far.

I had another partner once rave about my opener and tell me that he would need time to come up with something worthy as he was worried that he might not be able to. He then ghosted. So yea, he was intimidated ... and it wasn't due to length as I think I was only in the 600-800 word range.

I try to be clear with my partners from the beginning as to what I expect. Despite the insane examples I posted here, generally 2-4 paragraphs is about what I post and about what I expect. Beyond that, if you can spellcheck, proof your own work (or have someone else do it) and tell a decent story, it's a win. (Don't mean to suggest you don't do this, just saying what I do.)

I don't think that I've ever written with anyone who wrote better than me. I've had a couple who write roughly as good and I've certainly had more than a few partners show me up here and there, or outdo me in one single aspect or another - which I love because it exposes my weak spots and where I'm slacking and forces me to up my game and round out my style.

I've definitely had the honor of writing with authors that were better writers and storytellers than I was. I've had writing partners take stories in directions that I would never have anticipated and that were way better than anything I had come up with. To me that is the really exciting thing about RP as opposed to solo storytelling. I can tell an OK story, but throw the right someone into the right story and it turns out 10 times better.

Vita

 

[Obuzeti]

LOL! I'm always up for constructive criticism. I'd be a pretty piss-poor writer if I was not! Every writer needs a good critic (or several, preferably).

I appreciate that, but you'd be amazed how many people explode at basic disagreement, much less criticism. Volatile is the mind of the writer at work.

OK, so here I sort of disagree with you. I definitely understand your point, that the other person's character cannot know any of what passes before the last few paragraphs, however, this story was a rare case where I did not have a lot of back and forth with my cowriter prior to starting. Call that a fault on my part, I could accept that, but things being as they were, I wanted to set a stage and a tone for the story that I felt would be useful for my writing partner in fashioning her own character.

That's why I said it's not necessarily, bad, just something that imposes a lot of effort on your partner. Some partners will appreciate the material; some won't. That comes down to partner preference. I'll fully admit this is my own writing style coming to the fore; I write almost exclusively third person limited in my RPs, which means everything is either setting that someone can see, or things they can respond to immediately. Take my stylistic advice with a pinch of salt (which you're already doing) because we have such different takes.

Point taken, I've certainly done what you suggest in other RPs and stories that I have done, letting the reader (and often myself!) gradually discover things about the character. I'm not sure exactly why I felt compelled to cram as much as I did into that first post for Last Fucking Angel other than what I mentioned before about setting the stage. That and my muse was on fire and wouldn't seem to let me get away with less. I should probably have let Critical Editor Bitch out of her cage to have a go at it after my muse was finished. LOL

If I had to guess, you probably wrote this really late at night and hit Post the moment you felt like you were done, because you have that very characteristic "throat-clearing" going on in your first page or so, where you spill background information about the universe almost ambiently as you set up your character. It's an issue that gets more acute when you're doing these long-lived characters, because they have so much history and are probably tied into a lot of why the background is what it is. My best advice is to remember these old-as-dirt characters have probably explained themselves and their circumstances dozens of times by present day, and have most likely gotten real tired of the repetition.

Duly noted. I'm generally in favor of showing, not telling. I'm not sure I'll change what I'm doing with her thoughts, but I'll at least consider it.

I will say this: if you decide to keep italicized thought, you probably want to treat it as if it's in quotation marks, since your character is effectively talking to themselves (especially given the perspective shift). Either start a new paragraph when you add those thoughts in, or end your paragraph with them; don't sprinkle them halfway through, the same as you'd do with dialogue in order to keep conversations neatly separated.

I don't doubt that you're right here. As I recall, as much as I loved Lord of the Rings as a child, I kept wishing Tolkien would stop spending two pages describing every little detail and just get on with the story. I mean, we probably have his descriptiveness to thank for so many depictions of Middle Earth being so similar, anf for all the great background material, but think how much more action there could have been! Each LOTR book would have needed two movies!

Tolkien was writing before there was effective criticism on how to write fantasy or sci-fi; proper novel-writing you could get editors for, but he was charging unplotted territory. He draws a lot of stylistic influence from Viking sagas and Old English epics, which very much had to set up the world they explored because their target audience was people that straight up just didn't read anything else (and was meant to be told orally, to boot), or pulp fiction like Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's also worth noting he was writing for audiences considerably less used to flexing their imaginations then we are today; his only contemporary authors in fantasy would have been C.S. Lewis, Lovecraft, Robert Howard's Conan, and the various genre magazine short story collections like Weird Tales. Justification, at the time, was much more required.

Obuzeti, thank you for your criticism. Whether it makes me a better writer or not remains to be seen, but at least it's given me some things to think about.

Vita

Glad to have been of help, if indeed I was.

 

[SexyVita]

Tolkien was writing before there was effective criticism on how to write fantasy or sci-fi; proper novel-writing you could get editors for, but he was charging unplotted territory. He draws a lot of stylistic influence from Viking sagas and Old English epics, which very much had to set up the world they explored because their target audience was people that straight up just didn't read anything else (and was meant to be told orally, to boot), or pulp fiction like Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's also worth noting he was writing for audiences considerably less used to flexing their imaginations then we are today; his only contemporary authors in fantasy would have been C.S. Lewis, Lovecraft, Robert Howard's Conan, and the various genre magazine short story collections like Weird Tales. Justification, at the time, was much more required.

That's a very good point, in fact, the modern popularity of many of the thematic elements, races, etc., from LOTR can probably be laid pretty firmly at Tolkien's doorstep. I'm not saying he invented, well... really any of them, but he certainly brought elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, trolls, wizards, magic rings, heroic swords, adventuring parties, and heroic quests all together in a popular way in the modern era. I mean, if C.S. Lewis had been more into mythic world-building than religious allegory, popular fantasy today might be filled more with talking animals than with elves and dwarves. LOL

So, I guess we can cut ol' J.R.R. a little slack for feeling like he had to explain an entire world to everyone from the ground up!

Vita

P.S. I can neither confirm nor deny that my post was written late at night. ('Cause my mind is like a sieve for those trivial real world details.) But it certainly would have been just like me to write it late at night. It's one of my tactics for circumventing Critical Editor Bitch. CEB goes to bed early because she loves to wake up with the sun and tell my tired ass that my writing, which I thought was hot shit at 2am, is a load of steaming horse shit. See, I told you she was a bitch. But sometimes she right, too.

P.P.S.

Glad to have been of help, if indeed I was.

I think you just might have been.

 

[CoffeeInPA]

You're writing is good

...sometimes people just can't keep up with their partner and they give up. I wouldnt blame the quality of your writing for that.

 

[SummerStar]

I consider myself fairly skilled. Not show stopping or anything, but y’know, pretty alright. I wouldn’t consider myself within touching the realm of where you’re at, and admittedly would find that intimidating. I’ve got some nice home grown social anxiety as it is, so I’m constantly wondering in what way I’m failing people on the regular though…so I’ve gotten somewhat decent and having conversations if the worry feels warranted and telling the asshole in my head to shut up if not.

That said, while intimidating, I don’t think it would scare me away entirely. If we were discussing an RP, I’d be upfront that my post length or details won’t match yours, but I will put in effort and if you’re alright with that, you seem fun as hell to write a story with.

 

[RoperTrace]

I would only be intimidated by your subject matter. Your writing is very good, but the category is not my cup of tea.

I've only ever had one partial co-writer who was also my editor. She had a degree in Literature from the U.K. She allowed me to edit one of her stories, which was a few steps above my writing level. Unfortunately, she became engaged and took her stories down, and discontinued all activity on Lit.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

No to all 3 questions you posed.

TLDS: Communication is important.



A long opening post can of course be intimidating to some, but what many people don't understand, is that the first post often HAS to be long, because it's setting the stage for everything. It's similar to why posts during conversations are often short.

Both long and short posts have their place in a story, and should be dictated as much by the plot as anything else.

As others have stated above, communication is also VERY important. It doesn't matter if you are actively collaborating behind the scenes or not, but it is important for both people to know what the other expects of them, preferably before the joining person makes their first post. Knowing what your partner expects of you will help you decide if you want to join the thread, apply to join the thread, or attempt it, even if they are a better/worse writer than you, or the subject material is out of your normal interests or comfort zone. They shouldn't feel the need to compete with each other for post length/detail, and shouldn't feel obligated to dumb things down for their partner. They also shouldn't feel obligated to post with a quality or frequency that is beyond their limits or capabilities.

Now, all of these things being said, if both people are communicating about such things, one or both people attempting to do one of the above things, but again not feeling obligated to, can often lead to fun and unexpected results. One person might find that they enjoy the shorter or longer posts, and the less-experienced writer may learn and grow from the experience

 

[susurrus]

I'm going to stick my nose in where nobody asked:

One of the real tricks to setting up RP (or writing it or a standalone story for that matter) is figuring out how much information to divulge at a time. I certainly agree with the comment that the setup requires a bit more explanation, particularly if you are writing in a non-modern setting. However, as has been mentioned, it usually isn't necessary to give a "meeting at Elrond's" treatment, where an attempt is made to explain everything all at once. Your characters live in this world, but let it be revealed to the reader as it comes.

Easier said than done...

But the comment has been made that yet another trick to RP is to give your writing partner something to work with. Sometimes they pick up on it, sometimes they don't. There have been any number of times that I've thought of the path I thought my partner would take it, and quite often have been surprised when they haven't gone in that direction. It's part of the fun, in my opinion, the "thinking on your feet" aspect of it. Yes, I'm one of the oddballs who generally doesn't mind the challenge, as long as we're both having fun and I'm working with someone who's giving me something to work with, even if it isn't what I expected.

Oh, and something else, that I don't know has been addressed yet (I'll admit I've only scanned this thread, reading bits and pieces of it): There are times for long posts, there are times where only a line or two will be appropriate. It's something you don't know until you get there. Not every post needs to be forty pages.

I like to think I'm a fairly decent writer. No master by any means, but... Several people over the years have approached me to say they've read my work both on RP and the main site and wanted to write with me. Many were fine writers themselves. Not all. I'll generally write with anyone. I do what I do, regardless of their level, and let them write to theirs. As long as they have good ideas and can keep the story moving, disparate abilities shouldn't matter a whole lot.

I don't know if anything I've said actually pertains to the initial question. If I should have kept my big mouth shut, please forgive my intrusion.