Disclaimer: Writing is art and is therefore subjective, so do not take this guide as extremely comprehensive.
Disclaimer 2: This is not a guide for GMing or DMing. Most of the techniques apply to writing a post or story.
I'm not here to talk about my life story, so here goes-
Writing can be broken down into stages.
These stages can be described as conversations. This is because early drafts or even the first line of an RP post are raw thought.
Your first conversation, therefore, will be between what you ASSUME you want on the page and your body- you will put out the first written ideas that come to your mind, in whatever style or format. This is fine. Allow yourself to write just about anything given context and so on. The mind captures scenes of writing and imagination using pictures, and often accompanies other such senses. Hence, add as much of what is ideal to your mind's sensibilities and try to describe it in the best possible way- emotion, the "five senses", etc.
This first part does unfortunately influence your writing a lot- I say unfortunately, because despite the artistic freedom and power that comes with fresh emotion and inspiration, it is easy to lose track of the scene at hand or just make subtle mistakes that turn the writing into a mess if your second nature doesn't include writing naturally.
Don't be discouraged though, as this is where the next conversation follows-
Having second thoughts - whether it be a backspace to cut out unneccessary words in seconds or a week's work of snipping away and adding in new phrases, writing will involve a more "rational" path after the initial burst. This is when you engage your mind with questions- "Is this good?" "What's this supposed to describe?" etc.
This is an excellent time to clean up your writing while your mind is still focused on that inspiration. Even if you can't see the faults that you may have left in there, reading it through while maintaining the IDEA will help find what you consider issues against the ideal scene.
As I said, writing is subjective, so it's almost impossible to write perfect text that lays itself out smoothly for every reader. But, assuming you have established a previous emotional tone in the immediate scene- you can adjust the writing to match what is happening throughout the text. Individual word placement is surprisingly significant here; compare "stab" to "gored", "ran clumsily" to "clambered".
Don't overwork yourself. If you feel satisfied or otherwise tired, stop.
Then read. After some time, take a moment to analyse your own writing. You don't necessarily have to do this for certain RP posts, as they are far shorter and easier to handle than say a page of novel, but it helps to at least look at what you've written overall. When you're ready to, have the conversation of pacing and flow. Ask more questions- Is your writing stalling? Is it flying by with little detail while hours in your universe pass unattended?
At this point, you'll do more editing than previously. For larger text, this process can be as long as the whole thing being looked over from the beginning to end. Posting can take a matter of long minutes.
So, to sum up the above:
- Write what comes out every single hole in your head
- Check the use of emotion, tone, colour, around the middle
- Make sure it flows well
Given that this is overall a piece of (nonfiction) writing, please let me know if I've helped or if this has been confusing, vague, etc. I would appreciate the time of others to improve my own work.
A distinct street lay here, a path spilling out of the formation of peasant homes and farms, which stretched endlessly beside the engorged river in a dull sea of clay, while a row of white balconies faced the dirt path, some marked by old specks of brown. Flies gathered at the bottom.