A Guide to Help Improve YOUR Writing Skill: Life Stories

[Execution]

Firstly, I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I couldn't find a better place to put it. If a Moderator out there knows of one, please move it for me. Thanks.
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A lot of us enjoy writing stories about our Sims, ranging from tales of their everyday life to Legacies and Dynasties to fantasy stories. Some of us would like to, and some of us want to improve their writing. No matter which, anyone would benefit from a few pointers.

While we may not be writing novels here, some of the best stories come from people who take their stories seriously. Legacies and Dynasties can be rough and challenging, and we never know what happens next. There are many different kinds of stories, but this guide will cover writing life stories.

A Life Story is a story (often called Fiction or Realistic Fiction in the non-Sim world) that centers around the lives of our Sims. Basically, this genre focuses around their life stories, as the name suggests.

After you've made your decision to start composing a Life Story, I suggest you find a cheap notebook or a packet of stapled printer paper. Anything will do. The cheaper and less fancy, the better. Why so cheap? I find myself and many other authors feeling pressured with a fancy notebook, because it seems more important to them, so in result, they feel like they can't make mistakes in their stories. It also obstructs their creative flows. Because of this, just find something cheap, yet sturdy. I've been using a standard 1-dollar composition notebook for my stories, but you can use whatever you'd like.

Before even touching your Sims game, think about all the settings you'll want in your story. Jot down anything that comes to mind. If you want your story to maintain some realism, you can base it on a real life location. Or, you can just keep it Sims-related. Both work well. I'll list some as an example for a Sim-related story. Let's see... A park would be good. Maybe a small shack with a huge basement could be our main character's house? Something should happen in a library. List details about these as well, just like you picture them in your head. The park has a huge circular lake at the end of a small, stone bridge. There's also a gazebo in the corner.

Once you're out of setting ideas, we'll move on to the next thing. Do the same, but with characters. List details about everything; their look, personality, traits, anything. I think an old homeless Sim should live in the gazebo. Our main character is a mummy that lurks in his basement. A curious little girl with pigtails should be living next to the mummy. You can draw sketches of your Sims if you'd like. If not, be sure to give details, details, details! What was their eye color? Are they gruff and muscular or scrawny and slim?
 
After you've got characters and settings, it's time for the plot. Make about five columns, titled, "Possible Exposition", "Possible Rising Action", "Possible Climax", "Possible Falling Action", "Possible Denouement". If you have an idea that can go in several columns, write it in all of them. I try to have at least three in each before I move on. What if the little girl wandered into the mummy's basement? That could be our Rising Action. The mummy could curse the little girl, which could be both the Rising Action and the Climax. Interesting. But of course, our friendly homeless man has to play in! What if he's an ex-world traveler and holds the cure to the little girl? But of course, the little girl can't accept it for nothing in return. Brainstorm all sorts of ideas, and jot down even the ones you don't really like. If you're not feeling innovative, you can just come back to it later.

Now, it's time to cancel out some ideas that we don't like. Start with the settings. Why do we have that library, anyway? Don't be afraid to cross something out or make changes, or add new things. Did I forget to add the little girl's house? After you've made changes to things that just don't go with the flow, move on to the characters. If someone has too much of a minor part, you can change it or delete them altogether. Add new characters to make the setting work. I think the little girl might need a parent? Small details like that can really make your story. After your characters are all in shape, move on to the plot. Page over your settings and characters to make sure nothing's missing from your plot, or otherwise it'll be all over the place. Next, create a flow map, and list ideas you want in your story in chronological order. Make changes as you write them down. I recommend setting your notebook down for about an hour, and getting a fresh look later.

After you're back, scan over your flow chart to make sure everything's seamless. Changing a few things here and there is recommended. If you're trying to write a long and complicated story, I find this a good time to draw maps of your settings, write a detailed profile on your Sims, or other things of the sort. Otherwise, it's time to start building in your Sims game.

We'll be starting with the Setting. This brings us the issue, "Lots or Sets?".
Lots are.. well, lots that you create manually. Each setting has a different lot.
Advantages to Using a Lot

• More realistic views
• A diverse location
• No issues with trying to hide things

Disadvantages

• Other sims may barge onto community lots
• You can't change things as quickly as you'd like
• It can seriously complicate things if your several residential houses are involved

A set involves having everything in one lot.
Advantages

• No travel time
• The location is private
• You can immediately change things

Disadvantages

• You might not have enough room if you have too many settings
• Outdoor scenes can be hard to make
• Rotating the camera inside can be extremely hard

It all depends on the number of settings, and if they're indoors or outdoors. Think about it for some time, then make your decision.
Making Lots
Your main character's house will be the only residential lot. All the other lots (including the side characters' lots) will be community. I recommend setting them to Small Park before making them, as this attracts a very low amount of people. Use your Maps or your notes on the settings to make the lots. Place them far away from each other (unless noted otherwise). Remember: Only one setting per lot!
Making A Set
Make the largest possible residential lot as far away from civilization as possible. I usually only use Sets if my stories consist of ONLY outdoor scenes and like one or two indoor scenes, or vice versa. Put all your indoor scenes in basements as far from each other as you can. The outdoor scenes will be on ground level. Remember to create a segment of road by each. Separate them by placing random buildings next to them that you're not going to use, such as small houses or cafes or the sort.

After we have our Lots or Sets all set up, it's time to create our Sims. I really can't stress how important it is to not rush through the Create-A-Sim process. Take time finding the perfect hair, eyes, facial structure, clothes, and everything. All of our Sims will be in the same family. I usually relate their traits to the story, or to something unrelated to the story at all. If our actor is a fisherman, I would make him an Angler that Loves The Outdoors, but is also an Ambitious Workaholic that's a heavy sleeper. Make sure your Sims are perfect, then move on to the next step.

It's time to write a rough draft. I recommend keeping it under 5 pages long. Use your flow chart to help you along the way, as well. Be sure to include plenty of dialogue and adjectives, too. After you're done writing it, go over it and look for mistakes. You can change parts, add parts, delete parts, anything. I use a red pen for this. After that, be sure to give your story to a few people to revise. Other people are very good proofreaders, and they can catch mistakes you might never be able to. If you're looking for someone to do this, I'll be happy to assist you. Work with said person(s) until you reach a point where you feel that your story is as good as it'll ever be.

Move your Sims into your residential lot, and start taking pictures accordingly. I'm a horrible picture taker, but necessary cheats and more for picture taking can be found here (as posted by Leto85): http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,4106.10.html. Try to take one picture per paragraph, or so.

Edit your pictures accordingly, and share your finished product with us, and anyone else you'd like! If you have any questions, post them here, and I'll be happy to answer.

Thanks for reading!

[BellaClo]

Thanks Execution!

Those are very good advices and ideas. Exactly the kind of things I've been looking for, since I've more or less decided myself to start a story based on a challenge (I've not yet set my mind on which one).

Please, share more of your advices :-)

[Seabody]

My piece of advice is to get into the mood of your writing. I write my best fight scenes when I'm feeling angry. My best death scenes when I'm sad. Believe it or not, but I write stories in my spare time. Not just Sims Stories too.
Confide in another. Some of my story plots have come from someone I call, a friend. She really helps me - and if she asks for it, I help her. For instance, she was one of the 2 people who made the decision to end "Katie's World" - the other person being myself. I'm thankful she's my friend.

[CSquared2]

Something I learned doing theatre years ago is to ask why.  Very little in literature or film is accidental; writers and their ilk nearly always doing something intentionally.  Whatever happens, you should have an answer to the question Why?   Why did that happen?  Why then?  Why that way?  Why those people?

Also, when it comes to character development, the most interesting characters are those who are complex and have a backstory.  No person is always grumpy, or always friendly, or always neat.  When is the grumpy person finally happy?  When does the neat person become disorganized?  Sharing these tidbits in your story makes the characters more believable and easier for the reader to identify with.  Sims 3 is great the way it allows for traits to interact with one another.  A neat, friendly, family-oriented sim enjoys keeping a neat home for her family.  A neat, snobbish sim enjoys keeping a neat home to show off.  A neat, neurotic, perfectionist sim feels compelled to keep a neat home for her own peace of mind.  That's just one trait that interacts with others in so many ways to create sims who can be very different from one another.  Don't forget to feature your sims' differences.  There's nothing worse than forgetting who's who in a story because the characters weren't distinguishable from one another.

To fill in the gaps between traits (because traits can't tell a story themselves!), add backstory, anything that sheds light on the character outside of what's given.  Use the traits to illustrate a sim's personality and motivate their actions.

I had a sim who lived in Twinbrook, Kenneth.  He'd moved to Twinbrook from a big city, trying to escape the vice and corruption there.  He made a big splash in Twinbrook, especially among the abundant older female set, attention he politely ignored.  He'd made his living in the city as a private eye and continued his work in his new home, only to discover this small town was riddled with as much criminal activity as the big city.  He resolved to put his experience to good use and make the best of it and began writing crime novels.  Though he was beloved by the populace of Twinbrook (most of them, anyway), he preferred to live in the bayou and renovate his big plantation house.  Kenneth was never good at making friends, but he fell head over heels for his maid, Anne, and this time it was he who was falling for the older woman.  Despite the clucks of the biddies in town, they married and Kenneth built a studio for Anne's artistic sensibilities attached to his home.

Without once mentioning a trait, I gave you a pretty good initial picture of the kind of person Kenneth is, and what you might expect from him later.  I didn't rely on the fact that he was a loner; loners don't exist in towns all by themselves.  I described how being a loner made him interact with others, the impression it gave others and the exception to the rule when Kenneth decided he would rather not be alone.  I alluded to his LTW without saying it specifically.  I also added things which traits cannot tell us, but which can be affected by the traits or circumstances the sim lives in: the type of house Kenneth has (it was cheapest, but that doesn't make a good story), the kind of morals Kenneth has (a great source of internal conflict), the type of town Twinbrook is and who lives there (it's pre-populated, but how did they end up there?), and the kind of friends Kenneth prefers.  You can use wishes to help flesh out your characters, too.  When you combine LTW A with Wish B, what kind of person would want both those things?  In this case, Kenneth rolled the want to join the private eye profession (which I obliged), even though his LTW was Professional Author, so I came up with a backstory to explain why a person would do both.

The last thing I'll add is consistency.  Stories are best when they're told the same way all the way through.  That's not to say you can't begin a story and then change your mind.  I know I've begun a story in first person only to find it much, much more comfortable to write about the family in the third person.  I switched after the first installment.  Once you find what works for you, though, stick with it.  If you converse with your sims within the text of the story, great, but do it consistently.  If you haven't done so, the middle of a story is not the time to start, unless you're writing the sudden appearance of a voice in the sky into your story.    If you use editorial notes where you speak to the reader as the author rather than the narrator, that's fine, but if you haven't done so in prior installments, maybe you should save your author's notes for a special editor's installment.  Keep the dialogue, or lack of it, consistent.  The same goes for spacing.  Not everything has to always be the same; there are plenty of reasons to make exceptions, but make your exceptions intentional choices instead of accidental lapses.

[Execution]

Thanks, you guys. It took me a good three hours to write this guide, so I'll write one about something else tomorrow.

CSquared2, Seabody, thanks for also adding some tips here, I'm sure other people will appreciate it. 

[CSquared2]

Thanks for sharing your strategies, too, Execution.  It might not be a bad idea to suggest to Carl a writer's guide with tips like these, or possibly a writer's thread the way we have a picture taking thread. 

[Esther1981]

This is good stuff Execution! I find writing in the first person easier, as I'm not getting confused saying "you" and "them". I talk about them like I am experiencing it, because in a way I am. I go through what they do.

[TheChronicR]

First of all, you must enjoy writing and be in the right mood. There is no need to rush, as well. I like writing in first person too, because it is way more realistic and pleasant. Although, I like writing as different characters/Sims. How I write (what style, words) depends on the Sim's personality aka traits. But, of course, I always follow a plot line with a culmination somewhere. I my opinion, I am best at writing dramas.

[CSquared2]

There is no need to rush, as well.

This is my biggest flaw.  Once the playing and picture-taking is done, I want to share it now.  It's hard to slow down and take the time to assure what you write is quality and not just quantity.  Oddly enough, I do my best writing when I'm tired.  The words seem to flow more easily as the stress of the day falls away.  It does, of course, put a certain time limit on creativity; it's not long before I put down the pen and fall into bed.   

[Seabody]

I write in the Third Person, and usually in the past tense. I usually try not to write in the Future Tense, as it sometimes gets a bit hard to read. For instance, in "Tales of Woe", I was planning the final chapters before Generation One had a spouse.
I tried to write something like: "I will walk the path. And my family will light it for me.", but I didn't like the sound of that. Especially since the tense would suddenly change. "And with that last bite, Generation 8 became an immortal. Ileftsummatat then said: I will walk the path. And my family will light it for me.. Fin". Yes - I intended to call Generation 8 "Ileftsummatat".

I think I tend to use "Past Perfect" (aka Pluperferct) tense, actually. Like "They had worked".


Then again, that's just me. I'm sure that as I improve as a writer (possibly with the help of this guide), I'll branch out. Who knows? My 12th DecaDynasty attempt may be in "Present Emphatic" Tense. "I do write", for example.

[Execution]

Thanks everyone for the extra tips and feedback--I'll be writing another guide on Commentary Legacies/Dynasties. I'll be sure to include some of your tips as well, and I'll update this post with the link when I'm done.

[Hosfac]

Some really nice advice in there, but in my personal view as an amateur writer, you're building a house by piling all the supplies you need on the lot you're building on, proverbial speaking.  Here's my advice to you, from what I've learned over many years of writing:

The best way to write is to not overburden yourself with the details when you sit down to start writing.  Yes, you need to know where the story starts and where you want it to end up, maybe a key scene here or there, but that's really about it.  When you're writing, you're characters are in a world, not a box (unless you're actually writing about people in a box, of course ), so surrounding them with too many details to start with limits their growth and the growth of the story.  A story needs to flow, and be more than a list of things that happened.

The characters are the #1 most important part of any story.  They are more important (to you, the writer) than any pre-planned plot device because they're the ones who drive the story.  Without them, there is no story.  To have believable main characters, you need more than just a list of mannerisms:  you need to know them better than they know themselves.  You need to know how they think and how they would react in any given situation, and why they'd think or react that way.  You need to see them as living, breathing people.  And when you're writing about them, you need to feel what they'd feel and think what they'd think.  When you can do that, stories write themselves. 

Just play the movie in your mind, and jot down what happens, and flesh it out afterwards.  Once you know how everyone thinks, it's easy to point them in the direction you want them to go.

This also has a side-effect:  you occasionally end up telling a story you didn't intend to tell.  The most recent example is my Veronika Beltane story (which I apologize for not finishing yet...very soon, I promise).  I started writing a story about a woman losing her humanity after becoming a vampire, but after the story started evolving I realized that the character wouldn't actually do anything I planned for her to do.  I ended up tossing the bulk of the story out, and changing my entire train of thought.  Now, instead of her condition changing the person she was, the person that she was persevered (for the most part), and it has ended up being a far more interesting story than I originally thought it would.

Don't be afraid to let this happen.  Sometimes it's for the best. 

[Metropolis Man]

Well said, Hosfac. I've been meaning to comment in this thread as to how I approach my own Dynasty and Guide article writing, but to be honest — my writing style/method is quite odd and difficult to describe.

[Pam]

I'm going to move this to the Stories board and make it sticky at the top.  Thanks, Execution!

[mysticmirror]

Really good thread and I liked a lot of the things mentioned here. I agree with Hosfac a lot though. The characters are the bread and butter of your story. It is good to know where you want your characters to go but limiting by that idea is bad in my opinion. Sometimes when you start a story things happen and your characters sometimes seem to take on a life of their own and lead you an a complete different direction in which you intended them. Making them follow your guidelines is going to kill a story. It's the same thing in RL if somebody gave you your life story and told you to follow it, nobody would do that, right?  You have to be a director but you also must know when to sit back and see where they take you on their own. If you've come to know this character enough he/she will choose the best path and you may even be suprised where they take you. My own two cents.