I'm having a weird issue... thread topics are grayed out and I can't go online with Origin, anyone else having this issue?
Huh. I'm not sure if I can go online or not...I got kicked off earlier, but since we have two computers with the game on it, I'm used to one kicking the other off. Maybe it's a bigger issue this time.
@simscognito No need to apologize! Get your rest. I'm all caught up, so feel free to shoot questions our way whenever you feel up to it.
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@katrinasforest The connectivity issues seem to be resolved. But topics I've never posted in/read are still grayed out as if I had read/posted in them. So with the inappropriate content crackdown, I can't post links to my updates directly but I can post about which story I updated and the chapter title. If that makes sense. This way the forum rules aren't broken and I can keep everyone updated. My blog, A Glass Darkly, is on WP and my stories are Stars and the Sun, (on hiatus) Black Swan, (on hiatus) and Bloodline.
Due to health related reasons, I'll be going on a mini hiatus till November 15. Sorry for leaving the story like this, but I'll be back on November 15 with the next update.
This also means I'm going to be temporarily leaving the reading circle till November so can someone take over from me till then? Really sorry for the inconvenience.
@katrinasforest@Firande@simscognito
I'd like to share a few pictures of the characters in my stand-alone, sequel story Bloodline. There are slight differences in the pictures from the text (different CC/makeovers to fit the plotline, etc.) But the pics do a decent job of showing what various characters look like. Enjoy EDIT- Drafting Chapter 3. It should be posted in a week or so.
@katrinasforest Sounds good. Working on a piece for the Short Story Contest too... since spooky is the theme, I came up with a "what if" spin-off about a vampire and a soon-to turn vampire's last sunrise... not saying who
@NyteRose Welcome back!! I'm excited to read your story!!!! I absolutely love the Sims you posted... also excited to see some premades in there. I always love seeing Simmers' different takes on the premades.
@simscognito I'm sorry, Cog. I hope things will be better for you soon too! We'll be missing you.
@katrinasforest That's so kind of you, thank you! I'm 3 chapters away from the conclusion of the first season of the story.
To everyone: I posted some new chapters last week (and today, hehe). Here are the links to them if you're interested. They're a bit more complicated to read, but I'm quite proud of them.
@Firande Thanks for the welcome back
I'm slowly but surely learning to use the Pose Player (I think the main issues came down to two things: the Teleport Any Sim mod was broken and the user between the chair and laptop. ) Anyway, here's a modeling shot of Vincent I took
@Firande You should be proud of them. Wow, those were intense! The alien-vampire rivalry is definitely heating up. I enjoy the quiet moments in stories, but I really like when the tension gets cranked up, too. I saw that my previous prediction about Nancy's lovelife was sadly inaccurate. Maybe I'll have better luck with my next prediction.
Tika is still one of my favorite characters, even though he's been a real jerk sometimes, especially in the latest chapters. He's a flawed character I can still sympathize with, even if I don't agree with his choices all the time. I found the dynamic between Maricela and James interesting, too.
I've mentioned before how I enjoy the high-contrast, sketch style you use for the heading pictures, but wow, that one on chapter 13 actually looked like an illustration on first glance! I know where these types of filters are on my own image editing software, but I can't get anywhere near that nice a result yet.
Did you have any specific questions for me or @NyteRose about your story?
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@katrinasforest@Firande@simscognito
Here are two pictorials I posted on my blog (I got a mod's ok before posting. ) One is basically the character sheet I posted in the thread with tiny differences and one picture omitted. The second pictorial is a photoshoot of Vincent I did while (and still) teaching myself to use Pose Player. I list all the CC I used on the posts with links
Okay, kind of a weird, general writing question for everyone:
What writing program/app does everyone use out of curiosity? I use a free office suite called WPS Office since I hate Microsoft and refuse to pay US$100+ for MS Word/Office. I used to use LibreOffice before switching to WPS months ago and I have another program called Shaxpir that's more geared towards writers but have yet to test it out again.
EDIT- New chapter removed, it is not up to my standards and being reworked. Sorry for any inconvenience.
@katrinasforest Thank you SO much!! You're too kind. I'm so glad you liked these chapters, and I'm honestly also so happy that you still like Tika even if he is so flawed... cause he and his children will continue to be the most important characters in the story. Thank you also so much for the compliments on the featured images! I honestly use two settings to achieve this, the obvious being the Cartoonify setting... but I also use Posterize, though I make the latter a lot more subtle and put it at like 11 or 12 on Gimp. It works better on some pictures than on others.
@NyteRose I loved the pages for your characters and the photoshoot! Man, that Vincent... he fine! I love him. He's such a good model for these poses too.
As for your question, I actually own the official Microsoft Office (every university in my country gifts it for free, so I've been able to use it for the past 5 years), but I still use the free Open Office for my writing. I don't know, I guess I just like to separate my academic writings and my spare time writings. When I open Open Office, now, it makes me all excited, but when I open Microsoft Office it's because I'll have to write some essay or whatever LOL, so I made these very clear associations with both programs that have made it so that I don't think I'll ever be able to use Microsoft Office again. I also have Open Office set on very specific parameters, like it's by default zoomed into 152% allowing me to use smaller fonts for my writings, which in turn allows me to fit more on single pages LOL. If I had that for Office, it'd get very annoying for when I have to use default settings for papers and all.
I'll read your chapters asap!
I actually also posted a new chapter just today... I have to warn you guys, though... this is a very sad, dramatic one LOL. It deals with the aftermath of the event with which the last chapter ended.
Oops, I'd completely forgotten it was my turn this week! Let me think up some questions for you guys...
1. So as I said, Season 1 is almost coming to an end - there are only 2 chapters left now... and after you guys have read Chapter 17, it'll become really very clear who will... well, NOT come out the winner LOL. Who do you guys think will be the one to finally
defeat Calo,
and why? 2. You have probably noticed by now that most of my characters are... well... kind of questionable morally LOL. How do you feel about this when you read the chapters? Do you still see a clear difference with villain characters and protagonists, or is this line more blurred (and what are your feelings on that?)
That's it for now.... maybe I'll be able to think up some more tomorrow or on Sunday. If you guys have any questions for me, I'd love to hear them too!
@Firande Wow, that was an amazing heartfelt chapter. I'd say probably Tika in answer to question one. Or at least, if not him directly, perhaps someone who's acting on his behalf. (Though not sure off the top of my head who that would be.)
In answer to question 2, I love morally gray characters. They're my favorite fictional people to read about. As long as an author doesn't try to force sympathy for a character I'm just not feeling it for (and you don't do that at all), I'm all for some good and bad in any part of the cast.
@Firande I have to agree with @katrinasforest on Tika defeating Calo. Or someone acting on his behalf will do it.
As to question 2, I think morally gray characters are just as relatable to readers as those who are good or evil. Everyone has good and bad in them, and you do a wonderful job of showing that
EDIT- New chapter removed, it is not up to my standards and being reworked. Sorry for any inconvenience.
@Firande I just received a message from NyteRose, who has informed me she's going to be leaving the Sim forums. So for the time being, that means it's just the two of us in the circle.
I'm perfectly happy with alternating weeks between us until simscognito's return, but I'll leave it up to you.
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@Firande Awesome! I can't wait to read them. We'll just stick with alternating between us for now. And hopefully we'll get more people joining as we go.
I'm gathering from your comments that you just finished with chapter 18 of Clanbuilding. I'm curious if you have any guesses for who will win the competition? Is it the same team you're hoping will win?
And just for fun--how long do you think Lexi's lab has been in Elliot's basement? (I genuinely don't have an answer for this, so your guess is as good as mine. ^_^)
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@Firande Awesome! I can't wait to read them. We'll just stick with alternating between us for now. And hopefully we'll get more people joining as we go.
I'm gathering from your comments that you just finished with chapter 18 of Clanbuilding. I'm curious if you have any guesses for who will win the competition? Is it the same team you're hoping will win?
And just for fun--how long do you think Lexi's lab has been in Elliot's basement? (I genuinely don't have an answer for this, so your guess is as good as mine. ^_^)
Yes, sounds great! I did finish chapter 18. As for who will win the competition... Honestly, as of these last chapter, it looks like Miss Hell's clan is kind of on the upper hand right now. They literally have the last Landgraab heir right within their grasp.... And the only thing stopping them is her own volition not to be turned against her will so like... I'm definitely anxious, cause I'm of course rooting for Elliot! But I do also think that things will be turning around again - the other clan has been getting cocky, and the last chapter mentioned this... Was it a dinner? At the very least an impending meeting between them... And I feel like Elliot, Kyle and Lexi are a lot smarter together than they may let on, so Miss Hell and co would easily fall into the mistake of underestimating them, which would then prove Elliot and co's way of defeating them. That's how I hope it'll go, at least!!
LOL Lexis lab... I'm gonna say she started building it as soon as she moved in there... Or maybe even before then. It would be funny if it has been there even before they even met each other, but man... That'd also be very wild.
I also had one question for you... How did you come up with this story? And are these characters just characters for this story or do you also play them for fun and more for actual gameplay? Do you allow some events to be game-driven or do you plan everything out beforehand?
Wow that was... A lot of questions LOL. Im just really curious to hear the thought processes that went into creating this awesome story, and how the game and non-story driven gameplay might factor into it.
@Firande Oh, gosh. That would be awesome if Lexi had it there before she and Elliot met. Not sure how that would happen, but I kinda want it to. ^_^
I've taken rough inspiration from how gameplay has gone, mostly in the earlier chapters. One of my first vampires got talked into it by a friend. (He talked up the vampire lifestyle and then offered to turn.) Once I had the idea for Vlad's challenge, most of the chapters after that were planned out. Sometimes well ahead of time and sometimes a little on the spot. I just tried to imagine how each pre-made would behave when offered a chance to be immortal and who would likely approach them first.
One random event that affected the plot big time--the shots of the Landgrabbs at the romance festival were completely random. I was taking the shots of Lexi talking to Lily and noticed them in the background. So I took a bunch of screencaps of them, too and decided how to use them later.
Lexi has the personality of a sim named Ava who was a major player in my first game. But since she was a Sim based on a character in one of my novels, I didn't want to bring her in directly. So she kind of got reincarnated as Lexi.
Allie actually is a character in one of my novels, although she's a gorgon in the book, not a vampire. Which is why Allie's dark form looks so Medusa-like. Kind of a nod to the original character.
Strangerville became part of the plot just because I loved the pack and figured it was a fun background problem the characters could have. Throw another wrench in all their plans and such.
Lol...didn't mean to have such a length reply, but I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@katrinasforest That's so interesting!! Thanks for sharing. That's so fascinating about Lexi having the personality of Ava, and being kind of reincarnated. I actually did that too for my SimLits... it's a bit complex, but one of the characters in my novels, I made my first ever Sims 4 Sim as an attempt to recreate him; that Sim is actually Remi, the star of my first SimLit! But his personality ended up becoming entirely different from the novel character he was based on, his backstory became different, pretty much everything about him was different apart from some defining physical features, i.e. the skintone, the black hair, the very pale eyes, and the gaunt, thin face. Then, after a long, long while of playing Remi, I decided for another attempt at making that same novel character into the Sims - I was basically obsessed with trying to get a good visual of the guy and in both cases never initially meant to play the actual Sims LOL. That attempt.. turned into Angelico. Angelico does actually share a lot of personality attributes with my novel character as well as the physical characteristics... they're honestly really pretty close. That's why Angelico will always have a special place in my heart. I played him as a human in a separate save for about half a year before adding him to this vampire save.
I was initially anxious to add Angelico to that vampire save because I felt convinced Remi and Angelico couldn't be in the same save, given that they were pretty much based off the same character. I actually made Angelico out of Remi, using Remi as a template LOL. But then I said ah, plum it, and placed them together anyway, because I was just so attached to Angelico back then and really wanted to explore playing him as a vampire - and they didn't end up interacting anyway.
I still manage to separate Angelico and my novel character very well, though, since their entire universes are just so different. The one way in which it did influence my novel character, was me loving the Angelico/Cai relationship SO much that I wanted to add it into my non-Sims story as well, which subsequently briefly threatened the relationship between him and this other novel character that I'd already spent lots of time on.
@Firande It's funny how things work out in this game sometimes. I didn't even like the vampire genre before I started playing Sims...then after messing around with for a while, it's one of my favorite genres.
Did you ever do anything with your novel, publication-wise? Just curious.
I'm all caught up, so feel free to ask me any questions you like, since it's your week this week. (I don't know why, but the blog wouldn't let me comment. I'll give it a try later.)
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@katrinasforest It really is! I didn't like the vampires genre much in the game, never played anything but realism gameplay for TS1 and TS2... then after a lot of contemplation I got TS4 vampires and I've been hooked on supernatural saves ever since, hehe. I did always love Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a big, big passion, so I guess my love for vampires in the game shouldn't be TOO surprising.
I haven't done anything with my novel, nope. In fact, I haven't really gotten to work on it in years. Between work, university and now my Sims stories, I just haven't found the time for it. The closest I've come is using my novel's universe and characters for my university Creative Writing course, and writing something vaguely reminiscent of a cohesive story that I once considered putting on this blog of mine... but the 'novel' itself never evolved beyond a whole bunch of character sheets and attempted (and then discarded) universe building as well as a whole lot of context-less drafts and drabbles of dialogue LOL. I never even got to fix down on the plot... I have fixed characters whom I love a lot, but their setting and plot is subject to dramatic change. I actually have like 3 alternative universes that I can't choose between... it's bad.
What about you and your novels?
That's awesome that you're all caught up! Sorry to hear comments aren't sending. I've had that issue on others' Wordpress blogs too, where it'd just give this screen with "comment not sent." Usually for me it just took hitting the return button which had my comment still there in the text box, copying it, and reloading the page and pasting the text and see if it'd work then... sometimes, it takes a few tries LOL. Wordpress isn't the most stable with commenting, it seems.
Hmm, questions... I've been super caught up in my midterms week with take-home exams so I haven't gotten to focus on my story for a good while.. But I guess for now my first question is: How did you like Season 1? Do you think Calo's arc came to an even minimally satisfactory conclusion or did you really miss Tika's presence there?
I'll add some more throughout the week. I also do hope to publish at least two chapters this week, even if that will be challenging what with my midterms needing some desperate attention right now.
Comments
Huh. I'm not sure if I can go online or not...I got kicked off earlier, but since we have two computers with the game on it, I'm used to one kicking the other off. Maybe it's a bigger issue this time.
@simscognito No need to apologize! Get your rest.
@simscognito Thanks for the welcome back
@NyteRose I have added your story to the front page.
I'm not going to ask any questions this week so treat this week as a semi break.
Due to health related reasons, I'll be going on a mini hiatus till November 15. Sorry for leaving the story like this, but I'll be back on November 15 with the next update.
This also means I'm going to be temporarily leaving the reading circle till November so can someone take over from me till then? Really sorry for the inconvenience.
Chapter eighty four: Truth Hurts
I'd like to share a few pictures of the characters in my stand-alone, sequel story Bloodline. There are slight differences in the pictures from the text (different CC/makeovers to fit the plotline, etc.) But the pics do a decent job of showing what various characters look like. Enjoy
Jasmina Vatore (human)
Caleb Vatore (human)
Melisandra Vatore (witch) and Amber-Lily(human)
(right) Amber and Meli (left)
Lilith Vatore (Vampire)
Dark Form
And last but not least...
Vincent Morgan (Vampire)
Dark Form (Closeup)
Dark Form (Fullbody Shot)
Since @Firande was on deck, so to speak, let's discuss Xaos this week, and then we'll chat all about Bloodline next week. Sound okay?
@simscognito I'm sorry, Cog. I hope things will be better for you soon too!
@katrinasforest That's so kind of you, thank you! I'm 3 chapters away from the conclusion of the first season of the story.
To everyone: I posted some new chapters last week (and today, hehe). Here are the links to them if you're interested.
13. Say Something, I'm Giving Up On You
14. Forever Young
15. And Longer If I Can
16. A New Horizon
I'm slowly but surely learning to use the Pose Player (I think the main issues came down to two things: the Teleport Any Sim mod was broken and the user between the chair and laptop.
Resist Me...
Tika is still one of my favorite characters, even though he's been a real jerk sometimes, especially in the latest chapters. He's a flawed character I can still sympathize with, even if I don't agree with his choices all the time. I found the dynamic between Maricela and James interesting, too.
I've mentioned before how I enjoy the high-contrast, sketch style you use for the heading pictures, but wow, that one on chapter 13 actually looked like an illustration on first glance! I know where these types of filters are on my own image editing software, but I can't get anywhere near that nice a result yet.
Did you have any specific questions for me or @NyteRose about your story?
Here are two pictorials I posted on my blog (I got a mod's ok before posting.
What writing program/app does everyone use out of curiosity? I use a free office suite called WPS Office since I hate Microsoft and refuse to pay US$100+ for MS Word/Office. I used to use LibreOffice before switching to WPS months ago and I have another program called Shaxpir that's more geared towards writers but have yet to test it out again.
EDIT- New chapter removed, it is not up to my standards and being reworked. Sorry for any inconvenience.
@NyteRose I loved the pages for your characters and the photoshoot! Man, that Vincent... he fine!
As for your question, I actually own the official Microsoft Office (every university in my country gifts it for free, so I've been able to use it for the past 5 years), but I still use the free Open Office for my writing. I don't know, I guess I just like to separate my academic writings and my spare time writings. When I open Open Office, now, it makes me all excited, but when I open Microsoft Office it's because I'll have to write some essay or whatever LOL, so I made these very clear associations with both programs that have made it so that I don't think I'll ever be able to use Microsoft Office again. I also have Open Office set on very specific parameters, like it's by default zoomed into 152% allowing me to use smaller fonts for my writings, which in turn allows me to fit more on single pages LOL. If I had that for Office, it'd get very annoying for when I have to use default settings for papers and all.
I'll read your chapters asap!
I actually also posted a new chapter just today... I have to warn you guys, though... this is a very sad, dramatic one LOL. It deals with the aftermath of the event with which the last chapter ended.
17. Spend All Your Time Waiting
Oops, I'd completely forgotten it was my turn this week! Let me think up some questions for you guys...
1. So as I said, Season 1 is almost coming to an end - there are only 2 chapters left now... and after you guys have read Chapter 17, it'll become really very clear who will... well, NOT come out the winner LOL. Who do you guys think will be the one to finally
2. You have probably noticed by now that most of my characters are... well... kind of questionable morally LOL. How do you feel about this when you read the chapters? Do you still see a clear difference with villain characters and protagonists, or is this line more blurred (and what are your feelings on that?)
That's it for now.... maybe I'll be able to think up some more tomorrow or on Sunday. If you guys have any questions for me, I'd love to hear them too!
In answer to question 2, I love morally gray characters. They're my favorite fictional people to read about. As long as an author doesn't try to force sympathy for a character I'm just not feeling it for (and you don't do that at all), I'm all for some good and bad in any part of the cast.
Off-topic, latest chapter of Clanbuilding is up: http://www.fanfiction.katrinasforest.com/2019/10/18/clanbuilding-for-dummies-chapter-22/
As to question 2, I think morally gray characters are just as relatable to readers as those who are good or evil. Everyone has good and bad in them, and you do a wonderful job of showing that
EDIT- New chapter removed, it is not up to my standards and being reworked. Sorry for any inconvenience.
I'm perfectly happy with alternating weeks between us until simscognito's return, but I'll leave it up to you.
@katrinasforest I'm so sorry to hear that. I am also 100% OK with just doing things between the two of us for now and alternating per week.
Chapters 18 and 19 are now up on my blog, and so Season 1 has finally been concluded.
18. Oh, Simple Thing
19. Invictus
I'm gathering from your comments that you just finished with chapter 18 of Clanbuilding. I'm curious if you have any guesses for who will win the competition? Is it the same team you're hoping will win?
And just for fun--how long do you think Lexi's lab has been in Elliot's basement? (I genuinely don't have an answer for this, so your guess is as good as mine. ^_^)
Yes, sounds great! I did finish chapter 18.
LOL Lexis lab... I'm gonna say she started building it as soon as she moved in there... Or maybe even before then.
I also had one question for you... How did you come up with this story? And are these characters just characters for this story or do you also play them for fun and more for actual gameplay? Do you allow some events to be game-driven or do you plan everything out beforehand?
Wow that was... A lot of questions LOL. Im just really curious to hear the thought processes that went into creating this awesome story, and how the game and non-story driven gameplay might factor into it.
I've taken rough inspiration from how gameplay has gone, mostly in the earlier chapters. One of my first vampires got talked into it by a friend. (He talked up the vampire lifestyle and then offered to turn.) Once I had the idea for Vlad's challenge, most of the chapters after that were planned out. Sometimes well ahead of time and sometimes a little on the spot. I just tried to imagine how each pre-made would behave when offered a chance to be immortal and who would likely approach them first.
One random event that affected the plot big time--the shots of the Landgrabbs at the romance festival were completely random. I was taking the shots of Lexi talking to Lily and noticed them in the background. So I took a bunch of screencaps of them, too and decided how to use them later.
Lexi has the personality of a sim named Ava who was a major player in my first game. But since she was a Sim based on a character in one of my novels, I didn't want to bring her in directly. So she kind of got reincarnated as Lexi.
Allie actually is a character in one of my novels, although she's a gorgon in the book, not a vampire. Which is why Allie's dark form looks so Medusa-like. Kind of a nod to the original character.
Strangerville became part of the plot just because I loved the pack and figured it was a fun background problem the characters could have. Throw another wrench in all their plans and such.
Lol...didn't mean to have such a length reply, but I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
I was initially anxious to add Angelico to that vampire save because I felt convinced Remi and Angelico couldn't be in the same save, given that they were pretty much based off the same character. I actually made Angelico out of Remi, using Remi as a template LOL. But then I said ah, plum it, and placed them together anyway, because I was just so attached to Angelico back then and really wanted to explore playing him as a vampire - and they didn't end up interacting anyway.
I still manage to separate Angelico and my novel character very well, though, since their entire universes are just so different. The one way in which it did influence my novel character, was me loving the Angelico/Cai relationship SO much that I wanted to add it into my non-Sims story as well, which subsequently briefly threatened the relationship between him and this other novel character that I'd already spent lots of time on.
Did you ever do anything with your novel, publication-wise? Just curious.
I'm all caught up, so feel free to ask me any questions you like, since it's your week this week. (I don't know why, but the blog wouldn't let me comment. I'll give it a try later.)
I haven't done anything with my novel, nope. In fact, I haven't really gotten to work on it in years. Between work, university and now my Sims stories, I just haven't found the time for it. The closest I've come is using my novel's universe and characters for my university Creative Writing course, and writing something vaguely reminiscent of a cohesive story that I once considered putting on this blog of mine... but the 'novel' itself never evolved beyond a whole bunch of character sheets and attempted (and then discarded) universe building as well as a whole lot of context-less drafts and drabbles of dialogue LOL. I never even got to fix down on the plot... I have fixed characters whom I love a lot, but their setting and plot is subject to dramatic change. I actually have like 3 alternative universes that I can't choose between... it's bad.
What about you and your novels?
That's awesome that you're all caught up! Sorry to hear comments aren't sending. I've had that issue on others' Wordpress blogs too, where it'd just give this screen with "comment not sent." Usually for me it just took hitting the return button which had my comment still there in the text box, copying it, and reloading the page and pasting the text and see if it'd work then... sometimes, it takes a few tries LOL. Wordpress isn't the most stable with commenting, it seems.
Hmm, questions... I've been super caught up in my midterms week with take-home exams so I haven't gotten to focus on my story for a good while.. But I guess for now my first question is: How did you like Season 1? Do you think Calo's arc came to an even minimally satisfactory conclusion or did you really miss Tika's presence there?
I'll add some more throughout the week.