Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas. Time to open up your presents and see if you won that big contenders match, with the winner getting a shot at the X-mas X-treme title.You click on your e-Fed’s website and scroll down to find the results link. Wait a minute? What’s this? You lost? But you wrote 3 killer RP’s that torn your opponent a new corn shoot. You trashed the guy into the mat, calling him every name you could think of, and you eloquently explained to the fans at ringside, why you were the better wrestler. How could you have lost when all your opponent did, was one medium sized RP where he talked to his road manager in a bus station? How? How? How? Welcome, to stage two, of your budding e-fed career.

Ninety-nine percent of the Rper’s out there that start off without any e-fed friends to guide them, start off writing the same basic type of roleplay… the “in-the-ring-trash-talk-promo”. You’ve seen the ones. It’s where some guy’s intro music hits, and he/she strolls down to ringside, he grabs a mic and bad mouths his competition. He may even spice things up with some colorful and meaningful insights about the nature of man and relate it to his upcoming match. After some more insults and some rebuttal of what may or may not have been said, he drops the mic, and exits the ring. All the while his intro music kicks in again, and the scene fades to black. Well, that’ll only get you so far. After a while, and a look or two at other feds, players start to realize something… these types of RP’s do not win very often, especially World Titles. So, when something isn’t working any longer, the best thing to do, is to move on to something that does. Again I say, welcome to stage two.

Stage two, consists of employing the following into your roleplays, “THEME” “CHARACTERS” and “SETTING”. It can best be explained by examining the Christmas tale called, “A Christmas Carol” The theme of the story would be, it’s never too late to learn the spirit of Christmas. The characters would be Mr. Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas. The setting, would be the past present and future. The story and the underlaying message could not be delivered to the audience without all three concepts. Trash talk RP’s that occur in the ring, have only one of these, settings, and churn it out over and over again. Any theme the wrestler produces in the ring, is lost because it has not been properly displayed and portrayed. Would you watch “A Christmas Carol” if Mr. Scrooge was shown in his bedroom the whole time and he was talking directly to the camera? Didn’t think so. Well, that’s what you’d get if you took out his supporting characters and did not change his setting to fit the theme.

An effective theme, must be in place before anything else is done in a roleplay. It’s the whole message you are trying to send to your readers. Some examples of a theme would be:

A) To retort against what your opponent has already posted.

B) To show strength tempered with patience, prevails time after time

C) To illustrate how the darkness has given you the power you need to succeed.

It’s the whole reason you are writing the roleplay in the first place. There has to be a reason you are speaking up, otherwise you are just babbling for the sake of babbling.

Characters are needed, because they bring to the story/roleplay elements that the main character does not possess themselves. They can ask the questions that only the wrestler can answer and bring up subjects that need to be addressed. How your wrestlers interacts with them, as well as who they are in the first place, tells a lot about your wrestler and adds depth and character to an otherwise, one dimensional ring-talker. Make sure each character in the roleplay thou, is there for a reason, and not just as a sidekick. These people are supposedly living people with lives away from your character. Having a reason to be in the roleplay is just as important as the main character having a reason to be there. Since these characters are most effective when they are believable, living persons, have a semi-written background on supporting characters handy.

Settings give your roleplay that extra edge it needs to be effective. Choosing the wrong place to hold a dialogue distracts from what is being said. But choosing the right setting, not only adds to what is being said, but remains in the back of a readers mind, and gives your words more impact. Imagine talking about the inner demons that you keep in check, so as not to kill people in the ring… while out fishing in a row boat. Boring! But have the same conversation while sitting in a truck, staring at families playing in the park and thoughts of unspoken urges and slaying the innocent, will stain every sentence the wrestler utters. The setting you choose should be for a very specific reason and should add to the message you are trying to tell. Never, ever, have something occur somewhere, just for the sake of getting them out of the ring.

Now you know “what” you have to write… the trick now, is “how” to go about doing that. Well, sorry sports freaks but I’m not going to get into how to write themes, characters or settings effectively.I believe, it would be better experience for e-fedders to battle with that on their own. Finding out what works, and what doesn’t, helps you grow as a roleplay writer. Who knows, if you get good enough, someday you may even be ready for stage three.