by Parabola.
Presented by the RolePlay Gateway Mentors Team.
Hey there, people of Gateway.
I’ve been commissioned to write this article, for a moderate fee of thanks and happiness, so bear with me if I ramble at points. I’m not used to this sort of thing. But see, I’m doing it already, so I’ll get straight onto the point.
When we write multiple characters in roleplay, there are several ways that it is possible to do so. Some of them are more sophisticated than others, and some are more suited to different forms of roleplay (i.e., chat vs. Play-by-post). I’m going to try and cover three of them in this post, but I do not by any means say that they are the only three. If you have an ingenious new way of writing your multiple characters, then by all means share!
1. Multiple Points of View:
This method of writing multiple characters is perhaps the most basic. It involves swapping between characters to write out their actions, and can often make for very clumsy sounding writing. For example...
Character A walked into the room and glanced around, his hands in his pockets and a grim expression on his face. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. His eyes rested on the body in the middle of the apartment, settling on the corpse’s face and fixed expression. The pang in his chest... guilt, maybe. He detested this job, but it was necessary. He had to do it.
Character B rapped her knuckles on the door behind A, raising an eyebrow. Her partner had been staring at that corpse for half a minute now. “Come on, A.” She said, rolling her eyes, “We’re on a schedule here.”
Character A glanced over his shoulder at B and scowled. She was always so damn apathetic! It didn’t make sense, how could she be in this line of work? “I’m getting to it, god dammit.”
Character B scoffed, “Sometime this century would be good...” she murmured, yawning pointedly.
We can see that in this piece, while the characters’ actions are clearly divided, the writing reads clumsily and becomes repetitive in places; which is why often a more advanced technique is preferred. However, in chat roleplay, this can be an effective method -- both to work in conjunction with the Roleplay Tab's character tagging system, and to work more effectively with post orders. This can be a better method for more traditional roleplay, whereas the more advanced techniques are more suited to the collaborative fiction element of Play by Post.
2. Single Point of View:
In this style, you as the writer choose a single character on whom you are going to focus, and write your other characters as player-controlled NPCs. This allows your writing to flow more seamlessly, and label one character as more ‘important’. Again, an example:
Character A walked into the room and glanced around, his hands in his pockets and a grim expression on his face. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. His eyes rested on the body in the middle of the apartment, settling on the corpse’s face and fixed expression. The pang in his chest... guilt, maybe. He detested this job, but it was necessary. He had to do it.
Knock knock knock.
A’s attention was diverted by the sharp rapping sound of bone against wood coming from the doorway behind him. He straightened fully, and turned around to stare into the eyes of Character B, narrowing his own slightly.
”Come on, A. We’re on a schedule here.” B rolled her eyes – the irritating woman always saw herself as so far superior to him. It was trying, at times, to work with her. She was so damn apathetic! ! It didn’t make sense, how could she be in this line of work?
“I’m getting to it, god dammit.” He muttered, turning away from B with a scowl.
”Sometime this century would be good...” came the inevitable retort from behind him, along with a pointed yawn. God damn, that woman tested his patience far too often...
It’s obvious in this piece that the writing flows better, but you do lose the insight into the thoughts of the alternate character – though as a writer, it is possible to convey these things through their actions; a subject for another guide. Generally, though, voice tone and body language are both good ways to show emotion and thought without being inside the head of the character in question.
This method can also work with more characters; though the more characters you try to incorporate the harder it is to personify each and every one of them to as high a standard. This particular method can be used in conjunction with the first to make it fit better into different scenes; you can swap between viewpoints, but rather than only stating the actions of the person whose viewpoint you're looking in from you can move the other characters along too -- this means that you can keep the scene flowing better, whilst also giving ample insight into the characters' minds.
3. Total Third Person:
Not a particularly good name for it, but hey. This style involves writing the piece without zooming in to the point of view of any character – as an outsider looking in, without access to the characters’ detailed thoughts. As always, I find it easier to explain through example:
The room was pretty average, as rooms went. A small apartment, single window in the east wall, bedroom in the corner and various other furnishings scattered around in a disorderly fashion. Barely a hair out of place – apart from the body lying on the rug.
Footsteps were audible in the corridor a few moments prior to the door swinging open to admit the figure of a young man, dark brown hair hanging over one eye as he glanced around the room. His hands were in his pockets, and his grim expression betrayed an overhanging glumness to his mood. He paused a few steps into the room, his eyes settling on the body. He seemed particularly focused on the corpse’s facial features, frozen in deathly horror. The young man grimaced, and his hands clenched in obvious discomfort.
A swift trio of knocks announced the arrival of a second visitor; a woman with tightly cropped black hair and bright red lips. She lounged against the door frame boredly, lifting an eyebrow. “Come on, A.” She said, rolling her eyes, “We’re on a schedule here.”
A glanced over his shoulder at the woman and scowled, receiving only a mocking smirk in return. Plainly these two weren’t the best of friends – work partners, perhaps, as it seemed something forced them to associate with one another. It certainly wasn’t out of choice. “I’m getting to it, god dammit.” The man named A muttered. The woman behind him scoffed.
“Sometime this century would be good...” she murmured, yawning pointedly.
Again, we can see a step up in the sophistication of this writing. This style allows for more detailed description, and slower exposition. When you are inside one of the characters’ heads, the reader immediately has access to all the information that would be going through his or her head at the time. When they are a complete onlooker the writer can reveal information in drips and drabs, keeping the reader interested and hooked on finding out just what’s going on in the picture. This method is most suited for collaborative writing in Play by Post, or even simply for individual writing. Novels always involve multiple characters, and most usually use this method.
Well, that’s all for now – if you notice holes in this article (as I'm not the best of teachers), please feel free to fill them in yourself in reply.
