On Turn Structure

Collab writing is fun, but it's also quite challenging . . . especially when it comes to fighting. Most people new to RPing do remarkably well within their own chapters, but not so well when collabing with others. It's easy to pace, remember the details of your own characters, and work out your PC's reaction to any situation you can think of, but it becomes quite challenging when there's another person with their own ideas and characters to work alongside. Some people adapt to collabing right away and do remarkably well, and some get frustrated by the ordeal. Regardless of which category you fit into, it's my hope that this article will assist you to become a better turn writer.

In my experience, turns are comprised of three parts: Reaction, Action, and Response.

Reaction is the what your character(s) does based on the events of the previous turn. Did your character think it was funny? Was he or she shocked? Surprised? Unimpressed? Did your opponent take damage or skillfully avoid it? The first part of your turn should address these points.

Because of this, most people begin the timeframe of their turn immediately after the last action taken. However, some also like to write their character's reaction to the entire turn, from beginning to end. This idea should only be used when necessary.

Here is an example of a necessary instance: If a team of shinigami are fighting a hollow, and the hollow attacked with some sort of fireball, the first member of the shinigami team would typically write his reaction to the fireball at the beginning of the turn, then he would write the rest of his turn. Then, his teammate would post his reaction to the fireball, and then to whatever the other shinigami did before writing out the rest of his turn. And the next person would do the same. You see? Here, it's necessary because almost no one wouldn't have any reaction to a gigantic fireball coming at them.

However, this tends to ruin the flow of a collab if it's done every turn, or if the events reacted upon were mundane. If someone is speaking to another character and begins their turn by insulting their mother before going on to talk about other matters, it might be tempting for the responding writer to begin his turn by writing a response to the wisecrack. But, tends not to be a good idea, either because it amounts to a minor form of modding.

How is it modding, you ask? Well, let's look at what "modding" is in general: taking control of someone else's character without their consent. So, in this case, you're reacting to an insult. Okay, that's understandable. But, you have to remember that the previous writer elected to have his character continue speaking or acting once he or she said the insult. Would that person really let you get the last word like that and go off onto a completely unrelated subject? Wouldn't it be better to save your response until near the end of the turn, so that they can react, too?

Action is rather obvious. After your character reacts, what else did they do? In fights, this would be the time for your character to quickly shift strategies, or try to get a new positioning, or maybe unveil their secret weapon. This part of the turn can be as short as long as needed, but it should once again be about pacing. If a fight is too wordy or has too many long pauses, it can be boring to read. So, sometimes, it might be a good idea just to have your character simply use the Reaction portion of the turn to dodge, then quickly shift to offense and prepare to attack. Short, simple and to the point.

Outside of fights, though, this is usually the part of the turn that keeps the story rolling. Now that your character's reacted to the previous one, how is he/she going to contribute to what's happening? It's usually a good idea to be as proactive as you can, as that keeps the collab from stagnating for a really long time.

Response is the part of your turn where you give your partner(s) something worth reacting to. Did your character throw out an attack? Tell a joke? Introduce something new? Attempt to escape? What?

In my opinion, of all of the components of a turn, this is the least necessary but the most crucial to good collabing. If I read a turn that's nothing but a Reaction and Action, it's hard for me to figure out what to do next. If your character just sneers at my joke and walks away, what do you want me to do? Chase after him/her? Apologize? Continue laughing? WHAT?!

On top of this, a response should be short and simple. Don't complicate your counterattack with a lot of unnecessary details that will only confuse your opponent. If all you did was throw a punch, then just describe the punch and post the turn. If you convolute the resoponse with too much information, you force my Reaction to be that much longer and specific, and that hurts my creativity.


Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for the next article!