Roleplay Formatting Explained

If you've ever opened a roleplay chat and seen lines like she crosses her arms next to "I'm not impressed," you've met roleplay formatting. It's a small set of conventions that lets two people (or a person and an AI) tell the difference between what a character does, what they say, and what they think, all in one message.

None of it is mandatory. But using it consistently makes your replies clearer, and clearer replies get better responses.

The core convention: actions vs. dialogue

Almost all AI roleplay uses this split:

• Actions and description go between asterisks. *She sets the cup down.* renders as She sets the cup down.
• Spoken dialogue goes in quotation marks. "You're late."

Together:

She sets the cup down without looking up. "You're late."

Why asterisks? On most chat platforms, text between single asterisks displays in italics, which visually separates narration from speech. On Minkplay, actions in asterisks also show in a different colour from dialogue, so you can scan a long reply at a glance.

First person, third person, present tense

There are two common ways to write your own actions:

Style	Example
First person	I lean against the doorframe. "Took you long enough."
Third person	Mara leans against the doorframe. "Took you long enough."

Both are fine. First person feels more immersive; third person feels more like co-writing a novel. Present tense ("I lean") is far more common than past ("I leaned") because it keeps the scene feeling live.

Whichever you choose, keep it consistent within a chat. Switching mid-scene confuses both human and AI partners.

Thoughts

Inner thoughts are where conventions vary most. Common options:

• Italics inside an action: Don't look at the door, I tell myself, don't look at the door.
• Single quotes: 'This is a terrible idea.'
• Plain narration: I wonder if she knows.

The cleanest choice for AI chats is plain narration inside your action block, because it reads naturally and can't be confused with dialogue. Remember that the other character can't actually hear your thoughts, so if you want them to react to something, it needs to be said or shown.

Out-of-character notes

When you need to step outside the story (to redirect the plot, skip time, or clarify something), the usual convention is brackets:

(OOC: can we skip ahead to the next morning?)

Some people use double brackets ((like this)) or a prefix like OOC:. Keep them short and rare. There's a full guide to what OOC means and when to use it.

Formatting cheat sheet

What you want	How to write it	Example
An action	*asterisks*	He draws his sword.
Dialogue	"quotes"	"Stay behind me."
Thought (plain narration)	inside an action	I hope he didn't see that.
Shouting	capitals, sparingly	"GET DOWN!"
Whisper	describe it	She leans in and whispers, "Not here."
Sound effect	in an action	Somewhere below, a door slams.
Time skip	an action line	Three days later…
Out of character	(brackets)	(OOC: brb ten minutes)
Emphasis on one word	*word* mid-dialogue, sparingly	"I said one cookie."

Common formatting mistakes

Putting dialogue inside asterisks. *"Hello," she says.* makes the whole line look like an action. Keep the quote outside: She smiles. "Hello."

Forgetting to close an asterisk. One missing asterisk can turn the rest of your message into italics. Quickly re-read before sending.

Describing the other character's actions. *You blush and look away.* decides something for the other character. That's called powerplaying. Write only what your character does, and let them choose their reaction. The roleplay glossary covers this and related terms.

Walls of italics. If your whole message is a single huge action block, it's hard to read. Break long replies into two or three short paragraphs, alternating action and dialogue.

Does formatting affect how the AI replies?

Usually, yes, in a helpful way. AI characters tend to mirror the style you use. If your replies alternate clear actions and dialogue, the character's replies will usually do the same. If you write one-word answers with no actions, you'll often get shorter, flatter replies back.

That's the real reason formatting matters: it's not etiquette, it's signal. Rich, well-structured replies give the character more to work with. The guide to writing longer replies shows how to build a full reply from these pieces without padding it.

A well-formatted exchange

You: The rain hasn't let up for an hour. I shake out my umbrella in the café doorway and spot the only free seat, across from you. "Mind if I sit? Everywhere else is full."

Character: He glances up from his sketchbook, then nudges the chair out with his foot. "Only if you don't look at the drawing." He angles the page away, a little too quickly.

You: I sit, very deliberately looking at the ceiling. "Not looking. Definitely not wondering why you hid it so fast."

Every line is easy to parse: what happened, what was said, and what the other character can react to next.

Next steps

Formatting is the mechanics. For the craft of what to put in those actions and lines, start with how to roleplay with AI, or practise right away with a character like Hiro, the art club senpai.