Cupid’s Reading Circle (6 Spaces Open) «123...Next Go

Kamio

Hiya! Do you LOVE love? Well then we are the group for you! We’re looking for simlit writers and lurkers alike to be apart of our reading circle.

We focus on simlit with epic love stories no matter how fluffy, tragic, accidental or idilic they may be.

The love story doesn’t have to be the main focus of your story but we do want something in there somewhere even if it’s a story about your sims intense narssrsistic love for them self!

Members:
• @NyteRose
• @Kamio
• @ajamkeevin
• Open
• Open
• Open

Let me know who is keen and feel free to share any idea or suggestions for the group while you are at it.

RULES
• Be Kind
• Have Fun
• Post a comment or feedback and or contribute to the discussion before linking to your latest update - this helps keep the group going.
• Be Open to feedback and honest with your encouragement or otherwise (sometimes constructive criticism is super helpful - let’s just be nice while giving it and unoffend by it when receiving it)

STRUCTURE
• Featured story every fortnight to discuss
• Sounding board for ideas, questions and more.
• Post every fortnight by which ever Member can get to it, to list and link the updates on members stories.

THE STORIES/SIMlIT

Kev & Get It @ajamkeevin
WordPress Link. |. Forum Thread
Kev & Get It is a new The Sims 4 reality show with juicy drama, hilarious challenges, and incredible contestants. 14 housemates come in, compete in wacky challenges, and get eliminated, one by one, until one of them gets the prize of money, fame, and success! Drama, love, and friendship abound! #competition #realitytv #love #drama #eliminationchallenge
(Content warning: Some language and adult situations.)

@Kamio ~ Forever Starts Somewhere a 3rd generation Selection Challenge. #princes #princesses #love #thebachelor #love #ladies

Stars In The Sun @NyteRose
Wordpress|Forum Thread
Jasmina Chase is a young woman who dreams of becoming an author and has moved to Willow Creek for a new job and a fresh start in life. One night while relaxing with friends at a nightclub after a rough day at work, she meets Caleb Vatore, a handsome, charming man with a dark secret. Will sparks fly or just fizzle? #gothic #vampire #love #drama
(Warning: Mild adult language, violence and sensuality)

NyteRose

@Kamio Hello! Can I join the reading circle? I have a story I'd like to submit but it's incomplete but getting there The story has three chapters to go (maybe a little more!)

Kamio

@NyteRose - Yes of course!!! It doesn’t have to be completed at all! I’ve only just started my “story” (it’s mainly me documenting what goes on in my game)

So very excited to have you join! What is the story and main themes so I can add it to the OP.

NyteRose

@Kamio Hiya! Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, life happened. My story is Stars in the Sun, and the main themes would be gothic, vampires, love, revenge and second chances.
Link to the first chapter-


Table of Contents-


Warning: Mild adult language, violence and sensuality

Jasmina Chase is a young woman who dreams of becoming an author and has moved to Willow Creek for a new job and a fresh start in life. One night while relaxing with friends at a nightclub after a rough day at work, she meets Caleb Vatore, a handsome, charming man with a dark secret. Will sparks fly or just fizzle?

I PM'ed you the info in case you don't see this post

Kamio

I added your story details to the main page!! I’m going to play around with the layout a little more but it’s there!

I loved your story by the way! I can’t wait to see what happens. Jasmina is such a well rounded character- very believable! My story style for my Selection Challenge is more of a documentary style of my game play so I found it amazingly refreshing to read! I especially loved Jasmina’s little outburst to her friend (was in Summer she was talking to on the phone? I can’t remember ) in the 2nd chapter, it made her so relatable. I think we’ve all been there!

NyteRose

Yeah it Summer she was talking to on the phone. She was pretty ticked off at a coworker for stealing a promotion from her at work-hence her outburst. But her night out does get better in the third chapter. Trying to finish up the twelfth chapter but dealing with the death of my pet hamster and going out of town for a concert soon.

ajamkeevin

Hello! Is it possible to join the circle? My current story features a sim love story near and dear to my heart and I just want to share so much!

Plus, my story is similar to the selection challenge in some ways, so it would be fun to discuss that here!

Kamio

@ajamkeevin - Yes! That would be awesome!!! The more the merry and I'll have to check it out when I've got a few moments this afternoon! Is it the one in your siggie?

ajamkeevin

Oh, awesome! The two stories here look really good, so I'm excited to dive in!

Yes, it's the story in my sig. It's called Kev & Get It and it's basically a reality TV show in my own little universe. There's lots of love, drama, competition, etc, you know the drill with reality shows

The link to my thread here is this. And my WordPress blog is this! The episodes tend to be a little meaty, but I hope you'll accept me in the circle

NyteRose

@Kamio Wasn't sure whether to comment here or on the Selection Challenge thread, but I've been reading the Heir to the Throne part of your story and I like it so far. And thank you for the comments!

@ajamkeevin I've read an episode here and there, I have some catching up to do but so far so good

ajamkeevin

NyteRose wrote: »

@ajamkeevin I've read an episode here and there, I have some catching up to do but so far so good

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it as you read more. I will be starting your story today, and I'll make sure to write up some commentary. I can't wait! It already looks good.

ajamkeevin

Ok @Kamio I'm reading through your story and it's amaaaaaaazing so far. I'm really loving it! I've been writing down some commentary to share, should I do it in the thread or here? Or both?

Kamio

I don’t really mind? As a reading circle how do we want to do this? Critique, questions and constructive feedback here and story commentary on the threads and then more commentary type stuff on specific stories during their focus fortnight here? Totally open to suggestions and collaborative creation for the structure here.

@ajamkeevin
@NyteRose - what do you want?

NyteRose

@Kamio I think questions, critique and constructive feedback/commentary would work here. I mainly use my story thread to post updates, and I get/respond to comments on my blog but I understand that everyone doesn't have/follow blogs.

ajamkeevin

@Kamio @NyteRose Yeah, I think it'd be great to discuss questions, critiques, and feedback here (though I feel like as we go along we'll develop a nice rhythm!), and comment about the story details/events/characters in the threads or on the blogs themselves. I don't mind either way! Any sort of feedback is appreciated because it's been scarce for me at this point.

It's Sunday today so I'm going to be all caught up on both stories here

ajamkeevin

Ok (and sorry for double posting!), I'm all caught up with your story, @Kamio . I made some comments about the story itself and the characters (there are so many amazing characters!) in the thread, so I'll post some more technical questions and thoughts here.

First of all, I really loved your style. This mix of different ways to tell the story (through more traditional narrative descriptions, instagram posts, news stories, magazine covers, and more) is just great. It really helps to switch up the flow of the story and make it easier to read. It's exciting. As a consumer of media, this way of having multiple ways of getting story details is very close to the way we consume stories nowadays and it makes just that more realistic. Great job! How long does it take you to make all the material? As someone who takes aaaaaaages to make my promo material (magazine covers, confessional booths for the reality show, teasers for the episode, contestant promo shots and group shots, etc), I'm fascinated to see how much time other people take!

I have other thoughts but I think I'll save them for when the discussion gets going.

(P.S. Is this a good way to strike up some discussion? )

Kamio

Yeah I guess so haha! @ajamkeevin @NyteRose is away until the first but happy to get something going? I get really bored of the same format so the different mediums help break it up for me as well and same here I’d love to know how long the editing takes you as well coz it is amazing quality! Honestly the biggest effort is shooting all of the girls for different mediums. I’m currently doing a “photo shoot to be published in a magazine” for voting on who should stay/win and that alone has been two dedicated slots of gameplay to do. (1-2 hours - I have s toddler and a newborn so things get massively blow out!) and until I have the structure and building blocks for the different mediums it’s relatively quick. Simstagram posts take maybe a minute - I just crop and resize an in game screenshot - sub it across into that sims basic layout type a description and done! But yeah I’ll happily waste hours making siggies, or magazine pages or whatever else I get inspiration for.

What about for you? I’m normally a perfectionist but because it is just for fun I’m learning to let things go a little and just roll with it if they aren’t perfect but your stuff! Woah! The character bios blew me away! I can’t imagine that was quick!?

ajamkeevin

Oh, @NyteRose can't wait until you're back so we can get to discussing your story, which I'm all caught up with now and which I loved!

@Kamio ooh, I can't even imagine what it must be like to keep up with writing and editing when you have two little ones. Congratulations on your new addition! Hope you can get some rest here and there And yeah, the "photoshoots" in-game take soooo long. That's why it's so impressive that you do them all, and they look so good! Like, I was very impressed by the great gameplay screenshots, but on top of that, the amount of detail that goes into creating the sets, posing the sims when need be, and editing the visual material. It's amazingly done, and I can't wait to see what the magazine photoshoot will look like. Knowing your visual taste, I expect it to be just as great as everything so far. It's interesting to hear how you make the instagram shots — I was going to make some for the third episode of my fic, but I was too lazy and ended up just using "comments" with hashtags in text form. Your insta shots are exactly what I wanted to go for~

We're just like each other - I just loooove spending time making graphics, posters, group shots, magazine covers, you name it. My current Simlit was born because of that, I wanted to have a way to bring these together into a narrative. Just recently I was bored and made a gossip magazine cover with some of my characters just to see how it would look, and I ended up loving it and making it a part of the story somehow! I'll link it so you can get a peek.

I'm also a perfectionist, to the max! Like, those promo character bios took a while, and they were also made before I re-did everyone's body and headshots (twice!) because I upgraded the quality of my game and wanted them to be less pixelated. Thanks for your kind words! Considering it does take me sooooo long, it's nice to see that they make a good impression

Kamio

Ooooh love the magazine spread! I’m slowly working my way through your story! I stole your format for your read through on Forver Starts Somewhere - I’ll post my impressions from the 3rd episode soon - which - just by the way - I loved! They are like full on TV episodes (which I know is kind of the point) they are so meaty and juicy! Not going to lie o already have my favourites and my - least favourites! Harrison and Matthieus make me all kinds of happy, Kyriung I LOVE and Charee’s character, I dislike. Hahahahaha! She’s like the true villain of the story!!!

ajamkeevin

Kamio wrote: »

Ooooh love the magazine spread! I’m slowly working my way through your story! I stole your format for your read through on Forver Starts Somewhere - I’ll post my impressions from the 3rd episode soon - which - just by the way - I loved! They are like full on TV episodes (which I know is kind of the point) they are so meaty and juicy! Not going to lie o already have my favourites and my - least favourites! Harrison and Matthieus make me all kinds of happy, Kyriung I LOVE and Charee’s character, I dislike. Hahahahaha! She’s like the true villain of the story!!!

I can't wait to hear your thoughts! I always love reading what people think about the story and the characters—they're so near and dear to my heart so it's thrilling to see other people get to know them! And yeah, haha, sometimes I feel like my episodes get a bit long but they're really like TV episodes so I guess it's warranted

Matthison are a woooooonderful pair, the love story of the season♥ I love them so much! Kyungri is also fantastic, I love writing her! (She and Lori from your story would either HATE each other or be best friends, haha~), and Charlee.... someone has to be the nasty villain!

NyteRose

@Kamio @ajamkeevin Just got back from home from my mini vacation. I got to meet and see Black Veil Brides in concert in Knoxville. Was worth the hours standing in line and the sunburns

Kamio

Woah! Sounds awesome! Im glad that it was good sunburn and all!

ajamkeevin

@NyteRose oh wow, that's really awesome! So cool. Happy you had a great time! The sunburns are but a badge of honor

NyteRose

@ajamkeevin So I managed to read the first three episodes and this is what sticks out to me so far...
Enca seems to be the typical drama queen diva type, rather fitting for a pop star who thinks she's "all that." Kyungri is a materialistic money-grubber- and possibly a gold digger if (if she isn't married. But then again...) Patricio seems the type where looking would've gone to touching if he hadn't gotten the boot. And the underwear model, typical self-absorbed better-than-you-cause-I-pose-in-my-undies model type lol.

ajamkeevin

NyteRose wrote: »

@ajamkeevin So I managed to read the first three episodes and this is what sticks out to me so far...
Enca seems to be the typical drama queen diva type, rather fitting for a pop star who thinks she's "all that." Kyungri is a materialistic money-grubber- and possibly a gold digger if (if she isn't married. But then again...) Patricio seems the type where looking would've gone to touching if he hadn't gotten the boot. And the underwear model, typical self-absorbed better-than-you-cause-I-pose-in-my-undies model type lol.

Yeeeah, I agree with all of your thoughts! Enca is indeed a queen diva, and she plays the role well. Kyungri is my problematic fave, because she is indeed a money-hungry socialite, but she has a heart of gold somewhere under all that plastic and Patricio, well... Patty Melt is just a piece of work. Thanks for your thoughts! I hope you enjoy more as you continue to read.

Speaking of enjoying, I must say that I adore your fic. It's so, so well-written. I really love your style. As I said on the comments on your WordPress, you have this beautiful way of describing clothing, items, locations... it all sets the scene perfectly and creates a wonderful immersion. I feel connected to the scenes because you do such a good job at plunging us into the universe. I also really loved the flashback sequences, as you did a magnificent job at creating a deep and thoughtful backstory. I am in awe of how beautiful your writing is, truly. I can't wait for more!

NyteRose

Thank you! Resting up from my vacation but will be returning to work on the chapter soon. It's about a little over halfway finished.