I most definitely outline...it's the only way I can ensure my plots come to an end, and to make sure I have continuity and consistency.
When I outline I use this app on my phone and actually create a checklist...so I can cross it off once I've gotten the screenshots for it.
When I'm playing, I'm constantly taking screenshots and I choose the ones that I think will tell the best story. As I'm taking them, I try to think of the different reactions and ways I could write the scene based on the simple outline I have.
I used to be extremely detailed with my outlines, but I've found a perfect balence (for me) between plot driven and sim driven. I write a simple idea to lead how I want the plot to go, and the sims' reactions dictate how I write their reactions. Of course, some of the things are purely plot driven. With the way I outline I feel like I'm in control of the story but not bored while playing it out. It still feels like I'm playing the sims...but with the outline, it's kinda like a career mode or a scenario mode...if that makes sense?
In the below examples, the quotations are exactly what's written on my checklist.
"C. 11 - Lunch with Gunther" - Before I played this out, I didn't intend on Gwen telling Gunther about Sam. But she autonomously told him some fake bad news and decided to roll with it. As I was playing it out...I didn't notice until after they had their meal that Gunther was wearing a completely different outfit than the previous chapter...so for continuity sake I had to add the whole thing about him spilling wine on the way there.
This is an example of one of the more detailed outlines. It contains a kinda spoiler for a future chapter...but nothing too life changing.
"C. 22 - Meeting with Gunther to discuss her will and to give him the information." Now, I have yet to play this out...but to get it how I imagine it I'll have to turn freewill off.
I don't know how the story, as a whole, will end...But I do know exactly how the prologue ends. In fact, the ending of the prologue was the first thing I thought of...so I'm hoping it'll be as good as I keep imagining it.
@DreamsInPixels I'm so envious of your and @cshaner 's outlines! The phone app is a great idea. That's funny about the "spilled wine"--I have to deal with continuity errors like that too, or sometimes I just hope no one notices or minds too much. Sometimes I'm also inspired a lot by things that happen in game, like when I forget to turn autonomy off and my dolls just do their own thing. One scene I remember was at Byron's party, when Penny gets up from the table to get away from Graham with an absolutely disgusted look on her face. (Shh: she actually just had to pee really bad.)
With the way I outline I feel like I'm in control of the story but not bored while playing it out. It still feels like I'm playing the sims...but with the outline, it's kinda like a career mode or a scenario mode...if that makes sense?
I'd love to be able to play like this! But I have so many characters. Maybe if I kill some off... It's funny though, when left to their own devices, Byron and Bianca are hugging each other all the time, and when either of them is living away from Lysander, he's constantly calling them to hang out.
How am I supposed to deal with not having these characters for years?? I won't be able to go on without them!!
Oooh Nooboos?? Ok that will make me happy to know that you have some plan for procreation!! Hee hee.
I am soooo glad that I'm not alone in my lack of outline and just sorta winging it! Funny thing is, even with my tight outline for LUC, I still have no clue what's going to happen in a chapter until I put my fingers on the keys.
I just wrote out a lovely argument last night and then deleted it because it really didn't belong where I put it. It needs to be later. /sigh
Sometimes I have no clue how to get through some ages (babies are the worst).
I'd love to be able to play like this! But I have so many characters. Maybe if I kill some off... It's funny though, when left to their own devices, Byron and Bianca are hugging each other all the time, and when either of them is living away from Lysander, he's constantly calling them to hang out.
I still get the phone calls and such. "Gunther or Caleb can't get Gwen off his mind, yada yada." I just always ignore it unless it lines up with the outline lol.
It's really obnoxious when I have to shuffle around the household for the League chapters...Ayden's kids take turns calling him, Wogan's wife always wants to go on a date. Lilith calls Caleb to go to the Ruins or the Bluffs. And Mimsy calls Bernard.
The household during League meetings is: Gwen, Bernard, Sam, Yuki, Caleb, Ayden, and Wogan.
I move Mimsy into the Van Gould household because Ayden's kids are still teens.
Of course...risky woohoo had to ruin my perfect set up, so I'll have to come up with a different way until the nooboo ages into a toddler.
@cshaner At least toddlers come after babies, and toddlers are awesome! I would really like to turn FftM into a legacy eventually, but it'll be a really really slow one. As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of family sagas, so I love following an increasingly large family tree down the generations. I also think it would be hilarious to look at the kids' relationship with their parents and how those relationships change from nooboo-dom to adulthood. Graham as a daddy...oh my god. I already have ideas for that. So many ideas.
I am soooo glad that I'm not alone in my lack of outline and just sorta winging it! Funny thing is, even with my tight outline for LUC, I still have no clue what's going to happen in a chapter until I put my fingers on the keys.
I just wrote out a lovely argument last night and then deleted it because it really didn't belong where I put it. It needs to be later. /sigh
I take screenshots first and write second. Sometimes I'll get ideas by messing around in game, and sometimes I'm even inspired by particular lots I've downloaded. There's one I'm using (next chapter, I think) that immediately gave me an idea when I saw it. The house with a facade that my friend gave me inspired me too, and mini-Penny autonomously having her dollhouse smashed. It's fun when you're given a thing and then you're told, "Okay, now write about thing." At least for me, anyway! It makes things so much easier.
I'll write conversations that I really love and then end up deleting them too, realizing it's not time for them yet. And then when I get to that time, I realize the characters and their relationships have changed to the point where that conversation no longer makes sense.
@LadyLobster I'm totally not against FftM turning into a legacy!
DnD was supposed to be a one off (the now prologue was going to be the story...with an epilogue) but I decided to do it as a legacy because I know more can be done with it and I want to explore future generations, with Gwen as a wise and powerful queen.
But I guess, it would be less of a legacy and more of a family saga thing...since there's really no heir or death.
@DreamsInPixels Ahhh, household shuffling, I know it well... I don't have the risky woohoo mod, though I do use MCCC religiously. I'm wondering if I should make an effort to download it just to wreak havoc on my story and sims' lives. But I'm currently following Bianca's Regency romance novel genre thing for a while, so it's a pretty slow (and chaste-ish) burn for the main characters at the moment. But that will likely change as things progress~
I'd love to see Gwen as a wise and powerful queen! One of the things that made me avoid a legacy with FftM was the whole immortality thing. But the entire cast isn't vampires, so that mix could make things interesting too.
@DreamsInPixels I love seeing your outline process and I too will add a bit of something in when the character autonomously changes their clothes! (Hate that by the way) the wine was a great cover!!
@LadyLobster i hope you do continue with future generations of your families. I want their story to continue.
I'm not playing BtB as a legacy it's a coven challenge but I'm being super loosy goosy with the rules. There will be some challenges for coven leadership and some banishments from the coven even some deaths. But hopefully they all make sense and propel the story. They won't just be there because a random number generator said "time to challenge the leader!" Hee hee
@cshaner Hers is kind of supernatural too! It has ghosts of hot guys who text and MCCC a sacrificial pool that may or may not grant princesses. Here's the link!
@WagonFruit Aww, that's so sweet of you! Might as well prolong his suffering.
And oh my godddddd. I was taking screenshots for my next chapter (Lysander's) and I was like, oh, this should be a simple enough thing, right? And then I was just uploading screenshots to imgur...and then kept uploading...and then imgur popped up with a recaptcha asking if I was a robot, and I was like, RUDE, why would you even ask me that?
Apparently there are now 95 screenshots in the chapter 26 album. NINETY-FIVE. How. This is why I need to outline.
@LadyLobster
95?! Good Graham! I am both frightened and thrilled; I'm reaching into the memory banks, and I'm pretty sure I've never broken the 90 barrier on a chapter.
Oh glorious day...it's going to be epiiiiiiicc...I mean, uhm, well, no, there's no need to outline; why stifle your art that way?
Do you outline?
It depends! Generally, my story is based half off planning, half off what they naturally want to do. Sometimes, I try and outline, and my characters decide, no, that isn't what they're going to do. I don't write my outlines down, either. Mostly, what happens is as I'm trying to sleep I consider what the next chapter or three should be, and then I try and keep that as a loose guideline. I leave myself open to changing, though, as I play!
How detailed are your outlines?
Not very! Usually just loose, or "goals". Like, I knew Sergio would die, I just didn't know how. Things like that! I have only one thing so far outlined extensively, and that won't come for a bit.
How far ahead do you plan for a long story like a legacy? Can you (without spoilers) provide an example of how far out your outline currently is?
I have most of generation 2 thought up, but again, I am letting my characters change what they want and alter it as I go. I don't want to say what will happen, BUT, it might get ruined. I use a risky woohoo mod, which means every single time they woohoo it can cause a pregnancy. If they end up with a kid before a certain point, I'll need to alter the story, but that is fun for me! I like sporadic changes.
Do you know how your story will end?
Haha, no! I'm only on gen 1! I'm sure one night the answer will come! The ending feels daunting, as a lot of people expect stories to end on a huge, grand level, and I'm scared I can't produce that.
Anything else you think we may find interesting about your outlining process?
Ummm, not right now! I mean, every gen I want to have at max 10 chapters, so I try and plan a tad how the flow will go. Watch that get ruined. I sometimes just keep writing and don't know when to stop.
Come check out my Sims 4 legacy story! We're on generation one currently. It's Just Another Story
How am I supposed to deal with not having these characters for years?? I won't be able to go on without them!!
Oooh Nooboos?? Ok that will make me happy to know that you have some plan for procreation!! Hee hee.
I am soooo glad that I'm not alone in my lack of outline and just sorta winging it! Funny thing is, even with my tight outline for LUC, I still have no clue what's going to happen in a chapter until I put my fingers on the keys.
I just wrote out a lovely argument last night and then deleted it because it really didn't belong where I put it. It needs to be later. /sigh
Sometimes I have no clue how to get through some ages (babies are the worst).
Hi hi! I dealt with babies in my legacy by.... skipping.... those "years". You can always just briefly show them and go on? I played the babies in my game completely so Petal's age wouldn't get weird by me automatically growing them, but I realized writing about the babies when they're so limited wasn't fun! You could always do that?
Come check out my Sims 4 legacy story! We're on generation one currently. It's Just Another Story
- Do you outline?
Kind of. I don't really do a written outline, but I always have ideas floating around in my head for future chapters (I've even thought ahead as far as gen 2).
- How detailed are your outlines?
As detailed as I can keep them while they're floating around my thoughts.
- How far ahead do you plan for a long story like a legacy? Can you (without spoilers) provide an example of how far out your outline currently is?
So far for gen 2 (which won't be for a while) my plan is this: arranged marriages and lots of gay.
- Do you know how your story will end?
I have no clue! But I do know it won't be for a while.
- Anything else you think we may find interesting about your outlining process?
I tend to jot notes down on my phone whenever I think of an interesting line of dialogue or description. I'm almost constantly daydreaming so things ideas pop into my head a lot.
So far for gen 2 (which won't be for a while) my plan is this: arranged marriages and lots of gay.
LOL, this is my new favorite outline. I feel so much better after getting so much plum for so many years of refusing to write outlines. Look at all the great things you all are writing by winging it or using very loose outlines!
Also, I kind of want to forcefully vote @WagonFruit into this circle, even if her story technically doesn't have vampires until tomorrow. I don't even know if she'd like to join, but I guess that's where the forcefully voting part comes in. She'd be perfect. Vote for @WagonFruit!
WELCOME! Was this some kind of Paranormal Reads hivemind or did we succeed in voting her in without knowing? Either way, I'm so glad you joined us, @WagonFruit! I was going to try to force you in earlier but I was too chicken. I'll just take full credit now, thank you.
@Yushika
HAI! Well thank you for reading my story...I've just started yours! Working my way through the list on page 1; I'm pleased that there isn't mountains to get caught up on...but at the same time wishing there was more; such a princess, just can't be pleased
@LadyLobster
No, no, please don't make me join the awesome reading group with stories about all my favourite things!
Oh drat; too late
@IchigoUsagi
Thank you for adding me! You won't be (often) disappointed!
Comments
When I outline I use this app on my phone and actually create a checklist...so I can cross it off once I've gotten the screenshots for it.
When I'm playing, I'm constantly taking screenshots and I choose the ones that I think will tell the best story. As I'm taking them, I try to think of the different reactions and ways I could write the scene based on the simple outline I have.
I used to be extremely detailed with my outlines, but I've found a perfect balence (for me) between plot driven and sim driven. I write a simple idea to lead how I want the plot to go, and the sims' reactions dictate how I write their reactions. Of course, some of the things are purely plot driven. With the way I outline I feel like I'm in control of the story but not bored while playing it out. It still feels like I'm playing the sims...but with the outline, it's kinda like a career mode or a scenario mode...if that makes sense?
In the below examples, the quotations are exactly what's written on my checklist.
This is an example of one of the more detailed outlines. It contains a kinda spoiler for a future chapter...but nothing too life changing.
I don't know how the story, as a whole, will end...But I do know exactly how the prologue ends. In fact, the ending of the prologue was the first thing I thought of...so I'm hoping it'll be as good as I keep imagining it.
I'd love to be able to play like this! But I have so many characters. Maybe if I kill some off...
/die
How am I supposed to deal with not having these characters for years?? I won't be able to go on without them!!
Oooh Nooboos?? Ok that will make me happy to know that you have some plan for procreation!! Hee hee.
I am soooo glad that I'm not alone in my lack of outline and just sorta winging it! Funny thing is, even with my tight outline for LUC, I still have no clue what's going to happen in a chapter until I put my fingers on the keys.
I just wrote out a lovely argument last night and then deleted it because it really didn't belong where I put it. It needs to be later. /sigh
Sometimes I have no clue how to get through some ages (babies are the worst).
SimFluence - Where Sims Influence the Story
Blood that Binds: A Vampire Coven Challenge Updated 04/22/2017
Life Under Construction: A Drifter Challenge House 001 Completed 1/29/17 | Orphan Challenge: Harkins Family Completed 11/12/16
Origin ID: cshaner07
I still get the phone calls and such. "Gunther or Caleb can't get Gwen off his mind, yada yada." I just always ignore it unless it lines up with the outline lol.
It's really obnoxious when I have to shuffle around the household for the League chapters...Ayden's kids take turns calling him, Wogan's wife always wants to go on a date. Lilith calls Caleb to go to the Ruins or the Bluffs. And Mimsy calls Bernard.
I move Mimsy into the Van Gould household because Ayden's kids are still teens.
Of course...risky woohoo had to ruin my perfect set up, so I'll have to come up with a different way until the nooboo ages into a toddler.
I take screenshots first and write second. Sometimes I'll get ideas by messing around in game, and sometimes I'm even inspired by particular lots I've downloaded. There's one I'm using (next chapter, I think) that immediately gave me an idea when I saw it. The house with a facade that my friend gave me inspired me too, and mini-Penny autonomously having her dollhouse smashed. It's fun when you're given a thing and then you're told, "Okay, now write about thing." At least for me, anyway! It makes things so much easier.
I'll write conversations that I really love and then end up deleting them too, realizing it's not time for them yet. And then when I get to that time, I realize the characters and their relationships have changed to the point where that conversation no longer makes sense.
DnD was supposed to be a one off (the now prologue was going to be the story...with an epilogue) but I decided to do it as a legacy because I know more can be done with it and I want to explore future generations, with Gwen as a wise and powerful queen.
But I guess, it would be less of a legacy and more of a family saga thing...since there's really no heir or death.
I'd love to see Gwen as a wise and powerful queen! One of the things that made me avoid a legacy with FftM was the whole immortality thing. But the entire cast isn't vampires, so that mix could make things interesting too.
@LadyLobster i hope you do continue with future generations of your families. I want their story to continue.
I'm not playing BtB as a legacy it's a coven challenge but I'm being super loosy goosy with the rules. There will be some challenges for coven leadership and some banishments from the coven even some deaths. But hopefully they all make sense and propel the story. They won't just be there because a random number generator said "time to challenge the leader!" Hee hee
SimFluence - Where Sims Influence the Story
Blood that Binds: A Vampire Coven Challenge Updated 04/22/2017
Life Under Construction: A Drifter Challenge House 001 Completed 1/29/17 | Orphan Challenge: Harkins Family Completed 11/12/16
Origin ID: cshaner07
Why did no one tell me about this thread?
Yes please! All the new things to read...so many things...
Tease.
Ahahahaha. You already know too many of my secrets!
SimFluence - Where Sims Influence the Story
Blood that Binds: A Vampire Coven Challenge Updated 04/22/2017
Life Under Construction: A Drifter Challenge House 001 Completed 1/29/17 | Orphan Challenge: Harkins Family Completed 11/12/16
Origin ID: cshaner07
That is, hands down, the most correct summary of my story I could ever fathom.
And no one knows this yet, as it's not Friday, but, technically, my story does have vampires in it
And oh my godddddd. I was taking screenshots for my next chapter (Lysander's) and I was like, oh, this should be a simple enough thing, right? And then I was just uploading screenshots to imgur...and then kept uploading...and then imgur popped up with a recaptcha asking if I was a robot, and I was like, RUDE, why would you even ask me that?
Apparently there are now 95 screenshots in the chapter 26 album. NINETY-FIVE. How. This is why I need to outline.
95?!
Oh glorious day...it's going to be epiiiiiiicc...I mean, uhm, well, no, there's no need to outline; why stifle your art that way?
It depends! Generally, my story is based half off planning, half off what they naturally want to do. Sometimes, I try and outline, and my characters decide, no, that isn't what they're going to do. I don't write my outlines down, either. Mostly, what happens is as I'm trying to sleep I consider what the next chapter or three should be, and then I try and keep that as a loose guideline. I leave myself open to changing, though, as I play!
How detailed are your outlines?
Not very! Usually just loose, or "goals". Like, I knew Sergio would die, I just didn't know how. Things like that! I have only one thing so far outlined extensively, and that won't come for a bit.
How far ahead do you plan for a long story like a legacy? Can you (without spoilers) provide an example of how far out your outline currently is?
I have most of generation 2 thought up, but again, I am letting my characters change what they want and alter it as I go. I don't want to say what will happen, BUT, it might get ruined. I use a risky woohoo mod, which means every single time they woohoo it can cause a pregnancy. If they end up with a kid before a certain point, I'll need to alter the story, but that is fun for me! I like sporadic changes.
Do you know how your story will end?
Haha, no! I'm only on gen 1! I'm sure one night the answer will come! The ending feels daunting, as a lot of people expect stories to end on a huge, grand level, and I'm scared I can't produce that.
Anything else you think we may find interesting about your outlining process?
Ummm, not right now! I mean, every gen I want to have at max 10 chapters, so I try and plan a tad how the flow will go. Watch that get ruined. I sometimes just keep writing and don't know when to stop.
Come check out my Sims 4 legacy story! We're on generation one currently.
It's Just Another Story
Hi hi! I dealt with babies in my legacy by.... skipping.... those "years". You can always just briefly show them and go on? I played the babies in my game completely so Petal's age wouldn't get weird by me automatically growing them, but I realized writing about the babies when they're so limited wasn't fun! You could always do that?
Come check out my Sims 4 legacy story! We're on generation one currently.
It's Just Another Story
IT'S YOU. I love your story and have been keeping myself updated!
Come check out my Sims 4 legacy story! We're on generation one currently.
It's Just Another Story
Kind of. I don't really do a written outline, but I always have ideas floating around in my head for future chapters (I've even thought ahead as far as gen 2).
- How detailed are your outlines?
As detailed as I can keep them while they're floating around my thoughts.
- How far ahead do you plan for a long story like a legacy? Can you (without spoilers) provide an example of how far out your outline currently is?
So far for gen 2 (which won't be for a while) my plan is this: arranged marriages and lots of gay.
- Do you know how your story will end?
I have no clue! But I do know it won't be for a while.
- Anything else you think we may find interesting about your outlining process?
I tend to jot notes down on my phone whenever I think of an interesting line of dialogue or description. I'm almost constantly daydreaming so things ideas pop into my head a lot.
The Illusion of Light Forum
Moon Logic Forum
Fame Masquerade Forum
LOL, this is my new favorite outline. I feel so much better after getting so much plum for so many years of refusing to write outlines. Look at all the great things you all are writing by winging it or using very loose outlines!
Also, I kind of want to forcefully vote @WagonFruit into this circle, even if her story technically doesn't have vampires until tomorrow.
The Illusion of Light Forum
Moon Logic Forum
Fame Masquerade Forum
HAI!
@LadyLobster
No, no, please don't make me join the awesome reading group with stories about all my favourite things!
Oh drat; too late
@IchigoUsagi
Thank you for adding me! You won't be (often) disappointed!