I have been getting less and less returns on my RP posts lately so I wish to ask some advice: how do I get more engagement?

what is an RP post?

role play post.

take the initiative to tag out and plot with people on ooc plotting posts (or plurk or discord) if you're in a game

i'm at a game you see.

i have found that my log posts don't get a lot of random tags but if I reach out to people first or post on the network i'll get more return-- often quick network tags are an easier starting point before people write prose with you, as prose can take a bit longer for folks

In the same place as OP. Problem is, I feel like I only have the time and energy to tag OR plot, I can't do both.

I wish people would reach out more.

disclaimer that i do play a talkative character from a known-ish canon who is easy to make cr with, but even with my lesser known muses this has always worked for me in terms of garnering more threads

tbh if you don't have the energy to plot sometimes randomly tagging people's open posts can build up the best cr

I agree with bull here. I have had a lot more success hitting up random open posts than anything else.

now I randomly tag out more than do my own posts. and I try to hit up plotting posts of people I've tagged when I can.

yeppp my current strategy is to tag randomly, and if the first thread has promise, plot with them to do planned things later

any specific writing tips to like make the posts more appealing?

IMO most people are pretty ok with any style as long as you're clear enough about what's happening and don't verge too far into purple prose overdescription - but i also have the most success if I make sure there's something for another character to clearly respond or react to

for example, "bob is at the cafe drinking coffee, bother him" wouldn't get as much attention as "bob is at the cafe and he spills his coffee on your character, oh no"

^ this is absolutely true although in games sometimes my instinct is to avoid doing that because what if that option gets dogpiled and Bob ends up spilling 10 cups of coffee on 10 different characters

which is not to say that instinct to avoid it is correct or helpful lmao. just my brain going "okay but what if"

Bob's just having the worst day ever at that point. I'd spin it off as a gag with him talking about how many cups of coffee he managed to spill in one day later on.

Also in those cases I tend to give a couple of opportunities in a top level. Maybe he really is having the worst day and spills a cup of coffee on someone, manages to fumble his pie on someone else and then for the final cherry on top he trips when he stands up to leave and hits yet another person. Just something where there's two or three options.

Poor Bob

yes!! nut's alternative is really smart

lmao at bob spilling 10 cups of coffee though

some days are like that, sorry Bob

I'm struggling myself to find my footing in my game again but one thing that usually works pretty well for me is tagging around on the network whenever I see something my character would respond to. It is low stakes for both sides and you can follow that up with plotted things later

for posts and top levels, it looks to me like what works best are texts on the shorter side, with a clear hook. so that if you're skimming through two pages worth of top levels you will right away see what you could respond to here