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The Kindness Bench for SimLit Writers - For All Games!

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  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    I finally figured out what my fear scenario was. Picture this (no offense to the oldies on here): a 60 year old woman who has no children of any sort, no partner (boyfriend, husband) of any kind. Her parents are long gone and she can only do her own laundry and cook for at least 3 people sometimes 4. But doesn't know how to do something as simple as doing her own bed (ie changing the bedsheets) or buy groceries for one (she knows how to buy groceries for a household of people) person or do her own taxes,

    The above scenario is scary isn't it?
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  • SimTresaSimTresa Posts: 3,210 Member
    MadameLee wrote: »
    I finally figured out what my fear scenario was. Picture this (no offense to the oldies on here): a 60 year old woman who has no children of any sort, no partner (boyfriend, husband) of any kind. Her parents are long gone and she can only do her own laundry and cook for at least 3 people sometimes 4. But doesn't know how to do something as simple as doing her own bed (ie changing the bedsheets) or buy groceries for one (she knows how to buy groceries for a household of people) person or do her own taxes,

    The above scenario is scary isn't it?


    Yes.
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  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    I think its unfair for Mom to mislead me. She didn't want me to get BK (Burger King) on Tuesday since I would be eating out twice this week (lunch today with people from the program) and after a movie tomorrow. But now she is like she wants to come home after tomorrow's movie and order (Chinese food) and yet we haven't been to (Pizza Restaurant) since February.
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  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    There's a ton of CC traits broken but either the mods aren't going to update or they're retired. So there's basically NO ONE AROUND to update the traits at all. So what am I going to do? I want to use these traits but with no one around to export them what's a person to do?
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  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    edited November 2019
    @CathyTea @simscognito

    My program had a potluck today I always take a cake with. Since it's difficult to take a cake on the bus I rely on my Dad to drive me to my pot-luck days. He did this morning. This afternoon I had 2 and half slices left of the cake. I got the cake on the bus and back to (town) and then as far as the grocery store before calling Dad since my arms were going to give out. He took his anger out on me about something which had nothing to do with me. 1)I should have tossed the 2 and a half slices of cake into the garbage instead of hulling it home 2)he drove my 🐸🐸🐸🐸 to the program this morning and 3)he will never drive me anywhere again including bowling OR program (the only other way I could take a cake to the program is if I had a bundle buggy that way I wouldn't have to be carrying it in my hands). 4)I don't do anything all day.. but sit on my 🐸🐸🐸🐸. um I have more of life then he does.. and he sits on his 🐸🐸🐸🐸 if he has nothing else to do. When I was pointing out he was being nasty to be right in the moment without me having done ANYTHING he said "I was nasty since the day I was born"


    When I tried to talk to Mom she didn't really want to hear it. Because she wanted to snooze before we had to eat. She said I was taking it out on her I wasn't I needed someone to LISTEN. But she wasn't in the mood to liste
    Post edited by MadameLee on
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  • AnnoyingTigerAnnoyingTiger Posts: 509 Member
    For anyone that writes short stories; Do you use prompts? Just write and see what happens? Play the game and mold it that way?

    I want to write more shorts, so I've been looking through prompts online but most of them don't really fit with what you can do in the sims and it's kinda discouraging me :/

    Like, when I'm writing out plots for series and playthroughs, it comes easily but for shorts it's just... blank.
    ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ Life's Greatest Adventure, The Morgan Legacy ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
    ntlW6ly.png
  • SimTresaSimTresa Posts: 3,210 Member
    edited January 2020
    For anyone that writes short stories; Do you use prompts? Just write and see what happens? Play the game and mold it that way?

    I want to write more shorts, so I've been looking through prompts online but most of them don't really fit with what you can do in the sims and it's kinda discouraging me :/

    Like, when I'm writing out plots for series and playthroughs, it comes easily but for shorts it's just... blank.


    For my two shorts, I used the Monthly writing challenge theme as inspirations, but both stories inlcuded using secondary characters from my main stories. I retold some scenes from their perspective, using the same screenshots. Though, all three had new screenshots added to flesh out the stories, particularly the first one.
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  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    For anyone that writes short stories; Do you use prompts? Just write and see what happens? Play the game and mold it that way?

    I want to write more shorts, so I've been looking through prompts online but most of them don't really fit with what you can do in the sims and it's kinda discouraging me :/

    Like, when I'm writing out plots for series and playthroughs, it comes easily but for shorts it's just... blank.

    @AnnoyingTiger Sometimes I use pictures from Pinterest as inspiration. I have a board dedicated to Writing Prompts. Or I sift through writing prompts tags on Tumblr. Occasionally I use song lyrics. Also, I find it's fun to use a Random Word Generator for a combination of words to inspire a story.
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
  • AnnoyingTigerAnnoyingTiger Posts: 509 Member
    For anyone that writes short stories; Do you use prompts? Just write and see what happens? Play the game and mold it that way?

    I want to write more shorts, so I've been looking through prompts online but most of them don't really fit with what you can do in the sims and it's kinda discouraging me :/

    Like, when I'm writing out plots for series and playthroughs, it comes easily but for shorts it's just... blank.

    @AnnoyingTiger Sometimes I use pictures from Pinterest as inspiration. I have a board dedicated to Writing Prompts. Or I sift through writing prompts tags on Tumblr. Occasionally I use song lyrics. Also, I find it's fun to use a Random Word Generator for a combination of words to inspire a story.

    Tumblr is definitely a good place for prompts. I was actually just searching google for dialogue prompts, you know, the ones where there's text on a solid background? There are lots of good ones, but some of them would be really hard or impossible to get screenshots for so I get discouraged by them lol Song lyrics are good, I've used those for fanfics before but never sims... I'll give it a try. And the RWG seems hard but interesting, so I'll try that, too! Thanks so much for the advice ^~^/
    ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ Life's Greatest Adventure, The Morgan Legacy ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
    ntlW6ly.png
  • Simcraft81Simcraft81 Posts: 499 Member
    For anyone that writes short stories; Do you use prompts? Just write and see what happens? Play the game and mold it that way?

    I want to write more shorts, so I've been looking through prompts online but most of them don't really fit with what you can do in the sims and it's kinda discouraging me :/

    Like, when I'm writing out plots for series and playthroughs, it comes easily but for shorts it's just... blank.

    @AnnoyingTiger Sometimes I use pictures from Pinterest as inspiration. I have a board dedicated to Writing Prompts. Or I sift through writing prompts tags on Tumblr. Occasionally I use song lyrics. Also, I find it's fun to use a Random Word Generator for a combination of words to inspire a story.

    Tumblr is definitely a good place for prompts. I was actually just searching google for dialogue prompts, you know, the ones where there's text on a solid background? There are lots of good ones, but some of them would be really hard or impossible to get screenshots for so I get discouraged by them lol Song lyrics are good, I've used those for fanfics before but never sims... I'll give it a try. And the RWG seems hard but interesting, so I'll try that, too! Thanks so much for the advice ^~^/

    @AnnoyingTiger Good luck with your stories and inspiration! @AdamsEve1231 good to hear from you! :)
  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    Hi @Simcraft81. Good to hear from you too! How's it going?
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
  • Simcraft81Simcraft81 Posts: 499 Member
    Hi @Simcraft81. Good to hear from you too! How's it going?

    Going well how have you been? How’s the new year going so far?
  • IvoryButterflyIvoryButterfly Posts: 1,199 Member
    Hello everyone, yes, I know 5mths to get back... new job... oh wait, due to everything happening, now I've no job.

    @MadameLee; I'm sorry your family seems to be at odds at the moment, I do hope it settles down for you. Parents can be very annoying at times.

    My niece and nephew now live with us due to my sister kicking them out; so we've a full house of us, 2 YA's, 3 dogs and now 2 cats. It's a strange mix of organised chaos, but finding time to myself out of noise and away from everyone is difficult at the best of times.
    I find I'm napping a lot.

    But today, after buying a new power cord for my laptop that was able to be delivered, safe distance, I finally had time to charge my laptop ans get back to working myself out of my writers block and I managed to get my 4th chapter out on my blog, I'm really happy. Luckily I was basically finished but still had around 6 or so pictures to work with and figure out.
    Yeap I was kicking myself that it's taken me so long to just figure out such a small block!

    I also had a bit of time to add to my extra blog pages... hopefully I can get the new EP and Stuff packs soon too, but with being out of a job now... probably not going to happen as soon as I'd like.

    I really hope you guys like the new chapter.

    https://ivorybutterfly2704.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/ch-4-the-kings-sacrifice/

    Stay safe everyone.
    mbytI0Z.png
    The Universe & I have agreed to disagree with each other!
  • SimsophoniqueSimsophonique Posts: 1,410 Member
    Hello Lit' my family.

    I got to delete my wordpress due to inactivity. I had to abandon my Miss V Detective story for a while , my sims 3 game is not working correctly it often closes itself or freeze a lot I cannot do anything. I don't know if EllaCharmed did a fix map for Lucky Palm it will help me perhaps. It really plum me off I don't want to write anything I lost the fancy.
    Due to my anxiety treatment, I am officially and freshly diagnosed as Aspie (ASD) that explains this, I am often sleepy so I cannot continue to read the story I love the most I am sorry :'(

    For my litters who followed me on simblr I closed it by mistakes I reopened it, I enjoy the silence of my dashboard.

    I hope everybody is fine , safe and healthy .

    @AnnoyingTiger : I don't use prompts my sims are my best storytellers ;) .
    Follow and read Miss V Detective (ts3 story)
    on wordpress: thesimsophonique.wp.com / on dreamwidth: simsophonique.dreamwidth.org
    Follow me on tumblr (sims only)
    simsophonique.tumblr.com (please no triggers I am autistic asperger)
  • IvoryButterflyIvoryButterfly Posts: 1,199 Member
    Hi all,

    As excited as I was to finally be back writing, it seems my laptop did not take kindly to anything of late and decided to throw a fit and delete a bunch of my stuff. There's a small update is on my blog.

    https://ivorybutterfly2704.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/a-heavy-heart-restart/

    I'll be back, and I'm determined to come back stronger and better than ever!
    mbytI0Z.png
    The Universe & I have agreed to disagree with each other!
  • IvoryButterflyIvoryButterfly Posts: 1,199 Member
    I'm a little excited.
    After a lot of trouble and issues with my computer, I've finally got up the prologue to my newest Sims Story.
    I really hope you guys like it.

    https://ivorybutterfly2704.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/negotiations-prologue/
    mbytI0Z.png
    The Universe & I have agreed to disagree with each other!
  • mercuryfoammercuryfoam Posts: 1,156 Member
    Hi there! This is my first posting in this thread. I’d like to take a seat on the bench and seek advice from experienced writers.

    Bit of context, I’m a newbie to writing fiction. My current story is my first attempt at creative writing. (My last creative writing was high school narrative essays from more than a decade ago, so they don't count.) It’s been a huge learning curve, but was fun until now.

    I wanted to challenge myself to write more subjectively, focusing on my character’s perception and thoughts but have realised that it puts me in a very compromised state. The themes in my story centralise on hardships and difficulties.

    I usually envision myself in my characters’ shoes, personality, background and struggles, then craft their story/responses towards life’s hurdles. The problem I realised is that I don’t envision, instead I embody the characters to the point that when I’m done with the chapter, I am unable to disassociate myself from them. I’ve narrowed the reason being how I can personally relate to their struggles. But it has become ridiculous with one of my mournful mood spanning days. And any logical reasoning is not effective.

    (TLDR here.) I believe I'm not the only writer who faces this problem. What are your strategies to disassociate from a character? Or if you can’t afford to disassociate yet because you’re still in the middle of writing their story arc, how do you press on when it gets too real?
    Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks :)
  • Maladi777Maladi777 Posts: 4,393 Member
    Hi there! This is my first posting in this thread. I’d like to take a seat on the bench and seek advice from experienced writers.

    Bit of context, I’m a newbie to writing fiction. My current story is my first attempt at creative writing. (My last creative writing was high school narrative essays from more than a decade ago, so they don't count.) It’s been a huge learning curve, but was fun until now.

    I wanted to challenge myself to write more subjectively, focusing on my character’s perception and thoughts but have realised that it puts me in a very compromised state. The themes in my story centralise on hardships and difficulties.

    I usually envision myself in my characters’ shoes, personality, background and struggles, then craft their story/responses towards life’s hurdles. The problem I realised is that I don’t envision, instead I embody the characters to the point that when I’m done with the chapter, I am unable to disassociate myself from them. I’ve narrowed the reason being how I can personally relate to their struggles. But it has become ridiculous with one of my mournful mood spanning days. And any logical reasoning is not effective.

    (TLDR here.) I believe I'm not the only writer who faces this problem. What are your strategies to disassociate from a character? Or if you can’t afford to disassociate yet because you’re still in the middle of writing their story arc, how do you press on when it gets too real?
    Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks :)
    I personally don't see it as a problem. The opposite. I love being in my characters' heads. (Or are they in mine?) It's so much fun. Like having a whole new bunch of friends who are very opionated. It makes me smile. There's also the fact that we put pieces of ourselves in our characters, so it isn't possible to sever the thread that binds us to them completely. I'd recommend embracing it and use it to your advantage.
    What I see as a problem is when a writer can't get in their characters' heads and thus can't convey their motivations well to the readers.
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    HEFFNER LEGACYSimblrHeffner Legacy Discussion │ Origin ID: Maladi
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    What I see as a problem is when a writer can't get in their characters' heads and thus can't convey their motivations well to the readers.
    ^Ditto.

    That's what I struggle with sometimes. And also I have to focus on not putting too much of myself into certain characters so that I can properly portray their character, especially villains. :naughty:
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  • NyteRoseNyteRose Posts: 1,672 Member
    What I see as a problem is when a writer can't get in their characters' heads and thus can't convey their motivations well to the readers.
    This in a nutshell. If the writer doesn't have a clear picture of a character's motivations/persona/etc they can't clearly convey that to readers. The best thing a writer can do is put themselves in the characters' shoes and playout/envision what a particular character would say or do in specific scenarios/scenes.
    It can't rain all the time- Eric Draven, The Crow
  • mercuryfoammercuryfoam Posts: 1,156 Member
    @Maladi777 @emorrill @NyteRose

    Thank you for your support! I agree with you that it's good to step into their heads but I can't seem to get out of it after. I get stuck in it for too long. I liken it to actors who take upon their roles really well, but then have a hard time taking off their act after the curtains have fallen.
    NyteRose wrote: »
    If the writer doesn't have a clear picture of a character's motivations/persona/etc they can't clearly convey that to readers.

    I agree with you. It's something I'd like to focus on in my next story. I'd say for now this boat has sailed. But at least I am aware of it! :)
    Maladi777 wrote: »
    There's also the fact that we put pieces of ourselves in our characters, so it isn't possible to sever the thread that binds us to them completely. I'd recommend embracing it and use it to your advantage.

    I think you've highlighted the problem I'm experiencing. I must've put a piece of me in the characters and I get too attached to that piece, so it affects my emotions after.
    emorrill wrote: »

    That's what I struggle with sometimes. And also I have to focus on not putting too much of myself into certain characters so that I can properly portray their character, especially villains. :naughty:

    Can you explain to me do you 'not put yourself too much into certain characters'? That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve, without alienating myself from his/her persona so I can properly portray them too!
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    @mercuryfoam Let me see if I understand what you're asking me. :p (My brain has been mush lately since my depression has flared up due to the COVID-19 social distancing and forced homeschool so please bear with me. :confounded: )

    I put hints of myself into all of my characters, which is a completely normal thing to do, and I'll always do it. We write what we know and feel after all. ;) But sometimes in so doing that has made it difficult for me to properly portray the personality I've given to certain characters. (They're meant to be different from myself in thought and deed). So sometimes I end up having them say and doing things like my other characters (or myself), when I feel the reader might think, "I don't think that's something 'so and so' would think or say based on their personality." I tend to wonder too much about what my readers think, but sometimes that's a good thing. ;)

    So through time I've learned that when I create a character who is meant to have a completely different personality than my own, I try to delve into the opposite version of myself (or think of people I know that are different from me) and incorporate all that into the said character. It can be hard because it's uncomfortable to write thoughts and feelings you don't normally or would ever have, and then it makes you feel like you have some secret dark side to yourself. :lol: But really, it's been "branching out" like that that has helped me to grow tremendously as a writer and bring about characters that my readers never would've imagined I'd have in my stories and it's... really quite wonderful. :mrgreen: It makes the story all the more exciting as well and they become hungry for more.

    Surprising my readers is something I always aim to do. It keeps them engaged and coming back for more. :) And not only that, I want many people from all different walks of life to be able to relate to one of my characters and feel a connection to them. I value my readers, they are who keep me writing, and I want to give them characters they can relate to and a story they can enjoy. :blush:

    I hope that helps. <3
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  • mercuryfoammercuryfoam Posts: 1,156 Member
    emorrill wrote: »
    @mercuryfoam Let me see if I understand what you're asking me. :p (My brain has been mush lately since my depression has flared up due to the COVID-19 social distancing and forced homeschool so please bear with me. :confounded: )

    I put hints of myself into all of my characters, which is a completely normal thing to do, and I'll always do it. We write what we know and feel after all. ;) But sometimes in so doing that has made it difficult for me to properly portray the personality I've given to certain characters. (They're meant to be different from myself in thought and deed). So sometimes I end up having them say and doing things like my other characters (or myself), when I feel the reader might think, "I don't think that's something 'so and so' would think or say based on their personality." I tend to wonder too much about what my readers think, but sometimes that's a good thing. ;)

    So through time I've learned that when I create a character who is meant to have a completely different personality than my own, I try to delve into the opposite version of myself (or think of people I know that are different from me) and incorporate all that into the said character. It can be hard because it's uncomfortable to write thoughts and feelings you don't normally or would ever have, and then it makes you feel like you have some secret dark side to yourself. :lol: But really, it's been "branching out" like that that has helped me to grow tremendously as a writer and bring about characters that my readers never would've imagined I'd have in my stories and it's... really quite wonderful. :mrgreen: It makes the story all the more exciting as well and they become hungry for more.

    Surprising my readers is something I always aim to do. It keeps them engaged and coming back for more. :) And not only that, I want many people from all different walks of life to be able to relate to one of my characters and feel a connection to them. I value my readers, they are who keep me writing, and I want to give them characters they can relate to and a story they can enjoy. :blush:

    I hope that helps. <3

    I really like what you said. I took some time to reflect on your words before posting to get a better understanding and how i can internalise it for my use. I've never thought about creating an opposite version of myself. That's such a great exercise to so. And you're right about creating dynamic characters. Otherwise they'd really all be the same personality except with a different body.

    I wonder too what a reader would think when they pick up my story. I suppose having someone to discuss these questions with would be nice. Like a reading circle? Or a brainstorm club-ish sort of thing. I love feedback but I think it is the one hard to get because no one wants to be the bad guy and maybe they don't feel right doing so too.

    It sounds like you have an interesting story there! I'm intrigued. :)

  • PitlordMaggiePitlordMaggie Posts: 390 Member
    @mercuryfoam I plowed through the story in a day. Not because it is a short, easy read, it's not... It's because it's so hard to put down. I feel pulled into the story and the minds of the characters. It's darker than what I usually read, but the darkness serves the story well. And for a while I was part of their world, and they part of mine. If any of this makes sense. I am going off a tangent. It's late and I should get some sleep. I just wanted to share while all this is fresh on my mind from reading.
  • mercuryfoammercuryfoam Posts: 1,156 Member
    @PitlordMaggie Aww thank you. You absolutely made my day with your insights and observations. :blush: They're very constructive!

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