Length

[Dan Hellman]

Ok as all of you know I have a big problem my promos are not that long in length...I have tried to make it longer but I fail all the time so If anyone has a way please post it here

[mattkraven]

Sometime I'll PM you some stuff to make them longer.

I used to do the same thing.

[Karl Storm]

"Short post = Bad post" is a complete misnomer, quality is more than just length. And long posts aren't some kind of instant win button, nobody waves a magic wand once a post goes past five paragraphs that makes people ignore any inherent flaws the writing might have.
The most important thing to get first is a level of quality that you are consistently happy with. If you can read back a decent percent of your posts and say "Yes, I enjoyed reading that." then you're onto something, and from there things should progress pretty naturally. You don't need to be afraid of brevity in your posts, just nurture the character you have and use every post to try and build them up a little bit more and, in theory, as they grow so will the posts depicting them.

[Randy Orton]

The whole idea of length is perplexing. While I challenge anyone to show me a world championship caliber three paragraph RP, I agree with Karl Storm that length is not the measuring stick for a good RP. There are several qualities that distinguish a great RP, a good RP, and a horrible RP.

Grammar. The absolute most important part of an RP. Good grammar is an absolute necessity. Not all of us are going to be able to type like college professors but, reading books and/or RP's from successful RPers can give you an idea. Also, there is never ever a reason to post an RP before a good spell checking. I'll include punctuation in this, even though I have been called the "comma monster." (better safe than sorry)

Length. While not the "be all end all" of an RP, length is important. I don't mean that you should write a book or anything, and my own self conscious proclivities often leave me feeling like I've bored the reader. A good way to balance length is to know pretty much what you want to say in your RP, and then taking ample time to set it all up by explaining your character's setting. Is he in a packed arena? Is in some dark ally? What kind of mood is he in? What is he wearing? How is the crowd reacting to him?

Font colors. Again, something that many people will downplay. It is true that a great RP can be done in one uniform color. The point is with all the colors and fonts available, especially with proboards, why would you want to? You obviously never want to put forward anything but your very best, so why not distinguish different people talking by using different colors? And another color for the parts where you're simply setting things up for us. It's easier for the reader, and in the end, it's the reader you have to sell on your RP.

Also remember there are different types of RP's. A debut RP, or just a general RP can be as short as you'd like with a guarantee of no ill effect. It is only when you are RPing for an actual match that you want to make sure people aren't just skimming your RP. Captivate them by giving them a reason to keep reading.

Now, I want to be the first to admit there are plenty of people here who are better than me. I know I have many shortcomings. I don't think I'm better than anyone. I just remember pointers like these helped me tremendously when I started out.