Application Tips
Every app period (yep, it's that time again) we get quite a few applications. We accept many and reject a few, yes. Let's get one thing clear straight off the bat: we don't look for reasons to reject your app, we look for reasons to accept it. Sometimes there are glaring errors or issues that prevent us from doing so, or maybe your application simply fell flat. It happens to the best of us, really. And to try to cut down on the number of rejections and help you guys out, this is a little tip sheet on what we look for.
The disclaimer here is that if you see something in here and get offended that I'm using your app as an example? Relax. I'm not. Everything included in here is something that more than one person has done in the last two and a half years. I'm not trying to single anyone out, negatively or positively.
Well, except myself. In the interest of full disclosure I'm outright saying that I do get the frustration, because my Jaye app was rejected on first try. I had to resubmit it with changes to get it through. I'll also say that I spent the week waiting for app opinions being really worried that my Jaina app wasn't going to go through because I got picked apart for assuming people knew the canon and therefore skimping on backstory. I learned from it and will never do that again because it sucked. We really do not discriminate.
Now that that's out of the way, here are some tips, just little things you can do to help things out. And if you keep reading, we even have some additional help. More on that in a minute.
So. Tell us about your character.
There are two main things I will really, really stress as being important, because if you can do those two things, the rest will probably be easier.
-BE ENTHUSIASTIC. You want to play this character. Show us that. Don't punctuate everything with exclamation points or anything, but know your canon, know your character, don't give us too little info. Your canon may sometimes be wtfy. Say so. The fact is, if you sound bored in your app, we're going to be bored reading it, which could honestly count against you if you have other problems in it. It can sound like you didn't try, and when compared to the people who clearly really did, it doesn't look great. Just try to get across the point that you want this and the rest should fall into place more easily.
-Know what you're talking about. While we don't expect you to list every character in your canon just because they appear in it, don't skimp on the info that relates to your character. We do check the Wiki, so if there are definite differences between the details there and the details in the app that aren't explained, we really can't do anything but assume it's an error, which can look really sloppy. True, sometimes details have to be fudged to make it work, but explain what you're changing/leaving out and why. Try not to leave us with questions regarding glaring omissions. It's better to give too much info than too little, and honestly, the best way to make our eyes not glaze over reading a 6-page canon explanation is to just have fun explaining this canon you obviously love.
Also, don't assume we know your canon. *speaks from experience now* Even if every admin in the game had a character from the fandom you're apping from, pretend we have no idea what you're talking about. Alternately, some of the admins will know the fandom really well and if you get major things wrong, or outright skip stuff we know is important to the character, we might really really notice that. Take your time, explain the best you can, and be as thorough as you can.
And additionally, let's expound on a couple things.
-Be honest about powers, abilities, and potential problems with your character. If your character has something like an eating disorder, tends towards self-harm, has a mental illness, whatever, make sure you put that in the app. It's an important part of them and who they are, tell us about it. Show how you've accounted for this in a Fandom setting. The players here are from all walks of life and we don't want to let someone in and then get a complaint from someone who's offended. That doesn't mean you shouldn't app them. Just think about how you'll handle it.
Likewise, we have a lot of characters with powers and special abilities. Get specific about them, if you can. If they lean toward the overpowered but can be dampened down for a Fandom setting, note that. We do try to keep a minimum on really overpowered characters, but if we think you can handle it without Sueing it up, you're more likely to pass through.
-Get permission if you need it. If you're wanting to play a character who has a relative, husband or wife, or I don't know, clone already in the game, and you're not trying to be from their timeline, it's good to note that you gave them a heads-up, since it will affect their character. It's courtesy and it looks good and thoughtful, but it isn't necessary. If you're apping a relative/husband/wife/clone of someone from the same timeline it is absolutely imperative that you get the other players' permission first. You're working off their timeline and FH canon, and if you can't be bothered to check with them first...
-Have someone look over your app. This is generally just a good idea, as others can see problems you wouldn't notice. I'd especially recommend asking someone who doesn't know the canon and seeing if there's anything that leaves them feeling confused so you can change it before you send it in. And you can always ask any of us to look it over, though it does NOT mean that you're guaranteed a yes. You do have more people than that one person to contend with, you know.
The Writing Sample
What do I write? It's really up to you! The only requirements are that it's between 300-500 words, and that it takes place in Fandom.
Some of the more popular styles of writing samples -- the ones we see more often than not -- involve playing off your own character, or playing off a character you know well (though you don't have to obtain that player's permission, by any means.) The important thing is that the character voice comes through, and that the apped character is the focus of the sample. ie, Erin's app for Kaylee featured Aravis, but the focus was more on Kaylee, with Aravis just being there as someone for her to play off. Otherwise, the risk is that the sample becomes more like a writing sample for the other character.
For awhile, there was an influx of writing samples where characters discovered their powers. This type of sample, while often easy to write, does not usually tell very much about the character in an everyday sort of setting. Be wary of writing this sort of sample!
I'm having a hard time stretching it out to 300 words/cutting it down from 500! In the instance of samples being short, that happens a *lot*. We all struggle with that -- if we wanted to write fic, we'd be doing that and not applying to an RPG, right? A few good ways to buffer your writing sample are to add in some narrative, introduce another character, or add more description to your character and his/her actions.
If the sample is too long, try cutting out some of that stuff -- narrative, dialogue from secondary characters, descriptions -- all these things can be edited out, to give a sleeker view of the character you're showcasing.
My app got rejected. Now what?
-You're allowed to be upset. It sucks. It does. If you want to be upset or mad or sulk, that's totally fine. Other people glee about the characters that did get in, and it's totally normal to be disappointed or discouraged.
-You're also allowed to ask us why. We don't send out individualized rejection letters stating why because while we don't get a lot of rejections usually, it is enough that we honestly don't have the time with everything else. It can be genuinely difficult to whittle X number of people's opinions- especially if there are multiple reasons- down to a simple explanation, especially on top of all the other stuff that has to be done at newbie time. That's also why the responses aren't immediate. But if you do honestly want to know what was wrong with the app, we will tell you.
-You can reapp. If you didn't get a student or teacher in, there's absolutely nothing wrong with apping a townie, where the applications are open year-round and your responses tend to be quicker. If you don't want that, and would rather wait, there's nothing stopping you from reapping that character at a later date. Rework the app (DO NOT submit the exact same app word for word again- if it got rejected once, it's going to get rejected again), make the appropriate changes, rewrite the whole thing if you want, and simply resubmit it.
The last thing I will advise is to utilize fh_launchpad, maybe even before you app, to get a better feel for the character before you write things, especially the sample.
So hopefully that will help out some. As for that additional help, because she is awesome, Erin wrote up a few new sample applications that should give a better actual example of what we look for. You can look specifically for a student, teacher or townie. And on the slightly more tl;dr side, here's one with slightly more information for a character from a more non-normal world.
Good luck with apps!
The disclaimer here is that if you see something in here and get offended that I'm using your app as an example? Relax. I'm not. Everything included in here is something that more than one person has done in the last two and a half years. I'm not trying to single anyone out, negatively or positively.
Well, except myself. In the interest of full disclosure I'm outright saying that I do get the frustration, because my Jaye app was rejected on first try. I had to resubmit it with changes to get it through. I'll also say that I spent the week waiting for app opinions being really worried that my Jaina app wasn't going to go through because I got picked apart for assuming people knew the canon and therefore skimping on backstory. I learned from it and will never do that again because it sucked. We really do not discriminate.
Now that that's out of the way, here are some tips, just little things you can do to help things out. And if you keep reading, we even have some additional help. More on that in a minute.
So. Tell us about your character.
There are two main things I will really, really stress as being important, because if you can do those two things, the rest will probably be easier.
-BE ENTHUSIASTIC. You want to play this character. Show us that. Don't punctuate everything with exclamation points or anything, but know your canon, know your character, don't give us too little info. Your canon may sometimes be wtfy. Say so. The fact is, if you sound bored in your app, we're going to be bored reading it, which could honestly count against you if you have other problems in it. It can sound like you didn't try, and when compared to the people who clearly really did, it doesn't look great. Just try to get across the point that you want this and the rest should fall into place more easily.
-Know what you're talking about. While we don't expect you to list every character in your canon just because they appear in it, don't skimp on the info that relates to your character. We do check the Wiki, so if there are definite differences between the details there and the details in the app that aren't explained, we really can't do anything but assume it's an error, which can look really sloppy. True, sometimes details have to be fudged to make it work, but explain what you're changing/leaving out and why. Try not to leave us with questions regarding glaring omissions. It's better to give too much info than too little, and honestly, the best way to make our eyes not glaze over reading a 6-page canon explanation is to just have fun explaining this canon you obviously love.
Also, don't assume we know your canon. *speaks from experience now* Even if every admin in the game had a character from the fandom you're apping from, pretend we have no idea what you're talking about. Alternately, some of the admins will know the fandom really well and if you get major things wrong, or outright skip stuff we know is important to the character, we might really really notice that. Take your time, explain the best you can, and be as thorough as you can.
And additionally, let's expound on a couple things.
-Be honest about powers, abilities, and potential problems with your character. If your character has something like an eating disorder, tends towards self-harm, has a mental illness, whatever, make sure you put that in the app. It's an important part of them and who they are, tell us about it. Show how you've accounted for this in a Fandom setting. The players here are from all walks of life and we don't want to let someone in and then get a complaint from someone who's offended. That doesn't mean you shouldn't app them. Just think about how you'll handle it.
Likewise, we have a lot of characters with powers and special abilities. Get specific about them, if you can. If they lean toward the overpowered but can be dampened down for a Fandom setting, note that. We do try to keep a minimum on really overpowered characters, but if we think you can handle it without Sueing it up, you're more likely to pass through.
-Get permission if you need it. If you're wanting to play a character who has a relative, husband or wife, or I don't know, clone already in the game, and you're not trying to be from their timeline, it's good to note that you gave them a heads-up, since it will affect their character. It's courtesy and it looks good and thoughtful, but it isn't necessary. If you're apping a relative/husband/wife/clone of someone from the same timeline it is absolutely imperative that you get the other players' permission first. You're working off their timeline and FH canon, and if you can't be bothered to check with them first...
-Have someone look over your app. This is generally just a good idea, as others can see problems you wouldn't notice. I'd especially recommend asking someone who doesn't know the canon and seeing if there's anything that leaves them feeling confused so you can change it before you send it in. And you can always ask any of us to look it over, though it does NOT mean that you're guaranteed a yes. You do have more people than that one person to contend with, you know.
The Writing Sample
What do I write? It's really up to you! The only requirements are that it's between 300-500 words, and that it takes place in Fandom.
Some of the more popular styles of writing samples -- the ones we see more often than not -- involve playing off your own character, or playing off a character you know well (though you don't have to obtain that player's permission, by any means.) The important thing is that the character voice comes through, and that the apped character is the focus of the sample. ie, Erin's app for Kaylee featured Aravis, but the focus was more on Kaylee, with Aravis just being there as someone for her to play off. Otherwise, the risk is that the sample becomes more like a writing sample for the other character.
For awhile, there was an influx of writing samples where characters discovered their powers. This type of sample, while often easy to write, does not usually tell very much about the character in an everyday sort of setting. Be wary of writing this sort of sample!
I'm having a hard time stretching it out to 300 words/cutting it down from 500! In the instance of samples being short, that happens a *lot*. We all struggle with that -- if we wanted to write fic, we'd be doing that and not applying to an RPG, right? A few good ways to buffer your writing sample are to add in some narrative, introduce another character, or add more description to your character and his/her actions.
If the sample is too long, try cutting out some of that stuff -- narrative, dialogue from secondary characters, descriptions -- all these things can be edited out, to give a sleeker view of the character you're showcasing.
My app got rejected. Now what?
-You're allowed to be upset. It sucks. It does. If you want to be upset or mad or sulk, that's totally fine. Other people glee about the characters that did get in, and it's totally normal to be disappointed or discouraged.
-You're also allowed to ask us why. We don't send out individualized rejection letters stating why because while we don't get a lot of rejections usually, it is enough that we honestly don't have the time with everything else. It can be genuinely difficult to whittle X number of people's opinions- especially if there are multiple reasons- down to a simple explanation, especially on top of all the other stuff that has to be done at newbie time. That's also why the responses aren't immediate. But if you do honestly want to know what was wrong with the app, we will tell you.
-You can reapp. If you didn't get a student or teacher in, there's absolutely nothing wrong with apping a townie, where the applications are open year-round and your responses tend to be quicker. If you don't want that, and would rather wait, there's nothing stopping you from reapping that character at a later date. Rework the app (DO NOT submit the exact same app word for word again- if it got rejected once, it's going to get rejected again), make the appropriate changes, rewrite the whole thing if you want, and simply resubmit it.
The last thing I will advise is to utilize fh_launchpad, maybe even before you app, to get a better feel for the character before you write things, especially the sample.
So hopefully that will help out some. As for that additional help, because she is awesome, Erin wrote up a few new sample applications that should give a better actual example of what we look for. You can look specifically for a student, teacher or townie. And on the slightly more tl;dr side, here's one with slightly more information for a character from a more non-normal world.
Good luck with apps!