The Vyshe Academia

First of all, whilst we all know what a plot is, I want to give one or two definitions of the word:

dictionary.com Unabridged Dictionary wrote:Also called storyline. The plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.

And, also found on dictionary.com, is a quote from the Pope (though which Pope, it does not say), and I think this sums up a plot perfectly:

Pope wrote:In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.

If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before.

So, from the both of these, we see that the plot is the actual story of the particular piece, in our specific case, the story of the roleplay. This story is comprised of a multitude of events/"incidents" that meld together, and occur gradually to make a progression. The end of the plot, the end of the story (a roleplay is, after all, only a story) must be consequential to what has happened previously. An example, I suppose, would be a disaster movie:

Picture the scene for a moment, if you will; a peaceful sort of town sits at the foot of a mountain, or what people had thought to be a mountain. One day, the mountain explodes, and the people realise it was, in fact, a dormant volcano. The massive sea of lava slowly coming towards them must somehow be stopped, or all the townsfolk will be killed and left homeless. Yep, a pretty stereotypical scenario, but it works.

Now, the first hour and fifty-five minutes of the film are spent building up to the main event, introducing characters, showing how they react and deal with the impending doom, and finally, the sea of lava, after some unavoidable damage to the town, is stopped, and everyone lives. There is no romance in the movie. Now, imagine if the last five minutes of the movie showed 'Mayor Johnson' and 'Betty Smithson' getting married.

It'd be entirely ridiculous, no? There is no relation to the rest of the movie, and is portrayed as simply senseless. I can imagine what the critics would say. Oh boy, they would have so much fun!

Whilst there are perhaps obvious links to roleplay there, we need to consider the difference between roleplay and a normal piece of fiction. In a book, there is generally only one author who takes control of all aspects of the story, the characters, and the events that occur. Roleplaying, however, is collaborative in a sense... We each are contributing to the story with our characters, but we only have control over those characters. We cannot dictate the actions of others' characters, nor what they do.

So, whilst we may have plans for the plot, and what we want to happen in both a character specific, and general sense, the only control we have is on a post by post basis. And when we write our posts, we not only need to consider that which we have written previously, but also that others have written. Essentially, we have control only of our own characters, but are dictated by all the other players as well.
A perfect example of this would be if Player A, in his post, states that his character is outside, wearing a pair of shorts and a vest and a few clouds are in the sky. Player B may, in her post, whilst being in the same city, comment that the windows of her character's chamber began to mist as rain started to fall outside. This is perfectly reasonable, as clouds allude to a possibility of rain. Player A, now, is left with no choice but to react to the rain, and feel rather sorry for his character.

Player A, whether intending to or not, gave a nice potential prompt with the clouds, Player B made a response by saying it started to rain. Now, Player A must make a response to the prompt of the rain. He could, of course, ignore it, and have his scantily clad character continue on like nothing has happened. But, wouldn't that be like the wedding in our disaster movie?

The simpler way to explain this would be: The plot ends with each post, your prompts are simply openings for sequels.

Why is this so? Let me recount the quote of our nameless Pope from dictionary.com:

Nameless Pope wrote:the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before.

By the end of our posts, everything that happened needs to make sense. And on what is the sense built? The posts before. Therefore, think of each post as simply an episode in a TV series. Each episode is focusing on a different character, and each character gets his or her own director and writer for the episode in which they are the focus. The series has a rough idea of plot, and each episode is sequential.

If we consider this when posting, things will go much more smoothly. But, what can we do in an IC sense to make this possible? Leave your posts as open ended as possible. Example: Four players have their characters in a room, not necessarily already engaged in interaction, and one of the players moves his character to another room. Or rather, wants to. Rather than moving to the room, why not have your character move to enter the next room. It's alluded that you enter, but if someone wants to interrupt your character, they can do so. If no one in the room interacts with your character, you can then continue as though, in your previous post, you had actually moved into the room.
This moves us on to the next thing you can do in an IC sense to help the plot develop as smoothly as possible. Or rather, not do. Don't take too many actions per post. Sure, if you're in a wilderness where there isn't another living soul for a hundred miles, do as you please. However, if in, let's say, a crowded bazaar, don't have your character look through various items on display, speak to the owner, go back to look again, speak to an assistant, go back to the owner for more conversation, reinvestigate another item, then buy something else, all in one post. Especially if there are other players' characters in the bazaar. Maybe one of the other player-characters (PCs) would give their own recommendations, or would offer barter for an item they also wanted, that same item you bought. None of this could be done if your post finishes up all of your business in the bazaar. Also, whilst that is happening, the other character is left redundant for however long (in an IC sense) your character takes. Consider a book: All the characters are moving/interacting at the same time. We need to enable this in a collaborative piece of writing also.
For simple continuity, ensure that PCs and NPCs (non-player-characters) remain consistent with both the setting of the RP as a whole, and also the more specific setting within the game at that time. In a busy city, the capital city of a wealthy, money-centric nation renowned for hard bargains and trade deals that have more advantage for themselves than is credulous, the workers of a busy, well known, reputable inn would not give food or drink to someone obviously without money. The break in a predetermined trait will create inconsistencies that make no sense at all, especially if such uncharacteristic actions are without explanation.

So, OOCly, what can we do as players, outside of any character, exclusive of any IC elements, to make sure the plot moves forward smoothly?
First let's discuss a rule already put in place for this RP - Speed posting. Why is this put in place? It is actually very similar to the point made above about doing too many actions in one post. It is important to consider that not all players can be online at the same time, or for the same amount of time as others, and two (or more) people posting a whole series of events in the space of a couple of hours can easily become very restricting on the player who may only get online when the others are asleep, or gets only the time for a post in the morning, and one in the evening. I put that rule in place for this game as a pre-emptive move against what is a prevalent problem on Gateway at the moment, but we need to discuss another aspect of it in exploring what we can do to help plot.
This is, in essence, another form of speed posting, and whilst acceptable if your character is alone in the middle of nowhere, it isn't really so if your character is within a confined space where other players have situated their characters. Each player needs an equal chance to post, so whilst the speed posting rule applies only to two players, we need also to consider the effects of maybe singular or multiple people posting a series of posts that leaves another player 'trapped' by those posts. Example: Four players are in a single room, perhaps a ballroom. Player A posts, followed by Player B, then Player C and finally Player D. Player B posts again, as does Player D, then Player C. A Player E posts (whose character is elsewhere in the RP) only to once again be followed by Player C. Poor Player A has not only six posts to respond to, but is somewhat trapped by those six posts, limiting what his post can actually contain, and what actions his character can take. Perhaps Players B through D should have waited for him? I reckon so.
Try also to keep your writing clear. The other players need to understand what happened in your post so they are able to respond accordingly. This point, I think, doesn't need any elaboration, so I will leave it at that.

If these principles are taken into account, you can be sure plot will move with a smooth continuity that will only serve to improve your roleplay, in both active participation, and passive observance perspectives.