Legacy writing
Nov. 5th, 2008 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strangetomatoWriting 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.
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Date: 2008-11-06 05:35 am (UTC)