Post by greta;; on Jun 19, 2011 13:50:34 GMT -5
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
We know that looking through a site's applications can be an intimidating process, so instead of psyching you out by suggesting you go through and read all of them, we've taken the time to compile these guidelines. While we still suggest that you take a gander at the finished applications just to see what sorts of things go on here at WDOOC, this should help you along your way. It's broken into sections for organizational purposes AND for easy searching!
This isn't mandatory reading, but it can help you out, so it's suggested!
Personality
- It's hard for some people to write personalities. It's hard for us, too, but we push through like psycho wild dogs until we get it out. That, however, is our anal retentiveness. You should not feel like you have to do that. We'd like for the average personality to be somewhere around 400 words.
- Some people get disorganized when trying to personalitify their characters. This is perfectly understandable. If you don't want to do a giant info dump, you are welcome to break it into traits. At least three or four for the main body paragraphs. Just remember that, when explaining the traits, you go as in-depth as possible, since this will inevitably allow room for other things to be said.
- You will, however, still need strengths and weaknesses. Three of each. These can just be listed, though, without explanation.
- We should not be surprised by this strengths and weaknesses. If Johnny is the nicest person in the world, one of his weaknesses should not be sociopathy unless it was hinted at or talked about in the personality. They should be highlights of what we've already read or more in-depth descriptions of important points that were touched on in the main paragraphs.
History
- It's sometimes helpful to make an outline of history. It can be difficult to talk about a lot, especially if your character doesn't have anything particularly special in their life. What you have to remember, however, is that even if there are no dramatic events/deaths/etc, everything in someone's life helped contribute to who they are so there are always things to write about.
- If you're unsure of whether or not your history is in depth enough in its outline stage and don't want to start writing without positivity, feel free to send your outline to an admin! They'd be happy to give feedback before the final stage.
- History should probably be a good 4-5 paragraphs. If you have three giant paragraphs, this is also okay, however, if they are really giant, they should probably just be broken up into more paragraphs.
Appearance
- This can be fairly short and cursory. One good paragraph or two fair paragraphs sounds like a good plan. Somewhere around 200 words.
- This should include mannerisms, body type, and dress. It can also include things about their physical appearance that are not visible in the picture, i.e. their natural hair color, how they wear their makeup, what have you.
Skills
- This should probably be longer than the site word count, just to make sure you can keep up. Ideally, it would be between 300-400 words.
- It should only control one character, i.e. yours.
- It does not have to be the character in the application, but we will ask you to write one in that character if we feel that we need to.
- All characters after your first need no skill assessment :]
