Thanks a lot everyone for their insights. The comments seem to confirm that most of us tend to prefer medium-long writing projects, and that I'm not the only one who would like to keep writing about the same characters for a ton of time!
@MonaSolstraale , thanks for the suggestion. My mother tongue is Italian, so I'm afraid that English idioms could actually be closer to the ones I'm used to than Danish ones, but I could still try to find a similar list for my language.
You can follow the Legacy Miller from my blog and the forum thread, *Chapter 8.30 posted on the 19th of June 2024*
I have a question for everyone: How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality? There's something unique about everyone's writing and I think it'd be nice to hear opinions about this, especially as I catch up on the SimLit I missed during the last 6 months.
Personally, I like details and depth a lot, so my legacy's pace seems to be mind-blowingly slow compared to other legacies. However, like others' it's based on gameplay and I have aging on, don't cheat (except moveobjects), etc. etc. I just have a tendency to turn 1 in-game Sim day into 3 posts (or even more) whereas most people seem to prefer doing the opposite (turn 3 or so in-game Sim days into 1 post). I also like taking dozens of screenshots and editing them into something that's hopefully interesting and visually pleasing. Sometimes, I think my legacy looks way too staged, but it's actually 90% modded/CC gameplay and 10% shady editing.
I have a question for everyone: How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality? There's something unique about everyone's writing and I think it'd be nice to hear opinions about this, especially as I catch up on the SimLit I missed during the last 6 months.
Great question! And that's true what you've said about the Fier Legacy, it's more detail oriented than almost any other legacy or story I've read, and I really like that about it. The attention you put into the screenshots especially is always amazing to me, and I often look at them and wonder how long it must have taken you to set everything up - I feel the same with your builds, it all must take hours. That says to me that you've got a lot of patience and a lot of love for doing things precisely and correctly!
Personally I'm a sentimental, hopeless romantic type, and super mood-swingy. Honestly I've no idea how my story comes across, but I can imagine that this must be at least somewhat evident in Lucky Girl. I love fluff, I love a romantic build up and the despair and hope of being in love for the first time hahaha. It probably seems silly. I'm also not very sensible and tend to act first and think later, so I think that's why my favourite characters might be inclined to do that - I've just never been drawn to rule-following types. I mentioned to someone recently that my childhood crush was Reese from Malcolm in the Middle - I'm just drawn to chaos. My personality has lead me to have an unusually tumultuous life, and my family are also cracked, all creative, intense emotional types. That's just the stuff I like to write about. Idk if I do a good job but it makes me happy & brings strange comfort
How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality?
I'm another hopeless romantic type and I love positive stories. Right now in America is a really, really scary time. The blatant public expressions of hate are scary and the gun violence we see constantly on the news makes it even worse. I could go into a lot more detail but I won't. I will say I've begun looking for another place to call home where I can more freely be me with less fear. That's why I make my stories happier and fluffier than most. They give me hope and a place I can escape to where those things can't follow me unless I let them in, like the storyline in Schemes with Elle and Lilith which still has a happy ending. My thought processes are a bit chaotic and scattershot which I think comes across in my writing a bit. I would call myself a feminist and that drives me to write such strong female characters and to give them positive, supportive friendships with other women. Likewise I am LGBTQ so I include quite a few gay, lesbian, and with Mimi, transgender characters.
The whole process of writing both of my stories is very cathartic, even though they are different, and I hope they provide a fun, entertaining escape for my readers.
Sim 66 reflects my personality in basically three different ways.
First of all I am drawn to visual aesthetics so I spend a lot of time making sure everything looks as correct as I can get it.
Second it reflects my curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I have a huge interest in history and probably spend more time watching history channels on YouTube than I do watching regular TV or other channels. Mind you, I have watched so much film and TV comedy and drama over the years so that all reflects in my story as I mix real history and references to various classic movies and TV shows from that era into it.
I am quite a wisecracker in real life and most of my friends are like that as well so one liners, plays on words and back and forth dialogue is a prominent feature...as it is in my real life. I am someone who desires a bit of stability and comfort but I'm in an environment where there's usually a bit of chaos and randomness so I guess I'm intrigued by the duality of life: Stability and chaos, comedy and drama, conflicts of interest and so forth. I also wing a lot of my writing as well...Sim 66 has gone from following whatever immediate idea I have to something more plotted.
Another observation is that I am a man in a genre where the writers are predominantly female and having read a lot of stories I feel that sometimes the male characters are underwritten or reliant on stereotypes so I have decided lately that I will write interesting and, hopefully, strong male characters where a whole range of personalities, conflicts and characterisations are developed. I'm fortunate that I have a well balanced social life between men and women and I incorporate their personality traits into my characters. If I had a bit of writing advice for others it's that you should be observant of people's behaviour if you want to bring your characters to life.
I hesitated to bring the subject up, but I felt it wouldn't be entirely honest if I didn't. It absolutely does influence my writing, even if it's subtle and not always readily apparent to my readers. Where it shows up most to me is when I write content for Mimi in Schemes and Dreams. I know that I write more passionately when I'm writing her segments. As you know, drag and gender identity is one of the white hot cultural flash points currently so my feelings about what I'm witnessing comes through in my writing. Anything related to LGBTQ topics stirs me up and it rises to the surface when I write about characters that fall under that umbrella.
My passion for strong women and positive female friendships is across the board so my passion there is less noticeable to me because all of my characters benefit from it.
How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality?
I actually mostly write scientific papers and such, but I prefer to focus on SimLit for this answer.
I'd like to start by saying that I really believe that a writer personality, but also their cultural background and past, can deeply influence their writing style, topic choices and so on. Regarding me, however, I'm not sure I can be the most impartial person to evaluate how my own personality influences my writing. Most likely, there are a lot of implicit biases I'm not even aware of behind a lot of the choices I take when writing fiction. In any case, I can try to reason a bit about what I noticed about myself.
I think I'm one of those legacy players who put 3 sims-day per chapter haneul named in her comment, more than wanting to turn any little everyday event into something spectacular I tend to play with an idea in mind, and play until I manage to set the corresponding scene up (without cheats). I would say that both IRL and when writing my legacy I get bored very easily with repetitive events in my story (for example, now that I've played all the legacy up to Gen 10 I'm very bored every time I have to organize a birthday party and to describe it in the chapter), which makes me often decide to dedicate just a few messy pictures and a few lines to those scenes.
What I like the most are unexpected resolutions to absurd situations, which could be why I like so much to write about sci-fi and fantasy settings. I would also say that IRL I actually am quite detail-oriented as well, but in my stories this probably mostly reflects in my tendency to invent very complex fictional technologies and/or magical systems, which I tend to elaborate by using a lot of my general knowledge and of the scientific method I'm used to employ when at work. Also, I would say that I also tend to over-explain them in my stories including a lot of irrelevant details for the understanding of the story.
I would also say that in general I like to plan things in advance IRL, while playing a writing a legacy sort of obliges me to fight against it because there are always so many random events happening. However, I still manage to keep in mind a general path for the main storyline and I generally manage to stick to it decently (or at least I hope so).
Thinking about the social side of personality instead, I would say that many of the characters I write (the protagonists in particular) tend to have at least a few core characteristics in common with me, which leads to an over-representation of nerd, shy and grumpy people in my stories. IRL I'm also quite inept regarding anything romance-related, so every time I have to write about a romantic relationship among my characters the development always tends to be quite simple, straightforward, and probably idealised as well.
My absolute hate for children is probably quite visible too, my main focus tends to be in keeping the little sims alive until they turn into teens (which is when I start to develop a plotline also for them), while my strong bond and trust for my family is probably quite evident as well.
To conclude this very long post, I would also like to say that I actually suspect that writing fiction actually helped me to understand myself better, and to question a few things I gave for granted until now. Let's say that to write I need to be able to empathize with the characters, and thus that writing this long legacy put me in the condition to think about a lot of absurd hypothetical situations and research topics I never really cared about before. After many generations I noticed a few recurring details in my storytelling choices and on which were the sections I cared the most about (which are very obvious to me, but possibly not as much to the readers?), and none of this was planned before starting to write this. I would say that it was interesting for me to see some of my own biases exposed, that's it.
Post edited by HermioneSims on
You can follow the Legacy Miller from my blog and the forum thread, *Chapter 8.30 posted on the 19th of June 2024*
How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality?
Good question!
I'm neurodivergent, and while I do try to write mostly neurotypical characters, I'm sure some of them come across as slightly more autistic or ADHD than average, since that's who I am and I can't keep it completely out of my writing. But this also means that I've spent a lot of my life studying people and trying to understand them, so when a new character takes shape in my story, they almost write themselves, since I "know" what this character would do in any situation.
The Duchelli Legacy is actually a good example of my ADHD. I cannot force myself to do things that bore me, and I realised quickly that I would get bored with a normal legacy, since it often gets repetitive with all the birthdays, weddings, and deaths (as @HermioneSims also mentions) So it turned into simlit with plot after the first generation.
The Duchellis also reflect the fact that I come from a rough background but I am still a pretty optimistic person. This is probably most obvious in Generation 3, but I come from a family with all sorts of problems and tragedies, and writing is also a way for me to process some of that. I do prefer to end on a hopeful note, because I believe deep down that things are going to be alright. At least most of the time. I also have a few very dark chapters planned for later, though.
How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality?
Time to go wildly off-topic whilst partially staying on-topic as usual. The short answer is, Divided doesn't make sense and is mostly miserable so that is pretty similar to its author. XD The long answer is:
I wonder if anyone would be surprised that I don't believe in magic at all (this is personal belief, not something I shove onto other people). As well as my general love for fantasy, it's also the fact that I find beliefs in metaphysical powers and events fascinating, and how much more exciting the world must be when you feel in tune with such things. My interest in fantasy is more in things like DnD, Pathfinder, that sort of thing, where magic is incredibly powerful but not at all limitless- and also I find IRL practice and beliefs interesting as well, so Divided is kind of a blend of all those things, whilst trying not to step on the toes of any sacred or closed IRL practice. I think many of us can agree that, simply, Magic Is Cool and 40% of the story is most definitely just 'Magic is Cool'.
Whilst there are elements of this in the previous trilogy (TSAHF, Untamed, Vitriol), those are moreso based on the actual Realm of Magic pack, so it's more like the more modern, more playful portrayals of magic you see in childrens' or teens' media. In-universe, I also like to think that modern fantasy media shaped magic too, so people think of their favourite comics or TV shows or whatever and think 'oh hey, I should get into magic too!' whereas Divided shows the old magic in a much truer, more terrifying form. Much like Siriana, I think neurodivergence really shapes the whole structure of this story as I constantly flick back and forth between characters. And then someone else gets developed a bit more, and then I want them as a main character too... : P
I think a lot of people think Divided is too dark (to be fair, it probably is.) but for me it's actually not that dark at all. It's very much comfort for the uncomfortable. If you already know how it feels to be unwanted, ostracised, and other terrible such things, then you will find some comfort in the characters finding little bits of comfort despite it all. The witch-hunts don't seem such a historically-distant idea when those sorts of things happen to people like you all the time in the real world and the modern day. There is always a worry that next time, it might be you. Another thing Divided explores is how the realm of 'acceptable' narrows and narrows quicker than you'd think. It might not be you this time, but next time, it might be. But until then, between doing everything you can do to feel and keep safe, you find peace, safety, memories, and even happiness often with those in the same position as you. < 3 And also you find comfort and peace in some of the most unlikely places or people sometimes. I am not a positive person as we already know, but I make the most of whatever 'good' things might happen, no matter how fleeting or small, something a lot of the story characters do.
It's also been a way to explore and process some thoughts and events and worries in a distant manner, as well as providing allegory to certain things- some intentional, some unintentional. I guess a part of my personality is I like to put as much distance as possible between me and whatever awful things are going no so I can deal with them easier.
The rest is video game references and wish fulfillment. And pretty ladies. Probably comes under wish fulfillment. And according to some friends and commenters, seems the guys are pretty popular in that department too. XD
And my replies to everyone else:
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg Agreed, I think a poorly-written male character is as boring as a poorly-written female character is. I think you're right in that being around people, paying attention to them etc. is the best way to learn how to try and write people when it comes to gender and such. I've always found writing male characters easier mainly because most of my friends growing up were guys, the girls wanted zero to do with me. I think I'm a lot better at writing women now though. I actually think a lot of my previous negative perceptions because of bad experiences actually affected the way I wrote women in the past. People always laugh at funny examples of men writing women, but I've seen some equally eye-roll-worthy examples of the reverse too.
@SirianaSims With you on the neurodivergence thing. I think a lot of my characters come off as neurodivergent-coded somehow, but the only one in the new story who is canonically neurodivergent is the autistic vampire. Only it's a historical sort of story and no one knows what that is. I didn't want to write anything too negative despite IRL historical (and modern) attitudes, so most people (other than the antagonist) just find him interesting, and those close to him have come to understand him in their own way. I got tired of how narrowly such things are usually portrayed and I figured it'd be interesting having such a character at a point where such things have no words to describe them. And I agree in that in connection to what I said to Kellogg, the overstudying of people around me as a neurodivergent person has helped me write characters (and also painfully overanalyse people's characters when reading). A lifetime spent trying desperately to understand how people work has at least helped with writing. ;-;
@haneul I love the detail you go into with your characters' thoughts, actions and such. I like that you take your time with your legacy because it's interesting seeing everyone's innermost thoughts and feelings, and their intentions and their actions and how they sometimes don't match (like with Asher, he means well but sometimes doesn't have the right approach.)
@DaniRose2143 I always love your positivity for LGBTQ+ topics and your feminine positivity. I hope this doesn't sound weird somehow, but for me trans women have really helped me heal from the way cis women have treated me over the years and they helped me feel safer around cis women again- before I realised I was nonbinary I was never the wrong kind of 'woman' to any trans woman I ever spoke to and it was amazing and surprising to hear it after years of being told all sorts of annoying stuff.
To see so many transfem folk empowering and uplifting each other and everyone else was such a good thing. And to see people writing such things even better. There really is nothing better than trans joy ^u^ So I hope your writing and characters will help other people feel the same way. Even though I have zero connection to femininity, feminine euphoria is such a powerful thing. < 3 I also agree with writing being cathartic, and in connection with what Sims4MT said, the escape. It's mainly why I write my own story- as a distraction from the BLUGHiness of IRL. But I guess that's Sims in general. : P
@HermioneSims Your response is interesting. I really like the sociopolitical aspects of your story, mainly because of the complexity in the way you deal with such things, in that there are multiple people on all sides who are positively and negatively influencing the world around them and that it's just not a clean us 'us VS them' kind of story. I imagine maybe as someone who writes a lot of scientific papers, things with a lot of definites and no space or maybes and feelings, it might be quite hard, but you always do well to put emotion into your stories and your characters are always lovable. < 3
I think you're right in what you say about where you come from affecting the story and for me it's one of the most interesting parts of reading stuff from people from different countries. Like what @DaniRose2143 said about America, and @hellohannah2 's talking before about how her being Irish shapes the story so much, I think it's the same with my stories. Sometimes it's hard to explain how and why, but a lot of it feels very English and IDK if that's noticeable but it's there. Some of the issues are things that obviously aren't exclusive to England, but the way the locals are quick to distrust one of the non-English characters in Divided because a rich English character told them to, and the way they defend him when he just lets them die around him, very common. The enemies are the ones living in the big mansions in Henford, but they're spinning it so people instead have supernaturals in their crosshairs whilst those in the mansions get to do what they please whilst the people are distracted. There's more to it than just that, but not anything I can currently put into words.
@Sims4MagicalTales I always notice a lot of video game references in your stories and names from game characters or TV shows. It's fun when I recognise who they are or might be. It's fun to look out for.
@hellohannah2 There's nothing wrong with fluff and romance! And characters who act before they think are always the most fun ones, and it makes for fun drama. : P As someone who is very apathetic, it's always fun to see things written from emotionally intense people.
I agree with the comments about where we come from affecting our stories. My most prevalent influences are from the USA and East Asia. I actively push against real life location equivalents for my Sims because Sims 4 doesn’t really match to anything and the idea of some of the worlds being foreign or “exotic” annoys me. I try to treat every location similarly except for the worlds where Sims cannot live. That probably reflects my current IRL attitude of not wanting to have a home base in only one country if I can avoid it.
Individual Responses
@DaniRose2143 I love the women in your stories and that I can read UTTS without worrying that something really horrible may happen to one of the beloved characters.
@Sims4MagicalTales I feel like you’re good at consistently writing stories across the Sims games. I’m impressed that you’re able to enjoy it for both Sims 3 and Sims 4, especially going from 4 to 3. I like both games, but I think changing would annoy me because the games are so different.
@HermioneSims I love how you treat conflict among different social groups in the Miller Legacy and the alien lore you’ve established. For legacies generally, I think skipping milestone events when they feel tedious is normal and that everyone skips some birthdays and weddings, but maybe some people feel compelled to celebrate all of them.
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg I wish more genders were represented in the SimLit community. It’s good that Sim 66 has a large cast with several interesting male characters.
@hellohannah2 Thanks! It doesn’t take me too long to set things up because I only mess around in build mode for family portraits, parties, and other events. I don’t script anything, which probably saves me a lot of time.
I don’t think your writing seems silly. To me, it comes across as authentic. Your characters seem real with ups and downs in their relationships (friendships, romances, etc.). There’s a strong sense of setting in Lucky Girl that’s unique and adds the realism. I think it’s okay not to do a good job with our hobbies, but you definitely do a good job.
@SirianaSims I think your legacy needs more hype around it. It’s very good. How you depict generational trauma is particularly noteworthy because you don’t resolve things quickly or simply but I’m glad we can expect? (or at least hope for) a happy ending.
@SnowBnuuy I am significantly behind on Divided so I may not know what I’m talking about but I think you do a great job of foreshadowing and that everyone has been warned about how dark Divided can get. One thing that strikes me about Divided is that you manage a large, diverse cast very well (different ages, body types, genders, sexualities, socio-economic statuses)—it’s refreshing. I think a lot of people’s writing falls apart and stereotypes appear when they make characters that are different from them in more than 2-3 areas (because it’s hard).
One thing that strikes me about Divided is that you manage a large, diverse cast very well (different ages, body types, genders, sexualities, socio-economic statuses)—it’s refreshing.
I'm glad you think so. < 3 I think this is another thing that makes Divided quintessentially English, and part of the reason I try to include so many different characters of different backgrounds because it's such a multicultural country, and because historical stories tend to ignore such a thing a lot of the time despite the fact all sorts of different people have been travelling the world for thousands of years...Out of the whole main cast it's only the Morgan family, the Annorins and the Reyes family who are actually English.
I try to mix it up with social status because I find when it comes to cast diversity, it's one thing that's usually just not focused on as an important and interesting aspect of diversity is social class. It's a bit hit-and-miss considering most historical CC is aimed towards the ruling classes or the very poor with little inbetween, but I make do with what I've got and I've found some great creators on Tumblr. I think the same with age actually, diversity of age groups is often something not considered despite the interesting differences between characters that can arise because of age. This was something I actively worked to improve on in this story hence why you have characters like Joyce, Julian, and Violeta. And to be old in a time of such massive change, it's also a feeling of wishing that maybe you could live on to see the ways the world improve, and maybe wishing slightly that you were born later.
As for gender and sexuality, it's another thing that's generally pushed out in terms of historical stories because everyone seems to think gay people appeared out of the rainbow dimension in 2000 and trans people in 2015. XD
When in reality, there will have always been people who felt this way, who didn't necessarily have those same words to describe who they were. And not to mention that there are plenty of cultures around the world where expansive gender identities have been a part of their culture for many years. Of course it's going to seem to straight/cis people like 'nobody was gay/trans back in *insert time period here*' when most of those people have had to hide it even more than they already do now for years and years, and when certain groups of people erased so much of that history by destroying various forms of documentation, books, and the people themselves. That's why I wanted to have such things as the genderfluid character in a historical type story- dealing with such things when nobody really spoke about them or there wasn't much around in general about it. I didn't want there to be too much negativity surrounding gender/sexuality in this story, so most people just roll with it even if some are a little confused at first because they've never met anyone like that before. Most of the pearl-clutching is from the nobles and the people who like to think they're nobles. XD
@SirianaSims I think your legacy needs more hype around it. It’s very good. How you depict generational trauma is particularly noteworthy because you don’t resolve things quickly or simply but I’m glad we can expect? (or at least hope for) a happy ending.
Thank you so much! I have no idea how to really advertise myself, but I do plan to try and post more when I begin Generation 5. I probably also made it difficult for myself since the people who want a simlit get turned off by the "legacy" in the name, and the people expecting a legacy challenge will be confused by it being simlit 🙈
I don't know how much my personality influences my stories. I said it previously, but my character Erytheia in Magical Mastersons is definitely an example of wish fulfillment - she fell in love with her childhood best friend, who also happens to be a redhead. She's quite creative like me I guess, but she's more musical than I am (I learnt the flute as a child, for a bit, but I never practised between lessons and I ended up stopping lessons). Her twin sister Xanthe is also creative but is a talented painter.
I also tend to have similarities in my stories - like a lot of redheads (I have auburn hair IRL) and also twin girls (I am not a twin). I do tend to skew towards having more female characters in my stories, mainly because there are more girl names I like than boy ones. Sometimes I choose name themes for my characters (like the Masterson children having ancient Greek-themed names) and it's the same thing - I prefer the girl names to the boy ones.
In writing out my royal story, I've got some characters who are a little like me in that they have anxiety and self-esteem problems. Of course, since they're in the public eye as royals, dealing with their issues is particularly tricky!
One thing I've noticed when checking out people's royal Simblrs is that many of them set their stories in made-up kingdoms, with quite detailed maps and so on. That's not something I'm good at! My royal family live in 'Simlandia', which is apparently one of the alternate names for SimNation I read about on the Sims Wiki. In my head I view all the Sims 4 worlds as being part of the same landmass, with some areas (e.g. Oasis Springs, Sulani etc) as having their own little microclimates. Much of my "lore" is based on the way the British royal family works because I am British and so am most familiar with them.
@Sims4MagicalTales I remember your old stories. Ganondorf's descendants always had such an issue with your main family's characters! Keeping that up for 13 generations sounds exhausting. But props to them for not giving up and thinking "ah, what's the point, we're just going to get defeated again like all our ancestors"
@hellohannah2 I love Lucky Girl! I relate quite a lot to Evie in many ways. And like I've said, we Brits don't tend to learn much about Ireland at school, so it's interesting to read a story that's set there. Ultimately, though, people are the same the world over.
@Lucy_Henley Those royal Simmers have an absolutely nutty level of worldbuilding going on I swear. Like whole detailed histories and everything X_X it's completely beyond me! But as I always say I wouldn't get hung up too much on worldbuilding. I know that sounds hypocritical coming from the person with the three mile long lore pages, but... XD
Thanks @SnowBnuuy ! I have some basic lore to start off with, but I'll probably add to it as the story goes on. There's definitely no extensive history or anything like that I'm much more focused on the family themselves.
How does your SimLit or your writing, in general, reflect your personality?
How personality affects the creative things we do is something I am always interested in, so I enjoyed reading everyone's responses to this one. I haven't read all the stories written by everyone here yet, but for those I have, I can really see the influence of what you talk about.
I'm not sure what things to include in my answer. I did spend a while thinking about it though while waiting for our internet connection problems here to resolve. Some of the things I thought of are not exactly "personality" but they are part of my personal experience that definitely affects how I write.
Perfectionism
Good shot, but there's a small clipping issue? I have to edit it. Shot the whole scene but I didn't get exactly the face expressions I wanted? I must go and shoot some more. Good camera angle but the lighting doesn't work? I am compelled to fix that. The whole chapter is done, but something about the narrative is bugging me? I'll tear it apart and do it again if I have to. Is my progress on the story ridiculously slow? Yes. Yes, it is. But I have learned to live with myself. Hopefully others can to.
"Small" conflicts
My personal experience of the world is a pretty limited bubble. Even though I have lived in several very distinct places and cultures, I mostly have not experienced first-hand a lot of the big problems of this world. Most of the real world issues I feel I can address most authentically are personal or smaller conflicts. Relationship struggles, self-doubt, loneliness, roommate disagreements, anger and temper issues, and milder forms of bullying are things I have experience in. So I tend to focus on those kinds of things. My "bigger" conflicts are usually very fictional, and rooted in whatever sci-fi or fantasy world I have created for my story.
Lack of visual description
I am not able to visualize things in my head when I am reading. And I struggle to be able to visualize things at any other time as well. Usually the best I can do (with my eyes closed, in a completely dark room, with a lot of focus) is a blur of color. So visual descriptions in writing that are intended to "paint a picture" in the reader's mind are boring and kind of pointless to me. I tend to skip over them. And my own writing tend sto be extremely sparse on visual description. One of the things I love about writing simlit is that I can let the actual screenshots do all the heavy-lifting for the visual elements of the story, and I can focus the text part of the story on dialog and the characters' thoughts.
Humor
I like wacky, absurd, silly humor. I suspect this shows.
@GlacierSnow IDK if I've mentioned this but I really love how your story focuses on what you call 'small' conflicts. Life's little dramas that sometimes turn into life's big dramas. Though there are a few exceptions there for SaM plot points, but I don't want to spoil the thread. : P
I think one thing that I do like about SimLit is I don't have to spend as much time describing people unless it makes sense to in the story somewhere since the pics are already there.
They say write what you know but do you find yourself having to write about something you have no background knowledge of did you have to do some research first?.
I'm currently writing a chapter about buying a wedding dress and I have 0 knowledge of the subject other than they're usually white or off white and elaborate. So I ended up doing some research into styles, cuts and technical terms of dressmaking.
Do you find yourself having to write about something you have no background knowledge of did you have to do some research first?
I do a lot of research while leveraging what I already know and personal experiences. For example, I have a Sim obsessed with the piano and IRL I don't even have any kind of piano right now... so I research the piano, classical pieces, etc. etc. while using related experiences that I or my friends had growing up mixed with experiences of the classical/concert pianists I do or did know and I use all of that as a lens through which to interpret my gameplay and screenshots.
Having a slow-paced story makes it easier because my Sims are around for years or months IRL and I have time to research things to the extent I want, without anything feeling like a chore. I, personally, would like it if people didn't come away from my legacy thinking “Haneul definitely doesn't play the piano.” But because it's the Sims, I also think we shouldn't feel burdened to research everything. Too many facts can bog down a story and sometimes it's more entertaining when people just make stuff up and go with it.
I'm behind on everyone's stories—sorry —but I think that @HermioneSims and @GlacierSnow have done excellent jobs of using their background scientific/science-adjacent knowledge to create interesting storylines without it being burdensome or too realistic. @DaniRose2143 also incorporated research about the publishing industry and agents into her story in a great way because she highlights real issues with the industry without presenting an overwhelming amount of facts and while also keeping the vibe of Under the Tartosan Sun warm and entertaining. I'd be curious to hear about @SnowBnuuy's approach to research too because there's so much diversity in SnowBnuuy’s stories without reliance on stereotypes or flat characters and that's rare in Simlit.
Comments
@MonaSolstraale , thanks for the suggestion. My mother tongue is Italian, so I'm afraid that English idioms could actually be closer to the ones I'm used to than Danish ones, but I could still try to find a similar list for my language.
Personally, I like details and depth a lot, so my legacy's pace seems to be mind-blowingly slow compared to other legacies. However, like others' it's based on gameplay and I have aging on, don't cheat (except moveobjects), etc. etc. I just have a tendency to turn 1 in-game Sim day into 3 posts (or even more) whereas most people seem to prefer doing the opposite (turn 3 or so in-game Sim days into 1 post). I also like taking dozens of screenshots
Great question! And that's true what you've said about the Fier Legacy, it's more detail oriented than almost any other legacy or story I've read, and I really like that about it. The attention you put into the screenshots especially is always amazing to me, and I often look at them and wonder how long it must have taken you to set everything up - I feel the same with your builds, it all must take hours. That says to me that you've got a lot of patience and a lot of love for doing things precisely and correctly!
Personally I'm a sentimental, hopeless romantic type, and super mood-swingy. Honestly I've no idea how my story comes across, but I can imagine that this must be at least somewhat evident in Lucky Girl. I love fluff, I love a romantic build up and the despair and hope of being in love for the first time hahaha. It probably seems silly. I'm also not very sensible and tend to act first and think later, so I think that's why my favourite characters might be inclined to do that - I've just never been drawn to rule-following types. I mentioned to someone recently that my childhood crush was Reese from Malcolm in the Middle - I'm just drawn to chaos. My personality has lead me to have an unusually tumultuous life, and my family are also cracked, all creative, intense emotional types. That's just the stuff I like to write about. Idk if I do a good job but it makes me happy & brings strange comfort
I'm another hopeless romantic type and I love positive stories. Right now in America is a really, really scary time. The blatant public expressions of hate are scary and the gun violence we see constantly on the news makes it even worse. I could go into a lot more detail but I won't. I will say I've begun looking for another place to call home where I can more freely be me with less fear. That's why I make my stories happier and fluffier than most. They give me hope and a place I can escape to where those things can't follow me unless I let them in, like the storyline in Schemes with Elle and Lilith which still has a happy ending. My thought processes are a bit chaotic and scattershot which I think comes across in my writing a bit. I would call myself a feminist and that drives me to write such strong female characters and to give them positive, supportive friendships with other women. Likewise I am LGBTQ so I include quite a few gay, lesbian, and with Mimi, transgender characters.
The whole process of writing both of my stories is very cathartic, even though they are different, and I hope they provide a fun, entertaining escape for my readers.
First of all I am drawn to visual aesthetics so I spend a lot of time making sure everything looks as correct as I can get it.
Second it reflects my curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I have a huge interest in history and probably spend more time watching history channels on YouTube than I do watching regular TV or other channels. Mind you, I have watched so much film and TV comedy and drama over the years so that all reflects in my story as I mix real history and references to various classic movies and TV shows from that era into it.
I am quite a wisecracker in real life and most of my friends are like that as well so one liners, plays on words and back and forth dialogue is a prominent feature...as it is in my real life. I am someone who desires a bit of stability and comfort but I'm in an environment where there's usually a bit of chaos and randomness so I guess I'm intrigued by the duality of life: Stability and chaos, comedy and drama, conflicts of interest and so forth. I also wing a lot of my writing as well...Sim 66 has gone from following whatever immediate idea I have to something more plotted.
Another observation is that I am a man in a genre where the writers are predominantly female and having read a lot of stories I feel that sometimes the male characters are underwritten or reliant on stereotypes so I have decided lately that I will write interesting and, hopefully, strong male characters where a whole range of personalities, conflicts and characterisations are developed. I'm fortunate that I have a well balanced social life between men and women and I incorporate their personality traits into my characters. If I had a bit of writing advice for others it's that you should be observant of people's behaviour if you want to bring your characters to life.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
I hesitated to bring the subject up, but I felt it wouldn't be entirely honest if I didn't. It absolutely does influence my writing, even if it's subtle and not always readily apparent to my readers. Where it shows up most to me is when I write content for Mimi in Schemes and Dreams. I know that I write more passionately when I'm writing her segments. As you know, drag and gender identity is one of the white hot cultural flash points currently so my feelings about what I'm witnessing comes through in my writing. Anything related to LGBTQ topics stirs me up and it rises to the surface when I write about characters that fall under that umbrella.
My passion for strong women and positive female friendships is across the board so my passion there is less noticeable to me because all of my characters benefit from it.
I actually mostly write scientific papers and such, but I prefer to focus on SimLit for this answer.
I'd like to start by saying that I really believe that a writer personality, but also their cultural background and past, can deeply influence their writing style, topic choices and so on. Regarding me, however, I'm not sure I can be the most impartial person to evaluate how my own personality influences my writing. Most likely, there are a lot of implicit biases I'm not even aware of behind a lot of the choices I take when writing fiction. In any case, I can try to reason a bit about what I noticed about myself.
I think I'm one of those legacy players who put 3 sims-day per chapter haneul named in her comment, more than wanting to turn any little everyday event into something spectacular I tend to play with an idea in mind, and play until I manage to set the corresponding scene up (without cheats). I would say that both IRL and when writing my legacy I get bored very easily with repetitive events in my story (for example, now that I've played all the legacy up to Gen 10 I'm very bored every time I have to organize a birthday party and to describe it in the chapter), which makes me often decide to dedicate just a few messy pictures and a few lines to those scenes.
What I like the most are unexpected resolutions to absurd situations, which could be why I like so much to write about sci-fi and fantasy settings. I would also say that IRL I actually am quite detail-oriented as well, but in my stories this probably mostly reflects in my tendency to invent very complex fictional technologies and/or magical systems, which I tend to elaborate by using a lot of my general knowledge and of the scientific method I'm used to employ when at work. Also, I would say that I also tend to over-explain them in my stories including a lot of irrelevant details for the understanding of the story.
I would also say that in general I like to plan things in advance IRL, while playing a writing a legacy sort of obliges me to fight against it because there are always so many random events happening. However, I still manage to keep in mind a general path for the main storyline and I generally manage to stick to it decently (or at least I hope so).
Thinking about the social side of personality instead, I would say that many of the characters I write (the protagonists in particular) tend to have at least a few core characteristics in common with me, which leads to an over-representation of nerd, shy and grumpy people in my stories. IRL I'm also quite inept regarding anything romance-related, so every time I have to write about a romantic relationship among my characters the development always tends to be quite simple, straightforward, and probably idealised as well.
My absolute hate for children is probably quite visible too, my main focus tends to be in keeping the little sims alive until they turn into teens (which is when I start to develop a plotline also for them), while my strong bond and trust for my family is probably quite evident as well.
To conclude this very long post, I would also like to say that I actually suspect that writing fiction actually helped me to understand myself better, and to question a few things I gave for granted until now. Let's say that to write I need to be able to empathize with the characters, and thus that writing this long legacy put me in the condition to think about a lot of absurd hypothetical situations and research topics I never really cared about before. After many generations I noticed a few recurring details in my storytelling choices and on which were the sections I cared the most about (which are very obvious to me, but possibly not as much to the readers?), and none of this was planned before starting to write this. I would say that it was interesting for me to see some of my own biases exposed, that's it.
Good question!
I'm neurodivergent, and while I do try to write mostly neurotypical characters, I'm sure some of them come across as slightly more autistic or ADHD than average, since that's who I am and I can't keep it completely out of my writing. But this also means that I've spent a lot of my life studying people and trying to understand them, so when a new character takes shape in my story, they almost write themselves, since I "know" what this character would do in any situation.
The Duchelli Legacy is actually a good example of my ADHD. I cannot force myself to do things that bore me, and I realised quickly that I would get bored with a normal legacy, since it often gets repetitive with all the birthdays, weddings, and deaths (as @HermioneSims also mentions) So it turned into simlit with plot after the first generation.
The Duchellis also reflect the fact that I come from a rough background but I am still a pretty optimistic person. This is probably most obvious in Generation 3, but I come from a family with all sorts of problems and tragedies, and writing is also a way for me to process some of that. I do prefer to end on a hopeful note, because I believe deep down that things are going to be alright. At least most of the time. I also have a few very dark chapters planned for later, though.
Time to go wildly off-topic whilst partially staying on-topic as usual. The short answer is, Divided doesn't make sense and is mostly miserable so that is pretty similar to its author. XD The long answer is:
Whilst there are elements of this in the previous trilogy (TSAHF, Untamed, Vitriol), those are moreso based on the actual Realm of Magic pack, so it's more like the more modern, more playful portrayals of magic you see in childrens' or teens' media. In-universe, I also like to think that modern fantasy media shaped magic too, so people think of their favourite comics or TV shows or whatever and think 'oh hey, I should get into magic too!' whereas Divided shows the old magic in a much truer, more terrifying form. Much like Siriana, I think neurodivergence really shapes the whole structure of this story as I constantly flick back and forth between characters. And then someone else gets developed a bit more, and then I want them as a main character too... : P
I think a lot of people think Divided is too dark (to be fair, it probably is.) but for me it's actually not that dark at all. It's very much comfort for the uncomfortable. If you already know how it feels to be unwanted, ostracised, and other terrible such things, then you will find some comfort in the characters finding little bits of comfort despite it all. The witch-hunts don't seem such a historically-distant idea when those sorts of things happen to people like you all the time in the real world and the modern day. There is always a worry that next time, it might be you. Another thing Divided explores is how the realm of 'acceptable' narrows and narrows quicker than you'd think. It might not be you this time, but next time, it might be. But until then, between doing everything you can do to feel and keep safe, you find peace, safety, memories, and even happiness often with those in the same position as you. < 3 And also you find comfort and peace in some of the most unlikely places or people sometimes. I am not a positive person as we already know, but I make the most of whatever 'good' things might happen, no matter how fleeting or small, something a lot of the story characters do.
It's also been a way to explore and process some thoughts and events and worries in a distant manner, as well as providing allegory to certain things- some intentional, some unintentional. I guess a part of my personality is I like to put as much distance as possible between me and whatever awful things are going no so I can deal with them easier.
The rest is video game references and wish fulfillment. And pretty ladies. Probably comes under wish fulfillment. And according to some friends and commenters, seems the guys are pretty popular in that department too. XD
And my replies to everyone else:
@SirianaSims With you on the neurodivergence thing. I think a lot of my characters come off as neurodivergent-coded somehow, but the only one in the new story who is canonically neurodivergent is the autistic vampire. Only it's a historical sort of story and no one knows what that is. I didn't want to write anything too negative despite IRL historical (and modern) attitudes, so most people (other than the antagonist) just find him interesting, and those close to him have come to understand him in their own way. I got tired of how narrowly such things are usually portrayed and I figured it'd be interesting having such a character at a point where such things have no words to describe them. And I agree in that in connection to what I said to Kellogg, the overstudying of people around me as a neurodivergent person has helped me write characters (and also painfully overanalyse people's characters when reading). A lifetime spent trying desperately to understand how people work has at least helped with writing. ;-;
@haneul I love the detail you go into with your characters' thoughts, actions and such. I like that you take your time with your legacy because it's interesting seeing everyone's innermost thoughts and feelings, and their intentions and their actions and how they sometimes don't match (like with Asher, he means well but sometimes doesn't have the right approach.)
@DaniRose2143 I always love your positivity for LGBTQ+ topics and your feminine positivity. I hope this doesn't sound weird somehow, but for me trans women have really helped me heal from the way cis women have treated me over the years and they helped me feel safer around cis women again- before I realised I was nonbinary I was never the wrong kind of 'woman' to any trans woman I ever spoke to and it was amazing and surprising to hear it after years of being told all sorts of annoying stuff.
To see so many transfem folk empowering and uplifting each other and everyone else was such a good thing. And to see people writing such things even better. There really is nothing better than trans joy ^u^ So I hope your writing and characters will help other people feel the same way. Even though I have zero connection to femininity, feminine euphoria is such a powerful thing. < 3 I also agree with writing being cathartic, and in connection with what Sims4MT said, the escape. It's mainly why I write my own story- as a distraction from the BLUGHiness of IRL. But I guess that's Sims in general. : P
@HermioneSims Your response is interesting. I really like the sociopolitical aspects of your story, mainly because of the complexity in the way you deal with such things, in that there are multiple people on all sides who are positively and negatively influencing the world around them and that it's just not a clean us 'us VS them' kind of story. I imagine maybe as someone who writes a lot of scientific papers, things with a lot of definites and no space or maybes and feelings, it might be quite hard, but you always do well to put emotion into your stories and your characters are always lovable. < 3
I think you're right in what you say about where you come from affecting the story and for me it's one of the most interesting parts of reading stuff from people from different countries. Like what @DaniRose2143 said about America, and @hellohannah2 's talking before about how her being Irish shapes the story so much, I think it's the same with my stories. Sometimes it's hard to explain how and why, but a lot of it feels very English and IDK if that's noticeable but it's there. Some of the issues are things that obviously aren't exclusive to England, but the way the locals are quick to distrust one of the non-English characters in Divided because a rich English character told them to, and the way they defend him when he just lets them die around him, very common. The enemies are the ones living in the big mansions in Henford, but they're spinning it so people instead have supernaturals in their crosshairs whilst those in the mansions get to do what they please whilst the people are distracted. There's more to it than just that, but not anything I can currently put into words.
@Sims4MagicalTales I always notice a lot of video game references in your stories and names from game characters or TV shows. It's fun when I recognise who they are or might be. It's fun to look out for.
@hellohannah2 There's nothing wrong with fluff and romance! And characters who act before they think are always the most fun ones, and it makes for fun drama. : P As someone who is very apathetic, it's always fun to see things written from emotionally intense people.
I agree with the comments about where we come from affecting our stories. My most prevalent influences are from the USA and East Asia. I actively push against real life location equivalents for my Sims because Sims 4 doesn’t really match to anything and the idea of some of the worlds being foreign or “exotic” annoys me. I try to treat every location similarly except for the worlds where Sims cannot live. That probably reflects my current IRL attitude of not wanting to have a home base in only one country if I can avoid it.
Individual Responses
@Sims4MagicalTales I feel like you’re good at consistently writing stories across the Sims games. I’m impressed that you’re able to enjoy it for both Sims 3 and Sims 4, especially going from 4 to 3. I like both games, but I think changing would annoy me because the games are so different.
@HermioneSims I love how you treat conflict among different social groups in the Miller Legacy and the alien lore you’ve established. For legacies generally, I think skipping milestone events when they feel tedious is normal and that everyone skips some birthdays and weddings, but maybe some people feel compelled to celebrate all of them.
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg I wish more genders were represented in the SimLit community. It’s good that Sim 66 has a large cast with several interesting male characters.
@hellohannah2 Thanks! It doesn’t take me too long to set things up because I only mess around in build mode for family portraits, parties, and other events. I don’t script anything, which probably saves me a lot of time.
I don’t think your writing seems silly. To me, it comes across as authentic. Your characters seem real with ups and downs in their relationships (friendships, romances, etc.). There’s a strong sense of setting in Lucky Girl that’s unique and adds the realism. I think it’s okay not to do a good job with our hobbies, but you definitely do a good job.
@SirianaSims I think your legacy needs more hype around it. It’s very good. How you depict generational trauma is particularly noteworthy because you don’t resolve things quickly or simply but I’m glad we can expect? (or at least hope for) a happy ending.
@SnowBnuuy I am significantly behind on Divided so I may not know what I’m talking about but I think you do a great job of foreshadowing and that everyone has been warned about how dark Divided can get. One thing that strikes me about Divided is that you manage a large, diverse cast very well (different ages, body types, genders, sexualities, socio-economic statuses)—it’s refreshing. I think a lot of people’s writing falls apart and stereotypes appear when they make characters that are different from them in more than 2-3 areas (because it’s hard).
I try to mix it up with social status because I find when it comes to cast diversity, it's one thing that's usually just not focused on as an important and interesting aspect of diversity is social class. It's a bit hit-and-miss considering most historical CC is aimed towards the ruling classes or the very poor with little inbetween, but I make do with what I've got and I've found some great creators on Tumblr. I think the same with age actually, diversity of age groups is often something not considered despite the interesting differences between characters that can arise because of age. This was something I actively worked to improve on in this story hence why you have characters like Joyce, Julian, and Violeta. And to be old in a time of such massive change, it's also a feeling of wishing that maybe you could live on to see the ways the world improve, and maybe wishing slightly that you were born later.
As for gender and sexuality, it's another thing that's generally pushed out in terms of historical stories because everyone seems to think gay people appeared out of the rainbow dimension in 2000 and trans people in 2015. XD
When in reality, there will have always been people who felt this way, who didn't necessarily have those same words to describe who they were. And not to mention that there are plenty of cultures around the world where expansive gender identities have been a part of their culture for many years. Of course it's going to seem to straight/cis people like 'nobody was gay/trans back in *insert time period here*' when most of those people have had to hide it even more than they already do now for years and years, and when certain groups of people erased so much of that history by destroying various forms of documentation, books, and the people themselves. That's why I wanted to have such things as the genderfluid character in a historical type story- dealing with such things when nobody really spoke about them or there wasn't much around in general about it. I didn't want there to be too much negativity surrounding gender/sexuality in this story, so most people just roll with it even if some are a little confused at first because they've never met anyone like that before. Most of the pearl-clutching is from the nobles and the people who like to think they're nobles. XD
I also tend to have similarities in my stories - like a lot of redheads (I have auburn hair IRL) and also twin girls (I am not a twin). I do tend to skew towards having more female characters in my stories, mainly because there are more girl names I like than boy ones. Sometimes I choose name themes for my characters (like the Masterson children having ancient Greek-themed names) and it's the same thing - I prefer the girl names to the boy ones.
In writing out my royal story, I've got some characters who are a little like me in that they have anxiety and self-esteem problems. Of course, since they're in the public eye as royals, dealing with their issues is particularly tricky!
One thing I've noticed when checking out people's royal Simblrs is that many of them set their stories in made-up kingdoms, with quite detailed maps and so on. That's not something I'm good at! My royal family live in 'Simlandia', which is apparently one of the alternate names for SimNation I read about on the Sims Wiki. In my head I view all the Sims 4 worlds as being part of the same landmass, with some areas (e.g. Oasis Springs, Sulani etc) as having their own little microclimates. Much of my "lore" is based on the way the British royal family works because I am British and so am most familiar with them.
@Sims4MagicalTales I remember your old stories. Ganondorf's descendants always had such an issue with your main family's characters! Keeping that up for 13 generations sounds exhausting. But props to them for not giving up and thinking "ah, what's the point, we're just going to get defeated again like all our ancestors"
@hellohannah2 I love Lucky Girl! I relate quite a lot to Evie in many ways. And like I've said, we Brits don't tend to learn much about Ireland at school, so it's interesting to read a story that's set there. Ultimately, though, people are the same the world over.
How personality affects the creative things we do is something I am always interested in, so I enjoyed reading everyone's responses to this one. I haven't read all the stories written by everyone here yet, but for those I have, I can really see the influence of what you talk about.
I'm not sure what things to include in my answer. I did spend a while thinking about it though while waiting for our internet connection problems here to resolve. Some of the things I thought of are not exactly "personality" but they are part of my personal experience that definitely affects how I write.
Perfectionism
Good shot, but there's a small clipping issue? I have to edit it. Shot the whole scene but I didn't get exactly the face expressions I wanted? I must go and shoot some more. Good camera angle but the lighting doesn't work? I am compelled to fix that. The whole chapter is done, but something about the narrative is bugging me? I'll tear it apart and do it again if I have to. Is my progress on the story ridiculously slow? Yes. Yes, it is. But I have learned to live with myself. Hopefully others can to.
"Small" conflicts
My personal experience of the world is a pretty limited bubble. Even though I have lived in several very distinct places and cultures, I mostly have not experienced first-hand a lot of the big problems of this world. Most of the real world issues I feel I can address most authentically are personal or smaller conflicts. Relationship struggles, self-doubt, loneliness, roommate disagreements, anger and temper issues, and milder forms of bullying are things I have experience in. So I tend to focus on those kinds of things. My "bigger" conflicts are usually very fictional, and rooted in whatever sci-fi or fantasy world I have created for my story.
Lack of visual description
I am not able to visualize things in my head when I am reading. And I struggle to be able to visualize things at any other time as well. Usually the best I can do (with my eyes closed, in a completely dark room, with a lot of focus) is a blur of color. So visual descriptions in writing that are intended to "paint a picture" in the reader's mind are boring and kind of pointless to me. I tend to skip over them. And my own writing tend sto be extremely sparse on visual description. One of the things I love about writing simlit is that I can let the actual screenshots do all the heavy-lifting for the visual elements of the story, and I can focus the text part of the story on dialog and the characters' thoughts.
Humor
I like wacky, absurd, silly humor. I suspect this shows.
I think one thing that I do like about SimLit is I don't have to spend as much time describing people unless it makes sense to in the story somewhere since the pics are already there.
I'm currently writing a chapter about buying a wedding dress and I have 0 knowledge of the subject other than they're usually white or off white and elaborate. So I ended up doing some research into styles, cuts and technical terms of dressmaking.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
Do you find yourself having to write about something you have no background knowledge of did you have to do some research first?
I do a lot of research while leveraging what I already know and personal experiences. For example, I have a Sim obsessed with the piano and IRL I don't even have any kind of piano right now... so I research the piano, classical pieces, etc. etc. while using related experiences that I or my friends had growing up mixed with experiences of the classical/concert pianists I do or did know and I use all of that as a lens through which to interpret my gameplay and screenshots.
Having a slow-paced story makes it easier because my Sims are around for years or months IRL and I have time to research things to the extent I want, without anything feeling like a chore. I, personally, would like it if people didn't come away from my legacy thinking “Haneul definitely doesn't play the piano.”
I'm behind on everyone's stories—sorry