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DIR Return to: Introducing Kotiah-Yovanovitch International School
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#Post#: 8--------------------------------------------------
Author's Manual -- THE RULES
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: November 21, 2019, 4:19 pm
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This is the document that you dread reading, but rules define
the site's vision and whether you will be a good fit.
Kotiah-Yovanovitch International School is a site for
medium-to-long-form shared fiction (role play) about life at a
residential boarding school in Westchester County. That means to
make it work for you, you'll need to write and write a lot.
Because this is a realistic role play, create only human
characters please.
Please write from the point of view of your character(s). You
can write in either the third or first person. Avoid third
person omniscient narration. Omniscient means you know what is
happening to everybody. Your characters aren't omniscient. If
something happened on a field trip and your character was back
on campus or something happened on the eighth floor of the
eleventh grade Residence House and your senior character was at
drama club rehearsal, you, the writer, know what happened, but
your character doesn't.
Your characters are also imperfect narrators. How they see the
world is not how other people's characters or even you as an
author see it. This should make it easier to deal with an
occasional, inadvertent power play. I will not penalize bumps or
nudges. If it gets a bit beyond this, well your character was
simply mistaken and has given an inaccurate rendering of events.
So it goes. That said, don't make a habit of controlling other
writers' characters.
This is a role play that revolves around emotions. In spite of a
4,800 to 5,000 person student body, Kotiah-Yovanovitch feels
very claustrophobic. Characters will lash out at each other and
the language may get ugly. Remember this is fiction and other
writers don't think that about you.
To create a character, fill out the form on the character
creation boards. The form is pretty basic. Feel free to edit it
as needed. Then go back and do it again. You can have as many
character as you like. I'd like everyone to start out with three
to six in a roster. This means you can play an adult, a middle
schooler, and a high schooler if you are brave enough to
experiment with different age characters. You can fill a suite.
You can teach a class.
This is a very empty role play and self tagging will help keep
it full. There is also a journaling board near the bottom. Use
it.
Constraints
Do obey your constraints. Yes, there is a chain of authority and
your the littlest link or you are an enforcer. If you are
playing an adult, enforce the rules or your interpretation of
them. If you are a minor, live with the rules, happily or
otherwise. Living with rules does not always mean obeying them,
but it means recognizing they are there and that getting caught
and punished is a real possibility.
Yes, there are no cars for students. Buses run up and down
Central Avenue every twenty minutes. Feet run 24/7. There are
Metro North trains and a bus to New York City. Yes, you're busy
on campus most of the time, but there are always flashbacks and
weekends and occasional free afternoon. Yes, it gets cold in the
winter. Don't walk down Central Avenue in a bikini.
Yes, you have very little cash if you are a child or teen. That
is a good plot device for a number of reasons. I was raised
upper middle class new money and my parents were stingy. Most
parents I knew were stingy. Actually, your parents are not
really stingy because you have unlimited data on your phone,
twenty meal a week board, and a Mega-Metro pass to get around.
On the application, you can state your character's allowance
(weekly amount) and how often she actually receives a payment.
In 2019 the payment is electronic , a deposit into a child's or
teen's savings account. There are ATM machines down on Central
Avenue. Everything is down on Central Avenue.
Students receive $20-60 per week (payable weekly, monthly,
yearly etc...) plus up to $750 in their savings accounts. That
is all. This means that five dinners out could eat your entire
allowance. It means a fancy pair of jeans is one to two weeks
allowance. It means that your living at school, not the mall. By
the way, since nearly all students have ATM cards/Debit cards,
they can order items online. A debit card means you pay with
money in the bank, not at the end of the month.
For more information about set, setting, and constraints. read
the other posts on this board.
DO'S AND DON'TS
Do take advantage of everything there is to offer on campus.
Take advantage of the common areas. Dining halls, lounges,
kitchens, bathrooms, shops, gymnasiums, and classrooms make
great role play settings.
Do self tag.
Do fade to black for sex. You can let the emotions and thoughts
get as steamy as you like, but this is a free board, and this is
not an adult role play.
Do use foul language if you wish. Just don't curse out those in
authority if you know what is good for you.
Do accept that there are rules, and if you break them you could
be caught and punished.
If you are punished, do take it with grace as a writer. Your
character can go to the detention hall, be assigned KP duty, or
have other things happen to him for breaking the rules.
Do use contraception if you don't want your female character to
get pregnant and she is having sex. Pregnancy is possible.
Abortion is available even for minors without parental consent.
Parental consent is not required to obtain effective
contraceptives either.
Your character needs to use caution if they choose to smoke,
drink alcohol, vape, or use controlled substances. Remember you
can get caught by a Suite Advisor or teacher. For nice,
privileged boarding school students, that is probably a bigger
issue than dealing with law enforcement. Also, all these
substances cost money, which we know is scarce.
Do think about how you want your character to live with his/her
constraints. It is perfectly acceptable to create an obedient
character. There are good reasons to play by the rules. An
obedient character may be fatalistic, a straight arrow,
grudgingly obedient, cynical and obedient etc...
There are also good reasons to create sneaky characters, and
even characters who believe (mistakenly) that rules are written
for someone else, or just this once they won't be caught.
I won't tell you not to create Mary Sue's. Your Mary Sue will
have to deal with characters who aren't like her and who maybe
don't like her. A Mary Sue can get caught and punished if she
breaks the rules. A Mary Sue will still be forced to live by her
Suite Advisor's decision, if the Suite Advisor cracks down due
to others' misbehavior. And docile, obedient characters are not
always Mary Sues.
I won't tell you not to create boneheadedly stupid characters.
They will get caught. They will get punished. If you can handle
that as a writer, and it doesn't get old for you...
Now for the Don'ts.
Your character may not:
Commit murder or attempted murder. This sucks all the oxygen out
of the role play.
Commit rape or attempted rape. All sex on this role play needs
to be at least half way consensual. Misunderstandings and
awkwardness is OK. Rape is not, and again that is because rape
sucks all the oxygen out of the role play.
No suicide. Suicidal thoughts are OK, but please don't attempt
the act or complete it. The StoryGod's mother attempted suicide
and she lost a classmate to suicide in college. The StoryGod is
just sensitive about this topic.
Don't give your character an unlimited credit card. Remember
parents are stingy. Even if your character is broke, they won't
starve and they'll be able to enjoy plenty of entertainment.
That's pretty much it.
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