@MedleyMisty I am on my way to practice cello, so I'm not taking time now to respond to the entire post: I want to come and talk about sacred story with you later this evening. I just want to say that your first chapter is perfect and exactly how it needs to be to tell the story that you are telling.
I worked as a storyteller for a while--it was one of the most magic jobs I've had. I wanted to reach back as closely as possible to oral tales--and I found transcriptions of oral fairy tales to be some of the most sacred. Grimms was a great source--and I also had this wonderful collection of folk and fairy tales from Appalachia that had been transcribed during the WPA.
So, I got to see the ways that stories healed. This was a small, independent school with smart, talented, quirky kids. I know that in many ways, each of these kids felt like an outsider when it came to the greater world and their place in it. But stories helped them to see where they fit--especially those stories with Simpleton or some small hero who found a way through his or her own sincerity and quirkiness.
One year, two kids had moms who died from breast cancer. Stories became more than a way to see where we fit at that time--they became a way to see that we could make it through the hardest, most challenging and painful times. It took more than story, of course, for these kids and this community to move through that--and story also played a role. One of the boys loved to hear the story of the Juniper tree as often as I would tell it.
I grew up with a sister who's a storyteller--she grew up to become a professional puppeteer with her husband, both dedicated to sacred folk art as a way of communicating and connecting.
During all of my life, story has been both lifeline and interpreter: I can understand the world around me through story.
For me, the sacred part comes with healing and transcendence. I love those stories that give me wings of a dove inside! And I agree that this can come through any medium. It's when we express our deepest meanings. When I think of the SimLit that's touched me deeply this year, it's always been those works in which the writer is expressing her meaning, sharing it. It's not aiming at entertainment or pleasing readers. It's finding the story that brings into expression this meaning within that the writer is longing to see in form.
Art can take so many forms: music, gardens, meals, conversation, painting, drawing, poems, plays, Sim games, stories, and more...
And it's that essence that wants to fill the form that makes it art, to me. That's what makes it sacred, too.
@InfraGreen At least I will give you permission to criticise my work if you want, especially if I'm not handling a subject well. When I get good criticism the only person I'm going to get angry at is myself. And even that usually passes quickly because then I'll just focus on getting better.
Going back to the LotR movies - you could feel it, sitting in that theater. It was packed, and every human there was silent and enraptured and living in the Story being presented to them. It was deeply human, and it said things that mattered to them, down in their souls.
I haven't created anything like that yet. It is my deepest wish, but I haven't done it yet. I don't know if I can, because my brain is so weird. I don't know if I have enough access to the shared human experience to create a story that would reach the souls of so many people.
But I do know that my work has reached a few souls, and maybe I should be happy with my portion of the sacred.
I think this is something a lot of writers aspire for (myself included). Or at least I hope so. That is a very beautiful goal to have, and you worded is so well there.
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
Okay, now I am switching up the subject and throwing out my own question for @everyone -- Do you ever struggle with how to feel about POSITIVE feedback/praise?
@CitizenErased14 I don't have many comments on my blog. The few i have are positive and nice, but they are always specific. Like "i loved that picture where", or "i really like how you wrote the part where", you know what i mean. It never feels like they just write nice stuff for the sake of writing nice stuff. I write comments in a similar manner. If i don't understand something, i ask, rather than saying "well this is crap, i don't understand it".
I think i'm lucky because so far whoever did not like my writing didn't spend time to be nasty about it.
One thing i struggle with when i'm writing my detective story is i'm never sure whether i'm giving out clues that are totally obvious, or i'm hiding way too much. So when i get comments regarding this, it's very useful. I love to see how other people understan the little signs. Helps me improve a lot.
If i got hundreds of comments that all would be like "omg, nice blog!" i would feel a bit like "oh, is it really?"
@ra3rei
>I think it's important to be able to accept gifts. Positive feedback is like a gift.<
Yes, exactly! I learned in real life as well that when someone makes a positive comment, the best thing is just to say "thank you". There's no need to be apologetic about or make excuses about it.
@MedleyMisty I am on my way to practice cello, so I'm not taking time now to respond to the entire post: I want to come and talk about sacred story with you later this evening. I just want to say that your first chapter is perfect and exactly how it needs to be to tell the story that you are telling.
How so? Because I really do worry that people read it, see it as some rather shallow vignettes, and to never go on the other chapters.
Going back to the LotR movies - you could feel it, sitting in that theater. It was packed, and every human there was silent and enraptured and living in the Story being presented to them. It was deeply human, and it said things that mattered to them, down in their souls.
I haven't created anything like that yet. It is my deepest wish, but I haven't done it yet. I don't know if I can, because my brain is so weird. I don't know if I have enough access to the shared human experience to create a story that would reach the souls of so many people.
I think a lot of writers have that desire. As much as I often tell myself "this is a hobby that I'm doing for myself first," sometimes I do want to add to that awesome experience of being enraptured by a story. It's such a good feeling when you're enjoying someone else's work. Why not share try and share it if you can?
Though I do share the same doubts you do. While I grew up in a more mainstream area (being middle/upper-class and suburban/kind of urban), I draw a lot from my weirder experiences (heck, the first version of Eight Cicadas existed for me to vent about nervousness, autistic/neurodivergent experiences, and how alienating being LGBT can be, behind a proxy. And it still kind of is that). But I think that no matter how weird anyone's background and upbringing are, there's little chance that there's nothing you can bring to the table to still evoke that experience in readers.
You say that you've reached a few in spite of your "weirdness," so I guess I'm just reiterating.
If I were to define the profane...I'd say it's stories that do not serve the sacred. It's stories that exploit and abuse and that cater to the worst in humans. And sometimes you find the two mixed together, where the author reached for the sacred but they were limited by their prejudices and their assumptions and what they had internalized from their society. There are older works that I really enjoy for what they have to say while also flinching at the racism and sexism and dehumanization of the Other.
I think that's a caveat of how personal storytelling can be. It can be the best way to open up about yourself and your experiences, but it also allows for someone's deep, ugly attitudes to shine through. Those feelings are personal too...but it's also less and less excusable in this day and age. I won't pretend that racism/misogyny/homophobia/etc. is even close to over, but there are more resources today than ever before for unlearning prejudices like that.
I tend to apply a lot of "fair for its day" excusing for older works when I read them, though. I save my rage for those that deserve it more.
For me, the sacred part comes with healing and transcendence. I love those stories that give me wings of a dove inside! And I agree that this can come through any medium. It's when we express our deepest meanings. When I think of the SimLit that's touched me deeply this year, it's always been those works in which the writer is expressing her meaning, sharing it. It's not aiming at entertainment or pleasing readers. It's finding the story that brings into expression this meaning within that the writer is longing to see in form.
I agree fully. If I can feel something personal in a story, even if it might only be applicable to the author, I at least feel the sacredness or general good vibes.
There's also the mindset of "if it changes just one person-" I continue knowing that maybe I have the potential to help one other person with my stories. It sounds a little arrogant to say "I'm doing this for the greater good," but I had a lot of feelings about my own experiences with family and role models, belongingness, or abuse that I try to channel as a way for myself to heal and cope. If I can help one other person with that through my writing, then I'll feel fine with what I do.
For me, the sacred part comes with healing and transcendence. I love those stories that give me wings of a dove inside! And I agree that this can come through any medium. It's when we express our deepest meanings. When I think of the SimLit that's touched me deeply this year, it's always been those works in which the writer is expressing her meaning, sharing it. It's not aiming at entertainment or pleasing readers. It's finding the story that brings into expression this meaning within that the writer is longing to see in form.
I agree fully. If I can feel something personal in a story, even if it might only be applicable to the author, I at least feel the sacredness or general good vibes.
There's also the mindset of "if it changes just one person-" I continue knowing that maybe I have the potential to help one other person with my stories. It sounds a little arrogant to say "I'm doing this for the greater good," but I had a lot of feelings about my own experiences with family and role models, belongingness, or abuse that I try to channel as a way for myself to heal and cope. If I can help one other person with that through my writing, then I'll feel fine with what I do.
Yes! Back to what @CitizenErased14 was saying before about the positive comments--and their being used so liberally and generally that it tends to make one doubt their sincerity--for me, I feel I can genuinely compliment someone on their work when I sense that element of the personal behind it.
I guess when I see writing as allowing us to see inside the views, experiences, and perspectives of another--regardless of whether we've shared thse specific experiences ourselves--that touches upon the sacred, to me. Especially when the writer or artist is honestly portraying those experiences.
I feel that at the same time that we, as people, have such wide range of responses, we also have more in common than not.
@MedleyMisty I am on my way to practice cello, so I'm not taking time now to respond to the entire post: I want to come and talk about sacred story with you later this evening. I just want to say that your first chapter is perfect and exactly how it needs to be to tell the story that you are telling.
How so? Because I really do worry that people read it, see it as some rather shallow vignettes, and to never go on the other chapters.
@ra3rei I love the way you said positive feedback is a gift. I am always very honored when I receive positive feedback, but I know not everyone feels that way.
@CitizenErased14 I think people struggle with positive feedback (myself included at times in other arenas) because they feel insecure about something or feel negatively about themselves in some way. It may feel like compliments aren't genuine or real. Or maybe it feels like there's pressure to deliver something even better next time.
I fall into that latter category at times. I'm recovering from a real downer period of my life and rebuilding my self esteem is a major project of mine. I generally don't have problems taking compliments, but it does place this invisible pressure at times on me to over-deliver the next time I post. I feel like if my commenters drop off, then maybe I didn't do that great of a job with the next post. I over-analyze and I'm a perfectionist. This isn't a great combination for taking the pressure off. I keep having to remind myself to just write. It's a fun thing for me. Don't overthink it. Just do it.
For those that fall into the first category, I think it helps to step outside the author framework and read my story as a reader (not an editor). When someone gives you a compliment, look at it from an objective viewpoint, and rephrase it to be more abstract. For example, a reader sent me a message about my writing and said they liked how fresh my content was. I don't think I'm writing anything new because SimLit has been out there a long time and I'm late to the party. But, I can step back and read the chapter again with "fresh eyes" (no pun intended) and see what's fresh (or different or unique) in comparison to other SimLit I've read (like right now I'm rereading part 1 of my own story). Rereading helps me see the actual evidence of the compliment (like I haven't seen another writer use this concept before or write about this type of character) and that helps me accept the validity of the compliment.
Maybe I'm over-analyzing too much. *sigh* It's a blasted habit. You don't have to tear apart your writing line-by-line to find the proof so another way is to ask the reader what they found enjoyable or fresh or whatever other compliment they gave you. I don't think there's anything wrong with engaging your readers like this.
As far as the "what did they REALLY think?" problem, I'm going to hope the people that comment are saying what they really think. I'm going to purposely tell myself not to over analyze it. Personally, I love the compliments that go beyond "I loved it!" from my readers, and I try to leave those kinds of compliments on others' blogs, but I'm guilty of doing the "I loved it" comment without being specific as to why. This conversation has prompted me to think a little more critically about the comments I leave.
I think that Story is the most sacred thing that humans have. And I have been a priestess of it all my life. I still have my second grade journal, and at three different points little 8 year old me wrote about how I was "thinking about being a true story writer".
I think that's awesome that you've kept your journal! I have kept all my journals since a young age. It's great to go back and reread what I've written and see where I've grown and what I've accomplished, what I've struggled with and how I've overcome, and the areas that I still need to work on. I dreamed of being a writer when I was little and I got sidetracked with many other things. Recently, I quit my day job, mostly because of the negative environment I was in and the fact that I was overqualified and underpaid. I stayed way longer than I should have in the job, mostly just for a crappy, but steady paycheck. Since I haven't had steady work (I'm picking up odd jobs here and there and writing freelance at times), I've been able to focus on all the forms of writing I love, including SimLit. I've reawakened this love and passion deep inside me for Story, and I find myself craving the time I get to sit down and pound out new creations on my keys, to write from my heart, to do what makes me deeply human - desire a connection to something greater than myself.
Don't sell yourself short on your experiences either. I was pretty sheltered all the way up until college, mostly because my parents wanted to protect me from the messiness of their world. When I entered college, I must've been pretty naive because my head exploded with all the things I had been missing out on and didn't even know about. Some things didn't really interest me and I was glad I missed out. Others I wished I had caught onto sooner ((the Sims being one of them).
Everyone has a different story, and it doesn't matter how you were raised or what culture you grew up in: you have something of value to contribute to the world. I'd say that to everyone on here.
During all of my life, story has been both lifeline and interpreter: I can understand the world around me through story.
I wish I could give this comment both an "awesome" and "insightful." This is exactly how I feel. I often use story as a way to explore my own emotions and thoughts and ideas about life because it's sometimes easier to work things out through writing than in real life. I can be bold in my writing but stand me up in front of a room full of people and ask me to speak without preparation and I'm suddenly a ball of nerves. However, through writing, something almost magical happens, a cathartic release and a healing balm - I discover myself and I meet the world all in the space of a page. It's a beautiful thing.
I think that Story is the most sacred thing that humans have. And I have been a priestess of it all my life. I still have my second grade journal, and at three different points little 8 year old me wrote about how I was "thinking about being a true story writer".
I think that's awesome that you've kept your journal! I have kept all my journals since a young age. It's great to go back and reread what I've written and see where I've grown and what I've accomplished, what I've struggled with and how I've overcome, and the areas that I still need to work on. I dreamed of being a writer when I was little and I got sidetracked with many other things. Recently, I quit my day job, mostly because of the negative environment I was in and the fact that I was overqualified and underpaid. I stayed way longer than I should have in the job, mostly just for a crappy, but steady paycheck. Since I haven't had steady work (I'm picking up odd jobs here and there and writing freelance at times), I've been able to focus on all the forms of writing I love, including SimLit. I've reawakened this love and passion deep inside me for Story, and I find myself craving the time I get to sit down and pound out new creations on my keys, to write from my heart, to do what makes me deeply human - desire a connection to something greater than myself.
Don't sell yourself short on your experiences either. I was pretty sheltered all the way up until college, mostly because my parents wanted to protect me from the messiness of their world. When I entered college, I must've been pretty naive because my head exploded with all the things I had been missing out on and didn't even know about. Some things didn't really interest me and I was glad I missed out. Others I wished I had caught onto sooner ((the Sims being one of them).
Everyone has a different story, and it doesn't matter how you were raised or what culture you grew up in: you have something of value to contribute to the world. I'd say that to everyone on here.
I will definitely have to check out your stuff soon.
I don't see my background as a negative. I like not having the thought structures I see in mainstream discussions online. Thinking about status and categories and labels and value the way they do would make me something other than what I am, and I like what I am. I am very proud of being working class and Appalachian.
My mother kept the journal and gave it to me a while ago. I like the rant little me went on about people not caring about the words they were saying and using their mouths for a force against goodness, and how I wanted to go on a trip around the world and make a speech about it and make the world a better place to live.
Ooh, when I get home I will send you links to my two Appalachian horror stories! My short story for the November challenge has some of that flavor too.
During all of my life, story has been both lifeline and interpreter: I can understand the world around me through story.
For me, the sacred part comes with healing and transcendence. I love those stories that give me wings of a dove inside! And I agree that this can come through any medium. It's when we express our deepest meanings. When I think of the SimLit that's touched me deeply this year, it's always been those works in which the writer is expressing her meaning, sharing it. It's not aiming at entertainment or pleasing readers. It's finding the story that brings into expression this meaning within that the writer is longing to see in form.
Art can take so many forms: music, gardens, meals, conversation, painting, drawing, poems, plays, Sim games, stories, and more...
And it's that essence that wants to fill the form that makes it art, to me. That's what makes it sacred, too.
This was said so well! Man, I love this thread for having so many great people saying insightful things with beautiful words.
To me as well, good stories are about saying something that matters to the writer. We can't create something and not put a little bit of us in it, but it is possible to create things without much thought or without believing it personally. I love seeing stories the writer has consciously poured their own thoughts into and really expressed themselves. It doesn't even have to be about personal experiences or feelings, though that is usually especially touching, but can just be about the style or an idea or a story that wanted to come out. And I don't think there's anything wrong with "just" entertainment, because entertaining people is a great goal too. But I do prefer stories where I can see more than "just" entertainment. The best ones can mix both pleasing readers and not losing sight of what the writer themselves wants to express.
And stories are good for healing in my opinion too. When I want to relax and just express myself and forget my worries, I will draw or paint, and through that enjoy just finding the beauty in both good and bad thoughts and events. But when I really want to sort out my jumbled or even distressing thoughts, or deal with a difficult subject, I'll write. Sure, sometimes it can go the other way around, but it's usually that way. And I can see so many other people who have been helped by stories as well, whether they have been writing, reading, or listening or telling them. Stories are a safe environment to deal with difficult subjects (yes, this sentence was pretty much straight lifted from some of our early childhood education lectures), no matter what kind of person we're talking about (at least usually, of course there can be someone who is greatly intimidated by stories. It's always a possibility).
While I grew up in a more mainstream area (being middle/upper-class and suburban/kind of urban), I draw a lot from my weirder experiences (heck, the first version of Eight Cicadas existed for me to vent about nervousness, autistic/neurodivergent experiences, and how alienating being LGBT can be, behind a proxy. And it still kind of is that). But I think that no matter how weird anyone's background and upbringing are, there's little chance that there's nothing you can bring to the table to still evoke that experience in readers.
You say that you've reached a few in spite of your "weirdness," so I guess I'm just reiterating.
...
There's also the mindset of "if it changes just one person-" I continue knowing that maybe I have the potential to help one other person with my stories. It sounds a little arrogant to say "I'm doing this for the greater good," but I had a lot of feelings about my own experiences with family and role models, belongingness, or abuse that I try to channel as a way for myself to heal and cope. If I can help one other person with that through my writing, then I'll feel fine with what I do.
I've seen elements of what you said about you venting your experiences through Eight Cicadas, and I think it adds to the story a lot and doesn't feel distracting at all. The issues you are addressing are important, and the way you put them into your story really gives me the feeling that you know what you are talking about, and they fit pretty naturally into the story itself. And the changing just one person -mindset is a great one to have, in my opinion. That is how the world is going to change: one person at a time. We can't help everyone and we can't please everyone, but there are more than one of us, so we can help a lot of different people.
Don't sell yourself short on your experiences either. I was pretty sheltered all the way up until college, mostly because my parents wanted to protect me from the messiness of their world. When I entered college, I must've been pretty naive because my head exploded with all the things I had been missing out on and didn't even know about. Some things didn't really interest me and I was glad I missed out. Others I wished I had caught onto sooner ((the Sims being one of them).
Everyone has a different story, and it doesn't matter how you were raised or what culture you grew up in: you have something of value to contribute to the world. I'd say that to everyone on here.
Yes. We all have valuable stories to tell. Also, I think every person, no matter how "mainstream", will have at least something that makes them different. I consider myself pretty weird by mainstream standards (and this means Finnish mainstream, which is already slightly weird by for example the urban USA standards that a lot of the western pop-culture is directed towards), and many times I feel this strong disconnect to the people around me. This also relates partly to what @InfraGreen said about LGBTQA+, seeing how recently a lot of my alienated feelings have stemmed from me being a part of that group and being surrounded by people who aren't. But it is a lot of other things about me as well, some of which I have chosen and some of which just are a part of me. Most of the time I draw strength from my "weirdness" because I know I am just being myself and not trying anything else, but sometimes it can be a bit distressing. But I do know that there are some who will have similar opinions, backgrounds, experiences and feelings as I do. Not exactly the same, of course, because everyone's feelings and experiences are different.
I don't see my background as a negative. I like not having the thought structures I see in mainstream discussions online. Thinking about status and categories and labels and value the way they do would make me something other than what I am, and I like what I am. I am very proud of being working class and Appalachian.
That's wonderful to hear! I think it's great to talk to people from different cultures and see us all bring different points of view to the table. I don't have much knowledge on Appalachian culture (okay, next to none. I do kind of know where Appalachia is so I guess that's a start), but I certainly wouldn't mind learning more about it.
...
I should probably stop commenting on this thread when I'm tired. Again, I hope I made at least some sense with my thoughts that seem to skip from one to another.
Also on a lighter, more practical note: when we were talking about cheats and mods I somehow forgot to mention that I use moviemakercheatsenabled to play with the in-game animations a lot as well.
Okay, now I'm done and will go to bed early so that I hopefully won't be tired the next time I get to this lovely thread.
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
I guess it's just I've been attacked so much for being different. Like with Valley - yeah, people said it was the most unique Sims story they'd ever read and they said it was the best story and all that, so I know some people didn't mind the difference. One of my favorite memories is the person who told me that her little girl had a Halloween sleepover and she gathered all her friends around the computer and they read what I had up of Valley - I hadn't finished it yet then. And some of them asked if they could come back and read more when I updated.
But there was also all the hate, all the stalking, all the attacks on everything I said. I've done a lot of research into gossip and mobbing and online behavior since then, and intellectually I know that most likely it was just motivated by insecurity and immaturity, but emotionally I felt like I was constantly attacked because I didn't know how to be human right. Like, okay, once I wrote a LJ entry about how you could tell if someone really loved their work and how there was a difference between unemotional technical perfection and a work of art that someone had poured their soul into. And this was written on a new journal I'd made to try to get away from them.
That Friday night that entry was on Simsecret. Because I did everything wrong and I said everything wrong and I could never be good enough. I could never be acceptable. Everything I thought was wrong and bad and made people upset, and they would search me out wherever I went online to make sure that I knew that.
I started panicking and told the person I thought of as my best friend about it, and he went to see it and he apparently agreed with whatever it said and he yelled at me and took me off all his friends lists and deleted all his posts at my forum.
And you know what? Months later, someone else said the same thing about being able to tell if someone really loved their story in a group chat.
And people agreed with them. No one attacked them. No one told them they were horrible and wrong. No one abandoned them. It was fine for them to say it. But it wasn't fine for me to say it, for some reason. I know now that it was probably because I unknowingly threatened them and they were taking their insecurity out on me, but it really felt like it was because I was unfixably flawed and just bad and not fit to be around other humans.
See, this is why I say be careful what you wish for when you wish for a lot of readers.
It's also a risk you take when you put your work out on the internet, so I guess it can be relevant to the topic of this thread. It's part of writing Sims stories, the threat of trolls and bullies and obsessive haters. I know not everyone will become the favorite punching bag of the community for a couple of years like I did, but still. You gotta believe in what you're doing to keep going in the face of that.
Which after my best friend abandoned me I hid Valley for three days, but I unhid it and finished the story. Because no one could take Valley from me. No one and nothing.
And of course Surreal Darkness is even more "unique" than Valley was, but I learned my lesson so I don't advertise it very much at all and I don't try to chase followers on Tumblr and I am very careful about who I reach out to.
Thank you all for being decent humans and for being worth sharing my work with.
@MedleyMisty Your story about the kids reading Valley is so heartwarming! That's awesome!
Also, I'm glad you didn't back down even with all the awful things that people have said. Ugh, the Internet annoys me a lot sometimes. There's just something about an easily reached audience and an anonymity people can hide behind that turns some - even some decent people into complete jerks who spew awful things to other people without any consideration to anything. Yeah, sure there's probably a lot of other things behind it too...
I read your horror stories and had fun with them! I already posted my comments on your Wordpress but I'll say here too that they were creepy in just the way I like my horror! And I feel I did get a little bit of insight to the Appalachian culture on the side too. It seems really nice.
And then to my questions to all of you: If you have several stories in the works, do you post them in separate blogs or the same blog? Why?
I'm asking this partly out of curiosity, but also because I have a SimLit story in my head that's been there for a couple of months and now it's really starting to want to get out. I'm now weighing the pros and cons of starting a new blog for it. Although I am probably going to start a new blog anyway because of the way I want to lay out my blogs but still, it's nice to hear other people's thoughts about it.
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
@RipuAncestor Thank you! And it is a nice culture! Of course I've since learned that I grew up in a little pocket of it that didn't have quite the level of poverty as the parts in coal country. I actually grew up in the same town that Andy Griffith did and that he based Mayberry on, if you've heard of the Andy Griifith show.
I post all my stuff on the one blog. Easier to keep up with, and people know to go there if they want to read a medleymisty story, of whatever type.
(I figured perhaps it was high time to start giving my two cents in this thread, if that's okay for everyone)
@RipuAncestor Back when I used Blogger, I always made a separate blog for each new story I wrote.
It did make managing said stories a bit more difficult, but it also meant less confusion when tagging stories (if it were just with one blog, you'd have to tag the story names alongside the characters).
Only have one story now, but I reserved a separate blog on WordPress for one that is in the works. So, I go with the separate blogs solution. Or will.
Anyways, it works for me because it keeps stories separate, which works well when one story is R-rated nastiness and the other is aiming for a milder content rating.
EDIT: @rednenemon: Welcome to a good place, honey.
@RipuAncestor I have mine on separate blogs, but I keep them connected through my "other stories" section so that people can navigate from one of my blogs to another!
I think it would be simpler with one blog, but (just my opinion!) I don't want to "force" a reader to get notifications for a story they may not be interested in! D2D and PNN are basically as different as different can be so I don't want to assume that the audience who enjoys one story would enjoy the other and have them become inundated with notifications for a story they don't read. Just my personal take on things!
(Also, hi @rednenemon ! You're Senna on WP, yes? Welcome! )
I have an anthology that has my main stories: Goofy Love (which is the main one that people read) and most of my other stories. Initially I wanted one central place for all my SimLit.
Then, my friend Caitlin and I created a blog together for Purple Day--since it's more an event or observation than an actual story.
Then, I started writing a fanfic novel (no pictures) and it's mature in nature--one chapter begins with Malcolm's description of Cassandra's inner thigh--and since stories posted on my main blog are also excerpted in the side widget on Purple Day, I quickly realized that I didn't want to be advertising this work to the under 16 crowd, so I pulled it onto its own place. The beauty of this is that it frees me up--I feel like I can write the way I write my nonSim fiction: in solitude, without a lot of readers. This is the piece that I workshop in The Writers' Workshop, so having it tucked away in its own semi-hidden corner where it gets very little traffic provides me with the type of seclusion I need for developing this piece.
I've also got a few places for different types of SimLit or Sim Explorations. Sistah Simstah is a place where JordanNicoleJJ and I can explore our more radical Sim-liberation views, apart from the confines of the whole "Sims as actors or characters" discussions. And SimSelf Adventures is a place for fun with other Simmers.
I'm like Cathy, or at least how she started. One blog to rule them all. That way I know traffic numbers without to tallying them. I think I'd worry if one story got less traffic than another. Plus it's kind of like advertisement. If you like my short stories, perhaps you'll wander over and read something else and like it too.
I use tags and categories on the blog to keep everything seperate so that's not a problem. Although it makes it less easy to navigate within a story, I'm trying to remember to add my own custom "nexts" instead, but it's a lot of work after the fact. And I guess of you only were interested in one story, you'll get notified when I publish other stuff...and some of the stuff I publish isn't even sim related.
If I wrote any adult stories, I would use a second blog I think since I wouldn't want to advertise it as widely. But I'd link to it from my "main" blog.
Check out Raerei's Fortress for Builds, Short Stories, and maybe some longer stuff.
@rednenemon Hi and welcome! It's nice to see more people here.
All of you have good points on both separate and non-separate blogs, some of which I hadn't considered yet. Hmm...
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
How do you guys deal with being alone inside your skulls?
Also I got all teal deer here, so scroll down to the end where I bolded my questions if you want to see them and answer them but can't be bothered with my meanderings.
Like...
What I originally wanted to talk about when I started the thread but then I went with a more general lighter thing to start with was the relationship between reader and writer.
I have been googling and traveling across the internet the last few days, reading old blog posts and essays and discussions about reading and literature and English class. It's been eye-opening, because I'd never seen or heard of anyone who had the experiences that the participants in these discussions claim are universal. Which if the discussions weren't years old, I'd pipe up and tell them that.
Especially the ones who say that no one could actually like the books I've loved since I was a teenager. Jane Eyre has been my favorite book since I first read it when I was around 14, and I won't apologize for that and I will tell you exactly how you're wrong if you try to tell me that I am pretentious or that I don't really like it or that I am just trying to appear "smart".
*goes to look at an old LJ post that kind of gets to where I'm going here to see if it'd be appropriate to post here*
Yeah, no curse words. References to Valley characters and metaphors and symbols, but I think it's understandable even if you haven't read Valley. Here you go:
I think the point of all this is that I strongly believe in art for art's sake. Not for money, not for social status, not for attracting mates, not for anything but the experience of itself, whole and entire. And that is the attitude with which I want people to approach my work. Pure and innocent and ready to step into Seth's world.
It always comes down to this: I give everything. And I expect everything in return. It's not a conscious expectation, but I know it's there because I am hurt when people do not read the whole story, when they come to the blog and leave without giving me a chance, when they talk down to me and pat me on my head.
I am here. I am everywhere and everything. I am the universe and the universe is me. I am Seth. I am Sarah. I am Jason. I am Lilith. I am all of them and they are all me and I want them to be you. I want to become your characters and I want you to become mine. I want...I want connection. I want the deepest sort of connection, an ocean of being, where all is one and one is all and there are no divisions, no boundaries, and I know your emotions and thoughts and you know mine and there is chaos and stillness and movement and silence and all, all is love and hate and fire and oxygen and the wind and the rain and the burning sun and you are here and I am here and there is no there, there is only our here which is all that is.
THAT is what I want. And when I do not get it, when I get boundaries and rules and borders and bits held back and condescending pats on my head, I rage. I am Seth, alone in the silence which has no meaning and so I must start a fire to fill the void, only the void can never be filled and it is endless and it is black and it is white and it is red and it is Death and I am alone and the fire climbs higher in the night sky, higher and higher until it reaches to heaven but it finds nothing there, only the stars, cold and uncaring and so very far away.
And so I am the fire and I breathe it and it flows in my veins and I write it, I write it as hard and true as I can, so that perhaps it will get through to you. Perhaps you will feel its heat on your skin. Perhaps you will know the yawning empty nothingness. And in that knowing, you will come and I will see you and there we will be, in the water. Little droplets all on our own, but rushing down together to explode on the rocks.
/end repost of old stuff
I guess....in my internet jaunt I've discovered that a lot of people are more....closed off, maybe, let's say....when they read. Like they are only looking at the work through their own brain, and they're unwilling to step out of their brain and into the work.
I don't want to get too specific because that will trigger the anxiety, so I know this may be vague and confusing, but I guess...
Am I just really weird in being so confused and sad and emo about this?
OMG, I went off to eat dinner and I read some more of my current book (the spousal person works at the library; we have over 3000 books in our house - reading at dinner is expected), and the author describes what I am talking about perfectly:
In those moments the person is prised out of his or her narcissistic isolation into a participation, or imaginative identification, with our transcendent unity of being. Each perceives, more existentially than consciously, that the spaces between us are delusory, and that we are knit together in a common human identity.
Another quote from my LJ:
I think I've come a lot closer to finding what I wanted, while at the same time these days I have a clearer understanding of why I didn't find it then and why I have had to let go of that ideal and realize that I will never find that sort of connection whole and entire with all my readers, although I may be able to find it with a few individuals. And within my own brain.
And that is enough. It really truly is enough.
In the last few months I've had to let go of a lot of my ideals. Well - at least, I've had to let go of expecting other people to live up to them. And I've become kinder to myself when I fail to live up to them myself.
I guess - I guess it's sort of like I've seen the individuality of each drop of water, and I've been able to let go and to let each drop pass by on its way without expecting it to be anything more than what it is. And I've also been able to accept myself for what I am and what I was.
/end repost
Obviously I was a bit optimistic back when I wrote that. I'm still dealing with this, still wishing to be part of the waterfall but running up against all these individual drops and not knowing what to do about it.
But I am learning, still.
And I have found more drops of water to join with mine! Just today a wonderful friend on Tumblr wrote a little story for me for Christmas, inspired by Surreal Darkness. I cannot imagine a better gift than that.
I think....
I am pretty old, but I am still learning so much about other humans. So much. And I am still getting a handle on different tastes and different perspectives and different brains formed by different experiences.
Just the other night a friend introduced me to a new band, and I very much appreciated their aesthetic and I liked one of their songs all right, but I couldn't get into their other stuff. But I could still tell it was art, and that it was good and meaningful and that it should exist, even if most of their work didn't have enough bass to make my brain happy.
Or like with comic books. My brain just refuses to process them. It looks at the pictures and the words in the bubbles and it says "No, I cannot read this, I'm sorry." But I know that's just a quirk of my brain, and that comics are still beauty and art and that they make other people happy and they should exist.
Also the Bad Times hit me so hard because I had never experienced anything like that before. Bullying just wasn't a thing where I grew up. There were little dramas every now and then, but I cannot remember ever witnessing such a long and cruel campaign like that IRL. I was so idealistic before that. I thought that most humans were capable of basic empathy, because that was what I had experienced of the world thus far. And that was part of what made the Bad Times so bad - losing my ideals, having to face the reality that humans could be that cruel and uncaring and thoughtless about others, and having to reorganize my worldview to account for that.
So I am still reorganizing my worldview. But then I think that's a lifelong thing, isn't it?
I guess my point is that I am still trying to understand how some humans can be so closed up within themselves that they aren't open to the gift I am trying to give them, and also I am still coming to understand how sometimes you can see and appreciate the gift, but still you know that it's not meant for you. But that doesn't devalue the gift. Whoever it is meant for will still find meaning in it.
How do you guys look at your readers? What sort of relationship do you want with them or expect to have? Do you think of them as customers who are always right and you're there to supply their needs? Do you think of them as co-creators? Do you think of them as an admiring audience? Do you think of them at all?
How do you guys look at your readers? What sort of relationship do you want with them or expect to have? Do you think of them as customers who are always right and you're there to supply their needs? Do you think of them as co-creators? Do you think of them as an admiring audience? Do you think of them at all?
I think about my readers a LOT (However, this doesn't mean I'm necessarily writing FOR them or anything!). Even though we've kind of discussed that it's "bad" to think this way, my readers are what motivate me to write. If I know someone out there is enjoying my story, I am so much more likely to continue writing! And even after a story is complete, having readers fills that same sort of need for me -- it makes me feel like writing my story was worthwhile and meant something to someone else besides me
I think it's hard to classify exactly how I view readers... I guess partially "admiring audience" (wow, it feels conceited to type that haha) and part... hmm... I'm trying to think of the word. "Trusted advisors"? I would sometimes privately message certain readers and ask them for specific thoughts about things in the story, or opinions about the chapter I was working on at the time. I value reader input very much, and I feel that the writer-reader dynamic is very unique in a community like this one.
I guess I'd be lying if I said that I am always 100% writing for myself. I always have readers in mind as I write. I wonder what they'll think of a certain chapter or plot twist, and worry about their enjoyment of my work. These people are being extremely generous and lovely by taking the time to read my story, and I feel they deserve a quality story that they will enjoy in return
Sorry that my response was so disjointed haha I'm laying in bed right now super tired (RipuAncestor style! )
Comments
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
I worked as a storyteller for a while--it was one of the most magic jobs I've had. I wanted to reach back as closely as possible to oral tales--and I found transcriptions of oral fairy tales to be some of the most sacred. Grimms was a great source--and I also had this wonderful collection of folk and fairy tales from Appalachia that had been transcribed during the WPA.
So, I got to see the ways that stories healed. This was a small, independent school with smart, talented, quirky kids. I know that in many ways, each of these kids felt like an outsider when it came to the greater world and their place in it. But stories helped them to see where they fit--especially those stories with Simpleton or some small hero who found a way through his or her own sincerity and quirkiness.
One year, two kids had moms who died from breast cancer. Stories became more than a way to see where we fit at that time--they became a way to see that we could make it through the hardest, most challenging and painful times. It took more than story, of course, for these kids and this community to move through that--and story also played a role. One of the boys loved to hear the story of the Juniper tree as often as I would tell it.
I grew up with a sister who's a storyteller--she grew up to become a professional puppeteer with her husband, both dedicated to sacred folk art as a way of communicating and connecting.
During all of my life, story has been both lifeline and interpreter: I can understand the world around me through story.
For me, the sacred part comes with healing and transcendence. I love those stories that give me wings of a dove inside! And I agree that this can come through any medium. It's when we express our deepest meanings. When I think of the SimLit that's touched me deeply this year, it's always been those works in which the writer is expressing her meaning, sharing it. It's not aiming at entertainment or pleasing readers. It's finding the story that brings into expression this meaning within that the writer is longing to see in form.
Art can take so many forms: music, gardens, meals, conversation, painting, drawing, poems, plays, Sim games, stories, and more...
And it's that essence that wants to fill the form that makes it art, to me. That's what makes it sacred, too.
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
I think this is something a lot of writers aspire for (myself included). Or at least I hope so. That is a very beautiful goal to have, and you worded is so well there.
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
Hope everyone's doing fine. It's nearly Friday, yay. This week flew by in a second...
Also, most action seems to happen here while i'm asleep
@CitizenErased14 I don't have many comments on my blog. The few i have are positive and nice, but they are always specific. Like "i loved that picture where", or "i really like how you wrote the part where", you know what i mean. It never feels like they just write nice stuff for the sake of writing nice stuff. I write comments in a similar manner. If i don't understand something, i ask, rather than saying "well this is crap, i don't understand it".
I think i'm lucky because so far whoever did not like my writing didn't spend time to be nasty about it.
One thing i struggle with when i'm writing my detective story is i'm never sure whether i'm giving out clues that are totally obvious, or i'm hiding way too much. So when i get comments regarding this, it's very useful. I love to see how other people understan the little signs. Helps me improve a lot.
If i got hundreds of comments that all would be like "omg, nice blog!" i would feel a bit like "oh, is it really?"
@ra3rei
>I think it's important to be able to accept gifts. Positive feedback is like a gift.<
Yes, exactly! I learned in real life as well that when someone makes a positive comment, the best thing is just to say "thank you". There's no need to be apologetic about or make excuses about it.
Regrets (Finished)
Abbie's Diary (Finished)
Mistakes
How so? Because I really do worry that people read it, see it as some rather shallow vignettes, and to never go on the other chapters.
I think a lot of writers have that desire. As much as I often tell myself "this is a hobby that I'm doing for myself first," sometimes I do want to add to that awesome experience of being enraptured by a story. It's such a good feeling when you're enjoying someone else's work. Why not share try and share it if you can?
Though I do share the same doubts you do. While I grew up in a more mainstream area (being middle/upper-class and suburban/kind of urban), I draw a lot from my weirder experiences (heck, the first version of Eight Cicadas existed for me to vent about nervousness, autistic/neurodivergent experiences, and how alienating being LGBT can be, behind a proxy. And it still kind of is that). But I think that no matter how weird anyone's background and upbringing are, there's little chance that there's nothing you can bring to the table to still evoke that experience in readers.
You say that you've reached a few in spite of your "weirdness," so I guess I'm just reiterating.
I think that's a caveat of how personal storytelling can be. It can be the best way to open up about yourself and your experiences, but it also allows for someone's deep, ugly attitudes to shine through. Those feelings are personal too...but it's also less and less excusable in this day and age. I won't pretend that racism/misogyny/homophobia/etc. is even close to over, but there are more resources today than ever before for unlearning prejudices like that.
I tend to apply a lot of "fair for its day" excusing for older works when I read them, though. I save my rage for those that deserve it more.
I agree fully. If I can feel something personal in a story, even if it might only be applicable to the author, I at least feel the sacredness or general good vibes.
There's also the mindset of "if it changes just one person-" I continue knowing that maybe I have the potential to help one other person with my stories. It sounds a little arrogant to say "I'm doing this for the greater good," but I had a lot of feelings about my own experiences with family and role models, belongingness, or abuse that I try to channel as a way for myself to heal and cope. If I can help one other person with that through my writing, then I'll feel fine with what I do.
outrun / blog / tunglr
Yes! Back to what @CitizenErased14 was saying before about the positive comments--and their being used so liberally and generally that it tends to make one doubt their sincerity--for me, I feel I can genuinely compliment someone on their work when I sense that element of the personal behind it.
I guess when I see writing as allowing us to see inside the views, experiences, and perspectives of another--regardless of whether we've shared thse specific experiences ourselves--that touches upon the sacred, to me. Especially when the writer or artist is honestly portraying those experiences.
I feel that at the same time that we, as people, have such wide range of responses, we also have more in common than not.
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
I'll reply in the Surreal Darkness thread!
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
@CitizenErased14 I think people struggle with positive feedback (myself included at times in other arenas) because they feel insecure about something or feel negatively about themselves in some way. It may feel like compliments aren't genuine or real. Or maybe it feels like there's pressure to deliver something even better next time.
I fall into that latter category at times. I'm recovering from a real downer period of my life and rebuilding my self esteem is a major project of mine. I generally don't have problems taking compliments, but it does place this invisible pressure at times on me to over-deliver the next time I post. I feel like if my commenters drop off, then maybe I didn't do that great of a job with the next post. I over-analyze and I'm a perfectionist. This isn't a great combination for taking the pressure off. I keep having to remind myself to just write. It's a fun thing for me. Don't overthink it. Just do it.
For those that fall into the first category, I think it helps to step outside the author framework and read my story as a reader (not an editor). When someone gives you a compliment, look at it from an objective viewpoint, and rephrase it to be more abstract. For example, a reader sent me a message about my writing and said they liked how fresh my content was. I don't think I'm writing anything new because SimLit has been out there a long time and I'm late to the party. But, I can step back and read the chapter again with "fresh eyes" (no pun intended) and see what's fresh (or different or unique) in comparison to other SimLit I've read (like right now I'm rereading part 1 of my own story). Rereading helps me see the actual evidence of the compliment (like I haven't seen another writer use this concept before or write about this type of character) and that helps me accept the validity of the compliment.
Maybe I'm over-analyzing too much. *sigh* It's a blasted habit. You don't have to tear apart your writing line-by-line to find the proof so another way is to ask the reader what they found enjoyable or fresh or whatever other compliment they gave you. I don't think there's anything wrong with engaging your readers like this.
As far as the "what did they REALLY think?" problem, I'm going to hope the people that comment are saying what they really think. I'm going to purposely tell myself not to over analyze it. Personally, I love the compliments that go beyond "I loved it!" from my readers, and I try to leave those kinds of compliments on others' blogs, but I'm guilty of doing the "I loved it" comment without being specific as to why. This conversation has prompted me to think a little more critically about the comments I leave.
Find me elsewhere:
My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
My Worldbuilding Blog
Simblr
My Sims Pinterest
I think that's awesome that you've kept your journal! I have kept all my journals since a young age. It's great to go back and reread what I've written and see where I've grown and what I've accomplished, what I've struggled with and how I've overcome, and the areas that I still need to work on. I dreamed of being a writer when I was little and I got sidetracked with many other things. Recently, I quit my day job, mostly because of the negative environment I was in and the fact that I was overqualified and underpaid. I stayed way longer than I should have in the job, mostly just for a crappy, but steady paycheck. Since I haven't had steady work (I'm picking up odd jobs here and there and writing freelance at times), I've been able to focus on all the forms of writing I love, including SimLit. I've reawakened this love and passion deep inside me for Story, and I find myself craving the time I get to sit down and pound out new creations on my keys, to write from my heart, to do what makes me deeply human - desire a connection to something greater than myself.
Don't sell yourself short on your experiences either. I was pretty sheltered all the way up until college, mostly because my parents wanted to protect me from the messiness of their world. When I entered college, I must've been pretty naive because my head exploded with all the things I had been missing out on and didn't even know about. Some things didn't really interest me and I was glad I missed out. Others I wished I had caught onto sooner ((the Sims being one of them).
Everyone has a different story, and it doesn't matter how you were raised or what culture you grew up in: you have something of value to contribute to the world. I'd say that to everyone on here.
I wish I could give this comment both an "awesome" and "insightful." This is exactly how I feel. I often use story as a way to explore my own emotions and thoughts and ideas about life because it's sometimes easier to work things out through writing than in real life. I can be bold in my writing but stand me up in front of a room full of people and ask me to speak without preparation and I'm suddenly a ball of nerves. However, through writing, something almost magical happens, a cathartic release and a healing balm - I discover myself and I meet the world all in the space of a page. It's a beautiful thing.
Find me elsewhere:
My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
My Worldbuilding Blog
Simblr
My Sims Pinterest
I will definitely have to check out your stuff soon.
I don't see my background as a negative. I like not having the thought structures I see in mainstream discussions online. Thinking about status and categories and labels and value the way they do would make me something other than what I am, and I like what I am. I am very proud of being working class and Appalachian.
My mother kept the journal and gave it to me a while ago. I like the rant little me went on about people not caring about the words they were saying and using their mouths for a force against goodness, and how I wanted to go on a trip around the world and make a speech about it and make the world a better place to live.
Ooh, when I get home I will send you links to my two Appalachian horror stories! My short story for the November challenge has some of that flavor too.
I think I will like your stuff.
To me as well, good stories are about saying something that matters to the writer. We can't create something and not put a little bit of us in it, but it is possible to create things without much thought or without believing it personally. I love seeing stories the writer has consciously poured their own thoughts into and really expressed themselves. It doesn't even have to be about personal experiences or feelings, though that is usually especially touching, but can just be about the style or an idea or a story that wanted to come out. And I don't think there's anything wrong with "just" entertainment, because entertaining people is a great goal too. But I do prefer stories where I can see more than "just" entertainment. The best ones can mix both pleasing readers and not losing sight of what the writer themselves wants to express.
And stories are good for healing in my opinion too. When I want to relax and just express myself and forget my worries, I will draw or paint, and through that enjoy just finding the beauty in both good and bad thoughts and events. But when I really want to sort out my jumbled or even distressing thoughts, or deal with a difficult subject, I'll write. Sure, sometimes it can go the other way around, but it's usually that way. And I can see so many other people who have been helped by stories as well, whether they have been writing, reading, or listening or telling them. Stories are a safe environment to deal with difficult subjects (yes, this sentence was pretty much straight lifted from some of our early childhood education lectures), no matter what kind of person we're talking about (at least usually, of course there can be someone who is greatly intimidated by stories. It's always a possibility).
I've seen elements of what you said about you venting your experiences through Eight Cicadas, and I think it adds to the story a lot and doesn't feel distracting at all. The issues you are addressing are important, and the way you put them into your story really gives me the feeling that you know what you are talking about, and they fit pretty naturally into the story itself. And the changing just one person -mindset is a great one to have, in my opinion. That is how the world is going to change: one person at a time. We can't help everyone and we can't please everyone, but there are more than one of us, so we can help a lot of different people.
Yes. We all have valuable stories to tell. Also, I think every person, no matter how "mainstream", will have at least something that makes them different. I consider myself pretty weird by mainstream standards (and this means Finnish mainstream, which is already slightly weird by for example the urban USA standards that a lot of the western pop-culture is directed towards), and many times I feel this strong disconnect to the people around me. This also relates partly to what @InfraGreen said about LGBTQA+, seeing how recently a lot of my alienated feelings have stemmed from me being a part of that group and being surrounded by people who aren't. But it is a lot of other things about me as well, some of which I have chosen and some of which just are a part of me. Most of the time I draw strength from my "weirdness" because I know I am just being myself and not trying anything else, but sometimes it can be a bit distressing. But I do know that there are some who will have similar opinions, backgrounds, experiences and feelings as I do. Not exactly the same, of course, because everyone's feelings and experiences are different.
That's wonderful to hear! I think it's great to talk to people from different cultures and see us all bring different points of view to the table. I don't have much knowledge on Appalachian culture (okay, next to none. I do kind of know where Appalachia is so I guess that's a start), but I certainly wouldn't mind learning more about it.
...
I should probably stop commenting on this thread when I'm tired. Again, I hope I made at least some sense with my thoughts that seem to skip from one to another.
Also on a lighter, more practical note: when we were talking about cheats and mods I somehow forgot to mention that I use moviemakercheatsenabled to play with the in-game animations a lot as well.
Okay, now I'm done and will go to bed early so that I hopefully won't be tired the next time I get to this lovely thread.
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
All right, here are my two Appalachian horror stories. They are text-only, no Sims.
Knock Three Times
Ol' Knocky
I guess it's just I've been attacked so much for being different. Like with Valley - yeah, people said it was the most unique Sims story they'd ever read and they said it was the best story and all that, so I know some people didn't mind the difference. One of my favorite memories is the person who told me that her little girl had a Halloween sleepover and she gathered all her friends around the computer and they read what I had up of Valley - I hadn't finished it yet then. And some of them asked if they could come back and read more when I updated.
But there was also all the hate, all the stalking, all the attacks on everything I said. I've done a lot of research into gossip and mobbing and online behavior since then, and intellectually I know that most likely it was just motivated by insecurity and immaturity, but emotionally I felt like I was constantly attacked because I didn't know how to be human right. Like, okay, once I wrote a LJ entry about how you could tell if someone really loved their work and how there was a difference between unemotional technical perfection and a work of art that someone had poured their soul into. And this was written on a new journal I'd made to try to get away from them.
That Friday night that entry was on Simsecret. Because I did everything wrong and I said everything wrong and I could never be good enough. I could never be acceptable. Everything I thought was wrong and bad and made people upset, and they would search me out wherever I went online to make sure that I knew that.
I started panicking and told the person I thought of as my best friend about it, and he went to see it and he apparently agreed with whatever it said and he yelled at me and took me off all his friends lists and deleted all his posts at my forum.
And you know what? Months later, someone else said the same thing about being able to tell if someone really loved their story in a group chat.
And people agreed with them. No one attacked them. No one told them they were horrible and wrong. No one abandoned them. It was fine for them to say it. But it wasn't fine for me to say it, for some reason. I know now that it was probably because I unknowingly threatened them and they were taking their insecurity out on me, but it really felt like it was because I was unfixably flawed and just bad and not fit to be around other humans.
See, this is why I say be careful what you wish for when you wish for a lot of readers.
It's also a risk you take when you put your work out on the internet, so I guess it can be relevant to the topic of this thread. It's part of writing Sims stories, the threat of trolls and bullies and obsessive haters. I know not everyone will become the favorite punching bag of the community for a couple of years like I did, but still. You gotta believe in what you're doing to keep going in the face of that.
Which after my best friend abandoned me I hid Valley for three days, but I unhid it and finished the story. Because no one could take Valley from me. No one and nothing.
And of course Surreal Darkness is even more "unique" than Valley was, but I learned my lesson so I don't advertise it very much at all and I don't try to chase followers on Tumblr and I am very careful about who I reach out to.
Thank you all for being decent humans and for being worth sharing my work with.
Also, I'm glad you didn't back down even with all the awful things that people have said. Ugh, the Internet annoys me a lot sometimes. There's just something about an easily reached audience and an anonymity people can hide behind that turns some - even some decent people into complete jerks who spew awful things to other people without any consideration to anything. Yeah, sure there's probably a lot of other things behind it too...
I read your horror stories and had fun with them! I already posted my comments on your Wordpress but I'll say here too that they were creepy in just the way I like my horror! And I feel I did get a little bit of insight to the Appalachian culture on the side too. It seems really nice.
And then to my questions to all of you: If you have several stories in the works, do you post them in separate blogs or the same blog? Why?
I'm asking this partly out of curiosity, but also because I have a SimLit story in my head that's been there for a couple of months and now it's really starting to want to get out. I'm now weighing the pros and cons of starting a new blog for it. Although I am probably going to start a new blog anyway because of the way I want to lay out my blogs but still, it's nice to hear other people's thoughts about it.
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
I post all my stuff on the one blog. Easier to keep up with, and people know to go there if they want to read a medleymisty story, of whatever type.
@RipuAncestor Back when I used Blogger, I always made a separate blog for each new story I wrote.
It did make managing said stories a bit more difficult, but it also meant less confusion when tagging stories (if it were just with one blog, you'd have to tag the story names alongside the characters).
Part One(Complete 9/24/16) /Part Two(on hold)/Short Stories(on hold)/Twinbrook 1996(on hold)/Ten Crystal Hearts (on hold)
I own the TS3 Store as of 12/11/16 (sort of. It's complicated)
Anyways, it works for me because it keeps stories separate, which works well when one story is R-rated nastiness and the other is aiming for a milder content rating.
EDIT: @rednenemon: Welcome to a good place, honey.
outrun / blog / tunglr
I think it would be simpler with one blog, but (just my opinion!) I don't want to "force" a reader to get notifications for a story they may not be interested in! D2D and PNN are basically as different as different can be
(Also, hi @rednenemon ! You're Senna on WP, yes? Welcome!
Then, my friend Caitlin and I created a blog together for Purple Day--since it's more an event or observation than an actual story.
Then, I started writing a fanfic novel (no pictures) and it's mature in nature--one chapter begins with Malcolm's description of Cassandra's inner thigh--and since stories posted on my main blog are also excerpted in the side widget on Purple Day, I quickly realized that I didn't want to be advertising this work to the under 16 crowd, so I pulled it onto its own place. The beauty of this is that it frees me up--I feel like I can write the way I write my nonSim fiction: in solitude, without a lot of readers. This is the piece that I workshop in The Writers' Workshop, so having it tucked away in its own semi-hidden corner where it gets very little traffic provides me with the type of seclusion I need for developing this piece.
I've also got a few places for different types of SimLit or Sim Explorations. Sistah Simstah is a place where JordanNicoleJJ and I can explore our more radical Sim-liberation views, apart from the confines of the whole "Sims as actors or characters" discussions. And SimSelf Adventures is a place for fun with other Simmers.
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
I use tags and categories on the blog to keep everything seperate so that's not a problem. Although it makes it less easy to navigate within a story, I'm trying to remember to add my own custom "nexts" instead, but it's a lot of work after the fact. And I guess of you only were interested in one story, you'll get notified when I publish other stuff...and some of the stuff I publish isn't even sim related.
If I wrote any adult stories, I would use a second blog I think since I wouldn't want to advertise it as widely. But I'd link to it from my "main" blog.
All of you have good points on both separate and non-separate blogs, some of which I hadn't considered yet. Hmm...
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
Also I got all teal deer here, so scroll down to the end where I bolded my questions if you want to see them and answer them but can't be bothered with my meanderings.
Like...
What I originally wanted to talk about when I started the thread but then I went with a more general lighter thing to start with was the relationship between reader and writer.
I have been googling and traveling across the internet the last few days, reading old blog posts and essays and discussions about reading and literature and English class. It's been eye-opening, because I'd never seen or heard of anyone who had the experiences that the participants in these discussions claim are universal. Which if the discussions weren't years old, I'd pipe up and tell them that.
Especially the ones who say that no one could actually like the books I've loved since I was a teenager. Jane Eyre has been my favorite book since I first read it when I was around 14, and I won't apologize for that and I will tell you exactly how you're wrong if you try to tell me that I am pretentious or that I don't really like it or that I am just trying to appear "smart".
*goes to look at an old LJ post that kind of gets to where I'm going here to see if it'd be appropriate to post here*
Yeah, no curse words. References to Valley characters and metaphors and symbols, but I think it's understandable even if you haven't read Valley. Here you go:
I think the point of all this is that I strongly believe in art for art's sake. Not for money, not for social status, not for attracting mates, not for anything but the experience of itself, whole and entire. And that is the attitude with which I want people to approach my work. Pure and innocent and ready to step into Seth's world.
It always comes down to this: I give everything. And I expect everything in return. It's not a conscious expectation, but I know it's there because I am hurt when people do not read the whole story, when they come to the blog and leave without giving me a chance, when they talk down to me and pat me on my head.
I am here. I am everywhere and everything. I am the universe and the universe is me. I am Seth. I am Sarah. I am Jason. I am Lilith. I am all of them and they are all me and I want them to be you. I want to become your characters and I want you to become mine. I want...I want connection. I want the deepest sort of connection, an ocean of being, where all is one and one is all and there are no divisions, no boundaries, and I know your emotions and thoughts and you know mine and there is chaos and stillness and movement and silence and all, all is love and hate and fire and oxygen and the wind and the rain and the burning sun and you are here and I am here and there is no there, there is only our here which is all that is.
THAT is what I want. And when I do not get it, when I get boundaries and rules and borders and bits held back and condescending pats on my head, I rage. I am Seth, alone in the silence which has no meaning and so I must start a fire to fill the void, only the void can never be filled and it is endless and it is black and it is white and it is red and it is Death and I am alone and the fire climbs higher in the night sky, higher and higher until it reaches to heaven but it finds nothing there, only the stars, cold and uncaring and so very far away.
And so I am the fire and I breathe it and it flows in my veins and I write it, I write it as hard and true as I can, so that perhaps it will get through to you. Perhaps you will feel its heat on your skin. Perhaps you will know the yawning empty nothingness. And in that knowing, you will come and I will see you and there we will be, in the water. Little droplets all on our own, but rushing down together to explode on the rocks.
/end repost of old stuff
I guess....in my internet jaunt I've discovered that a lot of people are more....closed off, maybe, let's say....when they read. Like they are only looking at the work through their own brain, and they're unwilling to step out of their brain and into the work.
I don't want to get too specific because that will trigger the anxiety, so I know this may be vague and confusing, but I guess...
Am I just really weird in being so confused and sad and emo about this?
OMG, I went off to eat dinner and I read some more of my current book (the spousal person works at the library; we have over 3000 books in our house - reading at dinner is expected), and the author describes what I am talking about perfectly:
Another quote from my LJ:
I think I've come a lot closer to finding what I wanted, while at the same time these days I have a clearer understanding of why I didn't find it then and why I have had to let go of that ideal and realize that I will never find that sort of connection whole and entire with all my readers, although I may be able to find it with a few individuals. And within my own brain.
And that is enough. It really truly is enough.
In the last few months I've had to let go of a lot of my ideals. Well - at least, I've had to let go of expecting other people to live up to them. And I've become kinder to myself when I fail to live up to them myself.
I guess - I guess it's sort of like I've seen the individuality of each drop of water, and I've been able to let go and to let each drop pass by on its way without expecting it to be anything more than what it is. And I've also been able to accept myself for what I am and what I was.
/end repost
Obviously I was a bit optimistic back when I wrote that.
But I am learning, still.
And I have found more drops of water to join with mine!
I think....
I am pretty old, but I am still learning so much about other humans. So much. And I am still getting a handle on different tastes and different perspectives and different brains formed by different experiences.
Just the other night a friend introduced me to a new band, and I very much appreciated their aesthetic and I liked one of their songs all right, but I couldn't get into their other stuff. But I could still tell it was art, and that it was good and meaningful and that it should exist, even if most of their work didn't have enough bass to make my brain happy.
Or like with comic books. My brain just refuses to process them. It looks at the pictures and the words in the bubbles and it says "No, I cannot read this, I'm sorry." But I know that's just a quirk of my brain, and that comics are still beauty and art and that they make other people happy and they should exist.
Also the Bad Times hit me so hard because I had never experienced anything like that before. Bullying just wasn't a thing where I grew up. There were little dramas every now and then, but I cannot remember ever witnessing such a long and cruel campaign like that IRL. I was so idealistic before that. I thought that most humans were capable of basic empathy, because that was what I had experienced of the world thus far. And that was part of what made the Bad Times so bad - losing my ideals, having to face the reality that humans could be that cruel and uncaring and thoughtless about others, and having to reorganize my worldview to account for that.
So I am still reorganizing my worldview. But then I think that's a lifelong thing, isn't it?
I guess my point is that I am still trying to understand how some humans can be so closed up within themselves that they aren't open to the gift I am trying to give them, and also I am still coming to understand how sometimes you can see and appreciate the gift, but still you know that it's not meant for you. But that doesn't devalue the gift. Whoever it is meant for will still find meaning in it.
How do you guys look at your readers? What sort of relationship do you want with them or expect to have? Do you think of them as customers who are always right and you're there to supply their needs? Do you think of them as co-creators? Do you think of them as an admiring audience? Do you think of them at all?
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
How do you guys look at your readers? What sort of relationship do you want with them or expect to have? Do you think of them as customers who are always right and you're there to supply their needs? Do you think of them as co-creators? Do you think of them as an admiring audience? Do you think of them at all?
I think about my readers a LOT (However, this doesn't mean I'm necessarily writing FOR them or anything!). Even though we've kind of discussed that it's "bad" to think this way, my readers are what motivate me to write. If I know someone out there is enjoying my story, I am so much more likely to continue writing! And even after a story is complete, having readers fills that same sort of need for me -- it makes me feel like writing my story was worthwhile and meant something to someone else besides me
I think it's hard to classify exactly how I view readers... I guess partially "admiring audience" (wow, it feels conceited to type that haha) and part... hmm... I'm trying to think of the word. "Trusted advisors"?
I guess I'd be lying if I said that I am always 100% writing for myself. I always have readers in mind as I write. I wonder what they'll think of a certain chapter or plot twist, and worry about their enjoyment of my work. These people are being extremely generous and lovely by taking the time to read my story, and I feel they deserve a quality story that they will enjoy in return
Sorry that my response was so disjointed haha I'm laying in bed right now super tired (RipuAncestor style!