to my writer friends; the gray area.

This is your only warning for the language in this post.

What is the definition of “the gray area?”  

Loosely, it’s the area in roleplay where in-character emotions and out-of-character emotions are bound to mix together.  Where that clearly black paint drips over into that clearly white paint, making the baby shade.  It happens.

Despite the wishes of those of us who have relatively sane thought processes and intuitions where writing is concerned, there is a point for all of us when we cannot clearly define what color is driving our inspirations.  Sometimes, we can and we blatantly ignore it.  We do willingly cross the line and mix the gray ourselves even though we know it’s wrong – we just don’t care.   And then there are the others…the batshit crazy ones who attempt to manipulate the gray with every move that they make.

To those of you who fit that criteria ( and if you think you don’t, then you probably do ) let me give you a few tips:

1)     All the drama that you bitch about having in your lives?  You cause the majority of it yourselves.   You turn every small thing, whether it be in-character or out-of-character, into a massive showdown of wits.  You piss and moan, bitch, complain and throw a hissy-fit about everything.  Everything is a hit against you.  Everything is always bad.  Life sucks.  …get over yourself.    The world is not about you.  It does not revolve around you.  Every time you whine about how fucked up your life is, you are mixing the gray.  Every time you take something that happens, throw a hissy-fit about it in public, and make public posts about it?  You are stirring the BIG black pot of gray that you mixed.  Roleplay is about getting away from reality.  It’s a game that you use for entertainment.  If you can’t handle it; if you can’t handle the people; if you can’t deal with the fact that your character is not a God/Goddess walking on fucking water…delete your fucking journals and get the hell gone.  Nobody will miss you.

2)     If you took two seconds and put some thought into your characters, their backgrounds, their actions and why they are the way you are…you’d be much happier as a writer.  There would not be the need to constantly change every fucking thing that every one of your characters does because you are suddenly unhappy with it.  Okay?  People don’t change on a fucking whim.  It takes time, patience and HARD WORK.  Something that you are likely not capable of doing to save your own fucking life.  *whisper voice* Realism is KEY! *end whisper voice* It’s there for the sake of fucking sanity!

Okay, now that I got that out of the way… Let’s go on to the list.   The Non-Gray Area.

1)     Not everything that other characters do (in-character) is a hit against you (out-of-character) or your character (in-character.)  Vice versa, not everything that a player does (out-of-character OR in-character) is a hit against you (out-of-character.)  Now, to get pissed off that either one of these is happening and reacting in a hostile manner or having your character react in a hostile manner is NOT a gray area.  It’s a fucking yin and yang where you have blatantly crossed the in-character/out-of-character line.   Don’t fucking do it.  Period.  End of statement.

2)     To hold grudges and blatantly attempt to make a character or a writer’s life miserable because of said grudges is NOT A GRAY AREA.  Yin and yang, people.

3)     To do ANYTHING that is aimed at making another character or writer do what YOU want them to do, versus what THEY want to do it is not only a non-gray area, it’s un-fucking-acceptable.  It DOES NOT matter whether you do it, in-character, out-of-character or both… it’s unacceptable, demeaning, and you should have your fucking fingers cut off for being a manipulative little bastard.  Don’t like it?  TOUGH SHIT.  Like I said, the world of writing does not revolve around you or your pathetic attempt at characters (because, generally, that’s what these characters, for writer’s who don’t have a decent bone in their body, are.  Pathetic.)

4)     IF YOU THINK IT BELONGS IN THE GRAY AREA AND IT PISSES YOU OFF…HERE’S ANOTHER TIP - IT DOESN’T FUCKING BELONG IN THE GRAY AREA.  PERIOD.

Keep the white in the white, the black in the black and stay far away from the fucking gray.   If you can’t figure out what belongs in the white and what belongs in the black, delete your fucking journals and move on because you don’t have an ounce of common sense in your fucking brain.   

Thank you and Goodnight.