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Post by girlyesterday on Sept 20, 2009 18:35:36 GMT -5
I've always been curious as to why a majority of sim readers seem to prefer an ongoing series to a collection of short sim stories.
For me personally, I have so many ideas and stories that I struggle to maintain interest in the writing of an ongoing series which is why I tend to fail quite spectuarly at them.
So I guess my question is;
a) Which do you prefer to read, an ongoing series or a collection of short stories and why b) How do you maintain interest for the long haul when writing your ongoing series c) Do you plan in advance or 'wing it' d) Eventually, you'll go through a phase of being bored with your stories or characters, how do you combat this
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Post by Monday Morning on Sept 20, 2009 18:54:51 GMT -5
a) Which do you prefer to read, an ongoing series or a collection of short stories and why b) How do you maintain interest for the long haul when writing your ongoing series c) Do you plan in advance or 'wing it' d) Eventually, you'll go through a phase of being bored with your stories or characters, how do you combat this Here's my answer to your question. A.) I like on-going stories, because I like books. I wouldn't just sit down and read one chapter and be done with it. I'd want to know what was going to happen next and how. But, that's not to say that I don't enjoy short stories. In fact, I really liked your short stories when you had them up at Greylands. (Those were yours, right? I hope!? ) B.) I can only hope that I'm maintaining interest in my readers. I try to add intrigue and danger, and emotion, and situations that will have them doing what I do when I read other peoples' works. If ever I write something that is boring, I'd hope someone would come out and say, "Hey! That was boring!" so that I could work on making my story interesting and exciting again. C.) I so wing it! But I read my story over and over again so that I can remember to add in certain characters again, or remember to add in key phrases. I do this to minimize the loop holes. Again, if my loop holes get too big, please tell me! D.) When this happens, and it's actually happening right now with Chapter Six of RT, I go and read other sims-stories for inspiration. I look at how they set up their scenes and how they wrote everything, then I think about the fact that I promised myself I'd actually finish this, and from there, I go back to writing. This process may take a few days, but I eventually come back around to my story and continue forward. Great questions!
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Post by girlyesterday on Sept 20, 2009 19:41:27 GMT -5
I tip my hat off to all the sim writers out there who are able to write a series. I've seen some that are in their second/third year. The thought is overwhelming to me and leaves me in complete awe.
Yes, the greyland stories were mine. I've given up on trying to rewrite VoE. I got writer's block on that story and I suspect it's entirely due to the fact I've grown to loathe the story and its characters.
It's great to meet someone else who "wings it" like I do. I never plan my stories out - I feel it restricts me too much and makes me think I have to stick to those guidelines or else. That's part of VoE's failure too I think.
I get to the point of being so frustrated that I just have to walk away for a few days and do something unrelated and just forget about the entire thing completely. Sometimes that's a good thing but often I end up never coming back to it if I do that. My brain never stops working. I have a notebook specifically for all the story ideas that crop up in my head. I've filled up at least two notebooks so far. None of which are viable as sim stories though. At least, not with the current custom content available.
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Post by Monday Morning on Sept 20, 2009 20:43:00 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear that VoE isn't going as you had hoped. Sometimes I feel that way with RT, and it makes me sad because I've already put so much effort into it.
I've also done that with my own non-sims stories: gotten so frustrated with them that I've just put them on the back burner. I have at least two to three stories that I've been fiddling with for about three years, and still I've never been able to get them off the ground. It's almost as if I get too involved with my characters, or that I get ahead of myself when I'm thinking up the paths I want them to head down, that I just get bored or annoyed.
But, this sims-based style of writing has actually been pretty fun for me, and it's my first attempt at it. I've always wanted to do something more in the community, and I'm not lying when I say my first (and last) attempt at a music video was an epic fail. I did make some homes and walls for TS2, and I've got four TS3 lots up over at MTS, but that's not anything to be overly proud of. If I can make a person jump or feel sorry for my sims through storytelling, then I know that this is part of the community that I fit into best.
Plus, everyone so far that I've met (especially here), seems to be the nicest bunch yet. Sure, we might all have squabbles, but I think we're all mature enough to know the difference between pixels and real life.
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Post by Stacy on Sept 21, 2009 1:19:18 GMT -5
Oooh oooh I wing it! I totally totally wing it and 99.9% of Valley just sort of spills out of my fingers and completely bypasses the conscious bits of my brain.
Err - answering the other questions now. It's 2 a.m. and I'm really tired and drained - tough update day.
I really just prefer to read good stories and don't care if they're five pictures or 60 chapters long. Although if the chapters are too long and there's too much text and the plot is too slow I probably will wander off. But then I guess it wouldn't fit into the aforesaid "good" stories category anyway.
If you like short one-offs - do you have an LJ? There's a Sims story community on LJ named Simhaven and they have monthly challenges for short one-offs, although several of them have ongoing worlds and characters that they use for them.
Hmm. Valley is really only a series in the sense that it has multiple updates. It's not an ongoing thing and has a definite ending. But I suppose that some people want to come back and read the next one because I generally end on a cliffhanger and the plot has dramatic events.
As I said - I 100% wing it.
Err - haven't gotten bored with Valley yet. Can't imagine being bored with it. I love it. Extremely. A lot. Two updates a week for nearly three months now and not the first sign of burnout. Burnout at replying to comments, yes - that's why I'm feeling drained right now and not very social interaction-y. But bored with the story? Never.
I'm afraid of finishing it. I'm afraid I'll be horribly depressed. I haven't been depressed in a long time and I don't want to go through it again. But it's all I think about and all I talk about and when it's done it'll leave a giant hole in my heart and, like Lilith, I'll fall into the void.
Maybe. Or maybe I'll get right to work on a non-Sims version. Who knows?
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Post by girlyesterday on Sept 21, 2009 6:04:29 GMT -5
Nope, I don't have an LJ - not a big fan of that particular service so I don't tend to really use it. There are one or two things I look at on there but I try not to visit that place if I can avoid it.
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Catherine
Junior Member
I like to say SQUEE!
Posts: 97
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Post by Catherine on Sept 21, 2009 11:21:59 GMT -5
Ooooh, these are good questions! I enjoyed reading the responses and I'm looking forward to hearing from others.
Here are my own answers:
It doesn't matter to me if a story is ongoing or a quick one-and-out. It's all about quality for me.
Hmmm. Not really sure about the question of maintaining interest for an ongoing story. I'm writing a legacy at the moment, but it's a bit unique in that it's designed to be an educational story, not an artistic one. I do try to put something that I think people will find interesting in each update. And I guess the fact that I update almost every day keeps people reading just out of habit.
When I read other stories, little cliffhangers or the introduction of a new situation at the end of an update usually make me look forward to reading more.
I'm not so hot at winging it. Even in my gameplay based legacy, I have the Sims' lives planned out well in advance. My next project (or two projects, time permitting) are already planned out almost completely. I am constantly amazed at how some people can just make great quality plots up as they go. Just not how my brain works.
I will confess that I am currently totally bored with my legacy project. But I've been through that phase before, and the only thing that works for me is to grit my teeth and keep on keepin' on until I find that my level of interest is increasing on its own. Eventually, it always does, and then I get on fire for writing updates again. That's always a good feeling.
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Post by raquelaroden on Sept 21, 2009 16:12:46 GMT -5
I've been thinking about this post for a while....I can answer question a, but I'm not sure I've been writing my series long enough to give accurate answers to b, c, or d.....
I like both ongoing series and collections of short stories. I like reading ongoing series because there's simply more time for the authors to reveal the characters. Since it is an ongoing series, they can reveal parts of the character's past or personality in a variety of ways. That's also why I like writing in series form, so far--I don't feel the pressure to reveal everything. The reader can find out more about my characters the same way I do, and that's through exploring their actions, reactions, thoughts, and memories when they are placed in particular situations. I like short stories because they usually depend on interesting situations, and there's the satisfaction of the ending. I think they are probably much harder to write.
I don't know how I maintain interest in my series--I'm not sure I've even really accomplished that. I'm only on the first story. We'll see if I have any readers left after I finish it. For now, I'm just trying to inject my stories with things that have me coming back to authors--promises yet unfulfilled, hints too broad to puzzle through on my own, etc..
As far as planning goes, I plan out how I want the overall series to go, but not so much the particular story. It's a bit alarming how much I wing it. I think of a lot of situations and even dialogue completely out of context or order, and sometimes I'll see a place to insert these things (other times they don't work at all, or are forced, so I save them for another day).
I don't know how I'll combat this. Maybe by making them do something out of character, and then forcing myself to engineer the rest of the story to show how it really is in character? That would be challenging, and would probably afford some interesting opportunities to explore other aspects of the characters.
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Post by Stacy on Sept 25, 2009 0:49:20 GMT -5
I just wanted to say that you all rock and are awesome and made me happy that I decided to make this little forum.
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Post by girlyesterday on Sept 25, 2009 1:48:47 GMT -5
Stacy, thank YOU for creating the forum and bringing like minded people together. I've been wanting to find a place like this for a while so thank you so much for letting me know about it.
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Post by blackdaisies on Sept 25, 2009 14:34:59 GMT -5
I'm currently writing a series, so I guess this topic appeals to me. I don't think I could ever write short fiction. I've never written a decent short story in my life. My ideas are too broad and I like a lot of characters so it's difficult for me to keep it down under a certain length. a) I definitely prefer ongoing series, or many chapters. Personally I find it hard to get into short stories, and that's not to say anything bad about short story writers. It's just my preference. b) I'm still trying to figure out how to maintain interest. I guess I create a story that appeals to me first of all and I just tell it. I try to incorporate stuff I've learned about storyboarding to keep my pictures interesting. Also I try to create compelling characters, because that's what keeps me stuck to a story first and foremost. For me character creation is my primary draw in other people's stories, followed closely by the plot. Writing style/skill/technique comes a distant last. c) The major plot points in my story are planned in advance. But there are many, many elements that are carried through on the fly. There are actually points where I've completely winged the story depending on how sims react to a situation, or what their current wants were. d) I feel like I've been stuck on a few points, but I've never been bored with any of my characters yet. If I do get bored of a character, I imagine I'd write them out some way.
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Post by simusing on Oct 2, 2009 12:38:33 GMT -5
I think that given the ongoing play style of the sims, series are an inevitable result. They just seem to go so well with the medium. I think this also stems from the legacy-style culture that has developed since the start of sims 2.
This ongoing nature of the stories is something that interests me greatly as I love alternative narratives and pushing the limits of traditional literature.I would love to explore this topic more if people are interested.
There are some other types of ongoing narrative out in the world that I think relate quite well to this type of storytelling, and I wonder if the elements and tactics used in tv shows and comics can be used to create compelling and long lasting sims serials.
These mediums seem to do a very good job of creating strings of related short stories tied up in an arc of a larger story. Then, they are able to add one completed long story to another to create multiple seasons. I would love to figure out a good way to apply this type of technique to the creation of a sims story. I think that creating this type of structure would help to keep both readers interested and my own muse.
Has anyone tried using these types of multi-level story arcs in their sims serials? I would love to hear how it has worked out. Also, any ideas on how it could be done would interest me as well.
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Post by girlyesterday on Oct 2, 2009 16:50:16 GMT -5
Simusing, you pose a very interesting question.
Looking at a 'series' in terms of tv shows, I have only really seen that done through TS2 machinima (episodic style).
Given my penchant to get easily distracted, this would interest me too. I am not real sure how you would attempt this other than do it episode style perhaps?
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Post by drew on Oct 6, 2009 11:05:30 GMT -5
I have three on-going series Sims 2 stories, I have changed the format (going from a serial to a more focused character driven updates, focusing on one character) I have ended stories, only to come back to them (Like Crime Story) I have done short stories, because I started at TSR posting stories 3 years ago. Yes, I have been doing this three years, LOL! I have seen readers come and go. I plan some plots ahead of time, but I have been know to 'wing it' as well. The first part of Crime Story, I had no clear plan where I was going, just did it one chapter at a time, it kind of reflects that, as some characters took some interesting turns! But the readers seemed to like that. And yes, I do get bored. The good thing about having three on-going stories is when I get bored with one, I can go to the other. Or I end it, LOL! Of course, I wrap up the plots first. And how to maintain interest? I am a firm believer in using cliffhangers when warranted when doing a Sims story serial.
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Post by heredoncove on Oct 11, 2009 17:31:56 GMT -5
a) Which do you prefer to read, an ongoing series or a collection of short stories and why?
I prefer the ongoing stories. I feel like I'm able to grow with the characters or at least see them grow and thats entertaining in its own right.
b) How do you maintain interest for the long haul when writing your ongoing series
I'm not sure because I haven't gotten there yet. I only started my story in July after wrestling with myself for over a year and then needing to be a perfectionist to how my neighborhood is set up. I hope that I can keep the storylines interesting for my readers and that they grow to feel invested in these pixelated lives.
c) Do you plan in advance or 'wing it'
I do a bit of both. I have general notes that I plan to follow but if I'm watching my Sims 'live' and their doing their own thing that makes more sense I'll go with that. However, a lot of the times they come back to my notes. I think only three households out of my eight have really surprised me.
d) Eventually, you'll go through a phase of being bored with your stories or characters, how do you combat this
I do get bored and its mostly because I have a lot going on but I try to motivate myself through a pep talk. There is so much I want to cover and I feel that HC is helping me not only creatively but in my writing skills
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Post by mdpthatsme on Oct 15, 2009 18:25:08 GMT -5
A) Ongoing series are better for reasons that they keep going. Readers are usually bored or curious people, a series that is on-going keeps them coming back like goodbye_sun of GoS with her 100 days of Sorrow.
Short stories usually end shortly, hence the name...so it takes less time to create suspense, the thrill, which through studies is one of the reasons why readers like long book series like the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, 17 books so far, I think....
B) I haven't been posting my stories very long, but behind the scenes my friends and family are interested in the completion of the next chapter(s)...if their interests stay, mine do too.
C) I do both, winging it and planning it. To make that clear, I know the beginning and ending of the story, what comes in the middle I usually wing, in a sense. Important chapters are planned, comedy relief and another scenes usually are not.
D) I've been living with my characters for a VERY long time...so, yes, I can get bored of them occasually. I have a lot of manuscripts so if I'm bored with one I switch to another, until the writer's block ends on the other one. OF course they are non-sim related so I never have to fish for pictures or create house or community lot scenes.
Help any?
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