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Post by queenofmyownfantasy on Oct 9, 2024 9:42:28 GMT
How do you balance playing and writing (and curveballs)?
It's a hard balance, and I tend to vary. When I started with the Pistache's, it was mainly gameplay; but my brain tends to overwork. As Bianca grew up I started getting ideas - ideas that didn't happen at all (I wanted to do a good witch vs. Bad witch with her older sister), I did a story about love and self-acceptance instead of epic witch duels.
With Florian, I have certain plot points that I work towards. Certain scenes, conversations etc that I 100% want to happen, but what happens between those moments is more gameplay-based, I still steer it in the direction of those moments though. But also for example certain conversations and reveals, other than wanting them to happen, are still kinda up in the air how exactly they will go. Sometimes the game also throws curveballs at me that are very welcome. I.e. in chapter 12, a character sleeps over at the graveyard. I didn't have precise plans for what would happen there, but the ghost of Jules Macduff (in-story bad guy and grandfather of heir), whose grave I randomly dumped behind some bushes for familytree safekeeping, just so happened to ghost around that night which gave me ideas for the "what happens in between".
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Post by arieltriffic on Oct 15, 2024 12:43:46 GMT
Just going to post my two cents before I finish this thread! I've done a few short Sims stories in the past. I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit attention-challenged when it comes to the Sims. I think my current save (with Helena Landgraab, super teen) is the longest I've played a single household. I started writing SimLit seven years ago because I wanted to write a "real" story one day. Since then, I've written a plum-poor novella and three different novel outlines. The novella was about a teenager solving a murder mystery at her college, one of the outlines was about a detective who lived in underground Paris, another was about a Welsh magician who saves a boy's father from a crazed poet. Things fall apart during the planning process for me, somehow. Okay, question time! What aspects of simlit creation do you most enjoy?Honestly, the shared sense of community. There are also these little critters who take up room in my head and demand expression. When one spends enough time with a character, it begins to have a life of its own. What aspects of simlit creation do you most commonly find yourself frustrated by?Planning and sticking with one topic. Okay, now I want to see how you guys do it. Back to reading! EDIT: Wow, so many insightful comments! I love seeing how you guys write Sim Stories, since my goal is to one day complete a big project like this. Thank you queenofmyownfantasy GlacierSnow HermioneSims @monasostraale and everyone else for sharing. Currently, I'm working on a Hansel and Gretel storybook/comic. It's very slow, about four screenshots a day. |
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Post by kelloggjkellogg on Oct 16, 2024 20:34:11 GMT
What aspects of simlit creation do you most enjoy?As my story is set in the past I really enjoy the make-overs of characters, both main and townies. I also like it when I'm writing dialogue and it flows nicely. What aspects of simlit creation do you most commonly find yourself frustrated by?I know where my start point for a chapter is, and I know where I want it to end but sometimes parts of getting from A to B can be a chore and I have to think up ways to make the mundane transitions sound somewhat interesting. |
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Post by GlacierSnow on Oct 16, 2024 22:40:48 GMT
arieltriffic That sounds like an interesting story idea to do with sims. Don't feel bad about it going slow. During the work week, I average about one screenshot per day. Maybe three or four on a weekend day if I don't have to do anything else.
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Post by luciusstorm on Oct 16, 2024 22:50:47 GMT
arieltriffic That sounds like an interesting story idea to do with sims. Don't feel bad about it going slow. During the work week, I average about one screenshot per day. Maybe three or four on a weekend day if I don't have to do anything else. Yeah, I manage my breakneck pace because I'm retired and this is pretty much what I do with my days. |
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Post by EvilBnuuy on Oct 17, 2024 0:48:58 GMT
but where do you find your motivation?
Unfortunately, it has to find me, and it rarely does. I go through periods of hyperfixation which then fizzle out without warning. I would LOVE to have the hyperfixation on my story back so I can actually FINISH IT XC Especially with work getting busier, and me wanting to get back into other games and hobbies...
How do you balance playing and writing (and curveballs)?
In my old stories, which were part-gameplay part-narrative-in-my-head, I'd throw it in. Sometimes I used in-game sentiments to influence character feelings. The funniest one is perhaps Caleb Vatore getting alien pregnant out of nowhere after I had it in my heads that vampires couldn't get pregnant from anyone other than other vampires, so that was fun to throw into the plot, but it did give him a chance to bond with the generation founder who helped him out. XD I can't remember the full plot excuse for how that happened, but I remember that the hospital had specialised plasma packs that would sustain the pregnancy.
In my current story, I force curveballs on myself to allow a little bit of me not hyper-controlling every plot aspect in the story. If there's a Full Moon in-game whilst I write the chapter, and it involves any of the werewolf characters, I force myself to change the chapter to accommodate that fact, and some chapters have changed quite a bit as a result of that. In one chapter these two women were meant to meet with him for his help, instead they met with another character who helped instead since he knew about the werewolf thing.
I also flipped coins early on in writing to decide who would die out of certain characters. We've already experienced one fate-decided death. The next is yet to come. Also, a flip of a coin decided a plot point early on and is the reason I kept one character on a more relatively moral path.
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Post by arieltriffic on Oct 20, 2024 12:09:27 GMT
Another question: What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?
I've been thinking a lot about where Hansel will go after he and his sister get out of their current predicament. I'm thinking, Del Sol Valley. I woke up this morning with Hansel narrating the rest of his childhood in Windenburg, his thoughts on Alvin Spoofer, founder of the Spooferan Church, and how Spooferan thought has affected Windenburg through the ages.
Then I imagined a child actor co-star named Dante Alto-Monty...and a romantically frustrated but otherwise successful Helena Landgraab...and possibly some time travel.
It's all soupy in my mind right now. And plotting! That is the next step, but I'm frightened. Can I even do this? Of course, I'm getting way ahead of myself. I have to finish Hansel and Gretel first. |
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Post by luciusstorm on Oct 20, 2024 14:11:50 GMT
arieltriffic, I feel your pain. What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?
I am very much in this place right now. I'm finishing up writing Strangerville Mystery and looking at what to do next. I've got a list of story ideas (a literal list, on a white board in my den) but I'm not ready to start on any of them. Right now, I'm puttering around giving makeovers to random sims, making adjustments to worlds (adding in characters and relationships from my 'flashback' stories) and generally messing around with builds. I know I'm stalling on starting my next story, but I can. 
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Post by HermioneSims on Oct 20, 2024 20:02:45 GMT
arieltriffic What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?Well, let's see... my head is actually a quite weird and crowded place, usually by the time I decide that one of my many random ideas is worthy of becoming a story it's because I already came up with enough details to write a story arc or so. In this phase I often set up a save as well, even if I'm not sure yet it will become a story or not. Then it comes the infamous white page looking at you, that's what makes the new story project official to me (and also the moment I usually have the most doubts). After writing the first couple of sentences it usually get better, though. In any case, there is no hurry to publish faster (even if sometimes I feel eager to!), often letting the confused ideas wander in the background of my head until less confused ideas about it emerge spontaneously. Even if it's a bit off-topic, the question also make me think of how I prohibited myself from working to more than one story at a time, I don't have enough time for SimLit (and free neurons) to focus on multiple stories in parallel! I mean, right now I started those silly episodes based on the Grim Reaper event in the "Little Story Moments" thread, and even that is distracting me from my main story! I tend to take notes and turn the extra ideas I keep getting now as possible future stories, and those are actually a strong motivation to finish more quickly the story I'm publishing in the present!
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Post by EvilBnuuy on Oct 20, 2024 22:03:05 GMT
What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?
This is a good question! I usually jot any future story ideas down on a dedicated document, I usually put 'DO NOT DELETE' in the title beccause I know what I'm like... And then I just keep adding any extra ideas for the new story that I get to see if I can spin it into a full-on story, or if it will forever just remain as an idea. Even if it's just a small plot or character idea, write it down before you forget about it, it might blossom into a plot point or character and then you can go from there! The trick is figuring out what will be fun to write in the long run and what won't which is a problem sometimes!
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Post by kelloggjkellogg on Oct 21, 2024 10:16:48 GMT
I usually jump right in...I never used to be gung-ho about writing but once I calmed my nervousness about doing it and started I lost any fear of doing another or keeping going. I have 3 other Simlit stories in mind; One called Nancy Fontana: Lust For Glory which is about an aspiring pop singer in the Sim 66 world, but I want to finish the Strangerville Report for Cornelius first and the other two are concepts but unless I find a good story to go along with them I won't start.
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Post by GlacierSnow on Oct 21, 2024 12:25:42 GMT
What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?
I'm usually not afraid to start, but I am often afraid to finish. When I get new ideas for a story I am usually super excited to dive right in. I can coast a long ways on that initial thrill of new creation. But after I have been working on it for a while, doubt starts to set in, and I start to think that it is stupid/childish/weird/offensive/boring/confusing/cliche or any number of other issues and I find it hard to keep going.
One of the most important supports I have is someone I trust who gives me a lot of enthusiastic encouragement mixed with honest feedback. Sometimes that is the main reason I am able to keep going.
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Post by MonaSolstraale on Oct 21, 2024 13:31:53 GMT
What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?It's actually quite difficult as I'm bad at planning and limiting my ideas. I do have a script board, yes, but it gets pretty messy quickly. I find it very inspiring if I am given some goals and limitations as a starting point. In the world of painting, it's called obstacles. That is, some rules to rein in the flight of ideas. It was such a challenge that started Tusnelda's entire universe. I have previously written several stories based on different challenges. I wrote Keoni's story about a lonely teenage vampire whose goal was to fulfill at least 3 aspirations and 2 strong values before becoming a young adult.
Another challenge was a jungle journey with the participation of two quite different explorers when Jungle Adventure was published. I had six traits to distribute between the two explores. It was quite fun and grew into quite a large family chronicle that reached the third generation. It was shared on the then Danish Sims Forum. The only story I have since translated is A Turtle's Journey.
We had a member on the Danish Forum who was really good at coming up with such limited challenges and it was especially fun that several people participated with their personal solutions. I kind of miss that.
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tavvles
Member
Dramatic, not practical
Posts: 45
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Post by tavvles on Oct 23, 2024 2:34:56 GMT
What do you do when you've got lots of ideas for a new story, but you're scared to start?
I have the opposite problem at the moment, in which I want to finish a story before moving onto the next one, but the next story is begging to be written.
So now I have two drafts being written at the same time, and I'm hyper aware that I should be working on the other draft right now what am I doing, why am I like this, can I please finish something first for once?
PLEASE SOMEBODY STOP ME
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Post by MonaSolstraale on Oct 23, 2024 7:20:59 GMT
tavvles I can kind of follow you, even if it's on a completely different background. The many big updates have meant that I soon play more in a test game than in my story game. In the meantime, these test sims will fill more of my consciousness than the personalities in my story game. Although I often feel tempted to write about the lives, challenges and victories of these new characters, I choose to sit on my hands. I am afraid of giving in too much to that impulse. I don't know how to stop you, but just want to say I can follow you.
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