"What should we call this?"...the making of a Sims story
Sul sul, Simmers. It's the holiday season, and it seems like as good a time as any to share my humble attempt at Sims storytelling with all of you. My twelve-year-old daughter, Z, is my Sims bud...
"MoonlightGraham;c-18137906" wrote: I think I might have figured out why I hadn't been in the mood to write much, or even play our story save, lately. If you're not interested in my thought process, please feel free to skip this post. I'll place my musings behind a spoiler tag. :)
Last night, I went back and read the first post I made in this thread, the one in which I described what I'd be writing about. I wasn't really sure what direction the story would take, but I thought I'd bring anyone who cared to read about it along for the ride. We followed our lead Sim, Cameron, as he lived his Sim-life through the game. We gave him a backstory and a family, but we had no idea what might happen next. The game took the lead.
While Z and I were playing and I was writing, we discovered all kinds of other Simlit stories, told by some amazing writers and storytellers. Some of them--some of you, rather--can create stories that are absolutely professional-quality, with gripping plots and engaging characters.
Aha, I told myself, so THAT's how you write Simlit!
This spring, Z and I began thinking of intriguing storylines we could add to WSWCT. Some of them were actually pretty good; good enough that we thought they could be worth writing about. But when it came time to boot up the game and play through these storylines, neither Z nor I was in the mood to do it. I couldn't figure out why, because we'd both had such fun up to this point.
Then it dawned on me. I like letting the game drive the story, rather than using the game to illustrate a story I've already written in my mind. I know some Simlit authors use the latter approach, and they're very good at it. Some of you have commented on our story here.
I'm definitely one who prefers doing the former.
So, Z and I are going to step back and let our Sims take the lead again. The result will be a "slice of life" story, driven by the development of Cameron's character...but I've decided I like telling that kind of story.
We've added some Sims to the cast who are mean, selfish, and manipulative; Seth Turner and the Atwood sisters for example. They'll probably do enough bad things to add some conflict to the story without us having to force it.
That's how I do UTTS. I let the game do the majority of the storytelling, I just take pictures. I have a rough outline of the story and an idea of where I want it go, but I give them leeway to surprise me. Danielle coming out as lesbian is a great example of something completely unexpected that changes the story and takes it places I didn't imagine.
There are moments were I'm wanting something in particular that I think would make a good screenshot to add context. If they're not doing that action, or it's one they're very unlikely to do on their own, I will step in and direct. Good example is when the whole group goes for one of their nights out. The game isn't likely to send all 6 at the same time so I set it up. Another was the beach scene with Danielle and Londyn and the one with Matteo and Liberty at the end of the last episode. I didn't do everything, but I sent them to the spot, positioned them and queued the first romantic gesture and let it go from there. I did step in and have Matteo plant that passionate kiss on Liberty, because the silly boy wasn't doing it on his own, and it felt like just the right gesture to seal their love.
