Post by wrath on Apr 9, 2014 1:23:49 GMT -5
(Found this in all of my old files and figured I'd post it up here in case we get any actual n00bs)
Since I’ve been at this game for nearly two decades, I’ve learned a lot of things about how the game works and how you can go from a beginner to a pro if you work hard enough. When Christine asked me to come in; she asked me to perform the task of being her RP tutor. And I felt honored to be the one to pass along my wisdom to the next generation of efedders. So I’m going to begin this guide with some basics that will ring true no matter what efed you end up in.
The Basics of Efedding Ettiquette
1. You will not like everything that happens all the time in any fed. There will always be a questionably judged winner, or something that was poorly written due to a rush, or even just being no-showed on (either by your opponent or a tag partner.) That being said, learning early to not let these outside distractions spoil your enjoyment can only help you in this game. The age old adage of “a happy worker is a productive worker” applies to efedding too.
2. Short hand is a major no-no. It’s you not u. It’s are not R it’s and not &. BTW IS NOT A WORD! At the end of the day, efedding is competitive writing. None of us, should hand in work to our teachers or bosses with text speak in it. Do that at your job and you’d probably be fired, do it at school and your teacher will give you an F. I know the game is supposed to be fun, but taking the little extra time and effort to press a few extra buttons and spell correctly will benefit you in the long run. It will instantly make your work better, and more importantly, it’s something that you can be proud to put your name on. Text speak is lazy. Plain and simple.
3. RP Fluff is just that… fluff. Fancy layouts, videos, pictures, songs, lyrics… they are all visually appealing and do tend to push a good visual forward. The problem is, this is efedding… not a contest to see who can find the best pictures. No matter how many lyrics or pictures or videos you put into your RP, it will never make your writing any better. It’s just padding to make your RP appear longer than it actually is. Instead of using the fluff to show everyone what you’re talking about… why not take the extra time and write it in there.
4. Participation = Success. It’s that simple. If you want to do well in this game, you have to actively participate. You can’t score goals, runs, or points if you’re sitting on the bench. Just because you participate doesn’t mean you’ll be at the top of the heap; but it does mean that you’ll never be forgotten. More importantly, even if you fail to win, the hard work will improve your reputation. Your fed head will be more than likely to look at you to participate in bigger matches and be more involved storylines.
5. Read! This should have been number one. READ! The more you read, the more styles of writing you will be exposed to. You never know what will spark the next great idea. You learn when you read, and having more knowledge can never hurt. New words, new styles, ect. Novels, newspapers, magazines… just fucking read something
6. Don’t take on too much at once. Some people in efedding have ruined their reputations by taking on more than they can handle. As a general rule, you should probably only RP in one efed to start. There are several reasons for this. Taking on too many feds will cause someone to jumble feds, no-show for matches, and the quality of your work will generally suffer. Having five matches in one week is hard, really hard. Focusing on one character and one fed, in the end, will make your work all the much better for it. I’ve been doing this forever, and I’d tear my hair out trying to juggle more than two feds.
7. Challenge yourself. Everyone has someone that is better than them at this game. For many years, I wasn’t very good at this game. But then I ran into an opponent that really got under my skin. I couldn’t stand this guy, and because of it, I wanted to beat him really badly. It forced me to step my game up to beat him; because he was so much better than me. When you challenge yourself, you try harder, and your work will benefit from that.
8. In-ring promos shouldn’t be done in RPs. They should be the segments that you send in for the shows. As someone that has ties to the actual professional wrestling business at the indy level; I’ve found out that most wrestlers are either really busy, or not doing anything at all. But they have lives outside of the sport. And they’re never in a full arena full of screaming fans for just a promo. Outside venues to trash talk are great. Catch your character in the park, at the gym, at home, on the toilet, or at dinner with friends… the options are endless.
9. Do segments. This kind of goes back to the whole idea of participation. The reason for segments is three fold. It allows the show to go up faster, it gives you control of what your character does on the television show, and it gives staff the impression that you’re actually trying. Building up your current feud can only help. And if you do your own segments, there’s no way that someone in the staff will get your character wrong.
10. Think outside of the box. Everyone writes the boyfriend/girlfriend husband/wife character development. Everyone. Yes, I mean everyone. It’s even seeped into some of my work because it’s an unavoidable part of human life. That being said… doing them every week is no bueno. You can change the words around and make the fight a little different each time, but sooner or later, you’re just re-doing things that you’ve already written.
11. Work together. Can’t stress this enough guys. Build feuds with people. Don’t be afraid to talk to an opponent if you “clicked” and had a good match against each other. Try to build a feud, make it interesting for everyone else. Work together to make it crazy, and don’t be afraid to suggest taking a loss or a win as something to further the feud. Yes, RPs usually decide who wins, but if you and your opponent agree that if the heel gets a cheap win through cheating that it would make the feud more intense and interesting; then discuss it and maybe give it a shot. Not saying it’s mandatory… just keep an open mind. Sometimes a good loss will do more for your career than a win.
12. Sandbagging is a bitch move. Period. Don’t do it. There’s no reason for it. If you can make time to watch six hours of tv a night, you can probably manage to work on your RP for a grand total of an hour or two during the week. I’m not saying come out swinging as soon as the cards posted… but don’t wait until the last minute. You know what that says to another handler or a judge? It says that you’re afraid to go because your opponent is better than you… and you know it. Sometimes we get crunched for time, it happens, but when it’s a habit… you look like a punk.
13. Don’t be afraid to break your RP up. The best RPers are the well rounded ones. Character development is just as important as the promo. An extra scene can be the difference between having a so-so RP and having a pretty good RP. The goal is to show that you can handle any situation.
14. This one should be so obvious I don’t have to include this, but it’s such a rampant problem, that I need to say it. DO NOT NO SHOW FOR STUPID REASONS! It’s bad for your reputation. Seriously. One of the easiest things to do to ruin your reputation and make a respectable fed not want to work with you and have you around… flake out over dumb shit. There are real reasons people no show every day, and no one tweaks about it. I’m not talking about work, funerals, hospitalization, or any of that other real life crap. I mean dumb things, and after a long time I’ve heard some whoppers. “I’m not going to be able to show because my cat threw up.” “I’m not going to show up because some wrestler that was irrelevant before I was ever born died.” “I’m not going to show up because I have to watch American Idol”… those are all really quick ways to work yourself DOWN the ladder.
Basic RP Theory
This next section will be broken down into a few parts explaining some of the defining things that create RP styles and the many different ways that you could go about creating your craft. So without further ado…
The Three Main Styles.
Script Style: This is the most basic forms of RPs that end up being produced by most everyone in the efedding world at one point or anothing. This style relies heavily on talking to move along character progression and get to the heart of what the RP is about. Description is usually limited to short bursts and is characters by being placed in some sort of brackets.
Example:
First Person: First person is a style that lends itself to an intimate look inside the mind of a character. Everything comes from within. It comes across as reading a person’s thoughts in a lot of cases; but can lend itself well to description if the handler behind it can tell a good story. It is quite perfect to blend into a promo and allows you to really get into the wrestlers head about their career. Concerns, insider information like the fact that you just had a steak with your opponent days earlier, worries about merch sales and rating can all be inner thoughts, followed by a scathing promo about an opponent that may actually be a friend.
Example
Third Person: This style puts you looking outside in on your own little world. This style will allow you the maximum amount of description; but it doesn’t easily lend itself to cutting a promo. This style is what you would consider to be a very heavily character development. It allows you to tell a wide arcing story with multiple characters and a focus on a central main character or two. Usually works well with a protagonist and antagonist.
Example
The Art of the Promo
The promo is something that is just a given in the efedding world. We’re pretending to be wrestlers… and wrestlers cut promos. What some people see in their head is the bright lights of a WWE ring and a roaring crowd when they cut their promos. And they can be great reads. Others see promos as the gritty, ECW banner over a basement wall kind of thing for a promo where they just let it all spill out. However you see it, there are things that need to happen to make your promo the best it can be.
1. Don’t repeat yourself. If you want to talk about an opponent’s weakness, you can make your point and move on to the next point. If you’re bigger and stronger than your opponent… a paragraph should suffice talking about it. If you’ve got dirt on your opponent, explain it in a reasonable manner. If you feel like you’re starting to run out of things to say… it’s either time to move on or it’s time to wrap it up.
2. Do your homework. Read your opponents profile, read their rps, read the results and find out what’s going on with them. It’s always great to try and rub salt in an open wound so to speak. If your opponent is on a losing streak, ride them about it. If they’ve got an injury, talk about exploiting it.
3. Work your gimmick. If you’re a cop, be a cop and really bust peoples balls for stuff. Wouldn’t it have been a bitch if every time Steve Austin did a beer bash, there was some ass hat heel cop wrestler trying to arrest him and beat him up and stop him for “public drunkenness”. If you’re a Marine, work it. Talk about military stuff as metaphors for the fight you’re about to face. If you’re a gay barber, everything is fabulous until someone messes up your hair or threatens your Yorkie. Work it.
4. Use the ammo given to you. This kind of goes back to doing your homework. But more importantly, if your opponent goes first… you’ve been given the golden opportunity to look for things they said to pick at. Best way to win the promo battle is to discredit your opponent by making them look stupid. The truth shall set you free.
The Art of Character Development
Charater development is something that a lot of people don’t like to do… and I’ve figured out why. People are either afraid to step out of their comfort zone; or flat out suck at it and don’t want to put in the work. Either way, it’s fine if you don’t want to improve or be well rounded. But as someone that loves character development… it can be so rewarding. It gives you control over your character and his/her world. It allows you to control their emotions, events, reactions, ect. It can be a never ending source of joy if you find something you really love. Here are a few things to help you along the way.
1. Find something sustainable. Find something that you’re going to be able to write an extended story about. Being a cop, soldier, serial killer, revolutionary, crazy cokehead sports center analyst… if you think you can write out a story that’s going to be bananas… go for it.
2. Research your gimmick. The best way to tell a story is to be as close to you can about it. A doctor probably is going to know things about arteries and valves and para-neo-plastic syndrome and all that other Greg House stuff. A neo-nazi is probably gonna know a lot about Hitler. And a gang banger probably knows how to cook crack. Whatever you decide to go after… get it right.
3. Did I mention reading? Yeah, do that.
4. Plan ahead. Take some time to organize your thoughts and plot it out a little bit. Look at it from different angles. If you’re working a cop gimmick, play it from the cops angle, but throw in the crooks angle, and your twists and what have you. There’s going to be high points and low points, just like any match.
Closing
This game can be quite rewarding; it can also be incredibly frustrating. The one thing I can say is never quit. Never give in. If you enjoy writing, and you enjoy the chase; then don’t give in no matter what happens. If you love it, then do it. If it’s fun… then get your hands in there and go after it. If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. There’s ups and downs in this game, just like everything else in life. But that’s the fun of it. If you want to improve, then you will. If you don’t care, then you’re never going to get anywhere. So I guess what I’m trying to say is… like everything else that happens in your life… it’s up to you to make of it what you can. Hope this little guide has helped.
Since I’ve been at this game for nearly two decades, I’ve learned a lot of things about how the game works and how you can go from a beginner to a pro if you work hard enough. When Christine asked me to come in; she asked me to perform the task of being her RP tutor. And I felt honored to be the one to pass along my wisdom to the next generation of efedders. So I’m going to begin this guide with some basics that will ring true no matter what efed you end up in.
The Basics of Efedding Ettiquette
1. You will not like everything that happens all the time in any fed. There will always be a questionably judged winner, or something that was poorly written due to a rush, or even just being no-showed on (either by your opponent or a tag partner.) That being said, learning early to not let these outside distractions spoil your enjoyment can only help you in this game. The age old adage of “a happy worker is a productive worker” applies to efedding too.
2. Short hand is a major no-no. It’s you not u. It’s are not R it’s and not &. BTW IS NOT A WORD! At the end of the day, efedding is competitive writing. None of us, should hand in work to our teachers or bosses with text speak in it. Do that at your job and you’d probably be fired, do it at school and your teacher will give you an F. I know the game is supposed to be fun, but taking the little extra time and effort to press a few extra buttons and spell correctly will benefit you in the long run. It will instantly make your work better, and more importantly, it’s something that you can be proud to put your name on. Text speak is lazy. Plain and simple.
3. RP Fluff is just that… fluff. Fancy layouts, videos, pictures, songs, lyrics… they are all visually appealing and do tend to push a good visual forward. The problem is, this is efedding… not a contest to see who can find the best pictures. No matter how many lyrics or pictures or videos you put into your RP, it will never make your writing any better. It’s just padding to make your RP appear longer than it actually is. Instead of using the fluff to show everyone what you’re talking about… why not take the extra time and write it in there.
4. Participation = Success. It’s that simple. If you want to do well in this game, you have to actively participate. You can’t score goals, runs, or points if you’re sitting on the bench. Just because you participate doesn’t mean you’ll be at the top of the heap; but it does mean that you’ll never be forgotten. More importantly, even if you fail to win, the hard work will improve your reputation. Your fed head will be more than likely to look at you to participate in bigger matches and be more involved storylines.
5. Read! This should have been number one. READ! The more you read, the more styles of writing you will be exposed to. You never know what will spark the next great idea. You learn when you read, and having more knowledge can never hurt. New words, new styles, ect. Novels, newspapers, magazines… just fucking read something
6. Don’t take on too much at once. Some people in efedding have ruined their reputations by taking on more than they can handle. As a general rule, you should probably only RP in one efed to start. There are several reasons for this. Taking on too many feds will cause someone to jumble feds, no-show for matches, and the quality of your work will generally suffer. Having five matches in one week is hard, really hard. Focusing on one character and one fed, in the end, will make your work all the much better for it. I’ve been doing this forever, and I’d tear my hair out trying to juggle more than two feds.
7. Challenge yourself. Everyone has someone that is better than them at this game. For many years, I wasn’t very good at this game. But then I ran into an opponent that really got under my skin. I couldn’t stand this guy, and because of it, I wanted to beat him really badly. It forced me to step my game up to beat him; because he was so much better than me. When you challenge yourself, you try harder, and your work will benefit from that.
8. In-ring promos shouldn’t be done in RPs. They should be the segments that you send in for the shows. As someone that has ties to the actual professional wrestling business at the indy level; I’ve found out that most wrestlers are either really busy, or not doing anything at all. But they have lives outside of the sport. And they’re never in a full arena full of screaming fans for just a promo. Outside venues to trash talk are great. Catch your character in the park, at the gym, at home, on the toilet, or at dinner with friends… the options are endless.
9. Do segments. This kind of goes back to the whole idea of participation. The reason for segments is three fold. It allows the show to go up faster, it gives you control of what your character does on the television show, and it gives staff the impression that you’re actually trying. Building up your current feud can only help. And if you do your own segments, there’s no way that someone in the staff will get your character wrong.
10. Think outside of the box. Everyone writes the boyfriend/girlfriend husband/wife character development. Everyone. Yes, I mean everyone. It’s even seeped into some of my work because it’s an unavoidable part of human life. That being said… doing them every week is no bueno. You can change the words around and make the fight a little different each time, but sooner or later, you’re just re-doing things that you’ve already written.
11. Work together. Can’t stress this enough guys. Build feuds with people. Don’t be afraid to talk to an opponent if you “clicked” and had a good match against each other. Try to build a feud, make it interesting for everyone else. Work together to make it crazy, and don’t be afraid to suggest taking a loss or a win as something to further the feud. Yes, RPs usually decide who wins, but if you and your opponent agree that if the heel gets a cheap win through cheating that it would make the feud more intense and interesting; then discuss it and maybe give it a shot. Not saying it’s mandatory… just keep an open mind. Sometimes a good loss will do more for your career than a win.
12. Sandbagging is a bitch move. Period. Don’t do it. There’s no reason for it. If you can make time to watch six hours of tv a night, you can probably manage to work on your RP for a grand total of an hour or two during the week. I’m not saying come out swinging as soon as the cards posted… but don’t wait until the last minute. You know what that says to another handler or a judge? It says that you’re afraid to go because your opponent is better than you… and you know it. Sometimes we get crunched for time, it happens, but when it’s a habit… you look like a punk.
13. Don’t be afraid to break your RP up. The best RPers are the well rounded ones. Character development is just as important as the promo. An extra scene can be the difference between having a so-so RP and having a pretty good RP. The goal is to show that you can handle any situation.
14. This one should be so obvious I don’t have to include this, but it’s such a rampant problem, that I need to say it. DO NOT NO SHOW FOR STUPID REASONS! It’s bad for your reputation. Seriously. One of the easiest things to do to ruin your reputation and make a respectable fed not want to work with you and have you around… flake out over dumb shit. There are real reasons people no show every day, and no one tweaks about it. I’m not talking about work, funerals, hospitalization, or any of that other real life crap. I mean dumb things, and after a long time I’ve heard some whoppers. “I’m not going to be able to show because my cat threw up.” “I’m not going to show up because some wrestler that was irrelevant before I was ever born died.” “I’m not going to show up because I have to watch American Idol”… those are all really quick ways to work yourself DOWN the ladder.
Basic RP Theory
This next section will be broken down into a few parts explaining some of the defining things that create RP styles and the many different ways that you could go about creating your craft. So without further ado…
The Three Main Styles.
Script Style: This is the most basic forms of RPs that end up being produced by most everyone in the efedding world at one point or anothing. This style relies heavily on talking to move along character progression and get to the heart of what the RP is about. Description is usually limited to short bursts and is characters by being placed in some sort of brackets.
Example:
[Quagmire walks into the room with his hair disheveled. He looks like he’s had a rough night.]
Peter: You don’t look so good Quagmire.
Quagmire: I was just watching some of that internet porn. I’m okay.
[Quagmire leaves]
Peter: You don’t look so good Quagmire.
Quagmire: I was just watching some of that internet porn. I’m okay.
[Quagmire leaves]
First Person: First person is a style that lends itself to an intimate look inside the mind of a character. Everything comes from within. It comes across as reading a person’s thoughts in a lot of cases; but can lend itself well to description if the handler behind it can tell a good story. It is quite perfect to blend into a promo and allows you to really get into the wrestlers head about their career. Concerns, insider information like the fact that you just had a steak with your opponent days earlier, worries about merch sales and rating can all be inner thoughts, followed by a scathing promo about an opponent that may actually be a friend.
Example
As I walk down the hallway I am confronted by the smell of smoke and liquor. The air around me is hazy as I walk into the bar and my eyes adjust to the dim lighting. Walking towards the bar, I find a nice stool and give a friendly smile to the blonde behind the bar. “Give me a beer honey.” I say to the girl tending bar and pull out my I-phone to get some of my thoughts down before the big match. “When I get to Inferno, everyone is going to pay.” I say into the camera and then post the clip to the website.
Third Person: This style puts you looking outside in on your own little world. This style will allow you the maximum amount of description; but it doesn’t easily lend itself to cutting a promo. This style is what you would consider to be a very heavily character development. It allows you to tell a wide arcing story with multiple characters and a focus on a central main character or two. Usually works well with a protagonist and antagonist.
Example
Glen Quagmire had never been a man that could keep himself away from the pleasures of the opposite sex. Everywhere he went and everything he did was consumed by a love for all things sexual. While many people saw him as perverted, he chose to believe that he just had a healthy libido. His walls were decked out in zebra stripes, a large picture of himself in his underwear hanging on the walls. Flipping a switch, music cut on and a discoball dropped from the ceiling. He was ready to go.
“Glen, come to bed honey.” The woman said from the couch.
“Alright.” Quagmire said. “Giggity”
“Glen, come to bed honey.” The woman said from the couch.
“Alright.” Quagmire said. “Giggity”
The Art of the Promo
The promo is something that is just a given in the efedding world. We’re pretending to be wrestlers… and wrestlers cut promos. What some people see in their head is the bright lights of a WWE ring and a roaring crowd when they cut their promos. And they can be great reads. Others see promos as the gritty, ECW banner over a basement wall kind of thing for a promo where they just let it all spill out. However you see it, there are things that need to happen to make your promo the best it can be.
1. Don’t repeat yourself. If you want to talk about an opponent’s weakness, you can make your point and move on to the next point. If you’re bigger and stronger than your opponent… a paragraph should suffice talking about it. If you’ve got dirt on your opponent, explain it in a reasonable manner. If you feel like you’re starting to run out of things to say… it’s either time to move on or it’s time to wrap it up.
2. Do your homework. Read your opponents profile, read their rps, read the results and find out what’s going on with them. It’s always great to try and rub salt in an open wound so to speak. If your opponent is on a losing streak, ride them about it. If they’ve got an injury, talk about exploiting it.
3. Work your gimmick. If you’re a cop, be a cop and really bust peoples balls for stuff. Wouldn’t it have been a bitch if every time Steve Austin did a beer bash, there was some ass hat heel cop wrestler trying to arrest him and beat him up and stop him for “public drunkenness”. If you’re a Marine, work it. Talk about military stuff as metaphors for the fight you’re about to face. If you’re a gay barber, everything is fabulous until someone messes up your hair or threatens your Yorkie. Work it.
4. Use the ammo given to you. This kind of goes back to doing your homework. But more importantly, if your opponent goes first… you’ve been given the golden opportunity to look for things they said to pick at. Best way to win the promo battle is to discredit your opponent by making them look stupid. The truth shall set you free.
The Art of Character Development
Charater development is something that a lot of people don’t like to do… and I’ve figured out why. People are either afraid to step out of their comfort zone; or flat out suck at it and don’t want to put in the work. Either way, it’s fine if you don’t want to improve or be well rounded. But as someone that loves character development… it can be so rewarding. It gives you control over your character and his/her world. It allows you to control their emotions, events, reactions, ect. It can be a never ending source of joy if you find something you really love. Here are a few things to help you along the way.
1. Find something sustainable. Find something that you’re going to be able to write an extended story about. Being a cop, soldier, serial killer, revolutionary, crazy cokehead sports center analyst… if you think you can write out a story that’s going to be bananas… go for it.
2. Research your gimmick. The best way to tell a story is to be as close to you can about it. A doctor probably is going to know things about arteries and valves and para-neo-plastic syndrome and all that other Greg House stuff. A neo-nazi is probably gonna know a lot about Hitler. And a gang banger probably knows how to cook crack. Whatever you decide to go after… get it right.
3. Did I mention reading? Yeah, do that.
4. Plan ahead. Take some time to organize your thoughts and plot it out a little bit. Look at it from different angles. If you’re working a cop gimmick, play it from the cops angle, but throw in the crooks angle, and your twists and what have you. There’s going to be high points and low points, just like any match.
Closing
This game can be quite rewarding; it can also be incredibly frustrating. The one thing I can say is never quit. Never give in. If you enjoy writing, and you enjoy the chase; then don’t give in no matter what happens. If you love it, then do it. If it’s fun… then get your hands in there and go after it. If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. There’s ups and downs in this game, just like everything else in life. But that’s the fun of it. If you want to improve, then you will. If you don’t care, then you’re never going to get anywhere. So I guess what I’m trying to say is… like everything else that happens in your life… it’s up to you to make of it what you can. Hope this little guide has helped.
