Strange Tomato (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strangetomato) wrote2008-11-05 08:13 pm
strangetomato) wrote2008-11-05 08:13 pm
Entry tags:
Legacy writing
Writing a chapter for The Round Robin Legacy has been an interesting challenge. I have so much respect for story legacy writers now. It's hard to take all the nonsense that can go on in a sim generation, and the mundane routine of it all, and spin it into a coherent and interesting narrative. I'm curious to hear about the working methods of other legacy writers, since I know a few of you who follow my story write one. Do you impose a story on your sims, and direct them in certain ways? Do you add more story details later, about things that didn't even really happen that way? Or is it all straight delivery of the facts, but through a narrative lens?
I'm easily more interested in legacies with an overarching vision that extends beyond gameplay. I don't read a lot of legacies, but the ones that I do follow all have detailed plots that include things that would never happen in the game. For direct reporting on the gameplay, a commentary style seems to work better (at least for me), like when people do outtakes.
Following that logic, I went into this with an idea in mind, based on the facts of the character, and playing through has mostly followed my expectations, with a couple of nice extra details and ACR surprises. Then, because it's so linear, I broke it up about halfway and changed location and play style completely. I'm not even sure if moving in the middle of a generation is allowed, but it didn't give me any sort of advantage (in fact, I left a hefty portion of Nyssa's money in her first apartment, which I left decorated, so I could shoot some scenes images there later for the story). It annoys me to take a lot of pictures while I'm playing, so I'm going to go back and recreate some of the important scenes later with help from InSIM. Does anyone else do it that way? I figure it saves on a lot of unnessesary documenting.
The pacing is a little difficult for me too. Most family sagas take a whole movie or novel to follow a generation, so tackling one in a short story feels rushed to me. It's a very different sort of story than I'm used to... like an episode of This Is Your Life. It takes some getting used to.
The most fun has been from technically following the legacy rules. I really like having that limitation, and the story can still work around the actual facts of the gameplay. I don't think I'd want to work this way all of the time, but it's been interesting for a change of pace. Usually, I take some inspiration from the gameplay, but it's much more open, and there are no rules. If I want to cheat for money to make the Worthingtons rich, I can. I don't have to work up from nothing, over and over again. I realize that most legacy players don't even follow the rules, so maybe it's not all that different.
If you write a legacy, or have attempted one but couldn't get into it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
.
On a completely unrelated note, I had about about six inches of my hair cut off today. I went from long, flowing hair to a short, blunt-cut bob. I look a lot younger. Like I'm fifteen, but in a good way. I really like it.
I'm easily more interested in legacies with an overarching vision that extends beyond gameplay. I don't read a lot of legacies, but the ones that I do follow all have detailed plots that include things that would never happen in the game. For direct reporting on the gameplay, a commentary style seems to work better (at least for me), like when people do outtakes.
Following that logic, I went into this with an idea in mind, based on the facts of the character, and playing through has mostly followed my expectations, with a couple of nice extra details and ACR surprises. Then, because it's so linear, I broke it up about halfway and changed location and play style completely. I'm not even sure if moving in the middle of a generation is allowed, but it didn't give me any sort of advantage (in fact, I left a hefty portion of Nyssa's money in her first apartment, which I left decorated, so I could shoot some scenes images there later for the story). It annoys me to take a lot of pictures while I'm playing, so I'm going to go back and recreate some of the important scenes later with help from InSIM. Does anyone else do it that way? I figure it saves on a lot of unnessesary documenting.
The pacing is a little difficult for me too. Most family sagas take a whole movie or novel to follow a generation, so tackling one in a short story feels rushed to me. It's a very different sort of story than I'm used to... like an episode of This Is Your Life. It takes some getting used to.
The most fun has been from technically following the legacy rules. I really like having that limitation, and the story can still work around the actual facts of the gameplay. I don't think I'd want to work this way all of the time, but it's been interesting for a change of pace. Usually, I take some inspiration from the gameplay, but it's much more open, and there are no rules. If I want to cheat for money to make the Worthingtons rich, I can. I don't have to work up from nothing, over and over again. I realize that most legacy players don't even follow the rules, so maybe it's not all that different.
If you write a legacy, or have attempted one but couldn't get into it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
.
On a completely unrelated note, I had about about six inches of my hair cut off today. I went from long, flowing hair to a short, blunt-cut bob. I look a lot younger. Like I'm fifteen, but in a good way. I really like it.
no subject
It sucked at first- I didn't have enough pictures to really flesh out the Sims as children/teens, it was mostly pictures of them skilling, but I continued giving them personalities and the like. Nothing really -happened- though, it was more of a "Family Album Story" than anything else, until Dorothy decided she wanted to be heir and everything changed. I began planning scenes out beforehand, writing dialog months before the scenes were shot, planning out certain events (I wish I was caught up so you could see what I'm talking about) and basically directing the story and the plot where I wanted it to go while making allowances for in-game surprises (like Eurus's dislike of Enyo, his half-sister by alien abduction, and Ev's worries about his Criminal mother). I stopped playing by the rules with the Cranes, which is so freeing, since I want to do so many things (I have like 19 pages filled with G5 plot plans) with them, so yeah, it is hard. Especially when the change is so jarring (literally from one chapter to the next).
With the Thornns, I mixed them both when certain events just "worked"- Julien stalked Sil, Wyatt's LTW and Alvin's job- everything was perfect, so I threw in some plot. I -do- have to update it soon, but I'm very involved with my Cranes at the moment.
I cannot wait for your Round Robin post (I caught myself up) and your haircut sounds cool. Pics? (You could blot out the face. Or, use a character's face! :P)
no subject
I think it's only natural, if you're the sort of person who likes to tell stories, that you'd see more in the sims than is really there. It's when we impose this extra stuff on them that it moves into a real story for me. I love when things are taken out of context and changed in a story. It becomes really complex, with all the setting up of scenes, but that's what makes a story for me, most of the time. It can be hard to deal with all the details when it gets complicated, though, don't you think? I'm having issues like that with Strangetown.
I should take a look at your Cranes. It sounds like I'd need to do some back-reading, though, so I'll know what's going on.
I'm tempted to show a photo of it. Maybe I will. It's too good not to share.
no subject
*nods* The setting up of scenes is very hard at times, and having a flair for the dramatic DOES NOT help you (trust me, I know). Having a lot of details doesn't help you either, especially when you give your characters as rich a backstory as you do, and even I have to constantly look things up. ^^;
Aww! I'm going to do a recap once I catch up (I'm going to do 8 updates in the next three weeks, it's srs bsns) so that new readers won't be daunted by the number of posts they have to read to know what's happening.
DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT! You can use Ophelia's face. :P
no subject
This describes perfectly what happened to me and, yes, it did came out of my love of telling stories.
I started by adding some extra details here and there, and more details kept coming up and soon as I know it there`s a full blown storyline going on and the writing style changes accordingly. *has just staged several semi elaborated scenes and keeps coming up with more*