[Talk] Joint Posts

[Eleanor]

Joint Posts, JPs: when you write a single post together with one or more people. Usually done on collaborative Google Docs, by taking turns when writing, "booping" each other to oblivion, and waiting a long time because timezones and real life errands are evil

If you've roleplayed in one of the latest threads on the forums, you've probably had this wondrous experience already, but it's just as likely (and valid) if you haven't! But in any case, I thought we could use a thread to talk all things about Joint Posts. How would you normally organize these and for which occasions? What has been one of your favorite joint posts to write in, and what did you put your characters through then? And if you haven't tried to do this yet, how do you feel about these posts in general? Do they sound interesting to try and write in?

I will say, these posts can be quite hard to get right, both when it comes to organizing the writing process and coming up with a nice final product. But they're heaps of fun most of the time! They have the potential to be some of the most interesting posts you can work on during a roleplay, and are a great way to make friends! I'm not sure if everyone thinks the same and I have reasons to believe many people may dislike joint posts in certain, specific situations, but... that's what the thread is for, right? Let's roll in the answers, shall we ♥

 

[Groc]

I'm quite fond of JPs, both for large groups and smaller one-on-one's. They hearken back to call and response posts like what was popular here years back, or Discord RP in general, but a more polished version. You can have short responses without interrupting the flow, you can give a general vibe of a scene and move on if you're stuck on details and finish those later, and you can have large group interactions without anyone being left behind, because they can always go back and add themselves in afterwards. That wasn't possible with the back-and-forth posts.

I've had JPs where my writing partner and I are able to sit down and write a whole scene together in an afternoon, and that's good fun! It's a rush to get all that writing done, and to have a friend along the whole time. But I've also had JPs that take longer, filling in bits and pieces when we have time. Those are just as valid, and it's still writing! Sometimes I only have 20 minutes to write on a lunch break, but by adding to the JP I still feel like I got something done.

Sure, it's not all gumdrops and ice cream, I've had bad JPs, too. The usual downsides are when one or more writing partners don't add anything, or don't even check. And it happens, sometimes people just don't have the time, motivation, or ideas to write. That's fair, but it does feel bad. The terms "JP hell" and "ghosting" are often used to describe being left hanging, and sometimes that adds pressure to writing, feeling bad for leaving something stuck because you didn't or couldn't contribute. But this is the only downside to JPs I've encountered, and someone not writing will always be a hindrance to storytelling, whether solo or collaborative.

So in general, I'm a fan of JPs. The upsides far outweigh the downsides, and I've grown both as a writer and a friend through them. Another set of eyes to look over my work has been beneficial, and I've met some of my closest friends through JPing.

 

[Hyzenthlay]

It's difficult to say, because I don't think I've had any good JP experiences yet which is unfortunate - only one JP I ever took part in actually finished. ^ ^; But to be fair on those roleplayers, every RP I've been in faded out way too early, and we didn't have the convenience of Discord back then! Yeah, sadly I either kept getting ghosted, or timezones made interacting way too slow (the curse of being an Aussie RPer), or the RP died within everyone's first post, and since then my introversion has grown tenfold, so I can't even say "hey, it wasn't all bad, the real treasure was the friends I made along the way!" haha

I'm someone who likes having things clearly laid out for me before I start, and if I don't have that, I'm all over the place, which is definitely true for JPs. I need... a visual of how things will go in my head. It's not very enjoyable for me if nobody is on the same page going in and they all just add their part on a first-come, first-serve basis, although it's true that method also has its charms (I guess it feels a little more authentic actually, like real life!). The trouble then becomes me being a stubborn mule. :) I'm like the... "last person to be picked on the sports team" when it comes to group projects because I either shy away into the background not directing anything/feeling too much of a bother to ask questions, or I have a very rigid idea of what I want my character to do--which I don't like to stray from because it upsets my clearly laid plans--and that doesn't leave much consideration for the other writer(s) influencing my own character's path. Which is the whole point! So I definitely need to make changes on my end. ^^ I hear about so many magical experiences which I hope can be true for me, eventually, too!

 

[Fact Checking Gardevoir]

I only had one experience so far with Joint Posts, and not for a RP (still hoping to join one soon!), but to co-write Fairy's interview, with said Sylveon's involvement!
We relied on Pokecommunity PMs to pass the drafts back and forth to each other, until the post was ready to be published! We had lots of fun, and I certainly look forward to do this again!

 

[budube]

I love JPing... When I have the chance to do so, which honestly just happens in early game. I think it's a really fun way to flesh out some aspects of your characters, like the way they interact with other people, and it's a good way to make new friends OOC and understand other player's chars better!

I haven't really done any sort of JPing lately, though, but that's what happens when you go on hiatus for too long

 

[gimmepie]

JPing is probably my favourite way to RP. It's a lot of fun to craft a segment of the wider story with somebody else - going back and forth, tweaking things to create the narrative you want to have, figuring out what you want each character to get out of the experience etc etc. I also think it's just... better than back-and forth. Yes, it can sometimes take quite a bit longer but the quality of the writing you get as a result is pretty much always better and it reads better for other players too because it doesn't break up the flow of the RP or get messy with a bunch of different interactions constantly cutting across each other. Honestly, more power to people who like back-and-forth posting, but you couldn't pay me enough to go back to it.

I think if I sat here and listed all the JPs I really enjoyed, we'd be here for a long time. A lot of them I've already talked about anyway. So I'll just give a quick shout to the series of Spear JPs I most recently did with Foxrally. That was a fun experience because rather than having our main characters interact directly with each other, we split them up but stuck them with the other character's Pokemon before eventually bringing everyone back together. It made for some really cool story moments and was a lot of fun to write. Plus, it just wouldn't have been the same if we hadn't been able to write each segment in a longer format together.