Character accents and visualizations are not always essential to role play. Especially in fan-fiction, very little beyond a borrowed image will ever be featured next to the abyss of words that were created by someone with audacity to ship Rarity and Rainbow Dash together. But in forum role play, in my opinion, the rules can be stretched.

There are several tools I like to use to help illustrate my character's point of view, quirks, and jesters, and sometimes without even knowing I'm doing it. There's no secret that the key to good role play writing exists in the ability to get 'in-character'. That is, focusing on what the character feels, thinks, does, eats, walks, talks, and even neighs. But sometimes, when writing your play, the translation of character gets lost in the vocabulary you chose, and in the way the reader chooses to read it. And there are waays of manipulating how the reader reads. Like how misspelling the word 'way' got your attention.

Don't. You. Love. That. Little. Voice. In. Your. Head. That. Pauses. Every. Time. There. Is. A. Period. It's not really a trick, but rather a structural habit that we humans have when reading literature. These things can be added more or less, depending on how you want your character to read. Sometimes, even the way you spell, or mispell (intentionally) a word, is what draws out the reader to force a certain style of reading.

Take Applejack for example. She's southern comfort, so obviously I want to start drawling out her sentences. Give her a phonetic twang that identifies not the way the character spells, but the way the character talks. Compare, "I love all of these apples," with "Ah love all o' these apples." Changing the spelling of the word, allows the reader to more comfortably read in Applejack's tone. You can also change the way the characters uses the words in a sentence. This can be done by changing out words, or it can also be done by simply italicizing them. "Ah love all of them apples," not only makes Applejack sound like she's saying something in a more outlandish way but also puts emphasis on the probable context of whatever it is she is talking about. If she had said, "Ah love all of these apples," the context draws a nearer more intimate approach, and even implies that Applejack is either holding something, or is looking down around the ground near her.

Now, try reading this:

"Music is such a great thing for a pony. I love listening to my favorite songs when I'm feeling sad. And on days when I'm not near a music player, I simply whistle while I go about my day."

The way it's written, you could guess that anypony could have said this. It's possible that the character has a very normal accent (or rather, the accent of the reader), but usually, the player would like to personify an accent that makes whoever is saying this obvious to the reader. Now try reading it again:

"Music is such a great thing for a pony. Ah love listening to mah favorite songs when I'm feeling sad. And on days when I'm not near a music player, I simply whistle while I go about my day."

Chances are, you read that in Applejack's voice. And whats interesting is I only changed two words. What occurs in the mind when reading, especially silently, is when you read a phonetic stylization of a word in a sentence, you read the rest of the dialog in your mind in that dialect until the caption is finished. Despite the second half of the quote containing none of AJ's verbal mannerisms, you still heard it in AJ's voice because your mind was completing the caption she was already speaking with her southern drawl. So if you have a character that has a funny accent, you need not change the whole dialog phonetically. Just change a couple words at the start of the dialog, and the reader's imagination will do the rest.

Using different spellings of words and using excessive or no punctuation manipulates how the reader reads your product. If you have a hyper character, use run-on sentences while the pony is talking. If your character is shy, you could even make the font tiny, if that option is available to you. And if your character has one of those voices that is just distinguished and sizzles when you hear it, italicize every other word to make the character's words jump. There are so many ways you can create visualizations of your pony using words. The way you spell, write and organize your writing will be the main objective in trying to help the reader know exactly what your character feels like when they enter a room or when they are talking. And you didn't have to use any pictures. Pictures are nice too, though!