Post by pyro on Oct 6, 2012 19:05:31 GMT -6
LEADERS.
Lay it on me, bro. What do I have to do to get this cat in a white collar position yesterday.
Leaders should be leaders.
They should not be rubber stamps.
Loyal.
Calm.
Just.
Confident.
Good with Kits.
Not ambitious.
Compassionate.
Hard worker.
Congratulations, you've probably written Firestar, and I've probably decided that I'm against selecting your cat for the position. There's nothing interesting about the cat above. Hell, there aren't even any flaws. Double hell, half those traits are traits leaders usually just have. A leader should be confident. They should be a hard worker. They better the freak be loyal. Those sort of things should go without saying so...why say them?
Because you're writing the cat you think the staff wants to see.
I won't speak for my fellows, but I know I don't want to see that cat.
B-but he's the perfect leader. That's why he was made one at only 25 moons. D8
I don't want him. Keep him. Come back when he has flaws and experience.
Seriously. Just as there is nothing wrong with having flaws in a warrior, there is nothing wrong with having flaws in a leader. It makes them seem real, and it makes for interesting and thoughtful roleplay. When I look at leader applications I'm not looking for the perfect leader, I'm looking for the cat that is going to inspire. I'm looking for the bio that stands out, the roleplayer that knows what they're doing...the roleplayer that will stay on the site even if they don't get the ranking they applied for.Just a note: If I think you're only here for the ranking, I'm not going to pick your bio. Roleplayers like that don't stick around. They aren't dependable, in my experience, and I'm certainly not going to give someone a ranking just to give them an incentive to stay.
And I swear, if I see one more young leader I will scream. People around me will stare. My family, when informed, will be concerned for my health.
Age. It's often the first thing I have to tell roleplayers to change. 20-30 moons is not appropriate. At all. That's not even the age of a senior warrior. A leader should be seasoned, tested, experienced. Don't forget, they don't go straight from warrior to leader. They spend a long time as a deputy, playing second fiddle. And before they're deputy? They have to train an apprentice. That's ten moons at the very least. And a greenhorn warrior is not the warrior that gets to train an apprentice. No, it's the warrior who's had time to adjust to the new rank and is settled enough to teach that is given an apprentice.
So. Let us say your cat is made a warrior at hm. Sixteen moons. That's ten moons of training. Say after nine moons they've gained enough experience as a warrior to be able to train a mini-me. Cool beans. Ten moons of training Examplepaw puts Blanktail at thirty-five moons. COINCIDENTALLY, Scapegoatpelt, Leaderstar's deputy, has just died. Of an apoplexy. Waitno. A cliff. Yeah, let's say he fell off a cliff. Leaderstar is so impressed with Blanktail's ability to not fall off cliffs that she makes Blanktail her new deputy.
Leaderstar has nine lives to lose before Blanktail is made Blankstar. Blanktail is not going to be made Blankstar anytime soon, and even if he isby some freak accident, he's still going to be about thirty-five moons. Not twenty. Not twenty-five. Thirty-five. And that's still a little young.Some perspective: 35 moons = about 3 years =about 28 in human years
Okay so. He's gotta have flaws and he's gotta be a proper age. What else?
Make a leader for a clan. Not all clans. Each clan on a site isor should bedifferent. So naturally the clan leaders should be different.
So I shouldn't see a leader application that was rejected for one clan being posted for another. |:
To use Forest of Fate as an example: Those names aren't placeholders. If you've made a Streamclan cat with the idea that it's going to be Streamclan leader, you can't just throw it into Pineclan under the same premise. Pineclan =/= Streamclan. They eat different things, hunt differently, have different territories...they even have different personality trends. Streamclan cats tend to be more laid-back, while Pineclanners...not so much. They are also in very different situations. As a result, a cat who might be perfect for the job of leading Streamclan would fail miserably at leading Pineclan. They need different things. They need different leaders.
And honestly? It just rubs me the wrong way when I see a leader application being re-posted for a different clan. but maybe that's just me.
No re-posting. Got it. What about the actual writing in the bio?
Gotta be honest...Nothing turns me off to a leader more than poor grammar/spelling. Well, besides a flat personality.
Please. Take the time to proofread your bio. I know people can get a little touchy when it comes to people commenting on their skill level...but...I mean...You wouldn't send a job application in laden with errors. :/ Good spelling and grammar is an indication of a good roleplayer. Not the only one, mind you, but a pretty good one nonetheless. That said, I've known people who couldn't spell who could make amazing characters. And that brings us back to personality:
Make an interesting character.
Make them stand out. IC a cat has to be noticed to become a leader. Same way OOC. If I get four applications for a leader and three of them are all -basically- the same rubber-stamp-leader-stereotype, then I'm naturally going to be more attracted to the fourth application that shows a little more creativity.
How do you make them stand out?
By giving them flaws. Quirks. A style of leadership, not the crap the Erin Hunters spoonfeed us. There's more than one way to be an effective leader.
And for Pete's sake take chances. I have a Streamclan leader who can't swim. |8 Over on FoF we've got a leader that plays favorites. A leader with extremist views and oppressive tactics. A leader who doesn't believe in starclan. There's more than one way to do things, people. Make a character who is interesting to roleplay with.
Make a character with ambition.
Sorry, but your character kind of needs it. If you don't have the drive, then guess what? You're not going to be a leader. Not unless someone hands you the position, and in most cases? Not gonna happen. Ambition is not evil. Wanting to lead is not evil. Working toward becoming a leader is not evil.
Killing the current leader to become leader? Yeah that's a little evil.
But ambition? No, contrary to what the Erins have shown us Ambition is not an inherently evil trait.
So a little advice: don't say your cat is not ambitious or that they keep it a secret. Because that's not a cat that's chosen to be a leader.
And keep that in mind. Your cat is not destined to become a leader, they are chosen.
Chosen by their previous leader.
Do not make a cat that the previous leader would have never chosen for their deputy. A hardbutt leader is probably going to pick a hardbutt deputy. If the previous leader was a sexist, don't make a cat that was whatever gender they were biased against. UNLESS. You know for certain that sexist-cat would have been able to see past their prejudice enough to choose for the benefit of the clan.
And don't stop at looking at the previous leader. Look at the leaders your character will be interacting with. How can you make him standout from them? How can you make him different? How does he feel about his fellow leaders and their styles? Does he look at one clan and go "Aw hell naw, I ain't gonna do none o' that" ? Does he consider one clan to be more of a threat than the other?
Going back to looking at the previous leader: what did he learn? Does he want to continue their work? Does he want to take the clan in a different direction?
If you find it easier to make a ranking when you're making what you think someone wants, then make what the characters want. My Jaegerstar is a perfectionist and a bear for what she considers good manners. She's not going to choose a sloppy, loudmouth fighter with no word filter to succeed her.
SO MAKING LEADERS.
Is not rocket-science. It's just knowing how to make a well-developed character that could feasibly be chosen for deputy. Because remember: He was a deputy before he was a leader.
He was never a cardboard cutout.of Firestar
