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[ ARCHIVED ] [ application ]
IMPORTANT!Applications are on a monthly cycle. They run from the 1st thru the 4th of each month. The cycle opens at 12:00AM CST and close at 11:59PM CST. Notices will be sent out all at once at the end of the cycle, and no later than 24 hours after the end of the cycle.
Before applying, please be sure to read the following:
⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"
⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character:
Age:
Canon:
Canon Point:
Background: We do not need a play by play of their life. You can of course provide one, but it's not necessary. A summary of their role in the canon and important events involving their character will suffice. Wiki links are allowed.
Personality: Tell us everything you can about how the character works. What are their quirks, reasons for thinking, habits, and flaws—basically we want to know not only how they act, but also why they act that way. You are free to use canon as examples, but be sure to explain why you are referencing the event.
Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.
Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.
Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.
⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: We have two requirements for the sample:
The sample can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:
Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.
Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.
Clean copy and paste form here:
Before applying, please be sure to read the following:
- Read the Rules and the Game Information.
- Double check the Reserves and Taken Characters lists to make sure the character you're applying for is not on the list. Also check the comments in case the entry has yet to be updated, as well as any pending applications.
- Feel free to use the most recent test drive both for practice as well as to use for samples. IMPORTANT! If you submit threads as samples, you must submit the application with that character journal. This is the only way we can ensure that the samples are from you and not someone else.
- Linked samples must have been made within the past year.
- You may apply for up to two characters per cycle.
- Application challenges are allowed. Reserves will have priority, but it's not definitive. We will choose the better application regardless.
- Do not plagiarize. If we find that the information provided was directly taken by either another player or source material such a wiki, the application will be rejected immediately. If we find this after processing the application, we will revoke the application and have you removed from the game with potential ban.
- Reusing your own applications from other games is allowed. We only ask any original written samples to conform to our game. That is, we don't want to read samples that are set specifically for another game's premise. Note: this does not apply to threads linked from other games used as samples.
- If you are rejected, you cannot reapply for the same character until the next cycle. However, you can apply for a different character in the same cycle.
- Those accepted must fill out all of the required entries within a week to be considered part of the game. Otherwise, we will consider it a revocation of the application.
- Fill out the form and comment to this entry! You can either paste the application directly to the entry or link it from your own journal/musebox.
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"
Character:
Age:
Canon:
Canon Point:
Background: We do not need a play by play of their life. You can of course provide one, but it's not necessary. A summary of their role in the canon and important events involving their character will suffice. Wiki links are allowed.
Personality: Tell us everything you can about how the character works. What are their quirks, reasons for thinking, habits, and flaws—basically we want to know not only how they act, but also why they act that way. You are free to use canon as examples, but be sure to explain why you are referencing the event.
Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.
Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.
Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.
Sample: We have two requirements for the sample:
- Character Portrayal. We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.
- Use of Emotions. This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. For apathetic characters or those who do not exhibit emotions easily, an alternative is to describe what the character is doing instead and essentially show how they behave in such a manner. For example, if a character is set in a scenario that would normally provoke an emotional response, what do they do instead? What is their mindset and their reaction instead? This portion doesn't have to be lengthy and can even be a couple of sentences to a paragraph. Also keep in mind that subtle and passive effects count, so you do not have to try and create something exuberant or extreme. A calm wind will work just as well as a raging storm, so feel free to be as simple or creative as you want.
The sample can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:
- Test Drive. You can utilize our test drive to cover both requirements of the sample. So long as there is enough character portrayal and a scene with an emotional reaction, be it within the prompt or done during the thread, then it will satisfy both requirements.
- Link out + Written. You can link to threads/entries from other games, memes, or museboxes to show character portrayal, and then write an additional short scene for the emotion portion of the sample.
- Original Sample. You can write a complete sample that shows both character portrayal and a scene involving emotion use. This can be one sample or two separate samples. If you opt to write an original sample, you are welcome to use any prompts from any of our Test Drives, Intro Logs, Task Board, and even past events. You are also free to change things up and are not restricted to any of these prompts. They are just here to help offer ideas.
Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.
Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.
Revision
We have two concerns regarding your application. For the sample, the writing was a little stilted and thus made it hard to follow. There were also grammatical errors that should be fixed. The second concern is Yuna's abilities. Currently, there is no way for her to recharge her phone. It's possible for there to be a workaround, but we'd need to discuss that further with you about what could work.
Please submit your revisions as its own comment in reply to this one. You have one week to submit the revisions, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of your application. If you have any questions or concerns, ask away!
Revision
Test drive || Additional sample
Yuna gazed upon the door of a wooden cottage, which sat at the edge of town. She felt as if the ash wood had accumulated it's share of struggles against the elements, leaving it damaged and dreary. It was saddening to think that someone poverty stricken had to live in such a scary place. Yuna steeled herself and stepped up onto the creaking porch, pondering what to say once she made her presence known.
"Ahem!" She sounded out. Her fist thumped gently against the door, trying to alert the owner.
"Hello? Is anyone home?"
Suddenly a loud crack shattered the silence between the door and the girl. Yuna felt her innards tighten as she watched the door crash to the ground ahead of her. Ahead of the now empty doorway stood a scrawny man covered in dirt. He appeared just as startled as Yuna was.
"Sorry! I'm really sorry! I will help fix it!" Yuna cried with a series of apologetic bows.
The man waved off her apologies with a smile.
"Please think nothing of it. But may I ask who you are? What are you doing out here? You know, besides knocking down my door."
Yuna scratched her head for a moment with a sheepish expression on her face. Truthfully his reaction shouldn't have surprised her; the man was within his rights to tease her for her clumsiness. Getting her thoughts back on track, Yuna looked at the bag in her hands.
"My name is Yuna Yuki, Sir. I'm from Sanshu Middle School, representing the Hero club. I'm here to give you this."
The man grasped the bag reluctantly, he expected a prank; after all it wouldn't have been the first time. What he found in the bag however was not a prank at all. It contained several canned food items and a wool blanket. The sight of this caused tears to form at the corner of his eyes. He lowered the bag away from his face, clenched his teeth and began to shudder.
"Are you all right, Sir?" Yuna asked, eyes now filled with concern.
At first, the man stayed quiet and the uneasy silence caused Yuna to feel like she might have done something to upset him.
Finally he inhaled and let the full width of his smile display as tears of joy rolled down his cheeks.
"Nobody has ever done anything like this for me. Thank you."
Yuna smiled; seeing the man feeling happy made her feel happy as well. At the same time, she could feel an unnatural yet comforting warmth in the air. Looking at the cottage now gave her the impression that the ash wood seemed to have a sudden warm wash of color splashed upon them.
"I would hug you, but I don't want to get any of this dirt on you." The man said as he dabbed his eyes, attempting to wipe away the tears.
Yuna stepped forward with her arms open. In this moment she recalled what Togo would say about the dangers of hugging strangers, but it wasn't enough to deter her. She wrapped herself around the man's waist, giving him a big loving hug.
"That's okay. I don't mind."
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NOTE ON POWERS
For the issue regarding Yuna's cellphone. I was thinking about the idea of utilizing the same method in which the amulets power the light sources on the island. Granted, she would have to find a way to create a port for the phone to share minimal power from the household. Would something like this be viable?
Declined
Although the sample is an improvement from what was originally given, there's still a lack of flow and coherency. By "flow" we mean that it reads like a recount of events rather than telling an actual story. There is nothing that adds to the scene or draws the reader in to engage them with the scene. For coherency, although we get the general idea of what Yuna is doing, there's very little as to why she is visiting the man. We are jumped straight into the scene with no background on why she is there. What are her motivations? What are her thoughts? What is the atmosphere? For example, why did the door beak? The writing only tells us what happens, but leaves very little to help fill in these gaps for the reader.
One final thing is that there is a lot of telling rather than showing. You tell us what is happening rather than letting the actions and scenes speak for themselves. For example, in the very beginning we are told that the house is scary, but we have no description to tell us why. What about the house seemed scary? Did it look old or abandoned? Were there no lights? Was there a cold atmosphere that would affect the nerves, a foreboding gloom that would make other people turn away? When it comes to show versus tell, the writer should not tell the emotion or atmosphere they are trying to convey. Instead, the writer should describe the scene with key details, and from there the reader will figure it out on their own.
We hope this helps you understand why we could not accept this application and that you keep these thoughts in mind in your further endeavors.