The Art of Sims Storytelling
Hi guys! @CathyTea and I were talking, and we thought we'd try making a thread that would be focused solely on writing, especially Sims story writing. The writers' lounge thread is great for being ...
Forum Discussion
I forgot to bookmark this thread when it first appeared and now it's already four pages in. The last two pages all seemed to be stating preferences for realistic and deep fiction, and I was all set to come to the defense of the shallow and mindless. But reading the first two pages, lot of folks were talking about writing more "slice of life" and fun stories.
I'm going to say random things now to catch up on the conversations.
Like several others I started writing simlit with very little exposure to the variety of stories out there. My first couple generations are more "how to legacy" like. But as I started reading other stories where people paid attention to the sim's wants and needs and personalities. I started doing the same. I consider this first year or two of writing simlit to be 'practice.' Try a bit of everything and see what sticks. I'm finding I enjoy the plot driven a bit more than expected so I'm starting to go in with a bit more intention now. The only stories that I write first and shoot later are my short stories. The stories I have that are completely sim-driven are a nice way to take a mental break and I have one game where I don't write anything for when I'm tired of screenshots.
As far as wordless chapters go...half of the 6 posts in my wonderchild challenge are completely wordless. And I loved them! It was so fun to try to figure out the correct order to put the screenshots to tell a story. I will have to do it again.
I write first and foremost because I enjoy it. Not for readers or comments or anything so @MedleyMisty write as much as you want if there's an audience or not for it. I think there are still a lot of simlit readers out there. Of course if it feels like a chore and not fun anymore, feel free to stop. I haven't written for perhaps 10 years because of life and full-time jobs and such. It's only now that I think I can fit it in my schedule and that I have the energy to do it.
@CathyTea I am 100% behind you with the narrator or POV character standing in for the reader. You said: "I feel very much that the narrator is not me--those aren't "my" thoughts or experiences, exactly, but I also feel it's really easy for "me" to enter into and share the narrator's experiences and perspective." When I read I am not aware of myself as a human anymore. *I* do not exist when I read. So the characters and the world I'm given are all I have. If they don't feel real then I don't feel real or it jars me back into being me.
And lastly to return my my defense of the cheap and mindless. Mindless and fluffy isn't the same as badly written or bad world creation. You can write a completely believable fun lighthearted stories with my little ponies and it not be trite or cheap . When the author doesn't care about the characters or bother to create the world around them that makes sense, then it's bad writing - or writing just to get paid. But most authors I've met or have read their 'on writing' books aren't like that. Even those that toss out multiple books a year with similar plots. They enjoy what they're doing. And as a reader - if I liked the world or the plot - I'd keep reading. I've read enough of "The Cat Who..." mysteries to prove that.
Then again, I tend not to read or watch "real" world stories. What folks consider "modern literature" or movies and TV shows listed as "dramas" - I avoid. Not because I don't think they're good. But I live in that world so I tend to choose to spend my free time in other worlds. To me, simlit is like another world so even when it "realistic" - I still enjoy it. If it's got vampires, demons, mages, aliens, or sims, I'm going to be there.
/novel
I'm going to say random things now to catch up on the conversations.
Like several others I started writing simlit with very little exposure to the variety of stories out there. My first couple generations are more "how to legacy" like. But as I started reading other stories where people paid attention to the sim's wants and needs and personalities. I started doing the same. I consider this first year or two of writing simlit to be 'practice.' Try a bit of everything and see what sticks. I'm finding I enjoy the plot driven a bit more than expected so I'm starting to go in with a bit more intention now. The only stories that I write first and shoot later are my short stories. The stories I have that are completely sim-driven are a nice way to take a mental break and I have one game where I don't write anything for when I'm tired of screenshots.
As far as wordless chapters go...half of the 6 posts in my wonderchild challenge are completely wordless. And I loved them! It was so fun to try to figure out the correct order to put the screenshots to tell a story. I will have to do it again.
I write first and foremost because I enjoy it. Not for readers or comments or anything so @MedleyMisty write as much as you want if there's an audience or not for it. I think there are still a lot of simlit readers out there. Of course if it feels like a chore and not fun anymore, feel free to stop. I haven't written for perhaps 10 years because of life and full-time jobs and such. It's only now that I think I can fit it in my schedule and that I have the energy to do it.
@CathyTea I am 100% behind you with the narrator or POV character standing in for the reader. You said: "I feel very much that the narrator is not me--those aren't "my" thoughts or experiences, exactly, but I also feel it's really easy for "me" to enter into and share the narrator's experiences and perspective." When I read I am not aware of myself as a human anymore. *I* do not exist when I read. So the characters and the world I'm given are all I have. If they don't feel real then I don't feel real or it jars me back into being me.
And lastly to return my my defense of the cheap and mindless. Mindless and fluffy isn't the same as badly written or bad world creation. You can write a completely believable fun lighthearted stories with my little ponies and it not be trite or cheap . When the author doesn't care about the characters or bother to create the world around them that makes sense, then it's bad writing - or writing just to get paid. But most authors I've met or have read their 'on writing' books aren't like that. Even those that toss out multiple books a year with similar plots. They enjoy what they're doing. And as a reader - if I liked the world or the plot - I'd keep reading. I've read enough of "The Cat Who..." mysteries to prove that.
Then again, I tend not to read or watch "real" world stories. What folks consider "modern literature" or movies and TV shows listed as "dramas" - I avoid. Not because I don't think they're good. But I live in that world so I tend to choose to spend my free time in other worlds. To me, simlit is like another world so even when it "realistic" - I still enjoy it. If it's got vampires, demons, mages, aliens, or sims, I'm going to be there.
/novel
