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Legacy Writing Tips! *Come on in! We have cookies!*
Homeworker
Posts: 2,370 Member
Hello fellow story tellers!
I see all the time that there all these "mummy clubs" for 100BCs but I never really see anything for legacies so I thought that we could all share our tips for writing, or anything to do with legacies really, here! So come on in and even if you don't have anything to share you can still chat and maybe even learn a couple of tricks! Also we could share polls and things from our legacies here because I know that, certainly for me, I have to advertise in quite a lot of places to get what I see as a fair sample amount of votes!
Also we have cookies. So you should join
In case you haven't got time to read through god knows how many pages here are some useful links that may help you out
Please submit anything you think will help out others and I'll add it here!
Useful Links
Writing Tips:
Story-Telling Tips(written by mosneakers)CURRENTLY BROKEN
General resources:
Text Generator (ideal for texting conversations between simmies!)
Newspaper Templates (requires download and powerpoint but is easy to do)
Colour Names (names for rainbowacy sims)
Randomiser (Randomises lists for traits etc)
Avoiding Patching Issues and Other Tutorials (tutorials to avoid patching issues etc)
I see all the time that there all these "mummy clubs" for 100BCs but I never really see anything for legacies so I thought that we could all share our tips for writing, or anything to do with legacies really, here! So come on in and even if you don't have anything to share you can still chat and maybe even learn a couple of tricks! Also we could share polls and things from our legacies here because I know that, certainly for me, I have to advertise in quite a lot of places to get what I see as a fair sample amount of votes!
Also we have cookies. So you should join
In case you haven't got time to read through god knows how many pages here are some useful links that may help you out
Please submit anything you think will help out others and I'll add it here!Useful Links
Writing Tips:
Story-Telling Tips(written by mosneakers)CURRENTLY BROKEN
General resources:
Text Generator (ideal for texting conversations between simmies!)
Newspaper Templates (requires download and powerpoint but is easy to do)
Colour Names (names for rainbowacy sims)
Randomiser (Randomises lists for traits etc)
Avoiding Patching Issues and Other Tutorials (tutorials to avoid patching issues etc)
3
Comments
This is cool! I have a couple things that I can maybe share that I figured out while writing my first legacy gen. (I'm kind of new to this, but still!)
Okay, so what helped me get through a lot of chapters is actually writing everything out before hand and then taking the pictures. So I write all the passages and then make list of what pictures I need. Then all I have to do is going into the game and take those pictures! When you go to actually write the chapter everything is pretty much done! I find that this is a time saver and it also gives you more paying time!
You should also plan ahead! Before you even start your legacy, you should write at least 2 or 3 chapters (I did five) so that you don't get super bogged down.
Well... that's all from me for now. Haha! I'm looking forward to seeing somethings that could help me in the future
This is great advice...but only for one style of legacy.
See..I am actually telling the story of what my sims are really doing. I don't decide before hand. So I play, snap some pictures, then write about what happened.
My advice, if writing in the same or similar style as myself if to keep a note pad my the computer and if you take a snap shot, make a note about why you did, or other important info like sims names, traits, etc.
I'm currently writing my second legacy after I completed the Halliwells. I find it helpful to write a chapter in word so it's easier to fix spelling mistakes and grammar. Once the chapter is done I play the game to get pictures. If i'm having trouble coming up with storylines, I like to draw inspiration from famous movies, books, tv shows, etc...
You can check out my legacy below! Tell me what you think!
I think the most important thing is to find a process that you enjoy and find best for you. I've tried in the past to write the entire chapter first and then do the pictures, but for some reason that never worked for me. I've also tried taking pictures first and then writing out the chapter, but that did little more than confuse me (what's this picture for? I have no idea!!).
So, that's my advice. Don't worry about doing things the "right" way or the "wrong" way, just find something that works for you and jump right in. Everyone has a different process
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
So yeah, just experiment around a little. Don't feel like because something works for ten other people it should work for you because it might not.
Hmm question for you other legacy writers/readers. How do you feel about word count? Like, if you read a legacy and don't want to read it because the word length is too long or too short? (mostly asking cause someone recently told me I should make my chapters shorter to be more 'readable').
Danevbie Legacy 8.24
Although, like I said before, don't worry about what other people say. Write for you and write in a way that you enjoy, even if it means adding in long paragraphs about meaningless stuff! There's bound to be someone out there that enjoys that style writing, it's just not my cup of tea!
As for when I write, I aim for a minimum of five pages in Word at size 11, calibri font, though I don't really have a maximum.
I hope that made sense!
EDIT: I think that something else that helps though, is keeping the first few chapters short and sweet to get readers' attention and then increasing the length as the readers become more engaged in the story and more attached to the characters.
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
What I like to do is have an idea in mind, like if I know where the story is going I'll come up with an idea for the chapter and go in game to take pics off of that idea. And if anything interesting happens while I'm playing I can than work it into the chapter because I have nothing written out so that idea I started with could change or grow depending on the pictures I take.
But that just depends on the type of challenge I'm doing and how I'm writing it
I see no cookies. :evil:
Well, I actually consider myself pretty new to the legacy-writing circle. So I'll just read all your wonderful words of advice, bookmark, and then come back later, kay?
(and I expect to see cookies when I get back!)
I, uh, um... Funny story, you see :XD: I may have, um, eaten... all of the... cookies?
There's one left over though
that's not a bite mark I swear it was baked like that honest *sweats nervously*
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
Oh don't you dare shorten your chapters just because one person said so! Yours is the best legacy I have ever read and I will not have you purposely leaving stuff out just to make that one lazy reader happy! :evil:
ROFL! Used a crescent moon cookie cutter, did you? I don't think so. :twisted:
*Sweats nervously* I, uh, yes! That's exactly what I did hahahahahaha
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
:roll: I'm watching you, cookie thief!
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
This is all I could think of and now I can't stop laughing xD
But yeah as for the write-for-yourself I agree completely although sometimes it's hard to put that in practice when you want to make your readers happy. I always tell people "write for yourself! don't worry what readers will think!" and then when I write stuff I am sitting there panicking. xD
I like the idea of using a page count instead of a word count. Since I write directly into wordpress (probably a bad idea, oops) I keep track using a word count. My chapters are usually between 4000 and 4500 words, since my sixth gen started I decided to stop restricting myself with short chapters (for some reason in my 4th gen I decided it'd be a good idea to keep things short and keep the chapters around 2k words and I regret it so much...).
Haha I won't shorten my chapters don't worry, I was just mostly curious to see what other people thought about short vs. long or even if it mattered to people (to me, it doesn't matter at all).
Danevbie Legacy 8.24
Yeah, you're definitely right there. With my first few legacies, I was always so worried about impressing my audience that I found that I wasn't even enjoying what I was writing anymore. I've gotten better at it now, but I still find myself going "Oh crap they're gonna hate it they're gonna hate it they're gonna hate it."
I usually write a few paragraphs, read them over, and then paste them into Wordpress. I like having them in Word because then one day I'll be able to look at that huge page count and be like "Whoa, I pretty much wrote a whole novel here." And that'll feel pretty good.
Ah, don't regret it! There's nothing wrong with short chapters and I'm sure your readers enjoyed them just as much as the long ones
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
And I am the same I look back at my first gens and am like... :oops: my picture taking skills were so much worse than they are now (and yet when I see people doing legacies and stories with not-perfect-pictures I never even care about that, it's only my own story I worry about pictures!)
I think it is cool writing sim legacies for the reason you said about looking at how much we've written and being surprised and impressed at what we've done. My mom doesn't treat my sim writing as "real" writing but legacies take a lot of work between gameplay and keeping track of stuff and maintaining your blog or forum thread, and all that. Plus all the writing!
Sim writers are awesome.
Danevbie Legacy 8.24
I've attempted to write a ton of different novels but I never really get all that far. For some reason, writing a legacy, even though it probably is more work because of pictures and balancing your story with your game time and all that, is more relaxing and just easier for me. One day I'll be able to look at it and be like, "See! I can write a novel! I pretty much just did!"
Sim writers are the bestest
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
I think we inexplicably gave another tip:
Don't worry too much about your pictures! Your readers won't, and over time you'll learn how to get nice ones/the best way for you to get pictures!
Danevbie Legacy 8.24
I will be using Story Progression in Winfield and can tune out the one I'll use because I'm planning to use NRaas
Well, how I write is solely based on which story I'm writing for.. For my legacy, I usually always take pictures first and write in what I want later. Though for my regular stories that aren't legacies, I sometimes write first and get pictures later, so it's either way for me. For this writing advice, it's more for Story Legacies rather than just normal legacies.
Pros and Cons of Writing first:
*Pro - If you know what you want to write but haven't gotten the pictures yet, it's good to get out all that you have in mind first and then get pictures after you have an idea on what you want to accomplish or what you want to describe for that specific chapter.
*Con - Writing first limits you a lot. Although you have something in mind and want to portray it how you see it, Sims only let's you do so much. Especially if you use poses, you need to make sure you can either find the poses you want, or you need to be able to make them yourself in order to give the chapter a certain feel. Chapters begin to get boring if your Sims are just standing there, or if you're writing dialogue but their expressions are blank and lifeless.
Pros and Cons of getting pictures first:
*Pro - Getting pictures first is a good tool to use when you don't know where you want to go with the chapter. If you know how you want to start, but don't know the middle or ending, getting pictures first lets you get into the mood and get into a 'feel' for what you want to write and ideas can spring out of nowhere when getting pictures. If you have your Sims on high free-will, letting them do what they want sometimes helps you on what they could be doing or can help you get more into your character based on their traits and based off of what they themselves would like to do. Does that make sense? XD
*Pro - In some cases this can be a con because it just takes up more time, BUT, if you get pictures first and write in later, as you write, you can maybe look at the picture you're about to write for an decide "Nah, I don't want to do that anymore". It gives you a chance to change what you have if you're not feeling it. Sometimes when I write for pictures I've already taken, I'll write how I thought I wanted it to go, but then decided 'Maybe this isn't the best approach'. Like while writing, you could've thought that that was how you wanted it to go when you were getting the pictures without writing, but as you write, you could either get more into it, resulting in needing a change if how you feel doesn't match the pictures, or if you weren't sure when you were getting the pictures, it gives you a chance to correct anything that you're now feeling not so great about.
Hope this helps anyone writing a Story Legacy
For an example, you could always check out my story legacy, it's the link in my sig.
⇉ THE INSANE DUBOIS LEGACY ⇇
But since my personal style of writing is exceedingly plot heavy, I gotta do what I gotta do. xD
I think one of the cons with pictures first for me was I was even more limited. When I did my first couple of generations and did pictures first, I tried to push my sims into the general plot but overall I was limited in what I could write about to go with the picture.
(But that's just me really I know a ton of people write amazing legacies with awesome storylines using pictures first. I'm just personally not talented at that.)
Danevbie Legacy 8.24
Our Lives are Better Left to Chance - A Legacy
Puppyluvv - Hmm, that's a good idea, actually.. Writing in a different document and then getting pictures as you go. I also do this sometimes, like I'll write in the draft for my wordpress and take pictures as I go, but then again, if you use poses like I do, and you don't have a pose to work with that scene, you need to find the pose, close the game, put it in, then open it again and pick up where you left off. Either way, it's going to be frustrating.
serindeppity - True, you gotta do what you gotta do, so if that involves more work, then so be it XD You just need to accept and take in what you can and can't do when it comes to getting the shots you really want.
Do either of you use poses/pose player?
⇉ THE INSANE DUBOIS LEGACY ⇇
I do use pose player. A LOT! I really need to go through and write down all the poses though or something since I have so many I can't remember which ones do what and I don't like keeping them all in my game at the same time. xD
Danevbie Legacy 8.24