LH Babble

[applevalley]

It's annoying the amount of glitches that are not cc related and a part of the original game. Gosh, glad you guys got the things fixed

[laura]

Ugh, in a frustrating search for *normal* dude clothing - 30-something, father of two, lives in the country, nothing too emo, nothing too preppy, nothing too fashionable, or pretty, or weird... just normal? Why does nobody ever make *normal* male Sim clothing?

[applevalley]

Try simgaroop or maxis dreams for "normal" clothing. Mostly recolors of Maxis meshes, but they are "normal"

[laura]

Maxis dreams did have one thing I snagged, but it wouldn't work for the dude I'm shopping for. Basically, Chad and Hayden, who are SO hard to dress (in Sims anyway), because they're not preppy or rich, not into bright colors, but not edgy either. Not fashionable in the least, but not really sloppy either, lol! I did manage to find some stuff by fanseelamb at MTS that was kind of "normal".

This is actually kind of interesting - in real life, it's hard and takes effort to dress cute or stylish, but in Sims, it's hard and takes effort to dress ordinary, lol!

[somuchsong]

That age group of guys is really hard to dress in TS2. I struggle, really. My women rarely wear an outfit if there's another woman in the hood wearing the same one in a different colour but my guys sort of have to, because there's such a lack of stuff.

Right now, I'm avoiding having Owen and Caleb in the same room together because they're both wearing recolours of the same Fanseelamb outfit and they look like twinsies, lol!

[laura]

OMG, OMG, OMG, the places this story will go! :\

[laura]

But on a slightly related note, maybe keep your eyes out in a few years time. I have a (crazy) idea - I sometimes get the itch to write short stories, in addition to the novel I'm working on. I've got one short out on submission right now, and another that's about to go out.

The most recent story, as I might have told you, was inspired by Pat and Lara from LH. I use the word "inspired" loosely, but I think you guys will definitely be able to see the resemblance, though several things had to be tweaked for this to fly in the traditional fiction market, as I hope it will.

Thing is, I've always, ALWAYS, wanted to write a book of interconnected short stories - which funny enough, is kind of what I am doing with LH - and I think I just had a second story idea spawn off of this short story I just finished. Just think of all the wealth of short story ideas I could pick from LH, all interconnected. One story springing from another into a giant tangled web! Oh yay!

I'm not sure about the logistics of trying to publish something that's already been published partly on the internet - publishers can be finicky about that kind of thing. I suppose, not all of the stories would come from the blog itself. The first one was never published on the blog, and will never be published there. But at least, some of the ideas and storylines would appear in some recognizable form.

But anyway, it's just an idea right now, and one that wouldn't materialize for years and years still, probably. Though, I can say, if it ever does coming into fruition, one of the stories is already finished and about to go out and try to earn its place in the real world.

(Which is normal, by the way, to publish a story in a lit journal first, before adding it to a collection.)

So maybe ask me again in a couple years time

[thelunarfox]

Y'know, I was talking about how publishing companies sort of don't like things that've already been published on the net or anywhere else. I found it interesting that in literature, that's a HUGE no-no. But I think they could learn a thing or two from web comics. A lot of web comics start out online, get popular, and then get picked up and published. People still buy the books, even people who've never seen it online, and the free online archive remains up.

I would think it's a great way to get your name out there to a large amount of people. It's not like you'd be putting everything you have out, just enough to tease us.


Also, don't blame me for your prevy ways. You know you got me started, and that's that.

[laura]

This is something I'm terribly curious about, and I can't even begin to imagine who to ask. I agree that it would probably only do the story good. But outside our community of Sim-storytellers, I don't figure most people even know what a Sim-blog is.

The first story I'm not too worried about, since I've really only taken their names and histories from LH - only my very most observant readers would even be able to recognize that they came from the same place. The second story I have in mind though would share a little bit more, a few lines of dialogue, and a recognizable conflict. But as for the actual text of the story, each would be unique.

I also had in mind, for my second novel, maybe continuing the stories of a few characters from LH, forward into their own story. And I wonder about what kind of problems (if any) I might run into in having their histories existing on the internet still in the LH blog. Though in the process of revisions, it might even be unrecognizable from where it started. But in any case, I don't have any intentions of taking LH down unless forced to with a gun to my head, lol!

Oh, and the Pat and Lara story passed the test, by the way. I had my new RL writers group read it and they enjoyed it and gave great feedback. They had no idea it was sprung off of Sims, lol! I guess there's really no way they could know, because really, characters are characters, you know?

I know I've seen writers cross-over characters between short stories and novels before, but I just don't know about other mediums, like blogs or whatever.

Anyway, on perviness - let's just say, there's some element of snowball effect. And I'm calling you out on Amberle and Henry, which you wrote a very long time ago, and I still remember very vividly in my head

[laura]

Very interesting - writing about Matt and Leila, and the problems they're going through, has given me tremendous insight into Dallas and Lucy and what their future might hold. They're very similar as couples, but they also have one very important difference. I could write about what that insight is, but it would kind of be a spoiler. So if you're curious about it, ask me again at the end of the round

But on another note, OMG, these stories are going to be sad for a while! We're in October 2083 right now, and all the way through the winter, sad, sad, SAD! Get your tissues ready, people! I don't know why my whole neighborhood decided to fall apart at the seams, all at the same time.

The coming spring and summer and the ending for this round is looking a lot brighter though. Just sayin'. It's good to have a happy ending after being dragged bloody through the mud, right?

[laura]

So I'm writing this story, where I feel like everybody's seeing things in black or white. But I've been through to the end of this whole thing, on my own, and the answer isn't black or white. There was some black thrown in, and some white thrown in, some more black, and some more white, and in the end, it made this shade of gray more beautiful than I could even describe.

But people seem to want black or white - or well, they want white, they don't want black, or most of them don't anyway. But now that I've seen this shade of gray, now that I've let it exist there in my heart, I can't ever see this world in black and white again. I just can't. I've tried, since I feel like that's what people want, but I can't.

This is a hard business, writing straight out into the public and trying to stay true to the vision you have in your head.

[thelunarfox]

Well you're not writing for the public in any way I hope. I'd prefer to read your vision than the one you've written for us. Especially because most people don't realize they want these interesting shades of gray until they're presented on a platter, lol.

[laura]

Lunar, thanks No, I'm not writing for the public, but when the public is so adamant about something, it certainly makes me stop and question my vision. Which is okay, I guess, because if my vision is true, then it should be strong enough to hold.

[blackcat]

Laura, I agree with what Lunar said about people not realizing what they want from a story until they get it... plenty of times, I've imagined a particular ending to a story I'm reading, but the one the author has produced is way better than anything I'd imagined. And I already know my ending, the one I'd like and have imagined to myself... I want to see yours!

The thing about the grey ending is that its like real life... in a conflict situation we want black or white, and you can talk about win-win situations but the reality is, even in those situations, usually someone has to compromise somewhere to make it work. You don't often come away with 100% of your black or white.

You come away with 90% if you're lucky, or 70%, or you might even come away with 30% but you don't fight it because you figure that's the best you're going to get anyway. Sometimes everyone only comes away with 30%.

I guess getting other people's opinions on your story while its in progress makes it hard, but as much as we can talk about what we want, we also have to trust you and your story to deliver something that - even if it isn't exactly what we want - is something we'll like and enjoy and be moved by.

[laura]

Blackcat, thank you! These things are good to hear, and I'll keep this in mind. And yes, it's the in-progress thing that's hardest. If I'd already been through to the end, I'd just say, meh, it is what it is, take it or leave it, lol! But here, in the middle, where it's all messy and bruised and battered, it's easy to let those doubts creep in.

Sorry about the emo-ness, guys! But thank you for the support and wisdom

[laura]

Oh, I love my current batch of LCU kids (+Lucy). This should be a nice little breather for us before we get to more trauma... or well, some parts of it will be anyway, lol!

I always forget how much fun Lucy is to write. Especially when she's with Summer. It's just that Summer is so worldly, and Lucy is just, NOT, lol! Those two are like magic together!

[rad]

May 9, 2010 5:13:57 GMT -5 @blackcat said:

or you might even come away with 30% but you don't fight it because you figure that's the best you're going to get anyway. Sometimes everyone only comes away with 30%.

Are you talking about the UK election, blackcat? ;D

Laura: I love the shades of grey. For example the recent posts about Leila have a lot of grey to them, and I don't see there being a happy sunset ending for her there. Same with Lucy and Dallas -far too many potential storms there, even if they stay together there may well be compromises and heartaches for them to do so. The war will, I am guessing, throw up a lot of grey areas.

Grey is fine. It's human. We often want black or white but grey is more real

[blackcat]

May 11, 2010 5:03:39 GMT -5 @rad said:

Are you talking about the UK election, blackcat? ;D

*spits coffee on monitor*

Rotflol!! ;D

[laura]

May 11, 2010 5:03:39 GMT -5 @rad said:

Grey is fine. It's human. We often want black or white but grey is more real.

Thank you, and yes, I agree!

[laura]

On cross-story revelations:

Most of you guys don't know Danny - he lives in my novel. I was kind of stumped on him these past couple weeks, since he's going through something of an identity crisis after the death of his father - which is fine - but me, as his author, kind of needs to know where he's headed in that.

So being stumped, I found it very easy to get all engrossed in Corbin and Leila these past couple of weeks, and their drama (which was hella fun to write about!).

I eventually felt my novel characters feeling kind of neglected and jealous. But having spent all that time with Corbin last week, something struck me about him as I came back to the novel - the sense of adventure, the reserve, the charm, the internalizing of everything, the fleeting interests and wide curiosities - Danny is so much like what I imagine Corbin must have been at about twenty-one... except darker and sarcastic, lol!

They're really more similar than they might seem at first glance. Which brings me to the realization about what Danny might like to do with his life. (And I don't mean be a homewrecker, lol!) I guess sharing what that realization is might be a little bit spoilery, but I know now, which is the point.

Anyway, I found this whole process quite interesting. Did anyone else ever have a breakthrough on one story, while working on another?