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Role Playing
I often ask myself why I still hang around Gaiaonline. When I joined it, it was a site that catered to my creative needs, and it allowed me to learn what I wanted to do--

To write.

Writing had always fascinated me, and I really wanted to write a story, or a book, or something, but there was just one problem:

I was terrible at it. I couldn't write to save my life. My characters were flat, they had no life. My scenery and settings could not be described-- I had no depth. My story lines were either cliche or full of plot holes. All in all, I was pretty hopeless.

Almost nine years later and a lot of work and practice, I can now comfortably say that I enjoy writing, and that I think I'm rather good at it. I've learned how to flourish my words and gives characters life. I've learned how to describe scenery so well that you can just imagine it by closing your eyes (or at least, I like to think that I do. Even now, I have problems with scenery sometimes, it's just so goddamned hard!).

And I owe it all to role playing.

On Gaia today, doing what I usually do-- roaming the forums and laughing at the cretins that call themselves role players or writers (when they are semi-literate at best. Chat speak is not a recognized language, people).

There was this one post that stood out-- 'Need Some Serious Role Players. Inquire inside.' So I clicked it and was greeted by a woman who was planning a thesis paper for college. She wanted to write about how role playing has or might have affected academic studies, writing style, grades in English, and if Role Play-styled questions would benefit kids in a school curriculum. She wanted to interview several role players about history and experience.

Instantly, I was interested.

So naturally, I applied.

She had ten questions, ten simple questions that I answered with as much depth and detail that I could. I offered examples and scenarios. I offered advice and wisdom. I was happy to help this woman, and I want to see the result.

Anyhow, I'm proud of what I wrote, so I will post every question here on my blog (in a separate post to save some space and your eyes, whoever's reading out there).

Read them. Savor them. Taste them. Think about them.