Welcome to Canis Major

a wolf and animal rpg (role-playing game)

Canis is a writing community for play-by-post (forum-based), freeform roleplay set in a fictional dream world in the intrusion fantasy genre. Most characters on Canis are wolves; many play elements are focused around wolves and canids, but the world makes room for a large variety of other animal characters such as dogs, horses, cats, bears, deer, and many, many more.

Our community is focused on flexibility, creativity, and collaboration. That boils down to a few important features:

  • There is no set activity requirement to write
  • The setting and plot are member-created and staff-supported
  • The game is continuously improved to increase fun and decrease stress

Learn more in our Rulebook!

Any tips on how to be motivated and get to posts?

#1
09-24-2022, 08:52 AM
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Sup guys, its ur man, FlowerBoy,

Just here to ask a question; How do y'all stay motivated and focused when replying to threads? I struggle with getting to them, but then I just bum myself out knowing that the person I'm RPing with is probably waiting for a reply, and then I don't wanna get to it even more- it's just this cycle I can't seem to break... so...

any tips? tricks? srsly I'd try like Troom Troom life hacks for this lmao

the staff team luvs u
#2
09-24-2022, 03:25 PM
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A good but long of term tip; don't worry about what others think about you and your posting. It's hard but it does work. It's how I reply like speed, unbothered, and motivated to just get the post done before I'm buried. I just enjoy the task, not make it seem like a chore. If you do that, you'll be golden. I've been on sites where post length was a thing. Be it short or long, it irritated me a lot when people judged me on my speed and my posts. 

It's a long process of stopping to care. It is very hard and doesn't work for some folks; just enjoy what you do and find people who support and enjoy your posts. I know I do! Always happy to role play with you and I don't care about waiting. We all wait in the end, for posts, and it's fine to take your time. Just don't let yourself bury itself. One tip I do is not match the post length of my partner; I pluck the meaty sections out of a post and focus on them instead.

Another thing I do for my sanity is; balancing. Honestly, a trick to do is look at the text box/Source box and write two or three sentences in it. Move into the new paragraph then, writing two or three. It balances you, calms you in a subtle way due to balancing the formatting a bit. I always try to write 2-4 blocks and move on. Slap it up. 

the staff team luvs u
#3
09-24-2022, 03:46 PM
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honestly, do short posts. i literally have never done a successful (?) spree in a thread in my rp'ing career until yesterday night on another site, because i sent of maybe 10 sentences max. you can always choose to go more in depth when u want to or have time, but you'll knoct out those owed threads so so fast.

motivation wise, i say take a break and come back! it worked for me personally. everyone acknowledges that this a hobby, no one will or at least shouldn't hold it against you for taking your time or making short posts. if it helps, personally i'm not really bent on people replying to me and when. sure a thread can be exciting or plot-centered, but if i have to wait three weeks for a reply, so be it! there are lots of other things to occupy me anyways so maybe thats why i dont mind as much, lol.

the staff team luvs u
#4
09-24-2022, 03:54 PM
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Short posts when I don't want to reply to something.

OR, one of the things I've started to do is check in with my thread partner to see about doing one of two things:

  1. When creating a thread, I ask the person I mean to thread with if I can dump the characters already into whatever the scenario is. For instance, rather than starting a hunt thread where they are talking about doing a hunt, I might have them already in mid-chase because it's more interesting.

  2. When a thread is outdated or just dull, I ask the other party if I can fade the thread in a way that makes sense. Threads don't need to end with a ribbon all tied up and nice. They can end on a sensible note where it's clear what happens next.

the staff team luvs u
#5
09-24-2022, 11:54 PM
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Ty guys! I rlly appreciate the help! Gonna try rest up with some short posts here and there, since i’ve been a bit unwell lately. Ly <3

the staff team luvs u
#6
09-25-2022, 04:51 AM (This post was last modified: 09-25-2022, 04:54 AM by Cyprin. Edited 2 times in total.)
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Everyone has some really good tips, taking a break does help a lot. My own sometimes is pushing forward, but what really helps my muse, won't lie, would be comics/manga/anime, warrior maps, general short animations on youtube.. Heck, regular television. If something reminds me of my character, it gives me great muse to want something similar to that and build to said character idealization or form a plot around it.

I'm a big envisionist, I really love to see my characters, and imagine what they can do or what they can be in. The what ifs of scenarios, for example: it drives a hard muse to see whether if a character lost or won. The fallout of the losing, the honor they'd feel on winning, and the imagination of what goes around to that.

And I just want to assure you, I don't mind any wait on posts between us, we all have activity spurts. Heck, sometimes some of my characters are ignored for months. Sometimes I archive threads after a month, and I don't mine vice versa, but I'm always open to either un-archive (we can ask staff!) or make a new one!! Sometimes really gotta do a refresher and just.. Archive all threads, and that's ok! Most, if not all, understand this, especially if they aren't important plot-points. Its always nice to give a heads up to your partners in that scenario.

Muse is tricky, it comes and goes, gotta do what you gotta do.

the staff team luvs u
#7
09-25-2022, 01:44 PM
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Don't feel obligated to post match and communicate with your partner beforehand that you won't attempt to. Write however much it takes to move the thread along - be that 1 word or 100 or 1000 (it is usually never 1000 unless you just feel like writing that much). 

Read. Reading is the coal for the writer's fire. If I'm not reading regularly I find it very difficult to write.

And echoing others' sentiments of - if you aren't feeling something, it's okay to back out or drop or close. Sometimes letting something go that isn't working for you is the best way to open yourself up to new potential and motivation.
the staff team luvs u
#8
09-25-2022, 07:14 PM
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I have to echo what Wen said and that taking breaks is healthy! I find that overburdening myself with posts will often lead to burnout, especially when I have a lot of other things I like to do or have to do IRL. It's okay to take a break, let that muse rest and come back refreshed no matter how long it takes! Canis is meant to be casual, and no one should be pressuring you to post for them if you just aren't feeling it at that moment <3

Of course, I find myself and other people tell me this too, the first post back after a break is always the toughest but once you get that first one done the others tend to be pretty easy!

I also have to agree with Lyss when it comes to dropping or closing threads that you just aren't feeling. Not all threads will be exciting and need a closer! This isn't a book, you can leave things open and agree OOC with your writing partner how things will end! Take some pressure off your shoulders and just remember at the end of the day, this is a game!
the staff team luvs u
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