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Post by jennifer on Feb 12, 2011 4:37:17 GMT -5
I really like this idea of being able to babble freely about one's story.  A place where you can think out loud or if need be vent any frustrations you have. Well I have some. Frustration that is. lol So I feel like I have a major dilemma with a certain character atm. I just don't know what to do with them. I don't know where their story is headed, I don't know whether I should put them on the back burner or whether I should just maybe kill them off. Okay, so killing them off might be a tad drastic and honestly I'd rather not do that if I really don't have too. I haven't written about them for a while now so I guess that means they're already on the back burner?? Other characters have been taking up my time, speaking to me more than I thought they would but I just can't help to wonder, is it affecting my story if I'm not writing about this character? Are my readers wondering where such and such is or am I just being paranoid. I've been silently freaking out about this. lol |
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Post by drew on Feb 12, 2011 16:23:14 GMT -5
I really like this idea of being able to babble freely about one's story. A place where you can think out loud or if need be vent any frustrations you have. Well I have some. Frustration that is. lol So I feel like I have a major dilemma with a certain character atm. I just don't know what to do with them. I don't know where their story is headed, I don't know whether I should put them on the back burner or whether I should just maybe kill them off. Okay, so killing them off might be a tad drastic and honestly I'd rather not do that if I really don't have too. I haven't written about them for a while now so I guess that means they're already on the back burner?? Other characters have been taking up my time, speaking to me more than I thought they would but I just can't help to wonder, is it affecting my story if I'm not writing about this character? Are my readers wondering where such and such is or am I just being paranoid. I've been silently freaking out about this. lol OMG! SQUEEEEE! *throws confetti* you started a babble thread! Notice I don't have one. I figure I babble enough at my main blog! ;D You know I have no compunctions about killing off characters. But if you really don't want to do that, then sometimes a beloved or popular/main character needs to go on the back burner for a bit, if that character is not 'talking to you', you can't force it. Go with the characters and plots that are talking to you right now. You can always reach on the back burner for the other character further down the road if you want. Or leave him simmering. Sometimes you can't force it. JMO. And it's your story, concentrate on whatever characters YOU want. And no, your story is definitely not suffering~ |
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Post by jennifer on Feb 12, 2011 23:20:46 GMT -5
LOL Drew and I did notice.  I think it will help me a bit. It's good to type your thoughts out and I don't tend to write a lot of side notes on my story either. Oh I know you don't, lol! And yeah I really don't want do that if I don't have too. I think I put them on the back burner with out even realizing. And yeah, I don't want to force it. I have a feeling if I do that then it will just look rush and messy, and probably come out all wrong in the story. Him??? Hmmm..... It's actually a she. It's hard to disguise who your talking about while trying to get across the point of what you want to explain. So I was just being paranoid then.  Thanks Drew.  |
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Post by jennifer on Feb 13, 2011 23:15:57 GMT -5
I was thinking about it last night and I think I know how I'm going to tackle this dilemma. Half of my next chapter will focus on this character and then I think they will be absent until I start on Part 4.
Oh yes I think I have it all planned out. *runs to study where story notes are and crazily scribbles down more details/ideas*
I'm actually excited about this and looking at it as a challenge because it will also include a new character joining The Drifter.
Yey! lol
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Post by drew on Feb 15, 2011 17:27:11 GMT -5
LOL Drew and I did notice. I think it will help me a bit. It's good to type your thoughts out and I don't tend to write a lot of side notes on my story either. Oh I know you don't, lol! And yeah I really don't want do that if I don't have too. I think I put them on the back burner with out even realizing. And yeah, I don't want to force it. I have a feeling if I do that then it will just look rush and messy, and probably come out all wrong in the story. Him??? Hmmm..... It's actually a she. It's hard to disguise who your talking about while trying to get across the point of what you want to explain. So I was just being paranoid then. Thanks Drew. Eeep!! Sorry, I was thinking of someone totally different. DUH. Glad to hear you might be on the right track, great update BTW, very tense~ |
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Post by jennifer on Feb 15, 2011 22:15:47 GMT -5
Drew, no stress! And thanks! |
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Post by jennifer on Feb 19, 2011 4:16:05 GMT -5
So I'm having a major creative burst. And not writing wise, more building, lol. But I think it's going to help me to be a little more organized of where my characters are/live/dine/party etc. I'm not sure how everyone else sets up their own towns/neighborhoods for their stories. I guess it's depends on which game your playing - TS2 or TS3.
I've decided to totally reorganize SV (Sunset Valley). Eventually most of my characters will be based in the one town, Greenland Bay. This is Will's hometown and I thought how sweet it would be for his children to also grow up in that town. It's very close to his heart too because this is where he last saw his father before he disappeared.
So far I've redesigned 3 out of 5 to 6 community lots. If this town that I've created, Greenland Bay, is to be any different to SV then almost every community lot needs to be spruced up or changed in some way. I'm moving the lots around as well which is already giving a totally different feel of a new town!
So no more loading from one saved game to another and I think it will help with my long loading times as well which I babbled about on my main blog several days ago - just in case anyone is reading this, if not then that's cool because I'm really just babbling to myself to make sense of what I'm doing, lol!!
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Post by jennifer on Feb 19, 2011 23:01:18 GMT -5
Well I think I spoke too soon yesterday. My game crashed 5 times while I was trying to redesign a community lot.  I gave up after the 5th time and surfed the net instead. But something good did come out of it because I discovered that Will has become the very meaning of his name - a protector. Most of the other characters names are meaningless though. lol I'm not so worried about that because when I first started writing this story Will was always going to be the main star. |
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Post by jennifer on Feb 22, 2011 8:45:37 GMT -5
Ooooh, it's been almost a fortnight since my last chapter was published and I try to stick to a weekly publishing schedule but RL has just been putting a downer on my creative side. Anyway, I've been working on the next two chapters tonight. Late night writing seems to suit me to a tea!  Zero interruptions and the silence is bliss, although someone did just drive down our street tooting their god damn horn! Grrrr. Hello, it's 12.30 at night! Next chapter should be up by the end of the week. |
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Post by jennifer on Feb 28, 2011 22:11:15 GMT -5
Trying establish some organization atm. Currently writing Part Summaries for anyone that doesn't wish to read from the very beginning. This is hard too, lol! I was never good at summarizing things. A chapter synopsis is coming as well but that's pretty straight forward although creating all the links is really doing my head in.  But I'm getting there and look forward to publishing them once they're done! |
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Post by jennifer on Mar 3, 2011 5:00:39 GMT -5
Sitting here at my desk just thinking. Drinking some champa's, lol!
So I'm planning for Part 4 of The Drifter already. I've decided that I will definitely move things forward several years. But how far ahead should I go?
I mean, I want Josh and Sandy to be older, you know, teens maybe or young adults. I was thinking teens originally but then I thought would that restrict me, with plots and stuff?
Young adults would be good but then I'd have to age up their parents to Adults and I'm not sure I'm ready to do that. It always gets tricky aging up your characters. Teens can definitely get up to just as much mischief as adults, can't they?
Maybe I'll sit on this one.
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Post by drew on Mar 3, 2011 9:30:43 GMT -5
Sitting here at my desk just thinking. Drinking some champa's, lol! So I'm planning for Part 4 of The Drifter already. I've decided that I will definitely move things forward several years. But how far ahead should I go? I mean, I want Josh and Sandy to be older, you know, teens maybe or young adults. I was thinking teens originally but then I thought would that restrict me, with plots and stuff? Young adults would be good but then I'd have to age up their parents to Adults and I'm not sure I'm ready to do that. It always gets tricky aging up your characters. Teens can definitely get up to just as much mischief as adults, can't they? Maybe I'll sit on this one. I find moving ahead 4-5 years at a time is working for me. Since we are using Sims, you really don't have to follow a linear time line as such, I suppose you would if you were doing a legacy, not sure. But since we are dealing with fiction and the jarring aging of sims in -game, I'd say you can do just about anything. And it depends on the type of stories you want to tell. Want to tell some angst-y teen stuff? Or would you rather do early adult? You really don't have to age Will and Eliza that much, I put a few 'wrinkle around the eyes' CC on a few sims like Liam, that was it. In the 1974 part of CS (that I am working on now), the kids should be toddlers, I didn't want to deal with that so I aged them to kids, and make references they are 'barely out of toddlerhood' And my adults are moving into their mid-forties, but I am making sure they still look good! I guess what I am rambling to say, it is your story, do what you want to tell the story you want to tell. And if that means fudging with ages and time-lines, Meh. |
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Post by jennifer on Mar 4, 2011 23:44:05 GMT -5
I find moving ahead 4-5 years at a time is working for me. Since we are using Sims, you really don't have to follow a linear time line as such, I suppose you would if you were doing a legacy, not sure. But since we are dealing with fiction and the jarring aging of sims in -game, I'd say you can do just about anything. And it depends on the type of stories you want to tell. Want to tell some angst-y teen stuff? Or would you rather do early adult? You really don't have to age Will and Eliza that much, I put a few 'wrinkle around the eyes' CC on a few sims like Liam, that was it. In the 1974 part of CS (that I am working on now), the kids should be toddlers, I didn't want to deal with that so I aged them to kids, and make references they are 'barely out of toddlerhood' And my adults are moving into their mid-forties, but I am making sure they still look good! I guess what I am rambling to say, it is your story, do what you want to tell the story you want to tell. And if that means fudging with ages and time-lines, Meh. I'm always worried about 'time' in my story. I find it's a hard one to juggle, especially when I don't actually give too much of an indication of how much time has gone by. lol As for plot wise, well, I was thinking more along the lines of some teen stuff, but very close to becoming an adult. I think though some teens really do look like teens, you know, and I prefer the look of the young adults. Just to be difficult. Maybe I should just age up some of the kiddies now and see what they look like and see what plots and stuff I can come up with. lol I've got a few ideas on paper that I can play with. Gosh Will and Eliza with wrinkles, grey hair? Oh actually I can see Will with grey hair, I think he'd still be handsome. The only way to tell is too suss it out in game. I like the 'barely out of toddlerhood'. Gee I can't wait to see some of the 1974 part. All this thinking out loud will eventually result in something. It did with Barbara! Cheers Drew! |
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Post by drew on Mar 5, 2011 9:54:09 GMT -5
Time is hard to juggle. even when doing an update. Is it the next day? A week later? I have to remind myself to try and include that when I write the chapter. Late teens is good, and your idea of aging the kids up and having a look at them is a good one. It could inspire you to plots and stuff to be sure. It has worked for me in the past. I could see Will with gray hair. I am curious, is there any 'face wrinkle' CC available for the sims 3? And personally, I like a little Gray hair on a man. Age and experience can be sexy!  Thinking out loud is good, and forgot to tell you, great update BTW, lots of emotion, which I love~  |
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Post by jennifer on Mar 6, 2011 0:21:53 GMT -5
Gaaah! Glad I'm not the only one! lol When I was taking shots for chapter 9 I forgot to change Will's clothes. I got the shots I wanted and there was nooooo way I was going back to redo them. Then as I was writing the chapter I realized it didn't matter that his clothes were the same because it was the next day right after the fire and obviously he didn't have any other clothes to wear. lol Late teens is good, and your idea of aging the kids up and having a look at them is a good one. It could inspire you to plots and stuff to be sure. It has worked for me in the past. I could see Will with gray hair. I am curious, is there any 'face wrinkle' CC available for the sims 3? And personally, I like a little Gray hair on a man. Age and experience can be sexy! Thinking out loud is good, and forgot to tell you, great update BTW, lots of emotion, which I love~ There is a standard face wrinkle in game which I will be using on Charlie very soon. His transformation chapter is coming up. lol I've noticed though that the wrinkles aren't really that visible, only in close up shots. I haven't actually searched for specific CC, I'm a bit lazy when it comes to stuff like that. Normally just make do with what I have. All this babbling is definitely helping. I'm feeling inspired and feel like I'm actually getting somewhere. Aww thanks so much Drew. To hear that means a lot.  |
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Post by jennifer on Mar 6, 2011 4:06:10 GMT -5
Here's a pic of Charlie with the age facial detail. It's a comparison pic I used to see exactly how different he would look when I changed him down from an elder. He does look a lot younger but there's not much I can do about it. Guess I'll never use elders again because of this. lol |
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Post by celebkiriedhel on Mar 6, 2011 6:11:00 GMT -5
Have you seen Arisuka's wrinkle systems? They are completely awesome - and you could make Charlie look way older even as an adult. (Arisuka is at MTS3).
Their bags under the eyes are superb!
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Post by drew on Mar 6, 2011 20:15:09 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing those comparison pics of Charlie. Oooh, yeah, adult done up to look older is way better than in game elder, for either Sims 2 or 3. It is what I plan to do as well when my characters age, slap some wrinkles on them, give them gray hair, no way will they ever be elders.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 6, 2011 22:10:22 GMT -5
Sorry the pic is so big when you clicked on it. lol Kiri - No I haven't seen Arisuka's wrinkle systems. But I will check them out, thanks!! As a I said before I'm really lazy when it comes to searching for stuff like that. lol Drew - Yeah I know, the elders, meh. lol Oh well we live and learn. |
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Post by jennifer on Mar 13, 2011 7:22:41 GMT -5
Finally finished shooting for Chapter 10, not so happy with the shots but what can you do. You can only do the best you can with what you've got, right? I've had a couple of good runs lately so this must just be a bad one. I really wish we had some better storytelling stuff for TS3 too. Sometimes I feel I'm at the end of the line with ways to come up with different scenes. I feel like we are so limited sometimes. It can be quite frustrating! On a positive note though I guess this forces me to write a lot better. To tell the story in such detail that the reader is able to clearly visualize in their mind the scene they are reading. Now to get my butt into gear and start writing!  ...but where oh where has the time gone... |
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