Beyond the ranch part 1 feedback

Hey there. Would like to first state that I can't imagine the difficulty of trying to keep it under the 1K word limit. My bloated RP came out just under 6K, so to have to compact information enough and still make something of a 1-2-3 narrative has to be a giant pain. So definite props there, its does manage to remain fairly cogent as a piece as far as presentation. Plus having multiple opponents to shoot on, all of which I think are fairly new, its definitely tough.

Here are a few pointers though, not that I feel a 1K limit is a proper view of your abilities as a writer, but might help in bigger RPs as well (also, if I sound like a total pretentious ass who thinks he is some cool veteran by using the word 'pointers' feel free to disregard my feedback haha):

1. If you find you don't have much on your opponents to go off of, or that they themselves don't have much character to them, try using the shoot to talk more about yourself. Build yourself up or divulge more about your character. I know Spence tends to respond better to that than most judges and it allows readers to get a better sense of your character.

2. Also, when you are faced with a limit like that, while it is always tempting to develop story and relationships, its usually a better use of real-estate (at least for competition, if you just want to build your character that is fine to) to focus that space more on the shoot instead of corresponding events leading up to it. Also, as Kurt Vonnegut puts it in his rules for writing 'Start as close to the end as possible', try to get rid of what isn't essential and focus on what is really needed to start the story so people understand what is going on and where everyone is at.

3. Try to not write yourself off, even if you think its a pretty good chance you'll get beat, because even if it makes it seem like a better comeback, it can also seem like saving face in an overcautious way. I totally get the idea of not trying to say something to build yourself up just to lose and pull the rug out from under you with your own words, but honestly, its 99/100 times better for the writer to go out on a limb for the sake of developing the character's attitude instead of risking regression and a bad precedence that opponents can use in the future. Even as a face, its not the worst thing to make claims that you fall short on later, because with the proper presentation, people can still enjoy the character's attitude regardless.

4. I've given this feedback before to people and its really more of a personal preference, but when shooting on people, try not to be too direct with the info you are working off of such as stating it matter-of-factly out loud. Try having your character REACT to it more and allow them to push forward their assessment of the opponent and how your character PERSONALLY feels about it. It will make the motivation for your character's actions seem more legit, will resonate with the reader better, and will help bring out more of your character in a more sub-textual manner, which really helps kill two birds with one stone RP wise.

I REALLY hope that any of this is helpful to you, and again, I must reiterate, I totally know some of this could be chalked up to the limitations of RP length, and if that is the case, awesome, but if you find any of this helpful, even more awesome. I hope by no means this was discouraging at all. Continue doing whatever you wanna do and take what I say with a grain of salt.