do you guys make seasonal specials?
Oh yes, especially for Halloween. If I don't have the right pack or the right timing story-wise, I just make it a spin off and use my imagination. I am going to assume you're asking because you have something in the works, Yimi. Which makes me excited.
@miss_eulenauge Haha, that one was a showcase for a dance animation made by @mercuryfoam . My pictures didn’t do it justice, but I loved the animation, so I wanted to show it off anyway 😄 Yes, let me know when you finish your blog! I’ll come take a peek 😁
Hmm… if your new story does not need any knowledge from the old story, then you should be fine not linking it back to your old works. But if there’s events or character development or the like that’s linked back to a previous story, then you might want to either tell them what happened out-of-story, or link back to your previous work.
How much of your creative process and of the history of your story do you share with readers? Why? How do you share what you do? What are your thoughts?
I only share the making-of process in very exceptional cases – if a chapter took a ton of effort to make or has something special to it, I might leave a little note. I don’t want to share too much with my readers, though. Part of the joy of reading is experiencing the story as it unfolds and if you share too much, you risk ruining people’s immersion.
History I share a bit more of because by now, my story is huge. I don’t expect my readers to remember everything and everyone. There’s a little blurb of what happens in an arc on the chapter page, and I have a little explanation on each main character on a character page. Everything else, though, they’ll need to find out for themselves as they read.
@SnuffyBucket Yay, creativity! I remember the everyone-is-teenagers Halloween party bonus. That one was a lot of fun to read. Didn’t my simself set the stove on fire by the end? 😂
wait wait wait, who is burning to death at Christmas? 😨 Oooh wait, do you live in a place that has summer in December? Or is this happening to one of your poor sims? 😆
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
Note that when I say 'non simlit wise', I refer to regular writing/fanfiction.
Then again, considering the Sims I have written about in the past, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for one of them to have caught fire during at least several important events
As for the uh, 'death-burning' in question, well, I think I'll let the actual passage speak for itself (warning: character death):
As for Teba, he initially seemed to have the upper hand in his bout against Fireblight. Having the gift of flight was, well, a gift. He only wished he didn't have to be outside while trying to flee; the heat coming from all directions, especially from the lava, was really starting to get to him.
"Uh, wow," he said now as he was perched on a high spot that was hopefully out of range of Fireblight's vision. "This place is about as far removed from Tabantha as someone can get." Teba then tried to cool himself down by flapping a wing against his face, but that just seemed to make it worse.
"It'd be great if I still had a working bow," he muttered while staring at the said bow that was now snapped in half. "I'd probably have been done by now if I did-"
Now, a powerful gust of heated wind started to stir inside the volcano. Teba believed it to be some variant of a sirocco*, but then noticed it was sucking in, not actually blowing out. When Teba started to feel himself being pulled back and down, his eyes almost seemed to bulge out of his head.
"Oh sh- not good, not good, not good!" Teba tried quickly to claw himself out of and away from Fireblight's convectional path, but couldn't grab onto anything. All he could really do was desperately run his fingers against the floor. His already immense fears were compounded when he felt his quiver get ripped off his back. And still, he attempted to get away.
When the sucking sensation faded, Teba allowed himself to exhale in the lull. Then he could hear Fireblight growling, and forced himself to look behind his shoulder. Seeing that Fireblight had managed to grab a hold of his arrows, Teba's eyes somehow got even wider.
"Uh oh." This was all that he could say, before Fireblight ended up flinging a bomb arrow in his direction. Because of the heat, it ignited instantly once it got close enough to hit him.
Teba was then helpless to stop it when he was struck by the blast, and engulfed in the ensuing blaze. At least most of him, anyway. One of his legs wasn't included in it, on account of it having been blown off and flying off of Rudania into the surrounding lava.
Any efforts to try and contain the fire (mostly by beating his wings against the flames) were quickly rendered futile; the entire time, he screeched in a most unholy trilling sound.
Teba's fiery death couldn't come soon enough for him.
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
For myself, I do like to imagine myself as the person I'm writing about: That's part of the writing challenge. All my characters are in some part based on people I know or have observed and at times I've lifted real life conversations and put them into the story. At the moment I'm writing about a teenage character...and a teenager from the Sixties as well...so it's both a deep dive into my memory of what it was like to be a teenage boy and then on top of that retcon it back in time to a period before I was born! Thank goodness for research, YouTube and Netflix/Amazon Prime. Writing believable children's dialogue is the most difficult I've found so far. Politics is a doddle...it was a lot simpler back then! I think it helps to really imagine and immerse yourself in a character, no matter how different they are from your real self. I do find it difficult at times to get a handle on someone very different but I start from a position that they're human, with all their foibles.
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
It is a challenge, yeah. I sincerely hope I'm not stereotyping anyone. I write my characters as people first, like @Kellogg_J_Kellogg said too. I often put some aspect of my own personality into each character to make it easier for me to get into their heads even if they are otherwise very different from me. I try to do my research, but I know that I don't always account for all the challenges and cultural differences present in different people's lives. I try to, and I know I have to educate myself on a lot of things I sometimes don't even know to think about. I have caught myself automatically thinking that SimNation in my stories works like a Nordic welfare state way too many times even though SimNation is supposed to be mostly like USA, which has very different systems and issues. Whoops.
I try to leave the issues I feel like I should be more familiar/personal with in order to portray them well to better writers or people more suited to write about them. But I also try to acknowledge them if they need to be acknowledged. I don't know. Lately I've realised I know even less about the world than I thought, so I don't know if I can properly get into anyone's head who isn't very closely like me.
It helps when the world I'm writing is fictional, so there is a bit of a barrier and more room for my own interpretation, I guess.
Interestingly, I find writing sarcastic, grouchy, kind of depressed, middle-aged white dudes who have messed up their life easy, even though I'm not middle-aged, grouchy, or depressed. Or a dude or a person with a messed up life. I feel like I have a fairly good idea on how to write kids too, because I work in early childhood education so I talk to different kinds of kids on a work-daily basis.
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
I think this is something that must be done with great care and open-mindedness (if it's to be done well). It's incredibly difficult to write about someone really different… and I generally avoid it (especially for Sims stuff where I'm not doing a lot of research and no one is really proofing my writing) because I don't want to hurt anyone by getting something wrong.
That's not to say that every character I write is just like me in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, etc. They're not. I hate stereotypes. I try to write unique characters because people are unique. Just because someone is a certain X doesn't mean that they're also Y or, in the case of writers, that they're qualified to be writing about X or Y either. In my case, in RL, I only know a handful of people with my nationality so even though I’m my nationality, I may not have the experiences or know as much about it as one might expect. When I went back for a little while, after a long time of not being there, I would sometimes tell people that I'd been gone because if I were a bit weird, I wanted to put the reason for my weirdness out there ahead of time until I caught up culturally and adjusted to being back.
I think the key to this, though, is being open to criticism and sharing your work with people who are familiar with those things so that they can correct any mistakes and misconceptions (which are pretty much 100% likely to occur).
ETA: My Sims world is largely fictionally. There are occults... and I don't style the world after any RL country, but instead see it as its own thing that's inspired by several RL places.
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg Interesting question! Also I agree in that writing believable dialogue for children can be difficult; I'm having that issue. I've been reading articles written by parents, teachers and psychologists, as well as examples of children's written work to give me an idea. Also trying to remember myself when I was a kid as well.
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
I don't have too much difficulty with it; I'm used to putting myself in someone else's shoes for DnD, but it's different for writing SimLit. Mainly because a lot of the experiences that come up in my work could be that of someone else, and a reader could read this character and think 'finally, representation' and be able to see themselves in the character- so I have to portray it in a way that isn't trivialising or grossly misrepresenting whatever it is I write about. Otherwise you just end up furthering misinformation and stigma etc. - because we all know how many people get their reality from fiction instead of doing proper research and listening to real people's experiences. I've seen some of my own experiences massively misrepresented in the media as well as SimLit and I'm just thinking 'This is what happens when you think you know, instead of learning...' XD
When I write a different character who has experiences I don't, I always make sure I research from good sources like charities, psych websites, scientific pages or journals etc. I learn about history if necessary, read articles written by people with that experience, read about the stereotypes associated with it, and also scientific/psychological articles if relevant (for things like illnesses, disorders etc). When it comes to cultural differences I research those too, such as like when I had to research Southern US dialects for a ditched Strangerville story. However regardless of the amount of effort I put in, I don't mind if folks have issues with portrayals and have criticisms about them. A lot of the research I've been doing for my current story is around childhood trauma.
I wouldn't say I end up stereotyping them, but I don't work to avoid every single aspect of a stereotype all of the time because then it comes off as more 'Look how different I am! Look how subversive and different my character is!' and that becomes the character's whole thing instead of a personality and background and so on.
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
Considering that pretty much every character I've ever written has next to nothing in common with me, I always fear I'm screwing them up.
Therefore, I try to look up any corresponding details, and hope I get at least some of it right.
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I’ll answer this tomorrow though since it’s half 3 in the morning… Whether you answer it from a reader or writer’s perspective (or both) is up to you.
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I don't think much about the Sims in-game personality traits and I can't remember what they are for my main characters off the top of my head. But I can tell you a lot about how I portray them in the story.
My favourite archetype is the normal person thrust into a chaotic or unusual event. I prefer writing everyman/woman characters with all their strengths, foibles, hopes and fears going up against various challenges. My all time favourite archetype is the person who is at their best when things are at their worst.
Conversely I don't like introspective whiny characters much. My best characters think about the problems and try to work their way out of them instead of retreating into a world of self pity. That doesn't mean my characters don't think at all; they often do retreat inside themselves to think about what to do or how to act but the difference is they then resolve to do something about it.
However, I love all my characters. Each one is a joy to write when I get in the writing mood and the creative juices are flowing. So much of the character comes from the way they talk so I learn about them as I'm writing their responses.
OK, I have a question:
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I spend a LOT of time on the looks of my characters, hardly surprising if you've read my story. I consider character creation, even supporting characters, like casting the right actor and then sending them into wardrobe and make up.
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I always think I choose at least two qualities that I consider to be positive or good when I create a sim myself. In addition, I like that they have an edge, a less "positive" quality. Somehow the Sims I play with must contain something universally human otherwise they bore me.
I'm not that attracted to the vicious Sims. I get bored if they get too stereotypical and they do not contain anything I can relate to.
That’s not to say that evil doesn’t take place in my sim universes.
I love all archetypal conflicts, but it's important to me that my Sims evolve. That they learn something significant on the journey of a lifetime. It's also the type of Sims I find interesting to write about.
I think I'm very influenced by the spirit of the folk tales I grew up with. Asbjørnsen and Moe's Norwegian folk tales, Astrid Linngren and the Grim brothers. Their adventures can be pretty harsh, but they mostly contain a solution.
I do not mention H.C. Andersen, who is a well-known Danish fairy tale writer because his fairy tales often have a rather depressing morale .... unless they are interpreted by Disney
I have to believe in the hope exists.
I love reading stories that provoke me (in a good way) or give me inspiration. Puts my thoughts in oscillations.
Stories without conflicts usually do not attract me much, unless they contain some of the following.
Humor can be an important component. I love a good laugh.
Something else that attracts me to stories is the visionary expression, an interesting camera angle, cropping or color choice.
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I often use the dice in CAS to find a sim that appeals to me. Since all prefabricated Sims have a hopelessly horrible clothing style, I then spend oceans of time changing their clothes and hairstyle
I rarely correct the anatomy of the Sim. Just roll the dice again if they are too scary to look at or find a new face or other detail in the templates found in CAS.
I love incorporating random Townies into my game. Martin and Rasmus in my current story are such examples. It's always an exciting challenge to see what I can get out of what the game presents to me.
If I use any of the families of the different worlds in the game, I often completely ignore their pre-described story. I prefer to make my own stories.
@Snowbnuuy What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
This will probably surprise absolutely no one; I love me the dumpster fires and downward spirals. I favour the walking wounded, the characters who have been maimed by life/society/themselves who somehow still keep on surviving. Especially if their survival relies on non-conventional or questionable methods. These are my favourites to both read and write about, and the more complex they are, the better.
I have tried so many times but I’ll admit; I get very bored very quickly reading or writing about characters that are wholesome or vacuous. I know this sounds awful. 😅
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I tend to leave townies as their badly-dressed selves (unless they’re in the scenes set 300 yrs ago – no place for eyeball rings there) and most of my main cast were born in game and are hastily redressed every so often. But then I also find myself recolouring April’s hair accessories to make them precisely match her skirt so… both? 😆
My favourite archetype is the normal person thrust into a chaotic or unusual event.
YES, this! One of my favourite Simpsons episodes is exactly this- They just thought 'hey, how would a completely normal guy survive a chaotic cartoon world like this?' and it was just perfect : P
I prefer writing everyman/woman characters with all their strengths, foibles, hopes and fears going up against various challenges.
Yeah having everyday characters can be good fun, sometimes more fun than characters with special skills or powers or whatever. Just the average person stuck in a wild situation.
Conversely I don't like introspective whiny characters much. My best characters think about the problems and try to work their way out of them instead of retreating into a world of self pity. That doesn't mean my characters don't think at all; they often do retreat inside themselves to think about what to do or how to act but the difference is they then resolve to do something about it.
Yeah, angst for the sake of angst is never fun because it doesn't further the plot. Of course everyone has their 'life sucks' moments in stories but you also need that 'okay, so now what?' moment to get the story moving forward (and the character development).
I always think I choose at least two qualities that I consider to be positive or good when I create a sim myself. In addition, I like that they have an edge, a less "positive" quality. Somehow the Sims I play with must contain something universally human otherwise they bore me.
Yes, this is perfect! I think this is a good starting point for any character before you flesh the rest out and it's what I try to do with more minor characters. It's a case of 'okay, this is their defining trait and this is the thing that makes them more flawed' so even the background guys have some sort of depth about them.
Yeah, it's good to have characters be relatable so you can get into the story and so characters feel real to the reader.
I love all archetypal conflicts, but it's important to me that my Sims evolve. That they learn something significant on the journey of a lifetime. It's also the type of Sims I find interesting to write about.
The journey of a characters is always the most fun to read < 3 Ad everyone has something they need to learn along the way. It's cool to see that folk tales influenced you < 3 This is true, so many of the original fairy stories are incredibly dark X_X
I've been trying to vary my screenshots with angles, close-ups etc since I realise most of my shots are more or less the same kind of longshot or angle. Humour is definitely necessary to some extent, to balance the bad.
This will probably surprise absolutely no one; I love me the dumpster fires and downward spirals. I favour the walking wounded, the characters who have been maimed by life/society/themselves who somehow still keep on surviving. Especially if their survival relies on non-conventional or questionable methods. These are my favourites to both read and write about, and the more complex they are, the better.
No that is not surprising at all XD But yeah the 'wretched excess' characters are sometimes the most interesting and shocking. The sort of 'pushed to the edge of society and so push back' types. It's the downfall that's the interesting part- the 'how far will they go?' and then they go even further than that X_X
I have tried so many times but I’ll admit; I get very bored very quickly reading or writing about characters that are wholesome or vacuous. I know this sounds awful. 😅
Definitely; even the nicest people have some kind of flaw, so fully wholesome-type characters aren't really fun to read about unless they're in an ensemble which includes less-wholesome characters.
Okay, now my time to answer my own question:
I really like reading about the sort of 'black sheep' type characters who are completely alienated from the world or environment they live in. Or who are totally different to all of the other characters around them. It's just fun to see how they navigate a world where no-one seems to understand them (I guess that's relatable, growing up in a world where no-one seems to get you at all or at worst tries to ostracise you XD). Also characters in dark, violent worlds who do their best to hold on to their comparative pacifism- it's always a fun trope. How long until the nice ones crack?
I also (like Snuffy) love seeing the sort of typical 'tragedy' characters and the resulting messy downfall that comes from that. It's not necessarily that I feel sorry for the character, not all the time- it's just darkly fun or otherwise terrifying to see where the downfall takes them.
And I love the really chaotic, funny type of characters as well (for those of you who have read my work, you'll know this because there's at least one in every story XD) For me I like it because they unknowingly make the world a brighter place for everyone else, but then also it's fun to have someone who just likes to mess about and whose morals are nothing like the other characters. They also make the world a living nightmare for the villainous characters usually with their ridiculous antics alone. I think out of my characters Leo is probably the best example.
My least favourite characters are ones who never suffer any repercussions for their bad deeds, or that are never held accountable for anything. (Usually happens with the writer's obvious favourite character).There's nothing worse than waiting for someone to get their comeuppance for what they've done when it just doesn't happen.
Also characters who are overly sarcastic all of the time get annoying super fast, as the same people do in real life.
There's probably more but all I can think of ATM.
And then.... How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
For my SimLit it's very rare that I have a very specific idea for what the character looks like outside of the general 'vibe' of the character, and maybe a clothing preference, hair style or skin tone. Sometimes I let Randomiser do the work, especially using Play with Genetics to come up with designs for the rest of the family. TS4 isn't really great for making the character you have a super-specific idea for, IMO. I always found that easier in TS3 for some reason.
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I love non-human humanoids or other characters that have an outsider's view on humanity, who will then have to make sense of the world and humans. So sort of like the black sheep-type @SnowBnuuy talked about, but just... on a very fundamental level of existence or something, I guess.
Another type is the sarcastic, cynical person. Which often overlaps with my third fav, which is the Lovable Rogue, a character who does illegal things but is more of an anti-hero and has several redeeming qualities. I also like smart characters.
And like @Kellogg_J_Kellogg and Snow, I too love the "normal person in a chaotic environment" as well.
If you want to know what my ultimate author appeal character looks like, just look at Tad from my Chrysanthemum Tango-story (he also makes cameos in Foget-Me-Not, but isn't a main character there). He's a non-human person, morbid and creepy but also kind, trying to figure out humanity. He's kind of goofy while also being competent in his own field of expertise. He's an intelligent and wise character in a situation he doesn't understand properly, which forces him to grow and adapt to new situations and discover himself. Self-discovery is one of the things I love to write about. Also on a visual level, he's a cute but creepy, alternative-looking person, which I like.
When I was younger, I remember usually finding characters who were too nice and without much conflict boring, but nowadays I usually just go: "aww, they're nice, I hope they're happy" and like them. I do like it when characters have flaws or growing to do or obstacles to overcome, because otherwise there rarely is a story.
I usually don't like one-note characters without any other depth than just one personality trait or stereotype. Especially if they're in focus. I especially don't like villains or antagonists who are doing villainous things without a proper motive (unless it's a parody, in which case it can be hilarious if done well).
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I spend a lot of time in CAS making my plot-relevant Sims, and I regularly update their clothes to match the passage of time or the seasons etc. Sometimes I have a specific idea for a Sim and sometimes it's a vague one and I just play around more. Townies can usually stay the way they are unless plot requires them to show up more in which case I will give them alternate outfits that matches their style (so they won't look like they're always wearing the same thing). For some one-off side characters I might do a quick semi-random CAS-session, but those are pretty rare. I still make sure they're dressed appropriately for the weather and the situation.
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I love reading complex, extremely well thought-out characters. I'm not sure that I have favorites, but two things I dislike are the classic hero and any story about a chosen child/teenager who saves the world. Saying I dislike them is a bit strong, because I don't really dislike anything - these are simply the stories and characters I tend to gravitate away from.
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
My characters are mostly born in-game, so I create them indirectly and don't mess with their physical features much. CAS hasn't been a huge focus of mine, but I find myself spending more and more time in CAS (like forever trying to find the right outfit for a certain mood). If I have a fashion-focused Sim, then CAS is a huge deal—if not, it's less important. For me, ideally the look should match my story/legacy and it's as important as the story makes it. In general, I've become more careful about my screenshots and their overall look (using ReShade and doing more post-processing), but that change won't show up in my actual posts for quite a while. I'm a gameplay storyteller, so I don't really create scenes unless there's an in-story reason for a scene to be created (e.g., a Sim is into acting). But now I'm trying more to make my legacy appear as if it has the same care put into it as plot-driven and set up SimLit.
Today's question isn't from me, but it's in the form of a short quiz someone sent me: What emotion do you create from?
If you do the quiz I'd love to know what result you get. I got:
'Fear: You create from fear. For almost as long as you can remember, you have been terrified. There is a near constant panic in your chest that threatens to leave you completely petrified. Your art is an attempt to confront what frightens you most, to face it head on rather than always continuing to run away. It is a battle, your best effort at fighting back against the fear filling your chest. You create art about what scares you in order to steel yourself against it. There are easier and more pleasant things to create art about, but you don't want to let your fear rule you, so you force yourself to give it an audience through your work. You depict your worst nightmares so that they won't take up so much space in your mind. Art is a safe place to come to terms with everything that makes you feel unsafe.'
I don't think this is particularly fitting though.
I did the quiz but I don't think the questions really relate to what and do and how I do it. However, I gave answers as close as I could.
LOVE
You create from love. It is an overflowing love that seeps out of your heart and into all you create. You couldn't possibly contain it inside yourself, and so you dedicate yourself to depicting it through everything you make. Your art is a celebration of what you cherish most, a loving tribute to everything that captivates you. There are things too wonderful to be appreciated in silence, and so you sing of your love time and time again. You are determined not to let your vast love go unnoticed or forgotten. That's why your work is a declaration of affection, an expression of fondness for everything that makes your life worth living.
Spite
You create from spite. There is a deep resentment burning inside you that demands to be let out. You have been wronged and you can't bring yourself to forgive or forget. Your work is an act of defiance, a striving to prove others wrong and leave your mark on this world. You will declare loud and clear the injustices you've been dealt will not silently disappear, that they will demand an audience over and over again. You create to force people to acknowledge the unpleasant truths they try to ignore. Your art is fueled by a need to expose the insidious evils and hypocrisies that you've been subject to. It is a means of becoming more than just a victim, a way of reclaiming your life as your own.
I tried to answer as best I can. I'm not sure I understood all the questions and thought I was missing some answer options. This was my result and it is probably not completely wrong, but I was wondering if it gives the same result if you take the test again 🤔
gratitude
You create from gratitude. There is something for which you are deeply, profoundly grateful, for which the words "thank you" couldn't begin to suffice. It is enough to make you glad to be alive. You make art to express your deep gratitude for having been allowed to know something wonderful enough to redeem all life's pains. Your work is pervaded by a sense of thankfulness, an appreciation for what you've been lucky enough to know. It is a loving expression of the sincerest gratitude there is. Your art is thanks for every good fortune you've received. It is a tribute to a feeling you have vowed never to forget. You count yourself as incredibly lucky, and your work is a testament to that. It is proof this world and this life need not be such terrible things.
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg I think 'love' is fitting for Sim 66 ^u^ There's a lot of passion in what you do and I like the way you write romance. @SnuffyBucket I think we both embody spite pretty well XD @texxx78 That's a nice one ^u^ I think it's nice to find something beautiful.
My art form is not related to writting but i love to do quizzes
Reverence
You create from reverence. There is something you admire more than words can say. You worship and revere it, to the point that you can't help yourself from singing its praises. Your art is a means of doing this. You do your best to depict the overwhelming splendor you see in it, to make its glory clear. Your work is the highest praise of everything you revere, a tribute to the most wonderful things you know. There is nothing more inspiring to you than the objects of your deepest admiration. It drives you to create over and over again, to strive to adequately capture the splendor you see. You are single minded in your devotion, determined to do justice to what shines so brilliantly in your eyes. You offer up your art as a tribute to something greater than yourself, a goodness that you can only aspire to. That is what the act of creation means to you.
I got gratitude as well. I'm not sure if it fits but it's a nice sentiment and I guess it's true enough. I don't think any options resonated particularly strongly for me, but it is interesting to see how different the responses were.
I'm amazed so many people get the lighter responses as the questions and answers were all pretty heavy, biased and to extremes. I didn't even know spiteful art was a thing.
If I give this any credit, I suppose I do like to show the unpretty behind the pretty and not just in writing; maybe it's that. *shrugs*
Comments
do you guys make seasonal specials?
Oh yes, especially for Halloween. If I don't have the right pack or the right timing story-wise, I just make it a spin off and use my imagination. I am going to assume you're asking because you have something in the works, Yimi. Which makes me excited.
Simlit wise, those are/were my favorite posts to put together.
Non-Simlit wise, not so much; that's mostly because the settings/situations are usually inappropriate for such an event.
Part One(Complete 9/24/16) /Part Two(on hold)/Short Stories(on hold)/Twinbrook 1996(on hold)/Ten Crystal Hearts (on hold)
I own the TS3 Store as of 12/11/16 (sort of. It's complicated)
Hmm… if your new story does not need any knowledge from the old story, then you should be fine not linking it back to your old works. But if there’s events or character development or the like that’s linked back to a previous story, then you might want to either tell them what happened out-of-story, or link back to your previous work.
How much of your creative process and of the history of your story do you share with readers? Why? How do you share what you do? What are your thoughts?
I only share the making-of process in very exceptional cases – if a chapter took a ton of effort to make or has something special to it, I might leave a little note. I don’t want to share too much with my readers, though. Part of the joy of reading is experiencing the story as it unfolds and if you share too much, you risk ruining people’s immersion.
History I share a bit more of because by now, my story is huge. I don’t expect my readers to remember everything and everyone. There’s a little blurb of what happens in an arc on the chapter page, and I have a little explanation on each main character on a character page. Everything else, though, they’ll need to find out for themselves as they read.
@SnuffyBucket Yay, creativity! I remember the everyone-is-teenagers Halloween party bonus. That one was a lot of fun to read. Didn’t my simself set the stove on fire by the end? 😂
@rednenemon
Note that when I say 'non simlit wise', I refer to regular writing/fanfiction.
Then again, considering the Sims I have written about in the past, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for one of them to have caught fire during at least several important events
As for the uh, 'death-burning' in question, well, I think I'll let the actual passage speak for itself (warning: character death):
"Uh, wow," he said now as he was perched on a high spot that was hopefully out of range of Fireblight's vision. "This place is about as far removed from Tabantha as someone can get." Teba then tried to cool himself down by flapping a wing against his face, but that just seemed to make it worse.
"It'd be great if I still had a working bow," he muttered while staring at the said bow that was now snapped in half. "I'd probably have been done by now if I did-"
Now, a powerful gust of heated wind started to stir inside the volcano. Teba believed it to be some variant of a sirocco*, but then noticed it was sucking in, not actually blowing out. When Teba started to feel himself being pulled back and down, his eyes almost seemed to bulge out of his head.
"Oh sh- not good, not good, not good!" Teba tried quickly to claw himself out of and away from Fireblight's convectional path, but couldn't grab onto anything. All he could really do was desperately run his fingers against the floor. His already immense fears were compounded when he felt his quiver get ripped off his back. And still, he attempted to get away.
When the sucking sensation faded, Teba allowed himself to exhale in the lull. Then he could hear Fireblight growling, and forced himself to look behind his shoulder. Seeing that Fireblight had managed to grab a hold of his arrows, Teba's eyes somehow got even wider.
"Uh oh." This was all that he could say, before Fireblight ended up flinging a bomb arrow in his direction. Because of the heat, it ignited instantly once it got close enough to hit him.
Teba was then helpless to stop it when he was struck by the blast, and engulfed in the ensuing blaze. At least most of him, anyway. One of his legs wasn't included in it, on account of it having been blown off and flying off of Rudania into the surrounding lava.
Any efforts to try and contain the fire (mostly by beating his wings against the flames) were quickly rendered futile; the entire time, he screeched in a most unholy trilling sound.
Teba's fiery death couldn't come soon enough for him.
Part One(Complete 9/24/16) /Part Two(on hold)/Short Stories(on hold)/Twinbrook 1996(on hold)/Ten Crystal Hearts (on hold)
I own the TS3 Store as of 12/11/16 (sort of. It's complicated)
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
For myself, I do like to imagine myself as the person I'm writing about: That's part of the writing challenge. All my characters are in some part based on people I know or have observed and at times I've lifted real life conversations and put them into the story. At the moment I'm writing about a teenage character...and a teenager from the Sixties as well...so it's both a deep dive into my memory of what it was like to be a teenage boy and then on top of that retcon it back in time to a period before I was born! Thank goodness for research, YouTube and Netflix/Amazon Prime. Writing believable children's dialogue is the most difficult I've found so far. Politics is a doddle...it was a lot simpler back then! I think it helps to really imagine and immerse yourself in a character, no matter how different they are from your real self. I do find it difficult at times to get a handle on someone very different but I start from a position that they're human, with all their foibles.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
I try to leave the issues I feel like I should be more familiar/personal with in order to portray them well to better writers or people more suited to write about them. But I also try to acknowledge them if they need to be acknowledged. I don't know. Lately I've realised I know even less about the world than I thought, so I don't know if I can properly get into anyone's head who isn't very closely like me.
It helps when the world I'm writing is fictional, so there is a bit of a barrier and more room for my own interpretation, I guess.
Interestingly, I find writing sarcastic, grouchy, kind of depressed, middle-aged white dudes who have messed up their life easy, even though I'm not middle-aged, grouchy, or depressed. Or a dude or a person with a messed up life. I feel like I have a fairly good idea on how to write kids too, because I work in early childhood education so I talk to different kinds of kids on a work-daily basis.
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
Good question @Kellogg_J_Kellogg.
I think this is something that must be done with great care and open-mindedness (if it's to be done well). It's incredibly difficult to write about someone really different… and I generally avoid it (especially for Sims stuff where I'm not doing a lot of research and no one is really proofing my writing) because I don't want to hurt anyone by getting something wrong.
That's not to say that every character I write is just like me in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, etc. They're not. I hate stereotypes. I try to write unique characters because people are unique. Just because someone is a certain X doesn't mean that they're also Y or, in the case of writers, that they're qualified to be writing about X or Y either. In my case, in RL, I only know a handful of people with my nationality so even though I’m my nationality, I may not have the experiences or know as much about it as one might expect. When I went back for a little while, after a long time of not being there, I would sometimes tell people that I'd been gone because if I were a bit weird, I wanted to put the reason for my weirdness out there ahead of time until I caught up culturally and adjusted to being back.
I think the key to this, though, is being open to criticism and sharing your work with people who are familiar with those things so that they can correct any mistakes and misconceptions (which are pretty much 100% likely to occur).
ETA: My Sims world is largely fictionally. There are occults... and I don't style the world after any RL country, but instead see it as its own thing that's inspired by several RL places.
How easy or difficult do you find it to write about someone who is very different from you, in terms of age, nationality, race, gender, politics etc? Do you end up stereotyping them?
I don't have too much difficulty with it; I'm used to putting myself in someone else's shoes for DnD, but it's different for writing SimLit. Mainly because a lot of the experiences that come up in my work could be that of someone else, and a reader could read this character and think 'finally, representation' and be able to see themselves in the character- so I have to portray it in a way that isn't trivialising or grossly misrepresenting whatever it is I write about. Otherwise you just end up furthering misinformation and stigma etc. - because we all know how many people get their reality from fiction instead of doing proper research and listening to real people's experiences. I've seen some of my own experiences massively misrepresented in the media as well as SimLit and I'm just thinking 'This is what happens when you think you know, instead of learning...' XD
When I write a different character who has experiences I don't, I always make sure I research from good sources like charities, psych websites, scientific pages or journals etc. I learn about history if necessary, read articles written by people with that experience, read about the stereotypes associated with it, and also scientific/psychological articles if relevant (for things like illnesses, disorders etc). When it comes to cultural differences I research those too, such as like when I had to research Southern US dialects for a ditched Strangerville story. However regardless of the amount of effort I put in, I don't mind if folks have issues with portrayals and have criticisms about them. A lot of the research I've been doing for my current story is around childhood trauma.
I wouldn't say I end up stereotyping them, but I don't work to avoid every single aspect of a stereotype all of the time because then it comes off as more 'Look how different I am! Look how subversive and different my character is!' and that becomes the character's whole thing instead of a personality and background and so on.
Considering that pretty much every character I've ever written has next to nothing in common with me, I always fear I'm screwing them up.
Therefore, I try to look up any corresponding details, and hope I get at least some of it right.
Part One(Complete 9/24/16) /Part Two(on hold)/Short Stories(on hold)/Twinbrook 1996(on hold)/Ten Crystal Hearts (on hold)
I own the TS3 Store as of 12/11/16 (sort of. It's complicated)
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I’ll answer this tomorrow though since it’s half 3 in the morning… Whether you answer it from a reader or writer’s perspective (or both) is up to you.
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I don't think much about the Sims in-game personality traits and I can't remember what they are for my main characters off the top of my head. But I can tell you a lot about how I portray them in the story.
My favourite archetype is the normal person thrust into a chaotic or unusual event. I prefer writing everyman/woman characters with all their strengths, foibles, hopes and fears going up against various challenges. My all time favourite archetype is the person who is at their best when things are at their worst.
Conversely I don't like introspective whiny characters much. My best characters think about the problems and try to work their way out of them instead of retreating into a world of self pity. That doesn't mean my characters don't think at all; they often do retreat inside themselves to think about what to do or how to act but the difference is they then resolve to do something about it.
However, I love all my characters. Each one is a joy to write when I get in the writing mood and the creative juices are flowing. So much of the character comes from the way they talk so I learn about them as I'm writing their responses.
OK, I have a question:
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I spend a LOT of time on the looks of my characters, hardly surprising if you've read my story. I consider character creation, even supporting characters, like casting the right actor and then sending them into wardrobe and make up.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I always think I choose at least two qualities that I consider to be positive or good when I create a sim myself. In addition, I like that they have an edge, a less "positive" quality. Somehow the Sims I play with must contain something universally human otherwise they bore me.
I'm not that attracted to the vicious Sims. I get bored if they get too stereotypical and they do not contain anything I can relate to.
That’s not to say that evil doesn’t take place in my sim universes.
I love all archetypal conflicts, but it's important to me that my Sims evolve. That they learn something significant on the journey of a lifetime. It's also the type of Sims I find interesting to write about.
I think I'm very influenced by the spirit of the folk tales I grew up with. Asbjørnsen and Moe's Norwegian folk tales, Astrid Linngren and the Grim brothers. Their adventures can be pretty harsh, but they mostly contain a solution.
I do not mention H.C. Andersen, who is a well-known Danish fairy tale writer because his fairy tales often have a rather depressing morale .... unless they are interpreted by Disney
I have to believe in the hope exists.
I love reading stories that provoke me (in a good way) or give me inspiration. Puts my thoughts in oscillations.
Stories without conflicts usually do not attract me much, unless they contain some of the following.
Humor can be an important component. I love a good laugh.
Something else that attracts me to stories is the visionary expression, an interesting camera angle, cropping or color choice.
Thanks to @Kellogg_J_Kellogg for the following questions.
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I often use the dice in CAS to find a sim that appeals to me. Since all prefabricated Sims have a hopelessly horrible clothing style, I then spend oceans of time changing their clothes and hairstyle
I rarely correct the anatomy of the Sim. Just roll the dice again if they are too scary to look at or find a new face or other detail in the templates found in CAS.
I love incorporating random Townies into my game. Martin and Rasmus in my current story are such examples. It's always an exciting challenge to see what I can get out of what the game presents to me.
If I use any of the families of the different worlds in the game, I often completely ignore their pre-described story. I prefer to make my own stories.
What are some of your favourite character traits/personalities/archetypes?
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
This will probably surprise absolutely no one; I love me the dumpster fires and downward spirals. I favour the walking wounded, the characters who have been maimed by life/society/themselves who somehow still keep on surviving. Especially if their survival relies on non-conventional or questionable methods. These are my favourites to both read and write about, and the more complex they are, the better.
I have tried so many times but I’ll admit; I get very bored very quickly reading or writing about characters that are wholesome or vacuous. I know this sounds awful. 😅
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I tend to leave townies as their badly-dressed selves (unless they’re in the scenes set 300 yrs ago – no place for eyeball rings there) and most of my main cast were born in game and are hastily redressed every so often. But then I also find myself recolouring April’s hair accessories to make them precisely match her skirt so… both? 😆
@Kellogg_J_Kellogg
@MonaSolstraale
Yeah, it's good to have characters be relatable so you can get into the story and so characters feel real to the reader.
The journey of a characters is always the most fun to read < 3 Ad everyone has something they need to learn along the way. It's cool to see that folk tales influenced you < 3 This is true, so many of the original fairy stories are incredibly dark X_X
I've been trying to vary my screenshots with angles, close-ups etc since I realise most of my shots are more or less the same kind of longshot or angle. Humour is definitely necessary to some extent, to balance the bad.
@SnuffyBucket
Definitely; even the nicest people have some kind of flaw, so fully wholesome-type characters aren't really fun to read about unless they're in an ensemble which includes less-wholesome characters.
Okay, now my time to answer my own question:
I really like reading about the sort of 'black sheep' type characters who are completely alienated from the world or environment they live in. Or who are totally different to all of the other characters around them. It's just fun to see how they navigate a world where no-one seems to understand them (I guess that's relatable, growing up in a world where no-one seems to get you at all or at worst tries to ostracise you XD). Also characters in dark, violent worlds who do their best to hold on to their comparative pacifism- it's always a fun trope. How long until the nice ones crack?
I also (like Snuffy) love seeing the sort of typical 'tragedy' characters and the resulting messy downfall that comes from that. It's not necessarily that I feel sorry for the character, not all the time- it's just darkly fun or otherwise terrifying to see where the downfall takes them.
And I love the really chaotic, funny type of characters as well (for those of you who have read my work, you'll know this because there's at least one in every story XD) For me I like it because they unknowingly make the world a brighter place for everyone else, but then also it's fun to have someone who just likes to mess about and whose morals are nothing like the other characters. They also make the world a living nightmare for the villainous characters usually with their ridiculous antics alone. I think out of my characters Leo is probably the best example.
My least favourite characters are ones who never suffer any repercussions for their bad deeds, or that are never held accountable for anything. (Usually happens with the writer's obvious favourite character).There's nothing worse than waiting for someone to get their comeuppance for what they've done when it just doesn't happen.
Also characters who are overly sarcastic all of the time get annoying super fast, as the same people do in real life.
There's probably more but all I can think of ATM.
And then....
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
For my SimLit it's very rare that I have a very specific idea for what the character looks like outside of the general 'vibe' of the character, and maybe a clothing preference, hair style or skin tone. Sometimes I let Randomiser do the work, especially using Play with Genetics to come up with designs for the rest of the family. TS4 isn't really great for making the character you have a super-specific idea for, IMO. I always found that easier in TS3 for some reason.
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I love non-human humanoids or other characters that have an outsider's view on humanity, who will then have to make sense of the world and humans. So sort of like the black sheep-type @SnowBnuuy talked about, but just... on a very fundamental level of existence or something, I guess.
Another type is the sarcastic, cynical person. Which often overlaps with my third fav, which is the Lovable Rogue, a character who does illegal things but is more of an anti-hero and has several redeeming qualities. I also like smart characters.
And like @Kellogg_J_Kellogg and Snow, I too love the "normal person in a chaotic environment" as well.
If you want to know what my ultimate author appeal character looks like, just look at Tad from my Chrysanthemum Tango-story (he also makes cameos in Foget-Me-Not, but isn't a main character there). He's a non-human person, morbid and creepy but also kind, trying to figure out humanity. He's kind of goofy while also being competent in his own field of expertise. He's an intelligent and wise character in a situation he doesn't understand properly, which forces him to grow and adapt to new situations and discover himself. Self-discovery is one of the things I love to write about. Also on a visual level, he's a cute but creepy, alternative-looking person, which I like.
When I was younger, I remember usually finding characters who were too nice and without much conflict boring, but nowadays I usually just go: "aww, they're nice, I hope they're happy" and like them. I do like it when characters have flaws or growing to do or obstacles to overcome, because otherwise there rarely is a story.
I usually don't like one-note characters without any other depth than just one personality trait or stereotype. Especially if they're in focus. I especially don't like villains or antagonists who are doing villainous things without a proper motive (unless it's a parody, in which case it can be hilarious if done well).
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
I spend a lot of time in CAS making my plot-relevant Sims, and I regularly update their clothes to match the passage of time or the seasons etc. Sometimes I have a specific idea for a Sim and sometimes it's a vague one and I just play around more. Townies can usually stay the way they are unless plot requires them to show up more in which case I will give them alternate outfits that matches their style (so they won't look like they're always wearing the same thing). For some one-off side characters I might do a quick semi-random CAS-session, but those are pretty rare. I still make sure they're dressed appropriately for the weather and the situation.
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
What are your least favourite character traits/perspectives/archetypes?
Why do you like/dislike reading (or writing) these kinds of characters?
I love reading complex, extremely well thought-out characters. I'm not sure that I have favorites, but two things I dislike are the classic hero and any story about a chosen child/teenager who saves the world. Saying I dislike them is a bit strong, because I don't really dislike anything - these are simply the stories and characters I tend to gravitate away from.
How much time do you spend in CAS getting your character's look just right? Is the look important or do you go with whatever CAS randomly selects and concentrate more on the writing?
My characters are mostly born in-game, so I create them indirectly and don't mess with their physical features much. CAS hasn't been a huge focus of mine, but I find myself spending more and more time in CAS (like forever trying to find the right outfit for a certain mood). If I have a fashion-focused Sim, then CAS is a huge deal—if not, it's less important. For me, ideally the look should match my story/legacy and it's as important as the story makes it. In general, I've become more careful about my screenshots and their overall look (using ReShade and doing more post-processing), but that change won't show up in my actual posts for quite a while. I'm a gameplay storyteller, so I don't really create scenes unless there's an in-story reason for a scene to be created (e.g., a Sim is into acting). But now I'm trying more to make my legacy appear as if it has the same care put into it as plot-driven and set up SimLit.
If you do the quiz I'd love to know what result you get. I got:
'Fear: You create from fear. For almost as long as you can remember, you have been terrified. There is a near constant panic in your chest that threatens to leave you completely petrified. Your art is an attempt to confront what frightens you most, to face it head on rather than always continuing to run away. It is a battle, your best effort at fighting back against the fear filling your chest. You create art about what scares you in order to steel yourself against it. There are easier and more pleasant things to create art about, but you don't want to let your fear rule you, so you force yourself to give it an audience through your work. You depict your worst nightmares so that they won't take up so much space in your mind. Art is a safe place to come to terms with everything that makes you feel unsafe.'
I don't think this is particularly fitting though.
LOVE
You create from love. It is an overflowing love that seeps out of your heart and into all you create. You couldn't possibly contain it inside yourself, and so you dedicate yourself to depicting it through everything you make. Your art is a celebration of what you cherish most, a loving tribute to everything that captivates you. There are things too wonderful to be appreciated in silence, and so you sing of your love time and time again. You are determined not to let your vast love go unnoticed or forgotten. That's why your work is a declaration of affection, an expression of fondness for everything that makes your life worth living.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
Spite
You create from spite. There is a deep resentment burning inside you that demands to be let out. You have been wronged and you can't bring yourself to forgive or forget. Your work is an act of defiance, a striving to prove others wrong and leave your mark on this world. You will declare loud and clear the injustices you've been dealt will not silently disappear, that they will demand an audience over and over again. You create to force people to acknowledge the unpleasant truths they try to ignore. Your art is fueled by a need to expose the insidious evils and hypocrisies that you've been subject to. It is a means of becoming more than just a victim, a way of reclaiming your life as your own.
gratitude
You create from gratitude. There is something for which you are deeply, profoundly grateful, for which the words "thank you" couldn't begin to suffice. It is enough to make you glad to be alive. You make art to express your deep gratitude for having been allowed to know something wonderful enough to redeem all life's pains. Your work is pervaded by a sense of thankfulness, an appreciation for what you've been lucky enough to know. It is a loving expression of the sincerest gratitude there is. Your art is thanks for every good fortune you've received. It is a tribute to a feeling you have vowed never to forget. You count yourself as incredibly lucky, and your work is a testament to that. It is proof this world and this life need not be such terrible things.
@SnuffyBucket I think we both embody spite pretty well XD
@texxx78 That's a nice one ^u^ I think it's nice to find something beautiful.
Reverence
You create from reverence. There is something you admire more than words can say. You worship and revere it, to the point that you can't help yourself from singing its praises. Your art is a means of doing this. You do your best to depict the overwhelming splendor you see in it, to make its glory clear. Your work is the highest praise of everything you revere, a tribute to the most wonderful things you know. There is nothing more inspiring to you than the objects of your deepest admiration. It drives you to create over and over again, to strive to adequately capture the splendor you see. You are single minded in your devotion, determined to do justice to what shines so brilliantly in your eyes. You offer up your art as a tribute to something greater than yourself, a goodness that you can only aspire to. That is what the act of creation means to you.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html
I'm intrigued by some of the darker matches.
If I give this any credit, I suppose I do like to show the unpretty behind the pretty and not just in writing; maybe it's that. *shrugs*