Heredon Cove Babble

[heredoncove]

This seems fun as in I very rarely ramble out loud to others about the Cove. We'll see how this goes I guess.

I'm trying to work on Samuel Heredon's update right now as he's the last of the 8 households. I hate feeling as if I don't have enough pictures and that might be what's holding me back from my writing. I mean I took the pictures on the 13th, its now the 18th more than enough time to get cracking.

Another part of my stalling might be what steps to take with the families next. I think they need to start being more integrated so that they appear to be a community but it has to flow organically. I've taken to noting questions about each character that I feel needs to be explored, just basic ones into their characteristics and background. I just want to keep people interested.

What to do with a picture that is stunning but does not fit into the update

[raquelaroden]

I really need to read your story already! I can say something about what to do with stunning pics that don't fit into the update, though. One suggestion is to put it under the Picspam thread (I think it's in the Sims 3 discussion-- or you could start a Sims 2 Picspam thread) so that we can see it! Another option is to make it into a sort of advertisement....maybe?

[thelunarfox]

Oooh, good ideas Rachel. I was wondering about those good pics that don't fit into an update.

Another idea, if it doesn't fit into the update, but it would fit into cannon, you could always try writing a short piece around the picture. Carnaxa gave me that idea with her short story/freeform prompt A Letter to my Crush.

[heredoncove]

Thanks Rachel and TLF! I like the idea of a pic spam thread. I only end up with two or three pictures that I really love and can't fit and sometimes it pains me to delete them so I often don't. A few I make headers out of but most often they just sit as the wallpaper to my desktop.

Still haven't finished Sam but I plan to today...hopefully. I realized last night that I tend to shy away from dialogue and stay in their heads so I'm going to crack open one of my writing books and read up on that section. I have this fear that I'm going to write their actual voices and they aren't going to read how I imagine they do.

[heredoncove]

Another night working on Sam but at least I've gotten further than I did last night.

I'm trying to figure out if this reveal I'm going with fits the initial part of the update. It works with what happened in the update and the way I'm writing it fits both characters but I'm waffling. It would be interesting though.......

I have so much background work to do. I just wish I knew when I'm going to have a chance to fire up the game again.

[heredoncove]

Got Sam all done and rolled my ROS. Its going to be fun putting those into play for the first time.

Need to set up some stuff in the other households. I love getting background work done.

[dbloveshermac]

Oct 18, 2009 1:35:47 GMT -5 @heredoncove said:

What to do with a picture that is stunning but does not fit into the update

Hang onto it, because it might play well into a character's memories or dreams at a later date. Or, it might work nicely in an obituary, if nothing else.

I really like the short story idea mentioned above, though.

[heredoncove]

Oct 21, 2009 22:27:52 GMT -5 dbloveshermac said:

Oct 18, 2009 1:35:47 GMT -5 @heredoncove said:

What to do with a picture that is stunning but does not fit into the update

Hang onto it, because it might play well into a character's memories or dreams at a later date. Or, it might work nicely in an obituary, if nothing else.

I really like the short story idea mentioned above, though.

I actually started an account on Flickr for my picspam. I feel that some of them might come back around, which is why I'm so hesitant to delete them, but I also want to share the pretty with everyone else.

================

I've been feeling a bit lost with my writing lately and I think its because I haven't decided on a clear problem for my families. I've been feeling kinda aimless and realize that just because I'm following their lives doesn't mean the story shouldn't have a goal.

It's kinda frustrating because some families have a very defined storyline while others don't and now I have to fix that.

Since I can't sleep I might as well get a jump on it now.

[laura]

Awww, I think you're being too hard on yourself. I don't think every single one of your families will have a defined storyline, or at least not all at the same time. I know for certain not all of mine do.

In LH, for example, consider Hayden's brother Jack. You might not even know who he is, lol! He gets hardly any screen time, because Hayden is such a huge mess of his own. In fact, I've even used Jack's update before to tell even more of Hayden's story, lol!

But the thing of it is that Jack had a story (his 15 minutes of fame) and had it resolved already, before I even started blogging the neighborhood. And I don't feel like I should upset his life just because his story is boring, especially when I have plenty of other interesting stories to tell. So instead, I usually lump his update in with one of his other family memebers, or use his calm to frame the story of some other character.

Anyway, if every single character had huge drama going on, your story would read like a soap opera I would just focus on the stories that do have energy, and let the other characters fall to the background until they're needed.

[laura]

Ah-ha, and I just thought of another idea! I've also done self-contained short story updates about some families. Not storylines that link from one to the next like the more prominent families have, but just a single story, where the conflict is raised and resolved in the same sitting. Like this one, for example. Or this one.

It'll take the pressure off you to give each character a huge sweeping story-arc. Like real life, sometimes we only have a simple little story - but that doesn't mean it isn't a good one

[heredoncove]

Anyway, if every single character had huge drama going on, your story would read like a soap opera I would just focus on the stories that do have energy, and let the other characters fall to the background until they're needed.

Thanks for the help, Laura

A soap opera is what I want and I've had that in the back of my head to rein myself in. I'm not sure if I'm attempting to have epic story arcs with each family since I think some of the families are just not built for it but I do want to know what drives them. Plus the Cove is so small, I'd feel weird skipping over any of them.

Short stories for calmer families sounds like an idea made of win though and it would probably go along with saving of my picspam for a purpose.

I think I'm just feeling weird because writing for HC is not normally how I write, so I lose the proverbial and literal plot a few times.

I think I've figured out a way to combat this problem though and I should be able to hold onto my focus but who knows. LOL

[rad]

Hi! I want to start reading your story but am wondering if there's a chapter list anywhere, or a link to a 'start here' post? Just finding it a little hard to navigate (some WP templates don't seem to be as helpful as others, often the prettier ones are less functional!) although I've been reading all the background info and it sounds intriguing.

[heredoncove]

I was thinking about starting a story index but thought it would be weird since its not a traditional story.

The best way to start is to click on July 09 and the first story post is titled Remembering the Past. You can work backwards from there. This process will make sense because I basically set up the storylines for each of the houses.

[heredoncove]

I added a index today to kinda help direct people. I have a feeling its going to grow into a very manic thing but for now its very well organized.

I want to post an update on Wednesday but I just need to find some play time, hopefully tomorrow will be that day.

Recently, I did this dossier type of thing with all my characters where I answered a few questions about them: what their stated dreams are, what they really long for and what events do they most fear would happen. It was pretty interesting bc it revealed somethings I thought about the characters or clarified the vagues ideas I had.

I do notice that the loss of family or being by themselves is a familiar theme and I guess that makes sense, don't most people fear being by themselves?

[laura]

I've also been thinking about what a story index would be like for stories like ours (whole-neighborhood storytellers). I've been doing mine chronologically, but your idea is good too! That way readers can follow one single family's story through.

Are you doing that with tags or labels, or is that by hand?

[heredoncove]

Oct 26, 2009 19:33:38 GMT -5 @laura said:

I've also been thinking about what a story index would be like for stories like ours (whole-neighborhood storytellers). I've been doing mine chronologically, but your idea is good too! That way readers can follow one single family's story through.

Are you doing that with tags or labels, or is that by hand?

I guess I'm doing it by hand even though they are tagged by household name. It might just be easier to conceptualize for other newbies...at least I hope. LOL

[rad]

I managed to read it all (I think!) and I find the world you've created really intriguing - but yeah, an index would probably be cool....

EDIT: I see you've done one now. Excellent!

[heredoncove]

Thanks Rad! And you inspired me, I figured you're probably not the only one.

Got a chance to play tonight so I may start typing away at an update tonight...maybe.

I have this strange urge to start playing with the poseboxes I have, and I have tons, but its so hard to find the right box and I hate having to search and search for the pose I want. Boo! I need organization and English on some of my boxes

[heredoncove]

Started a new project last night. I'm recoloring a set up stubble/beards that I dl's awhile ago. I really like them but they only came in black PLUS there are a million of them so its going to take me forever.

The Wright update is getting some love today and I have to admit that Nina is loud, loud character. Not in tone but in her insistence to get her voice heard. She talks to me a lot more than Gregory does.

[laura]

Yay, I love Nina and Gregory! They were the first family we read about in your story

And I love your take on the Caliente sisters. So many people write about them, but yours are miles more dimensional than any others I've read!