They are a simple guideline for you to use while writing. Happy posting!
Remember, all posts must be:
- In third person
- In past tense
- A minimum of 200 words for students in Years 1 through 3
- A minimum of 300 words for students in Year 4 and above
- Spellchecked
- In the proper posting order if your post is in a multi-person thread
If your post is the first post by your character in a thread, you may want to consider including:
- Character's emotions/mindset
- Character's opinion about the situation
- Character's response, in actions and words, to the situation
- A description of your character
- A description of the setting
- An opportunity for another character to respond
If your post is a post in reply to another character, you may want to consider including:
- Your character's emotions/mindset
- Your character's opinion about the situation
- Your character's opinion of the other character (ie: hate/like/crush)
- Your character's response to the other character's actions or words
- A description of your character
If your character playing in a Quidditch match, you may want to consider including the following:
- Your character's emotions/mindset
- Your characer's opinion about the situation
- Recap of the game from your character's point of view
- Your post should end with an uncompleted action (ie: Quaffle is thrown, but until the next character posts, whether it is caught or not is unknown)
Well, hold on just a moment! Why do we say an uncompleted action? Why can't your Chaser ever throw a pass that she knows for sure will be caught by her teammate? Why can't your Beater ever have the satisfaction of knowing right away that they knocked an opponent off their broom and into the mud?
Godmodding, or writing for other characters, is against the rules. Quidditch players run the risk of some very subtle godmodding, as the author of Celia Hier, Lyra Quidditch Captain during Terms 11 and 12, explains:
[For example,] if you are a Beater, by saying that you actually hit the other characters, even if you don't identify them, you aren't giving those characters a chance to respond to your action of hitting the Bludger. An experienced flyer might be able to dodge the Bludger and would probably choose to attempt to do so. By saying that the Bludger hit them, you have limited their possible actions to just one, so in effect you are writing for them. This is why Beater posts usually say, "So-and-so hit the Bludger at an opposing Chaser," without mentioning impact, and why Chaser posts usually say "Celia thought she saw one of her teammates and passed to them." (Notice there's no mention of catching, and also that there's no certainty that the player the Quaffle is going to is actually on Celia's team. This is to allow opposing players the option of responding.) That phrasing does not limit the other character's actions, so it doesn't break the godmodding rules. However, it is legal to say that a Bludger would hit a player, or that a Chaser would catch the Quaffle cleanly if nothing else went wrong, because you haven't specified a reaction on the part of the other player. For more examples, please check out Quidditch games.
