Questions about Writing Legacy Stories

[k822112]

I've read several of your legacies. I really like the way you write and I was wondering if you could give some insight into the process of your legacy writing.
How do you decide which challenge to do?
Do you decide the story first and play the game that way or do you just write whatever happens in the game?
How much do you play at a time? Do you take notes as you play?
How do you decide what is important/interesting to write about and what you need images of?
Any tips for people fairly new to the game?

[Ashleigh825]

Hi k8! I'd be happy to answer some of those questions for you. ^^

How do you decide which challenge to do?
I really just choose challenges that interest me. Anything unique or really anything that I find amusing. I thought the Chauvinist challenge was rather funny in a morbid way, so I decided to start one. I thought the Legacy and Apocalypse Challenges were interesting so I played them. It's more personal preference, really. Just find a challenge that you think you'd have fun playing.

Do you decide the story first and play the game that way or do you just write whatever happens in the game?
A little of both, I would say. I usually have an outline in my head of what I want to see happen in the story and will purposely put my Sims in those situations for the sake of the story, but my Sims also like to throw surprises at me. For example: Miraj has both the flirty and family-oriented traits, but for the story, I decided to highlight his family-oriented trait moreso than his flirty trait and planned to have him be completely loyal to Margaret his entire life, but he had different plans. I left Miraj alone to play as Morgan for a while when all of a sudden, everyone in the house got the Upset moodlet and ran upstairs. Confused, I zoomed in to see what the heck was going on and found that Miraj had attempted to hit on Matilda, who did not appreciate her son-in-law coming on to her at all and neither did the rest of the family. I ended up writing it into the story as a big misunderstanding in order to comply with the personality I had given Miraj in the story.

How much do you play at a time? Do you take notes as you play?
Haha, I usually dedicate at least three hours to playing and sometimes, I'll play all day just to get a plot finished, but you don't have to do that if you don't have the time. You can play in shorter intervals and wait until you have enough screenshots to put together a chapter. As for taking notes, I used to do that, but it quickly became tiresome and more like work than play for me, so I stopped. I will still jot down some info about the extended family I get via my Story Progression mod, but I don't keep a detailed log like I used to.

How do you decide what is important/interesting to write about and what you need images of?
Oh that's a loaded question. Hrmm... well, to be honest, I find it difficult to separate important from unimportant a lot of the time, which is usually why it takes me so long to finish a chapter these days. I find myself wanting to write about EVERYTHING, but I guess I would say to figure out whether or not what you want to write about adds to the story or to the character. If it doesn't add to either, then it's not important and doesn't need to be in the story. As for screenshots, I honestly try not to worry too much about them. I try to make my writing the focus of my chapters and use screenshots to compliment my writing, not the other way around. Your chapter should read just as well and detailed without any screenshots at all as it would with them. Tell the story with your words and let your screenshots accent it, not overpower it.

Any tips for people fairly new to the game?
Get familiar with the game before blogging about a challenge. Do some practice runs with "Dummy Sims" first to see if you'd really enjoy writing about it or not, or whether or not you think you can finish the challenge. Don't forget to make time for you in the game. When you're only playing the game because you need to get another chapter out and not because you want to play it for your own enjoyment, you'll get burnt-out. When you start feeling stressed about updating, take a Sims vacation. Post a note on your blog announcing you're taking a break and play the game just for fun, with no rules or deadlines or anything. Just you and your Sims, playing however you want. It's a really good way to recharge your batteries when you're running (or writing) on empty.