Sim story post style question?

[rika1431]

So hey, I have a question, and I hope this is the right place to ask it. There's a 25 picture limit per posts, and I totally get that, it makes total sense, not asking to break that at all. But I take a lot of pictures it seems(I really didn't realize this, lol, until like fifteen Wordpress posts of my legacy). I originally started my legacy blog posts just doing a 'random' amount of pictures per post, ending the posts at a 'satisfactory' or 'cliff hanger-y' spot, going more on my gut than any actual pacing idea. After reading oshizu's legacy story, though, I really liked her style of doing one week per post, it felt so much more organized, so I started doing that. Well, now my posts have anywhere from 50-100 pictures per post  Crazy, right?

Well, I want to share my legacy story here(I'm in gen 2 now), and the way I see it, I have two options, maybe three.

1) Just share a link to my Wordpress blog and update my thread with a link to each new entry, updating the initial post with the chapter of contents.
2) Copy my blog posts over to forum posts, 25 images per post at a time, so having like 2-4 posts per 'update'.
3) This one might be weird, but doing a 25 post 'teaser' update, and then linking to the rest of the post on Wordpress?

I feel like option 1 isn't that good, because the way I see it, people are more likely to read a story that's actually on the forum, instead of having to take that extra step to go over to my Wordpress blog. Option 2 is what I'm leaning toward.

So, I guess I have three questions.

1) Which option would you recommend?
2) Are people more likely to read if the story is posted on the forum vs links to my blog?
3) Is it actually all right/allowed to have multiple posts per story update, if I have more than 25 images per update?

Thanks in advance!

[FrancescaFiori]

Hi and welcome! I'm really looking forward to reading your story, and I'm a big fan of oshizu as well.

I think you're absolutely right that people are more likely to read stories posted directly to the forum. That's been my experience as both a writer and a reader, so I'd recommend starting a thread on the stories board and reposting your legacy there.

What I'd suggest for posting your existing chapters that are 50-100 images is breaking them down into 25-picture-or-less chunks, and posting them one at a time. Maybe wait a bit in between chunks for a comment or two to roll in, respond to the comments, and then post the next chunk. For me, the best part of posting stories on the forum is engaging with other writers and forum members who share similar interests, so I really enjoy having a dialogue going in between story posts.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but whatever you decide I'm really looking forward to having a new story to read! Hooray!

[Trip]

I like Option 2 the best too, but it'd still be smart to link to WordPress as well. A lot of WordPress themes have readability advantages over the forums. I prefer to read on WP nowadays if it's an option.

[oshizu]

@rika1431

I agree with FrancescaFiori that the best option would be creating a story thread of your own and gradually posting your legacy updates in your thread.
As a reader, I'm much more likely to read a story on this forum after seeing a few images than click on a link that only indicates a chapter number and title.

You might find the process of reorganizing your image/narrative into smaller units quite enjoyable.
I'm pretty sure we all take way more screenshots than we ultimately decide to include.  
Updates that cover a week at a time are really difficult for me. I can easily end up with 25 "essential" screenshots for each sim-day. LOL

Best wishes on migrating your story over here!

[rika1431]

Yay! Option 2 is what I was hoping for, but I was nervous about posting multiple updates so close to one another. It's going to be a challenge getting my legacy transported over--I maaaaaay have 20 posts on my blog?  I don't even know what that will translate to in terms of forum posts.

[commasplice]

1) Which option would you recommend?
2) Are people more likely to read if the story is posted on the forum vs links to my blog?
3) Is it actually all right/allowed to have multiple posts per story update, if I have more than 25 images per update?

I am new to writing stories for my sims, but I've been writing fanfiction for years and some of the rules seem to apply across the board.

I think you're more likely to get comments if you spread out your updates rather than post them all at once.

As for reading, I am much more likely to read your story if it's in the actual forum post.

Good luck!

[rika1431]

I definitely agree that posting all 20 updates at once is waaaaaay over kill. (I just did the math, and it's a total of exactly 600 images currently, up to post 20. But the first 17 posts aren't in my '1 week per post' format, so those are actually under 25 images, thank goodness).

I'm thinking I'll do 3 posts either per day or per 3 comments on the thread? That way it isn't a huge flood of posts overwhelming the forum. Does that sound like a good idea to y'all?

[oshizu]

@rika1431
Just personally, I would suggest that you start by posting one update per day.
Three posts at a time is a lot of images, texts, and sims for a reader to assimilate in one sitting.
It's not so much about "overwhelming the forum" as it is about keeping readers/viewers interested, imho.

(And we both know I sometimes binge-upload old stories to my blog, rika, but some were nearly 2 years old...)

@commasplice
Something new I learned about you today....fanfiction! I love it!

[rika1431]

@rika1431
Just personally, I would suggest that you start by posting one update per day.
Three posts at a time is a lot of images, texts, and sims for a reader to assimilate in one sitting.
It's not so much about "overwhelming the forum" as it is about keeping readers/viewers interested, imho.

(And we both know I sometimes binge-upload old stories to my blog, rika, but some were nearly 2 years old...)

Oh, that's a good point. Okay, I'll switch to doing that now. I already posted 3 today, whoops, but I'll not do that again tomorrow, heh. Just one post per day!