Prompt 1 - Audience

Writing without an audience is a wasted endeavor. Without someone to read the words which a writer has woven together, the point or lesson of the word is lost. An audience is what keeps the writer writing. An audience determines what is important or enjoyable, and what is not worth their time. As such, audiences can vary. The audience who relishes sci-fi is not the same audience who loves steampunk. And because there are so many different audiences to appeal to, many genres and types of writing surfaces.

 

A recent form of writing, called 'roleplay', has surfaced and begun to make roots in social media sites. The basis of roleplaying is the interaction between two or more people writing about fictional characters, and dictating the plot of such interactions. This is commonly found in fandoms and such sites like Tumblr or Facebook.

 

While the function of roleplay is easy to understand, the purpose is a harder question to answer. Within fandoms, roleplay is used to play out certain situations between characters and gain an understanding of their characters. Through this, the audience is also privy to such interactions and can understand the character better themselves.

 

Another common theme of roleplay is 'fan service' or 'fan fulfillment'. By taking these same characters, the roleplayers are able to act certain relationships or scenarios that are not explicitly stated in canon. By fulfilling the need to see certain characters in these situations, the audience also gains satisfaction that cannot be given from the rest of the fandom. This is the most popular purpose for roleplay and why many people in the fandom support it.