So lets get down to business then! You want to increase your writing ability, or perhaps you're in a rut? Maybe you are a good writer but want to go that little extra step to add some more detail into your posts, or achieve that fabled multi-para status? Well fear not! It's actually pretty simple, if you pay attention and add a little bit of extra effort. Admittedly, you will run into some lazy roleplayers, there's nothing that you can do about that. They might enjoy just one lining because it;s faster, but to me, that lacks a certain amount of immersion, the depth being rather bland and dull and more of a thin veneer of a story, rather than a total character integration. But that's me getting on a philosophical high horse methinks yes?
 

             So let's start off with what makes up a paragraph then shall we? Generally accepted rules for a paragraph are that its 5-7 sentences long. Some people go 3-5, but that's if you're in between the grades of 1st-5th. We aren't in elementary school anymore, at least hopefully not. That'd be weird. So there we have it, you need at least 5-7 sentences to make a paragraph. Not really that hard to do for an experienced roleplayer, and in fact some people find it hard to limit themselves to just that amount. But thats not the point here.
 

             So now that you know what you need to get to that point, you need to know how to string it all together right? Well for that, you'll need to look at your sentence structure first. Think about how you write, and what kind of detail you put into it. Do you do short and contrived sentences, stop gaps that make it seem like you're stuttering along? Or do you give a sentence a little bit of energy, a little extra flow to roll into the next one? You have to figure that out first, before you can analyze and get better at it.

Now, I can preach all day, but what good is that if you don't get to see an example of it right? So heres one that needs a little work on it. 'Stepping out of the shadows, he would walk down the street quickly.' Alright, not bad, not bad. But, it could be better right? For example: 'Stepping out of the shadows, an eerie calm settled over his frame for a moment, the silence of the street around him beckoning for him to move quickly, to leave immediately so as to not tempt fate and bring about his own destruction.'

While not perfect, you can see how much better that becomes when you can add a little bit of context, a little bit emotion to the scene at hand. Know what I mean? Now that you've seen what can be done with a sentence, its up to you to try and add as much emotional depth as you can. It doesn't have to be a large jrun on sentence or diatribe about the idiosyncracies of various organizations, nor does it have to be one long rant about the way your character is standing. The point is total immersion to the scene and the character, not trying to use a thousand words to make a single solitary picture in someones mind. You need flow, energy, and the ability to move forwards. Nothing is more boring than someone who just repeats and reacts to the scene at hand. You need to move it forwards.
 

           Now you may not be driving the scene, which is fine, but you can add more to it as well. Its not up to just the DM (Dungeon Master for you non-nerds) to come up with the scenario. Sure they can come up with the setting, the things going on in an overall sense, but YOU can add to the intricacies!! So we're getting attacked by a mob of zombies? Great! Well not great, but still. You have that info, so use it! Don't just take it at face value either, thats boring. Imagine if you were there in the scene. Would you be so bland as to look around, shoot, and run. Rinse, repeat? I hope not, otherwise you'd be the first on my list to offer up as bait.
 

           No, you would be freaking out a bit. Now if its against your characters nature to freak out, fine, I understand that, but you need to convey that as well. So lets see, a normal person would experience the following sort of symptoms. Fear, panic, rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, pin pricks of light in their vision, dry mouth, shaking hands, a twisted up gut, a nervous edge to their movements, numbness in extremities, lack of appetite, etc. See how much it adds up after just a bit? And that was just a list!!
                                 Incorporate that into your scenes and writing! You'd be amazed at how much that adds to what you could do and write!