Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?)
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I also try to chameleon my style somewhat to the room/my RP partner, though there’s a certain level of long that’ll never feel right for me. What I mostly try to do is read the room and, if there’s not much for my PC to bounce off of (because actually responding is the easy nub of it), at least do something that plays with a piece of characterization (like playing with what their favorite song on the jukebox is or what kind of beer they order or what have you). So even if it’s a random bar scene that doesn’t go anywhere in the moment, maybe I can build something off it for later.
I find my writing warps quite a bit depending on what I’m reading at the moment so idk that I’m particularly consistent so far as that goes.
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@IoleRae said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
For me, I try for three things with any given pose: Response, Action, Prompt. So I respond to what others pose, have my character take their action, and then a prompt to give them something to pose back, if my action doesn’t include that
This sums up my own go-to pretty well, I think. Sometimes there’s the very delicate art of knowing when to drop some parts of the conversation so your poses aren’t 90 longs long.
…but then again sometimes everything is a lot of fun to reply to
@crawfish has done this to me!!! -
Third-person, present tense. Almost everything else is negotiable.
I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m not accidentally switching tenses every other line, so I’m happy. I am, however, finding myself responding to poses in reverse order and I don’t know why - that is to say things said last, are responded to first. It’s weird. I need to stop.
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@tsar wait what what did I do are we talking about verbal chess or when your character makes mine want to break his nose??? What tell me so I can do it again!
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@Pavel said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
. I am, however, finding myself responding to poses in reverse order and I don’t know why - that is to say things said last, are responded to first. It’s weird. I need to stop.
I do that, sometimes on purpose. Like if it makes the pose more impactful to do respond to something at the end, I slap it there instead. I figure this is creative writing, I’m going to be creative.
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@Pavel said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
I am, however, finding myself responding to poses in reverse order and I don’t know why - that is to say things said last, are responded to first. It’s weird. I need to stop.
I do this all the time. What’s really bad is that I then often don’t “read” the rest of someone’s pose 'cause I’m paying too much attention to the part I’m relpying to. I’ve missed so much important shit because it wasn’t the part of someone’s pose I zeroed in on as relevant at the time.
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A good pose responds to what was given and gives something new to react to. Response-action-prompt seems like a good way to put it.
Making sure to acknowledge/include people is also important as folks don’t like to be left out or feel their content wasn’t read or that they aren’t welcome.
I think the rest is just details in reading the room and using that to determine long or short, serious, funny, whatever. I typically do find that other people enjoy talking about their characters and will appreciate it if given a chance to do so, rather than talking about my character or being prompted for game/plot information.
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@KarmaBum said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
@Pavel said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
I am, however, finding myself responding to poses in reverse order and I don’t know why - that is to say things said last, are responded to first. It’s weird. I need to stop.
I do this all the time. What’s really bad is that I then often don’t “read” the rest of someone’s pose 'cause I’m paying too much attention to the part I’m relpying to. I’ve missed so much important shit because it wasn’t the part of someone’s pose I zeroed in on as relevant at the time.
I used to get in trouble for this but with text messages. If you’re sending me a really long message, I’m going to assume the important bit is at the end, and focus on that. I’m working on it, promise.
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@imstillhere said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
Making sure to acknowledge/include people is also important as folks don’t like to be left out or feel their content wasn’t read or that they aren’t welcome.
This, with the big ol’ proviso: within reason. If there’s ten people in a scene (heaven forbid) then I’m not going to include every single person. One, I just can’t keep track of that many poses, and two I don’t think it’s realistic. If you’re in a group of ten people, you’re very likely to break up into smaller groups for conversations.
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Well, yeah, all things RP are “where possible within reason.”
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And here I am thinking my poses are good enough if I just get all the words in the right order.
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Like … Alphabetical?
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@Testament please write your poses with all the words in alphabetical order, respect my playstyle accommodation, I am not taking constructive criticism at this time
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@crawfish More like my brain has a tendency or running faster than my hands type. So I tend to just, skip words, I guess. In my head I’m pretty sure I typed them, when I actually didn’t.
That’s what I mean when I say that I just want to make sure all the words are in the right order.
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@Testament said in Pose Composition (What makes a good pose?):
More like my brain has a tendency or running faster than my hands type. So I tend to just, skip words, I guess. In my head I’m pretty sure I typed them, when I actually didn’t.
I do this! Or I’ll replace a word entirely for one of similar letters/length. I read back over and I’m like wtf is this
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Response, Action, Prompt gets across my general aims. The other part that I try to include (but don’t always manage) is a general sense of grounded place and forward motion in the scene.
I feel like at least once a ‘round’, something should ADVANCE in the scene through people’s poses. Characters might ignore it, or only interact at the lowest level, but it’s still important. If you’re at a dinner, then courses come out, server asks if you want a refill, stuff like that. On a train, people come on, get off, etc. Things that aren’t necessarily going to take up PCs’ attentions, but still help give the scene a sense that it isn’t happening in a white room.
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@tsar I’ll type phonetic siblings. I hate it when I do that. Or forget word tenses? Like why? This is the only language I know fluently, how did I mess that up?
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I can’t respond to more than one or two people in a pose, even in a group. It starts to feel way too unnatural. I’ll mix up who the 1-2 people are in each pose in the scene, but yeah I’m not responding to 5 people in each round.
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I agree wholeheartedly with the list @IoleRae (I seriously thought that was a lower-case l, not a capital I) put together: Response, Action, Prompt.
I agree with @Solstice and @imstillhere that acknowledging those around you is important, even if it’s just glancing at a newcomer and then shifting back to your ongoing conversation – if you’re ICly ignoring something or someone, pose that you’re doing it so they know it’s IC, not OOC. The proviso from @Pavel that this be done within reason is a good one.
I agree with @Pavel on the format: third person, present tense. I’ve been doing this long enough that anything else throws me off.
I agree with @Pyrephox that advancing the scene is critical, because this really helps make sure this doesn’t end up being a dinner that lasts forever or a briefing in the back of a Raptor that goes on for hours rather than being “on the way down.”
I’m going to restate something @Jennkryst said in my own words: a pose should tell you something about the character. Whether it’s a bit of body language or small details about their look or some bit of wording that is distinctly “them,” I think that the best poses tell you something specific about the character.
And I’m going to go a little beyond what @Pyrephox was talking about (I think), and say that every couple of poses at least the setting of the scene should be acknowledged. If you’re at a sports complex, dribble a basketball or take a shot. If you’re in the back of a Raptor on an orbital insertion, jostle about. If you’re in the midst of a medieval feast, step out of the way of an overloaded server, or make them go around you (this gets back to the point about telling something about the character).
Use those poses to ground the scene in the setting and reveal something about the character. And also to react, act, and hook.
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Things like:
“He does think about them in such a way.”
When I really meant
“He doesn’t think about them in such a way.”
So on and so forth
Can when I meant can’t(or vice versa)
Was when I meant wasn’t(or vice versa)
etc etc
Stuff like that. I do it all the time and it drives me nuts when I don’t catch it. So I have to quickly say ‘Wait, no, he doesn’t actually hate that character.’