I'm not even sure there's a need to focus on just one story. My original one is on hiatus too! We're multi-story writers, so it's fine if our focus shifts with time. All about being flexible here! I haven't caught up with New World Symphony yet. I'm somewhere in the middle of the first part currently. I love Jacklyn and her gnome boyfriend! Are Jacklyn's ears CC or can you get them this way in CAS? I haven't tried yet.
@AkramA
The more the merrier! It was getting quiet in here because some of us are busy with their lives. I don't have much time for reading currently, but I will put your legacy on my to-read-list. So yeah, you can stick around and hang out with us!
I'm not even sure there's a need to focus on just one story. My original one is on hiatus too! We're multi-story writers, so it's fine if our focus shifts with time. All about being flexible here! I haven't caught up with New World Symphony yet. I'm somewhere in the middle of the first part currently. I love Jacklyn and her gnome boyfriend! Are Jacklyn's ears CC or can you get them this way in CAS? I haven't tried yet.
@AkramA
The more the merrier! It was getting quiet in here because some of us are busy with their lives. I don't have much time for reading currently, but I will put your legacy on my to-read-list. So yeah, you can stick around and hang out with us!
Yay ! Welcome @AkramA ! I'm already reading all your stories ! I think we'll read your YOTO challenge in March in Book Club , since we're doing a runaway teen theme.
@DeiraShadeweaver , Jaclyn is a game generated mixologist ! I didn't create her or her boyfriend . I don't have any CC , so those are EA ears !
@CathyTea She's really special then! I never saw these ears before.
I wish I had more time for playing, but being an adult is exhausting. I broke my thin beading needle today so had to go out to town and search up and down for an hour until I found a small shop that was selling the kind of needle I needed.
One of my coworkers kind of insulted my beadwork today as I mentioned it in the canteen when talk was about things to do after work. He said it's cheaper and quicker to buy it in some cheap junk store.
@IllusoryThrall I started to read your city challenge guidelines and I must say, I'm intrigued! I haven't experienced city life yet, only as a festival visitor... I really want to give it a go!
@CathyTea She's really special then! I never saw these ears before.
I wish I had more time for playing, but being an adult is exhausting. I broke my thin beading needle today so had to go out to town and search up and down for an hour until I found a small shop that was selling the kind of needle I needed.
One of my coworkers kind of insulted my beadwork today as I mentioned it in the canteen when talk was about things to do after work. He said it's cheaper and quicker to buy it in some cheap junk store.
@IllusoryThrall I started to read your city challenge guidelines and I must say, I'm intrigued! I haven't experienced city life yet, only as a festival visitor... I really want to give it a go!
Hi, Deira! Yeah, she's so special! And so is Davion, the little gnome-guy! I really love that world and all the Simmies in them. They're so awesome!
At this stage, it's really only my SimSelf that is a Sim I created in that story. All the others are either other Simmers' SimSelves who came for the Goofy Love celebration--and never left--or born-in-game Townies or Boughs, or game-generated Sims, or premades from Windenburg and Forgotten Hollow. The premades and SimSelves (save for mine) tend to stay out of the plot most of the time, so most of our characters are born-in-game or game-generated. That's something I love so much about it!
That's a hurtful comment made by your colleague. I'm guessing no insult was intended, and I also know how devaluing comments like that can feel to receive!
At least you know how great it feels to do that craft and how healthy it is! Folks like us with highly tuned brains need our activities to help keep us in balance!
I wish I had more time for playing, but being an adult is exhausting. I broke my thin beading needle today so had to go out to town and search up and down for an hour until I found a small shop that was selling the kind of needle I needed.
One of my coworkers kind of insulted my beadwork today as I mentioned it in the canteen when talk was about things to do after work. He said it's cheaper and quicker to buy it in some cheap junk store.
@IllusoryThrall I started to read your city challenge guidelines and I must say, I'm intrigued! I haven't experienced city life yet, only as a festival visitor... I really want to give it a go!
@DeiraShadeweaver Aw, that was mean of your coworker. Beading is hard! I tried it when I was a kid, and it never really caught my attention, but I do remember the attention to detail that it took. Nothing cheap or easy about it. You should be proud of yourself for doing your own beadwork. Don't listen to him. I'm a crafter at heart, too, although my craft of choice is usually knitting. I have been so busy lately I haven't had time to work on it, though. Perhaps after my challenge is "finished" and spring break. There's always something to do and never enough time!
Also, I'm glad you're interested in the Apartment Switch. It's an interesting challenge. I've had a lot of good feedback about it so far. I'm feverishly working on testing the "Switch Two" so that it will be ready for this weekend to post. I really want to have the whole challenge posted before my daughter's spring break (we're actually going someplace this year, and it's so exciting! We haven't taken an actual family vacation in years, and since my daughter's getting older, I wanted to take one last big one. We're going to Chicago to explore the neat museums up there - something we've wanted to do for a very long time.)
I plan to post the fourth chapter in Travelers sometime later today, and I'll drop the links here so you guys can see if it's the kind of story that will work for reading for this circle. My other "drifters" aren't really a story, just a commentary, so they won't work for here. I really am starting to enjoy the Travelers story, though, as it's just starting to finally gel in my head. I had trouble for this first generation, but I've already got a million ideas for Caleb's (the second) generation and am really looking forward to it. It's great when your sims really start "talking" to you, you know?
@IllusoryThrall Your Apartment Switch challenge sounds so amazing! I'm really tempted to try it. I'm trying to hold off on starting new stories for a while... but if I can't resist, I know yours is already loudly calling my name!
And I know just what you mean by your Sims "talking" to you! I LOVE when that happens!
Since I started debating what to do over here and so many of you are interested in @IllusoryThrall 's new challenge. I thought I'd post this here as well. It's the intro to my new blog. Thanks for the great advice y'all. I decided to create a new blog through wordpress after all. And you're right, it's so easy to switch back and forth. I'll link my two sites later and catch up on my commenting tomorrow. My brain is all mushy after working on this.
The Trials of Miss Alora Darcy
Having grown up with every luxury imaginable, Alora Darcy finds herself in completely unfamiliar waters. “If only mother and father had delayed their trip for one day, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I’d be residing in a luxurious penthouse apartment in the most cosmopolitan city in the world like planned. But no. They decided to close the houses, send all the servants on leave, and start their vacation on the very same day that I departed,” she thought.
@AkramA
The more the merrier! It was getting quiet in here because some of us are busy with their lives. I don't have much time for reading currently, but I will put your legacy on my to-read-list. So yeah, you can stick around and hang out with us!
@DeiraShadeweaver You don't have to read it if you don't have time, I only wanted to join in the conversation and hangout. The good thing I love about this reading circle is that it's usually not focusing on the reading but mostly talking about the writing process. I love hearing how you all play the game and write about it. It motivate and inspire me to write even though I'm not actually involved in the conversation. Now that I can get involved hopefully it motivated me more.
Yay ! Welcome @AkramA ! I'm already reading all your stories ! I think we'll read your YOTO challenge in March in Book Club , since we're doing a runaway teen theme.
Awesome, I don't think it's still YOTO challenge, it's just a yoto inspired challenge since I almost not follow any rule anymore, hehe. Can't wait!
I finally caved and started a new thing. I've been cultivating this idea for ages. It's a Build Newcrest inspired story. I don't know nothing yet, but I made a new blog for it.
@AllieMac I love the start of your story, and can't wait to read more! I'm so honored that you decided to do a story of the Apartment Switch, it should be a fun challenge for you. At least it will be a change of pace from Drifter!
@DeiraShadeweaver Good start! I haven't tried Build Newcrest yet, but it looks like fun. It's on my list.. LOL
I've tried build newcrest but technically it's not a build newcrest challenge but download a building from a gallery and put them into newcrest. Because I'm such a terrible builder. I usually need a lot of times building which I don't really have. But I've seen a lot of drifter and build newcrest stories and kind of jealous of what others built
@AkramA
I am a very slow builder. But I recently undertook the challenge of rebuilding my legacy lot to have a consistent house and I must say I like the results even if I'm not completely finished yet because the family ran out of funds. The house is a tad too big now, and I might do some changes soon, but I enjoyed the process.
It's kind of the reason why I want to try Newcrest and Drifter challenges - push myself to give building more time and attention.
@DeiraShadeweaver Drifter and Build Newcrest sure are the ways to get yourself to build. Drifter, especially, that's the one that got me building again. Before that, I got very lazy in sims 4 and just put together pre-built rooms to build houses. I never bothered to build my own until I sorta had to with limited funds. Now, I've been having lots of fun with building in Drifter.
At my legacy, it's 4th generation already and they're still living in a box. I really hope I can actually build faster but I'm such a perfectionist on the term of building (even though it ended up being plum anyway). I was also recently running out of funds on my latest built and ended up making another box to store the unused room. Also in my current legacy, I had this crazy rule that there's an inflation happening every generation which means that I would always be left with no money at all to build, every time I wanted to upgrade the house.
I remember when I was in college and high school during the sims 3 area, I always had too much time where I would spend the whole day only to build a mansion. And I never even try to build just a small house. I almost never download a downloadable house because it took too long to plop it down due to my horrible computer. Now, I had too little time to build a house, which was not really a problem since the gallery seems to be a wonderful place. If I wanted something I would just search for it on the gallery.The gallery is spoiling me a lot since my build would probably never be better than what other's build so when I build stuff. I see no reason to build my own stuff now.
I've been reading back posts on this... and have collected a few tidbits in response.. (or at least, I tried to keep it to a few..)
I'm a huge animal person. As I think I mentioned, we lost two beloved pets recently.. and gained a new one.. but I've been around animals most of my life. I can't afford to be around horses anymore, but most of my childhood was spent on horseback... and as for small animals, I've dealt with most kinds of them. A college roommate and I once bred fancy rats and had great fun.. as a child, we bred Gerbils for a pet store.. I've had hamsters.. and birds.. not so much into the reptile/amphibian thing, but I volunteered at the zoo as a kid and worked with those, too. Only sort of animal I don't like is bugs. LOL
the personality test.. I took it as a kid, then as a young adult.. and was curious enough to retake it tonight. It's fun to see how things change in your personality over time. I came out as INFP-T (the "T" designation is new to me, too, so that was interesting.) I'm WAY far towards each end of the spectrum on all of them, so there's no question about what personality I am. LOL
Oh and Allie - I am a crafter, as well.. and I homeschooled my daughter through 7th grade, so we have even more in common. (I tend to ramble on in posts, too.. so yeah there's that too.) My hubby's a "transplant" from Texas, as well.
As for how I play.. I tend to push all playable sims into being the best that they can be. If I'm not forcing myself to play with random traits, often I won't... but then I feel guilty for it. Unplayable sims.. I love to watch the things they do. I manage to see a personality in each sim, usually (although occasionally I'll get a sim that I just don't get attached to for whatever reason.) I tend to be very bad at NOT watching for the whims in sims 4, whereas in 3, I watched for them all the time. I'm not sure why it's like that, but perhaps because the interface for whims is so different from the wishes one in sims 3.
As for story writing.. my focus lately has been in a commentary style.. stuff happens in the pictures and I react to it.. which is great fun.. but sometimes the story just starts weaseling it's way into my head.. which is partially why I started my "second" Drifter save (my Travelers).. I wanted to really get back to story-telling, letting the sims "talk" to me and bring me into their world. At least, that's the way I think of it. Part of that is why I decided to try joining this reading circle - to get my creativity an outlet again. I have a few older, Sims3 based stories that I have on hiatus (mostly due to my new challenge, but also due to the issues my old PC had with Sims3. I haven't found out yet whether this PC will run it better - although it should...), but I'm starting to wonder if they're still calling my name to come back to them. (Other than the NiF save/s .. those always call my name.)
Anyways... I can now say.. I'm officially caught up on this forum topic. Now to dive into the stories... but I'll plan that for another binge-read night. I really need to get back in game to work on my Switch Two play-tests.. I'll shush on the spoilers, but things got really interesting when I learned something new about City Living and almost had to re-think the Switch goals I had planned. (Ultimately, I decided that having it be a bit tougher challenge than I planned is okay since I include a "non-fail" loophole for if you can't get the Switch done in one generation.)
Oh, and @CathyTea do you have a particular story you'd suggest diving into first in your lineup? I have to say, I checked out your blog and got a bit boggled by the sheer amount of content.. I have no idea where to start!
.. And I rambled on WAY longer than I meant to. Forgive me!
I know I said it would be best if I leave, but honestly things are getting a little easier to cope with now. I think this and the Readers Nook (and being a lurking puffclaw) should be possible, if you'll still have me
@Thymeless I'm glad things are looking up for you! I really miss your updates. I still haven't managed to get aliens into my family... I need somebody to be a scientist again.
I'm just going to waltz right in and plop myself down on the couch here for a moment.
I had decided, very recently, not to take on any more blogging projects...out of the worry that I wouldn't have time to give them all enough attention; but after reading the premise of this thread I feel myself getting Very Inspired (drat).
The framework of most challenges makes it difficult to truly let sims live as they please, as there is frequently an agenda one must follow to "score" or "progress"...and I like that about challenges. I like finite goals. But what if I played something truly hands off? Observe. Record. Step in only as the voice of reason when someone really needs to potty but they're all wrapped up in hour 7 of Blicblock.
I'm gong to take this away, process it a bit more, but I suspect I've been bitten by the Idea bug, and that's a rash that just won't go away without some scratching.
I'm just going to waltz right in and plop myself down on the couch here for a moment.
I had decided, very recently, not to take on any more blogging projects...out of the worry that I wouldn't have time to give them all enough attention; but after reading the premise of this thread I feel myself getting Very Inspired (drat).
The framework of most challenges makes it difficult to truly let sims live as they please, as there is frequently an agenda one must follow to "score" or "progress"...and I like that about challenges. I like finite goals. But what if I played something truly hands off? Observe. Record. Step in only as the voice of reason when someone really needs to potty but they're all wrapped up in hour 7 of Blicblock.
I'm gong to take this away, process it a bit more, but I suspect I've been bitten by the Idea bug, and that's a rash that just won't go away without some scratching.
Hi, @WagonFruit ! This sounds awesome! I often play that way... and sometimes, I just play in a way where I'll provide minimal guidance to one or two Sims, or I might provide active guidance to many Sims, but always within what they want and what seems to help them fulfill their highest potential.
Will you share your link to your story with us when you get it going?
I'm currently trying hard to resist starting two new projects: 1) an Apartment Switch challenge (invented by the amazing @IllusoryThrall ) and 2) "My Digital Life," which explores the life of a Sim AS a Sim from CAS through her life... I think I'll be able to resist starting these--and it seems in my best interest to do so, since I've got two active stories, many, many stories waiting to be continued or finished, and a very busy and demanding season in both my jobs at present. But it's sure tempting! Those ideas keep rattling away in my head!
@IllusoryThrall I loved reading your post! I'm an INFP, too, and I've got a hunch that INFPs are drawn to Sim-driven game-play and stories. It sounds like our game-play style is really similar.
As for which story of mine to read: first, I'm sorry that my blog feels overwhelming! I've heard that from others. Maybe I should redo my home page so that it looks less intimidating! I could move the non-active stories onto the "Other Stories" page, and then it wouldn't seem so much. And I could provide a note for each, stating the status of the story and when I plan to return to it. That might be a good weekend project for me!
My two currently active stories are Forgotten Art, which is part of the Pen Pal Project that @AllieMac also participates in (We've got openings if any of you would like to join! It's super fun!) and Vampire Code.
Forgotten Art follows the lives of Jasper, his niece Meadow, his nephew Norman, and the child he tutors, Giuliana. Their stories are told through letters to their pen pals. Each one has fascinating pen pals, so as you learn about these Sims' lives, you also learn about their pen pals. I'm really enjoying it! It's relatively new, so there aren't too many chapters to catch up on...
Vampire Code is the third movement of the sequel to "Goofy Love," my Pinstar legacy. I'm guessing that readers will get the most out of Vampire Code if they've read "Goofy Love" and the two previous movements of "New World Symphony," the sequel, but I'm trying to write it so that it will make sense to readers who are coming to it fresh. I update this one relatively slowly, with one to two chapters per week.
My official story for this thread is "Whisper," a TS3 ISBI. It's in Gen 2. I will be picking it up again, possibly in the summer. If you started now, you might be caught up by the time I return to it, depending on reading speed!
Also, a completed story of mine, "Shift," is coming up in Book Club in March. I'd love to have more readers of it, as I always feel nervous that no one will participate in Coffee Hour when my story is discussed !
I've got a few other completed stories, and quite a few on hiatus which I'll return to at some point, so I'd be happy to tell you about them, if you think you might want to read any of them.
@CathyTea Seeing how similar we are in personality, I have a feeling I'm going to like your stories. I probably will get to all of them if that's the case, but I was just trying to get a good starting point. I started binge reading @DeiraShadeweaver 's stories, and I have the other ones that have been linked in this thread up in windows in my browser just waiting for my attention. (I'm all caught up with @AllieMac because I've been following her for what seems like forever.. or she's been following me. Or something. hehe.) I feel I can catch up on one at a time while still maintaining the pace I need for the Apartment Switch testing. Also, thanks for the kind comments on it. I've put a lot of work into it, with lots more still to do, and it's really cool to see the positive response I've been getting from a lot of people. I can see so many possibilities for stories in the challenge, and it's just as playable for all ranges of skills - no matter your skill, you'll definitely learn something new. I sure am just from writing it! I think the really neat thing about it is it's really dynamic. Because you're constantly moving from apartment to apartment it feels like things are constantly changing and improving for your sim(s), and there's always a new color palette to try for the next decorating challenge. And you have a choice of building from the walls and floor up or just decorating a shell that already has a floor plan, so there's something for everyone. The second mini-challenge or "Switch" will be out Sunday. (along with the pages of commentary from my adventures testing it.)
Anyway, I put Whispers at the top of my list (I love a good ISBI!!) .. and since I like to read the WHOLE series of stuff when I get into a series, I'll plan to start slowly and work my way through the goofy love and new world symphony stuff after I catch up on Whispers. It all looks fascinating, and I love long series' that I can really get into the characters. It'll be good to have some reading material when I have to take breaks from test-running the Apartment Switch (which is pretty often... I run two monitors on my computer, and I find myself refreshing the sims forums and my blog on my second monitor repeatedly trying to find excuses to take a break. haha!) - Speaking of breaks, I just spent three hours building an Art Center.. oh well.. it was worth it! Liked it so much I even uploaded it. So break time is officially over, back to work.
Hi, @WagonFruit ! This sounds awesome! I often play that way... and sometimes, I just play in a way where I'll provide minimal guidance to one or two Sims, or I might provide active guidance to many Sims, but always within what they want and what seems to help them fulfill their highest potential.
Will you share your link to your story with us when you get it going?
I'm currently trying hard to resist starting two new projects: 1) an Apartment Switch challenge (invented by the amazing @IllusoryThrall ) and 2) "My Digital Life," which explores the life of a Sim AS a Sim from CAS through her life... I think I'll be able to resist starting these--and it seems in my best interest to do so, since I've got two active stories, many, many stories waiting to be continued or finished, and a very busy and demanding season in both my jobs at present. But it's sure tempting! Those ideas keep rattling away in my head!
Hi @CathyTea I'd be more than happy to share a link once I get something workable figured out; I envy that you're comfortable playing that way, it's going to be a challenge for me to let go that much, I think.
Perhaps I'll step out of my comfort zone even more and make it a drama! Not that don't use the occasional dramatic element, but it's always heavily couched in satire.
I feel what you said about having a hard time resisting new projects, and I'm pretty sure you've got a lot more on your plate than I do!
I only have a few moments. I'm about to go watch a movie with my husband. (Can't remember the last time we did that. )
@CathyTea I was thinking about you when I posted today's chapter. I knew you would be upset about Cassia. I REALLY was hoping Dace would age up first, but it didn't work out that way.
So many exciting things are being discussed in here. Love it! And I will be back later tonight hopefully to add my 2 cents in.
In the meantime, since I originally posted a link for this here, I thought I'd also drop the link for the revision I just completed. I had meant to keep the original chapter and move it under a Misc tab (or something) and then have re-title the post as a revision, but forgot to save the original. It would have been neat I think to be able to compare the two side-by-side. Oh well. Live and learn, right?
Anyway I noticed while trying to begin her story that there were a few typos and one of the pictures was above the coresponding text (instead of underneath it), once those things were fixed I just couldn't resist fixing the other parts that were bugging me! Normally when I write, I step away from it and do something else then come back to it later for revisions. Some posts takes 3 or 4 breaks with revisions. This one I was too excited by the prospect of starting something new to actually walk away for a bit. Hence the much needed revision!
Anyway, I'm done rambling. I'll be back later to catch up on comments, etc.
OK! I just updated my home page, moving all the stories that aren't currently being updated onto the "Other Stories" page! It feels so much more manageable, and this gives me incentive to either bring these other stories back into activity (which won't happen before the summer) or move them onto the "It's Done!" list (which probably won't happen until the fall!).
But it feels so much better to have the home page less cluttered!
Comments
Greetings and welcome! I will update the first post with your name if I don't forget about it.
@CathyTea
I'm not even sure there's a need to focus on just one story. My original one is on hiatus too! We're multi-story writers, so it's fine if our focus shifts with time. All about being flexible here! I haven't caught up with New World Symphony yet. I'm somewhere in the middle of the first part currently. I love Jacklyn and her gnome boyfriend! Are Jacklyn's ears CC or can you get them this way in CAS? I haven't tried yet.
@AkramA
The more the merrier! It was getting quiet in here because some of us are busy with their lives. I don't have much time for reading currently, but I will put your legacy on my to-read-list. So yeah, you can stick around and hang out with us!
Yay ! Welcome @AkramA ! I'm already reading all your stories ! I think we'll read your YOTO challenge in March in Book Club , since we're doing a runaway teen theme.
@DeiraShadeweaver , Jaclyn is a game generated mixologist ! I didn't create her or her boyfriend . I don't have any CC , so those are EA ears !
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
I wish I had more time for playing, but being an adult is exhausting. I broke my thin beading needle today so had to go out to town and search up and down for an hour until I found a small shop that was selling the kind of needle I needed.
One of my coworkers kind of insulted my beadwork today as I mentioned it in the canteen when talk was about things to do after work. He said it's cheaper and quicker to buy it in some cheap junk store.
@IllusoryThrall I started to read your city challenge guidelines and I must say, I'm intrigued! I haven't experienced city life yet, only as a festival visitor... I really want to give it a go!
Hi, Deira! Yeah, she's so special! And so is Davion, the little gnome-guy! I really love that world and all the Simmies in them. They're so awesome!
At this stage, it's really only my SimSelf that is a Sim I created in that story. All the others are either other Simmers' SimSelves who came for the Goofy Love celebration--and never left--or born-in-game Townies or Boughs, or game-generated Sims, or premades from Windenburg and Forgotten Hollow. The premades and SimSelves (save for mine) tend to stay out of the plot most of the time, so most of our characters are born-in-game or game-generated. That's something I love so much about it!
That's a hurtful comment made by your colleague. I'm guessing no insult was intended, and I also know how devaluing comments like that can feel to receive!
At least you know how great it feels to do that craft and how healthy it is! Folks like us with highly tuned brains need our activities to help keep us in balance!
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
@DeiraShadeweaver Aw, that was mean of your coworker. Beading is hard! I tried it when I was a kid, and it never really caught my attention, but I do remember the attention to detail that it took. Nothing cheap or easy about it. You should be proud of yourself for doing your own beadwork. Don't listen to him. I'm a crafter at heart, too, although my craft of choice is usually knitting. I have been so busy lately I haven't had time to work on it, though. Perhaps after my challenge is "finished" and spring break. There's always something to do and never enough time!
Also, I'm glad you're interested in the Apartment Switch. It's an interesting challenge. I've had a lot of good feedback about it so far. I'm feverishly working on testing the "Switch Two" so that it will be ready for this weekend to post. I really want to have the whole challenge posted before my daughter's spring break (we're actually going someplace this year, and it's so exciting! We haven't taken an actual family vacation in years, and since my daughter's getting older, I wanted to take one last big one. We're going to Chicago to explore the neat museums up there - something we've wanted to do for a very long time.)
I plan to post the fourth chapter in Travelers sometime later today, and I'll drop the links here so you guys can see if it's the kind of story that will work for reading for this circle. My other "drifters" aren't really a story, just a commentary, so they won't work for here. I really am starting to enjoy the Travelers story, though, as it's just starting to finally gel in my head. I had trouble for this first generation, but I've already got a million ideas for Caleb's (the second) generation and am really looking forward to it. It's great when your sims really start "talking" to you, you know?
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
And I know just what you mean by your Sims "talking" to you! I LOVE when that happens!
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
Posted my next chapter for Travelers so here's the links to what I have so far..:
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
The Trials of Miss Alora Darcy
Having grown up with every luxury imaginable, Alora Darcy finds herself in completely unfamiliar waters.
“If only mother and father had delayed their trip for one day, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I’d be residing in a luxurious penthouse apartment in the most cosmopolitan city in the world like planned. But no. They decided to close the houses, send all the servants on leave, and start their vacation on the very same day that I departed,” she thought.
A silver spoon is lost in... 1. The Trials of Miss Alora Darcy
Drifter Challenge Blog: https://alliemacsims.wordpress.com/
@DeiraShadeweaver You don't have to read it if you don't have time, I only wanted to join in the conversation and hangout. The good thing I love about this reading circle is that it's usually not focusing on the reading but mostly talking about the writing process. I love hearing how you all play the game and write about it. It motivate and inspire me to write even though I'm not actually involved in the conversation. Now that I can get involved hopefully it motivated me more.
Awesome, I don't think it's still YOTO challenge, it's just a yoto inspired challenge since I almost not follow any rule anymore, hehe. Can't wait!
Sims 4 Comic Legacy
https://projectrabenbrunn.wordpress.com/
@DeiraShadeweaver Good start! I haven't tried Build Newcrest yet, but it looks like fun. It's on my list.. LOL
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
Sims 4 Comic Legacy
I am a very slow builder. But I recently undertook the challenge of rebuilding my legacy lot to have a consistent house and I must say I like the results even if I'm not completely finished yet because the family ran out of funds. The house is a tad too big now, and I might do some changes soon, but I enjoyed the process.
It's kind of the reason why I want to try Newcrest and Drifter challenges - push myself to give building more time and attention.
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
I remember when I was in college and high school during the sims 3 area, I always had too much time where I would spend the whole day only to build a mansion. And I never even try to build just a small house. I almost never download a downloadable house because it took too long to plop it down due to my horrible computer. Now, I had too little time to build a house, which was not really a problem since the gallery seems to be a wonderful place. If I wanted something I would just search for it on the gallery.The gallery is spoiling me a lot since my build would probably never be better than what other's build so when I build stuff. I see no reason to build my own stuff now.
Sims 4 Comic Legacy
I'm a huge animal person. As I think I mentioned, we lost two beloved pets recently.. and gained a new one.. but I've been around animals most of my life. I can't afford to be around horses anymore, but most of my childhood was spent on horseback... and as for small animals, I've dealt with most kinds of them. A college roommate and I once bred fancy rats and had great fun.. as a child, we bred Gerbils for a pet store.. I've had hamsters.. and birds.. not so much into the reptile/amphibian thing, but I volunteered at the zoo as a kid and worked with those, too. Only sort of animal I don't like is bugs. LOL
the personality test.. I took it as a kid, then as a young adult.. and was curious enough to retake it tonight. It's fun to see how things change in your personality over time. I came out as INFP-T (the "T" designation is new to me, too, so that was interesting.) I'm WAY far towards each end of the spectrum on all of them, so there's no question about what personality I am. LOL
Oh and Allie - I am a crafter, as well.. and I homeschooled my daughter through 7th grade, so we have even more in common. (I tend to ramble on in posts, too.. so yeah there's that too.) My hubby's a "transplant" from Texas, as well.
As for how I play.. I tend to push all playable sims into being the best that they can be. If I'm not forcing myself to play with random traits, often I won't... but then I feel guilty for it. Unplayable sims.. I love to watch the things they do. I manage to see a personality in each sim, usually (although occasionally I'll get a sim that I just don't get attached to for whatever reason.) I tend to be very bad at NOT watching for the whims in sims 4, whereas in 3, I watched for them all the time. I'm not sure why it's like that, but perhaps because the interface for whims is so different from the wishes one in sims 3.
As for story writing.. my focus lately has been in a commentary style.. stuff happens in the pictures and I react to it.. which is great fun.. but sometimes the story just starts weaseling it's way into my head.. which is partially why I started my "second" Drifter save (my Travelers).. I wanted to really get back to story-telling, letting the sims "talk" to me and bring me into their world. At least, that's the way I think of it. Part of that is why I decided to try joining this reading circle - to get my creativity an outlet again. I have a few older, Sims3 based stories that I have on hiatus (mostly due to my new challenge, but also due to the issues my old PC had with Sims3. I haven't found out yet whether this PC will run it better - although it should...), but I'm starting to wonder if they're still calling my name to come back to them. (Other than the NiF save/s .. those always call my name.)
Anyways... I can now say.. I'm officially caught up on this forum topic. Now to dive into the stories... but I'll plan that for another binge-read night. I really need to get back in game to work on my Switch Two play-tests.. I'll shush on the spoilers, but things got really interesting when I learned something new about City Living and almost had to re-think the Switch goals I had planned. (Ultimately, I decided that having it be a bit tougher challenge than I planned is okay since I include a "non-fail" loophole for if you can't get the Switch done in one generation.)
Oh, and @CathyTea do you have a particular story you'd suggest diving into first in your lineup? I have to say, I checked out your blog and got a bit boggled by the sheer amount of content.. I have no idea where to start!
.. And I rambled on WAY longer than I meant to. Forgive me!
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
Sci-fi/Fantasy Lover | Taurus
House: Hufflepuff/Pukwudgie
The Centauri Legacy | Can You Hear the Violins? | Drifting with Nifflers
Reading Circles: Reader's Nook
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
I had decided, very recently, not to take on any more blogging projects...out of the worry that I wouldn't have time to give them all enough attention; but after reading the premise of this thread I feel myself getting Very Inspired (drat).
The framework of most challenges makes it difficult to truly let sims live as they please, as there is frequently an agenda one must follow to "score" or "progress"...and I like that about challenges. I like finite goals. But what if I played something truly hands off? Observe. Record. Step in only as the voice of reason when someone really needs to potty but they're all wrapped up in hour 7 of Blicblock.
I'm gong to take this away, process it a bit more, but I suspect I've been bitten by the Idea bug, and that's a rash that just won't go away without some scratching.
Hi, @WagonFruit ! This sounds awesome! I often play that way... and sometimes, I just play in a way where I'll provide minimal guidance to one or two Sims, or I might provide active guidance to many Sims, but always within what they want and what seems to help them fulfill their highest potential.
Will you share your link to your story with us when you get it going?
I'm currently trying hard to resist starting two new projects: 1) an Apartment Switch challenge (invented by the amazing @IllusoryThrall ) and 2) "My Digital Life," which explores the life of a Sim AS a Sim from CAS through her life... I think I'll be able to resist starting these--and it seems in my best interest to do so, since I've got two active stories, many, many stories waiting to be continued or finished, and a very busy and demanding season in both my jobs at present. But it's sure tempting! Those ideas keep rattling away in my head!
@IllusoryThrall I loved reading your post! I'm an INFP, too, and I've got a hunch that INFPs are drawn to Sim-driven game-play and stories. It sounds like our game-play style is really similar.
As for which story of mine to read: first, I'm sorry that my blog feels overwhelming! I've heard that from others. Maybe I should redo my home page so that it looks less intimidating! I could move the non-active stories onto the "Other Stories" page, and then it wouldn't seem so much. And I could provide a note for each, stating the status of the story and when I plan to return to it. That might be a good weekend project for me!
My two currently active stories are Forgotten Art, which is part of the Pen Pal Project that @AllieMac also participates in (We've got openings if any of you would like to join! It's super fun!) and Vampire Code.
Forgotten Art follows the lives of Jasper, his niece Meadow, his nephew Norman, and the child he tutors, Giuliana. Their stories are told through letters to their pen pals. Each one has fascinating pen pals, so as you learn about these Sims' lives, you also learn about their pen pals. I'm really enjoying it! It's relatively new, so there aren't too many chapters to catch up on...
Vampire Code is the third movement of the sequel to "Goofy Love," my Pinstar legacy. I'm guessing that readers will get the most out of Vampire Code if they've read "Goofy Love" and the two previous movements of "New World Symphony," the sequel, but I'm trying to write it so that it will make sense to readers who are coming to it fresh. I update this one relatively slowly, with one to two chapters per week.
My official story for this thread is "Whisper," a TS3 ISBI. It's in Gen 2. I will be picking it up again, possibly in the summer. If you started now, you might be caught up by the time I return to it, depending on reading speed!
Also, a completed story of mine, "Shift," is coming up in Book Club in March. I'd love to have more readers of it, as I always feel nervous that no one will participate in Coffee Hour when my story is discussed !
I've got a few other completed stories, and quite a few on hiatus which I'll return to at some point, so I'd be happy to tell you about them, if you think you might want to read any of them.
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
Anyway, I put Whispers at the top of my list (I love a good ISBI!!) .. and since I like to read the WHOLE series of stuff when I get into a series, I'll plan to start slowly and work my way through the goofy love and new world symphony stuff after I catch up on Whispers. It all looks fascinating, and I love long series' that I can really get into the characters. It'll be good to have some reading material when I have to take breaks from test-running the Apartment Switch (which is pretty often... I run two monitors on my computer, and I find myself refreshing the sims forums and my blog on my second monitor repeatedly trying to find excuses to take a break. haha!) - Speaking of breaks, I just spent three hours building an Art Center.. oh well.. it was worth it! Liked it so much I even uploaded it. So break time is officially over, back to work.
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
Hi @CathyTea
Perhaps I'll step out of my comfort zone even more and make it a drama! Not that don't use the occasional dramatic element, but it's always heavily couched in satire.
I feel what you said about having a hard time resisting new projects, and I'm pretty sure you've got a lot more on your plate than I do!
I only have a few moments. I'm about to go watch a movie with my husband. (Can't remember the last time we did that.
@CathyTea I was thinking about you when I posted today's chapter. I knew you would be upset about Cassia. I REALLY was hoping Dace would age up first, but it didn't work out that way.
So many exciting things are being discussed in here. Love it! And I will be back later tonight hopefully to add my 2 cents in.
In the meantime, since I originally posted a link for this here, I thought I'd also drop the link for the revision I just completed. I had meant to keep the original chapter and move it under a Misc tab (or something) and then have re-title the post as a revision, but forgot to save the original.
Anyway I noticed while trying to begin her story that there were a few typos and one of the pictures was above the coresponding text (instead of underneath it), once those things were fixed I just couldn't resist fixing the other parts that were bugging me! Normally when I write, I step away from it and do something else then come back to it later for revisions. Some posts takes 3 or 4 breaks with revisions. This one I was too excited by the prospect of starting something new to actually walk away for a bit. Hence the much needed revision!
Anyway, I'm done rambling. I'll be back later to catch up on comments, etc.
And for anyone interested...
REVISED The Trials of Miss Alora Darcy
Drifter Challenge Blog: https://alliemacsims.wordpress.com/
But it feels so much better to have the home page less cluttered!
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!