Writing » Story Babble » LH Babble
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LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 26, 2009, 12:19pm
I want to babble about my story! I don't really have much outlet for just talking about it, complaining about it, being wondered by it, without having to clog up the notes at the end of my updates. Maybe this can be a place for that? Especially since you all know the joys and frustrations of Sim-storytelling so well.
Like last night, I was having such trouble with this huge-ass multi-Sim update I'm working on, that should have been so simple! The problem always seems to stem from me having an image in my head for a scene that I can't quite get the game to do.
First, it was too dark for pictures in the early morning light, so I made it daylight (I'm suddenly envying Sims 3 players for their beautiful and intricate lighting!)
Then it started to rain! Dammit, I didn't want it to rain! I swear, I know it's spring in my hood and all, but there hasn't been a rainless day the entire season! And I'm talking about across several different lots! I'm usually okay with it, you know, just write it into the story, but for this particular scene, I want NO rain.
Anyway, so I grab a Sim and send her to the weather machine (this is after the lot debugger's "less rain" was a huge FAIL!).
And dammit Keri, could you just manage to clear the fracking sky without causing fireballs? Now, of all times? So instead of shooting my update, now fireballs are coming down from the sky, and I'm busy putting out fires (but hey, look, I discovered you can move-objects and delete fires - that's handy!)
But what sucks the most is my HUGE-ASS CAST OF SIMS all start running to see the fire! My HUGE-ASS CAST OF VISITORS all run off the lot and into oblivion. So now I have to teleport them all back in.
Dammit, Keri, you see what you did??? Was it asking too much? You weren't even that low in the green! Sheesh!
And that is the story of how a should-have-been simple one-scene update took me THREE freaking hours to shoot!
(I still love Keri, btw, I'm just a little angry with her right now.)
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Oct 26, 2009, 12:47pm
LMAO! OMG I hate when that happens. Darn fireballs from the sky.
Did you know that there is a weather controller over at Paladin's place? Go to objects and then misc and it's called the Seasons and Weather controller. I sure didn't! Only found that out semi-recently from Mizzgin (with me that probably means I've known about this for a few months).
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 26, 2009, 12:55pm
OMG, thank you! I knew there must be something! This just made my life a thousand times easier!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 27, 2009, 2:18pm
Just wanted to say I'm having SO much fun building my space station, lol! I'll share my progress in the gameplay notes to my next update.
Does anyone know of some good CC I might be able to use? I'm looking for communications and computer equipment especially... or whatever else might be needed inside a space station, lol! More research to do!
ETA: I'm going for realistic, by the way, rather than ultra-futuristic.
This guy's got a lot of stuff, all very Star Treky, obviously, but I might be able to use some of it: http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=756953
And after viewing this video tour of our current ISS, I think I might have my space station built on the moon rather than a free-floating station in orbit. What I'll need is more like a "home base" for all these people out there, and the free-floating station wouldn't be able to support much at all. Not even considering I'm writing about 70 years in the future.
But you know, good thing I am writing in the future, so I can say sure, why not, let's have a military base on the moon!
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Oct 27, 2009, 10:34pm
Are you building it in a separate sub hood Laura?
Now I can't wait for the next update but what else is new
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 28, 2009, 6:27am
I've just put it in Abandia City, way off on the side of the map. And they'll have prisoner tokens so they're not caught wandering around anywhere.
I'm making you wait longer for the gameplay notes, lol! I didn't end up finishing the story part last night until 2:00 in the morning (OMG!), so the notes should follow some time today
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 18, 2009, 1:59pm
I'm in such a habit of writing ahead lately. I'm only in June of 2083 right now, and have the story pretty thoroughly drafted all the way through February of 2084! That's like 20-something updates, lol!
And last night, I wrote the end to my war (OMG!!!). That piece won't even come until well into the next round, but OMG I love it, and I can't wait to share it. (And I bawled writing it, lol!)
Does anybody else do this, sketching or drafting well ahead, and then you get so excited about a future story that you have to wait and wait and wait to share? That's what happened with the prom update I did last month - I had that clogging up my head for months before it was finally time to share it.
I guess the same goes for any traditional kind of writing. You have to wait until something is revised and polished, or published even, before you can really share it in any real capacity. I get all kinds of excited about my novel that nobody's seen yet - all excited on my own, lol!
(You know though, I just figured out that Wordpress has a password protected option for blog entries, so I might actually post an excerpt or two of this thing at some point - you know, so that it's not just wide open on the internet and everything. Anyway...)
So basically, my point being that I always have something cluttering up my head that I can't wait to get out. And then I'm laughing at some story in my head - or crying, depending on the story, which is much, much harder to explain, lol! There are always other things to come first: editing, revising, necessary story set up, and of course, in the case of Sim-stories, Simming it out
Re: LH Babble
Post by girlyesterday on Nov 19, 2009, 8:45am
I think you've done a marvellous job of LH. I mean that's dedication - you've had it gong for a while now and let's face it, it's one of those rare stories you can just fall into and get lost in.
That's a good way to post excerpts particularly from novels you want to publish (password lock it).
I do sometimes, draft well in advance and then have to sit and wait to share it. It's frustrating, especially if someone makes speculations that you really can't answer in case you give away spoilers. I don't always work like that though, sometimes I "wing it".
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Nov 19, 2009, 1:29pm
I agree with Carnaxa. LH is like a story wiki. Too easy to get lost in.
I do the same thing. Getting excited about the things I want to share that I can't yet, and then having that stuff crowding around in my head while I'm trying to do other stuff. You should see my mind right now. Frustrating sometimes.
That last image reminds me of a quote Caranxa had on one of her blogs. Something about being a writer is like having an insane asylum in your head?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 19, 2009, 8:55pm
Awww, thanks guys! I have a lot of fun with it, and I'm glad you all have fun reading it too
Yes, I always have a hard time knowing what to say when answering comments, lol! It's tricky business!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 22, 2009, 9:07pm
Working on a Jodie story! Jodie is just an absolute joy to write! I love her!
That's all
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 30, 2009, 2:25pm
OMG, writing ahead again! This time a four-part story that's two "chapters" ahead of where I am right now, lol!
Don't you wish somebody would pay us to write our Sim-stories full time? lol! It's so much fun!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Nov 30, 2009, 4:28pm
I could definitely go for a deal like that...it really is too much fun.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Nov 30, 2009, 5:29pm
lol, I actually kinda do get paid to write. Here's what you do: Find a good job that pays and allows you to have a lot of free quiet time. Before I worked in a gift shop, but that didn't pay enough and there was a bit too much traffic. Now I'm a rental clerk for an apartment building, so I spend a good amount of hours a day daydreaming and writing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 7, 2009, 4:48pm
Oh sheesh! I just wrote one that made me cry! It's near the end of the round though, so you guys have some time to start collecting those tissues, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 11, 2009, 10:03am
Working on a refreshing couple of updates after all the trauma I've been churning out lately, lol! Things should start looking up for little a while around LH-land. I think the next "chapter" should be mostly lighter than the last. Of course, I'm just giving you all a reprieve because the "chapter" after it is going to RIP YOUR SOUL OUT! lol! Or at least it's going to rip my soul out writing it.
Lunar, I forgot to reply, but that's an awesome idea, about the job! I did something like that in high school - I worked in a video store, and we never got any customers, so I was always writing, watching movies, flirting with boys
That place eventually got shut down though because they weren't making any money. Oops, lol!Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 11, 2009, 9:49pm
So I've been meaning to ask you-- what do you do with the little bits of our soul you collect over time?
lol, don't feel bad. Video stores closing is just a sign of the times.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 24, 2009, 1:16pm
I've been slacking on my novel this week to get excited about the next couple of chapters for LH, lol. The chapter coming up is about 85% written already, and the beginning of the next is written too. As long as these Sims don't decide to disagree with my plans, the next chapter should be a pretty easy one for me. Yay for that!
But even when I know where I'm headed, it still takes me forever to Sim-out my scenes. Probably about an hour per scene, on average, with about three or four scenes per update/story segment. Sometimes longer. How long are you all spending on your stories?... oooh, that makes for a good discussion topic! <-- reposting that as a thread
But anyway, I have some good stuff planned and I'm excited!
I have one more extra (a prequel) to post before I start the next chapter, but I wanted to share a peek of my new header. I'm itching to refresh the site, but I want to wait until the chapter starts
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 30, 2009, 10:05am
(Writing well ahead... but no spoilers)
Do you ever feel bad for your characters? I do. Man, I put them through hell sometimes. This poor girl, everything is finally going fine, and she has no idea I'm about to shatter her world in about five directions. But sheesh, sometimes it just has to happen, you know? Not because she hasn't been shattered enough already, but because she needs to be stronger. I hope she comes out stronger, and not just broken
It's one of those situations though, where the driving force is the circumstances of everyone around her, all piled up, one on top of another, on top of another. And if she were a different person, it might not matter so much, but because she is who she is, it's going to matter.
Anyway... carrying on
Re: LH Babble
Post by test baby on Dec 30, 2009, 5:03pm
This is a test, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 30, 2009, 5:07pm
That was me, testing something
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Dec 31, 2009, 12:18pm
Hi Laura!!! Found this thread so of course I had to respond!!!
It's great to find out so much insight into your story! I will check back here too from now on.
Love the header. And I'm wondering a lot about who the mystery girl you just mentioned is.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 31, 2009, 1:05pm
Hi Billy! Glad you're enjoying the ramblings
Re: LH Babble
Post by maisie on Dec 31, 2009, 5:01pm
Oh my gosh! I almost spit out my coffee from your first post! Definitely had a share of frustrating sims/situations.
I'm enjoying this little insight too!
Definitely going to check in on this thread too.I'm really curious who you are referring too... I have an inkling who it may be from some possible *hints* you've wrote out before. (*hints* like this, because sometimes I look too hard at things, and you may have meant nothing by it.... )
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 1, 2010, 10:36pm
Maisie, I love it when you guys pick up on my little "hints" - it makes it all worth putting them there in the first place. So you're probably onto something
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Jan 9, 2010, 12:21am
I wasn't really sure where to ask you this, so I figured here would be a good place. I noticed in the round 2082 overview that you have an update planned toward the end with Phoenix (Sophie) and I just wanted to tell you im really excited! she's one of my favorites and I feel like I really havent heard that much from her at all. I went back and looked through some of her updates, and then I realized well, she's a happy married older woman, LOL and it makes sense to turn the story toward Hayden and Summer's problems.
Anyway, whatever you do I will be more than happy to read, just wanted to make a request.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 9, 2010, 11:56am
LOL, I'm glad you like Sophie, she's a sweet lady
She'll get a decent cameo in Hayden's update, and she'll participate in a prequel story I'm planning for the next chapter break.She's never given me an ounce of trouble on her own behalf, and the only complication in her life, really, has been Hayden, lol! Pretty much since he was a kid. She'll be happy to have him married off and happy again, I think
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 9, 2010, 9:14pm
Which is more fun, "shopping" for Bella Bradshaw's wedding dress, or shopping for the bridesmaid dress she's going to make Mariah wear as matron of honor? LOL! I think she's thinking red, and way more skin than Mariah's comfortable with
This wedding is going to be too much fun!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jan 9, 2010, 10:40pm
Oh, you're making me want to do another big wedding, with a bridal party and everything! That's it - next wedding I do is going to be another huge one!
I cannot wait to see what Bella makes Mariah wear! I'm giggling already and cringing in sympathy for Mariah.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 11, 2010, 4:07pm
Sometimes I'll be writing Max, and I swear he's inhabiting my brain because otherwise I just don't know how such filthy, filthy things get in there, lol! It's not me, it's him! I swear it!
Carla, lol, Mariah is going to have one hell of a time at this wedding! I think I'll do a bridal party dance too, just so she has to dance with Max (who is best man) in that dress! OMG, she's gonna die!!!
I'm pretty sure James gets invited to the wedding too, lol!
I'm SO cracking up at this, lol! I am just evil - EVIL - to my characters!
But I love Mariah, so I'll make sure Micah is there to save her - after we watch her squirm a bit
But man, this whole series of stories is taking FOREVER to finish! The game crashing doesn't help!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jan 11, 2010, 5:45pm
Jan 11, 2010, 4:07pm, laura wrote:
|
LOL! I love that. Can we try blaming our characters for other things too? Like it's their fault I didn't do the laundry today. Yeah.
And omg, you're being mean. You can't do anything else online until this story bit is posted.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jan 12, 2010, 3:45am
I kind of take the opposite approach... I use the load screen time to tidy up and declutter... so if my house is untidy, I just tell myself, I need to play sims more
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 12, 2010, 7:43am
Jan 11, 2010, 5:45pm, thelunarfox wrote:
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Well sure, if they weren't so damned compelling, I'd get tons of laundry done
The wedding won't be until the third part, probably this weekend, but I'll be working on the second part today.Blackcat, I need to do more of that! It's just so easy to check emails instead, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 12, 2010, 11:21pm
Ugh, it's coming people, it's coming! Before I go to bed tonight, I swear it!
Do you ever feel like not only are you whipping an update into shape, but then kicking it while it's down and dragging its sorry ass through the mud? lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 15, 2010, 8:10am
I just wanted to say, Bella Bradshaw and Cameron Gibson got married last night, lol! It was a fun (and huge) wedding!
But because it was so huge (in Sims terms, with my computer, seriously, the 20-something guests they invited is the biggest I've ever done) I didn't end up torturing Mariah as much as I thought I would, lol! Oh, I tortured her a little. She tortured herself a bit as well.
Shenanigans in the bathrooms, people! What is it with my Sims and bathrooms? Eeew!
I think I'm aiming for Sunday/Monday-ish
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jan 15, 2010, 8:58am
Ha, more bathroom shenanigans! I'm really excited to see this wedding and to see who got busy in the bathroom!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 15, 2010, 11:18am
I don't know if it's my Sims with the bathroom fascination or me, I counted a total of four scenes that take place in bathrooms for this coming update. Only one of them is somebody getting busy though, lol!
And on another completely cryptic note - I just figured something out! Don't you love that feeling when you've got this character, who's all kinds of messed up and you have no idea why. And then, like a light bulb, you know. You finally know exactly what they need and how they can move forward. I love epiphanies like that
...and I was in the bathroom when I realized it :\
Re: LH Babble
Post by starrsim Apple Valley on Jan 15, 2010, 5:12pm
Figures that you were in the bathroom
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 19, 2010, 10:17am
Good news? My novel is spilling out of my fingers like MAGIC this week! That's always a nice feeling
Bad news? Novel trumps this LH update I keep meaning to work on. But you know, that's got to be the order of things. I hope to get a chance to work on it today... that is, if this novel of mine decides to stop being so witty and charming, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 21, 2010, 12:52pm
I just enabled the AllMenus cheat, and I'm about to try it out!
I've already shot through the wedding update, but I'll try it out on their honeymoon. I don't usually do honeymoons, but Bell and Cam are both begging for one, and I feel bad that I never, ever give any of my Sims a honeymoon, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 21, 2010, 1:20pm
OMG, she didn't!!! Oh, Lord, what am I going to do with this girl?
Needless to say, I have quite the surprise coming up for you guys
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jan 21, 2010, 5:52pm
Jan 21, 2010, 12:52pm, laura wrote:
|
I expect a full and detailed report, young lady!
Seriously, I'm a little nervous to enable this in game because of how you have to have it in your user start-up and I'm wondering how easy it is to turn off, once you've got it in. But the whole thing is very intriguing and I'd like to be able to use it. Let me know if you get any lag too - I get a lot of lag with testingcheatsenabled sometimes and am curious to see if it's the same with this.
And you're such a tease, with your big surprise and everything! I'm excited to read what's coming next!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 21, 2010, 5:57pm
LOL, I just replied in your other thread
It was SO easy to turn on. It's just inserting one single line of code into a file, and saving. SO easy!Once you're in game, you can turn off testing cheats, which I would want to do anyway so you don't get that stupid code number in the corner of your pictures. But I didn't have any lag at all using it. And it toggles on and off easily, which you'll need to do, because there are a lot of menus to scroll through, and that would get annoying for regular play.
Ha, I know I'm a tease, lol! I just had to spill it out into the world (cryptically)
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Jan 23, 2010, 9:23pm
Ugh, Laura I'm dying over here!!!!
And I'm really enjoying reading your behind the scenes stuff, though.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 27, 2010, 6:41pm
OMG! The cutest family picture EVER!!!
Delilah is just the prettiest little Sim-girl to ever live! All of my two year-olds are just super adorable right now, and they've inspired me to do a whole toddler post for them, lol! I'll post it along with the new babies update, after all this extras spam I have planned, lol!
Naomi will be cuter once she grows some hair, lol! She's only supposed to be 6 months old right now
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 28, 2010, 11:20am
It dawns on me that I could be writing this story quite a bit longer than I expected, lol! It's been taking me 2 months (on average) to get through a chapter, and with about 6 chapters in each round, that makes for one whole year per round. (Geez, am I the only Sim-writer who takes a whole YEAR to get through a round??? I'm nearly blogging in real time, lol! My year to my hood's two Sim-years.) There's two rounds left after the one I'm in now, plus two more chapters after the one I'm in now, makes for about another 2 years and 4 months! Whoa, that's a long story!!! LOL! That's in addition to the almost two years I've already been writing it.
I have slowed my pacing down considerably since I started though. Both to deepen the story, and to keep it in balance with my other writing. My first round was finished in two months, and the second round in about three months, but I think I'm definitely more proud of the story the way it is now, in its longer form, even if it takes more time to get through.
I'm just thinking out loud
I'm still interested in moving to Sims 3 eventually, but the game will probably be done and finished before I get that far, lol! Or at least, the game will have a good few EPs to it, and all the bugs worked out. At least there's that.
Re: LH Babble
Post by starrsim Apple Valley on Jan 29, 2010, 11:29pm
It the quality increases, then who cares if the timing slows. I must admit, sometimes it's annoying, but only because I want to know what happens and I can't simply turn the page
-thus why I'm not a huge soap/sitcom fan.Your story has gotten deeper and the characters have burrowed deeper into my heart as I learn more about them. I think I've noticed that my stories have slowed down, especially since I switched POVs.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 29, 2010, 11:41pm
Awww, thanks
I'm really touched that you guys care as much about my characters as I do, lol! Really though, that's a huge compliment!And you poor tortured readers, with the way I throw out these teasers...
Ugh, but you're right, soaps are the worst! I don't even watch them anymore. You could watch for a whole month, and the storylines would hardly progress at all!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 2, 2010, 12:45pm
Just wanted to say that I've got a bunch of extras and fillers planned for you guys this week, while I focus on some other writing work. My first SBP interview will be posted on Friday (an interview with Sam's mom).
Then Monday we'll get back to real stories again with a Jodie update
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Feb 2, 2010, 11:49pm
yay! I love the picture of Bella's family! They are so attractive, lol! (ooooh, you know what I'm getting excited for? When Samantha gets to meet them all! OMG! Can you imagine?
Delilah's hairstyle is actually one of my all time favorites.
You and your teasers! I actually love them, and I don't really mind waiting. I just go back and read the archives.
Seriously, though, I'm a HUGE fan of yours! ( I better get in line, too.) Sometimes I care about your characters more than my own. (LOL and I really love my characters. I love sims 2!)
Can't wait for the interview with sam's mom or the jodie update!!!
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Feb 4, 2010, 6:49pm
Hi Laura - just wanted to say I have FINALLY got round to reading LH (being without my sims has meant I could spend more time with other people's!). It took me a little while to get into it, not knowing Sims 2 very well (I only own the base game and open for business and barely played either, so I found some of the stuff from the other EPs hard to cope with at first), but now I'm really enjoying it (am about halfway through) and I have my own favourite sims and families. Not saying who yet as they'll probably draw some random nasty event before I get to the end!
Oh, and I LOVE the random events thing. When I find some nice worlds in CAW I want to set up a hood to play Sims1-style (well, mixed with Sims3) and I might integrate that idea to spice up the gameplay a bit.
I really want to get into reading the Samantha Bradshaw thing properly not just seeing the posts where she crops up so it's my mission to get into the other worlds she'll be inhabiting too. Tierra de Legado is next, then Billybop's blog...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 4, 2010, 7:58pm
Billy, awww, I bet Samantha would love to meet her little nieces. But wow, that makes me wonder what Bella would think about Sam coming back. What a shocker that's going to be, lol!
Rad, yay! I'm always glad to have another reader on board with this crazy nonsense!
And I'm always so impressed when you guys manage to read all the way through my messy early stuff! It gets a lot better from about the halfway point - a little more storytelling, and a little less on the gameplay, so you might even enjoy that more.
And yes, definitely check out the other Samantha stories when you have time! We're having so much fun with this!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 5, 2010, 2:24pm
It seems like forever since I had any new Sim babies - but I got five more last night
I just wanted to let you all know that the mothers and babies are doing just fine (lol!).I'm a little bit ahead right now (which feels awesome, by the way! So much less pressure! Why haven't I been doing this all along?), and the birth announcement update is scheduled about three ahead. They're cuties! And I got two boys out of the bunch! Yay! Boys seem to be a scarce commodity lately.
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Feb 7, 2010, 2:39pm
I'm now all caught up and I am really enjoying your characters. I love the military sub-plot, it's pretty audacious and I'm excited to see how it'll work out. I also love Lucy and Dallas (d'aw) though I can't help but fear trouble's on their horizon; Micah and Mariah and Amelia. I mean, I love them all, but they're perhaps my current favourites. The whole romantic chemistry thing is very interesting indeed too and I love how that and other sim wants are integrated into your story. I like how you incorporate gameplay as well as telling a story, must make it more fun than either straight gameplay or straight storytelling (albeit probably more frustrating!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 7, 2010, 4:20pm
Rad, yay for catching up! I'm so impressed by anyone who makes it all the way through. It's so LONG! lol!
I was so, SO nervous to write the war ROS, and even more nervous when I decided to try to write a space war, lol! I could have just made it a regular Earthly war when I drew it, but then somehow the space war seemed less daunting. I'm sure anyone who reads real sci-fi can see that this is so far beyond my comfort zone, lol! But we're just having fun here, so I went for it! I'm always glad to hear it's working okay.
I'm really excited too about where I have it going, and I hope you all like how it unfolds. I mean, besides people dying, that is
Those are all some of my favorite characters too - I bet you can probably tell by how many stories they get, lol!
Thanks for reading!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 8, 2010, 10:32am
Oh, I'm so sad! I have a hugely glitched Sim! I really hope I can fix her. I posted a thread in the Sims 2 Discussion folder if you think you might be able to help.
This poor family is so cursed!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 8, 2010, 11:33am
Oh, yay, I fixed her!
Jack is quite pleased by this, because you know, his wife dying would have been a very bad week, lol!
(All LOLs aside, believe it or not, I am NOT in the habit of killing off these Phoenix boys' wives!)
*big fat sigh* This is SO showing up in the storyline!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 8, 2010, 2:43pm
Ohhhh... too late for my poor sim... I have a widow in my hood for this very reason! I tried moving them to different houses, did searches, but I never found this solution (maybe because I never registered that it was caused by attraction )... I ended up offing him because I thought it was the only way to keep the rest of his family playable. I'm tempted to resurrect him now... maybe I could just decide he was off quarentined with some terrible illness and now we've found a cure
Glad you didn't have to kill off Jack's wife, it would have been sooo bad to have another widow in that family! Can't wait to see how you use this in the storyline.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 8, 2010, 8:17pm
Oh wow, I was just preparing myself to have to do the same thing, just to save the rest of the family. Such a simple fix too, so I don't know how I didn't think of it, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 9, 2010, 10:54am
Random thought: the thing I love most about this kind of storytelling is all the surprises. The story is always fresh, and new, and going in directions I didn't expect it to. Traditional storytelling can be surprising too, but never quite on this level. I've always wondered how I might be able to incorporate some of this surprise into my traditional fiction...?
Carla, I wanted to answer your question about the soundtracks a little better, since this happened to me just last night and it's still fresh in my mind. I posted it on the blog, but I'll post it here too, because you probably wouldn't see that I replied again
I'd been playing and writing this character, for an upcoming story, and kind of mapping out the direction of her future stories - and I think I mentioned moods before, because that's exactly what it was. This character had a whole mood around her, and it showed in her stories and in the way she interacted with everyone around her, though I couldn't really put a distinct word on it at the time.
Then I heard a song come on and it just resonated with that mood perfectly. I mean, I probably hear dozens of random songs in the course of a day, but just this one song fit her, and her situation, so well that it felt like she could have been singing the lyrics herself.
So to answer your question, the story does come before the song
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Feb 9, 2010, 3:18pm
Thanks, Laura - this sort of thing is really interesting to me because it's so different to what I do. The song titles are usually just convenient titles for me, though occasionally, a song will actually make me think of a certain Sim and I'll save that one for them (I'm saving one right now, in fact).
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 9, 2010, 11:40pm
Carla, me too! I've got all kinds of songs lined up and saved
I know, I know, I promised y'all a Jodie story for today. But then I got Leila stuck in my head in a BIG way and I've been picking at her stories all day. I just can't keep her quiet - I guess she wants to be heard, even if her next story isn't for about ten down the line, lol!
So demanding! How do we manage them?
Hopefully Leila will give me a rest tomorrow, and I can give Jodie her due attention, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 12, 2010, 8:29pm
Don't you just hate it when you just finished a super-awesome school update, and totally finished pimping out the school, new gym, upgraded classrooms, decorated, and you finished taking all the pictures, and then you totally crash out your business owner on the lot as she's leaving, and she gets stuck there in her car? Don't you hate that? And then don't you hate it when you delete the whole car, thinking it'll just send you back to her house, but it doesn't, because it just sticks her in limbo, and then you can't load her house or play the school lot, don't you just hate that???
So what do I do? lol! Move the household? Move just her, to another household?
I don't know, I'm sure I'll figure it out. The school looks awesome though! I might even upload it sometime
... you know, if I haven't borked it all to pieces, that is...
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Feb 12, 2010, 9:53pm
LOL, yeah, I would hate that!
But this is what I'd try. I'd first move her in with another family, either by normal means (having someone ask her) or with a hack. From there, I'd have her sell the school and then try to see if her home lot will load. Seeing she's not living there any more, it should. From there, you should be able to move her back in with her family and she can rebuy the school. Hopefully?
Another thought, which won't help you now, but might if you make the same mistake again: if you had another person selectable on the lot after you deleted the owner and if you use the DEST or SIM version of InSimenator, you can click on an empty spot of the ground and choose Restore Family and that might also have fixed the problem.
What would be really great is if TS2 had the ResetSim cheat that TS3 has. That would have fixed the owner up before you even left the lot - it's really handy.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 12, 2010, 10:04pm
I know, deleting the car with her in it was the most moronic thing I could have done, lol! Duh!
I tried moving her in with another household (this is Meadow, btw), I had her sell and rebuy the lot, and the game was still "in progress" there. So I figured maybe I needed to move Brady and the dog in too, so I did that, and still, game in progress at the school. Now their old home is unoccupied, and still game in progress at the school, so I can't travel there from where they're living now. And if I try to load the school lot from the neighborhood screen, it will load, but there will be nobody there selectable.
Next I think I'll try selling the lot to another Sim, and see if that resets it. Because selling the lot back to Meadow didn't change anything.
I've had this happen before, but I can't remember how I solved it. I wish I knew what caused it, so I could quit doing it, lol!
So sad, Lakeside Heights Public Schools might be about to go up in flames
At least I got all the pictures I needed from there for this school semester, so I have another six months if I need to rebuild.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 12, 2010, 10:08pm
Had a similar thing happen once... try using sim blender or something like that to teleport her into a household - any household - and add her to the family. Then while she's temporarily living there, go to her 'real' home and check it loads ok. Then invite her over and get someone to invite her to move in. Sell the school back to the community and exit the lot (to be sure the school lot is reset with no one on it), then re-enter and get her to buy it back. You might have lost all your decorating, though - depends on how often you saved it during the process - I've learned the hard way to save often!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 12, 2010, 10:13pm
Ok, just read your second message!
I had this happen to my cemetery, and I fixed it - sort of - by changing the lot zoning to residential and moving a random sim in as owner. I later moved him out and changed it back to community, but the it still showed game in progress. So its back to being residential, with some poor unplayable guy living there in a little shed behind the graves, but at least it works. I have to load it and teleport in the relevant sims if I want to take pictures there or something rather than send them there from their own home, so its not ideal but it'll do. Maybe you could have a live-in teacher NPC.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 12, 2010, 10:15pm
I did check her old household once she'd left it, and it wouldn't load. It said there was a game in progress at the school still, even though she wasn't living there anymore.
Next I'm going to try just selling the lot back to the community, and seeing if I can travel there as a regular community lot. She can sell the lot just fine, but when she buys it back, there is still that game in progress.
I did save just before the whole mess started, so at least there's that
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 12, 2010, 10:21pm
Blackcat, lol, just saw your other message
I'll try that too if this other thing doesn't work...Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 12, 2010, 10:25pm
Lol... I think we're all saying/thinking the same thing at the same time
Good luck... will be interested to see if anyone comes up with a better solution for this because the cemetery is easier to play as a community lot and I'd like to be able to change it back.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 12, 2010, 10:36pm
Oh, bah! So now I've sold it back to the community, it's just a plain old community lot, and still she can't travel to it.
I'll try the residential thing tomorrow - I'm about to watch a movie with the hubby
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Feb 12, 2010, 10:41pm
Enjoy the movie!
One more idea though, if the residential thing doesn't work. Maybe move the school to the lots bin and then place it back? Theoretically, it should be a clean copy.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 12, 2010, 10:55pm
Somuchsong, great idea! Do you think that work with my cemetery? Or would the graves disappear? I guess I could back up my hood and try...
Same from me, Laura - enjoy the movie!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Feb 12, 2010, 11:11pm
I would be reluctant to try it with a cemetery. I think the graves would stay there but what would happen is once you placed it again in the hood, you could end up with two copies of each dead character - one from the original lot and one from the cloned lot. Which is not a good thing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 13, 2010, 12:19am
That's true... I didn't think of that. Thanks... and darn, looks like its staying residential!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 13, 2010, 2:30pm
Oh, wow, big fail, lol! I tried to move someone into it as residential, and it still loaded up unoccupied.
I couldn't move it to the bin, though after moving my placeholder guy out, I was finally able to package it (though duh, forgot to put down a things stay shrub, so it'll be completely undecorated, lol! How many times can I fail at this?)
I can bulldoze the lot though.
I think I'm calling electrical fire, after hours, and my LH kids will have to be bussed to the other schools, which could make for some interesting storylines
It was a remodel, rather than something I built myself from scratch, so I could stand to rebuild it anyway, to make it more playable, maybe a little smaller than it was (my computer can't handle much). Ugh though, building is no big deal, but all that redecorating makes my head hurt! But if I'm going to have to redecorate anyway, I might as well rebuild at the same time.
I'll still share the pictures though, because it was very pretty. I'll probably recreate it very similar to how it was.
Thanks for the help, guys
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 14, 2010, 4:12am
Too bad, especially as it happened just after you'd redecorated it. Must have been some bigger bug in it than my cemetery, I'm not going to be disappointed that its a residential lot any more because at least it still works!
Looks like you can make something good out of this with the story, and with making it more playable... but shame that you have to
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Feb 15, 2010, 11:42am
I had this problem too once, and something that helped was when I had to change a community lot to a residential you need to place a mailbox in order for it to become playable and not have live mode frozen.
That worked for me, but I don't want to sound like I know what I'm talking about.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 15, 2010, 3:39pm
Oh crap, the mailbox! I forgot I had to place a buyable mailbox when I changed it.
Thanks Billy - Laura, I would check that your decorating is definitely gone because if the thing isn't changing to a residential lot properly, then maybe its still there, and maybe all it needs to work as residential is a mailbox.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 15, 2010, 3:58pm
Oh, wow, where do you even find the buyable mailbox?
The decorating is gone though. That's my bad, lol! I should have placed a "things stay shrub" before I moved the placeholder guy out, but I didn't. My brain is fried this week, I swear it!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Feb 15, 2010, 4:39pm
The mailbox and trashcan are here:
[url]http://daydream.etowns.net/ [/url]
Click on Sims2 at the top of the screen, then hacks/mods... and take care to get the right one for you EPs (voice of experience speaking
). Strange stuff happens if you have the wrong one!Too late for your school but might be useful should you have a similar problem in future...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 15, 2010, 9:09pm
Thanks for the links! I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time (since I'm bound to get myself into these messes again and again, lol!)
I found Jodie her very first soundtrack song, which is like graduation or something. She's a real character now
"Bluff" by Pilot Speed. I've never heard this band before, but I like them!I should have Jodie's story up tonight.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 18, 2010, 10:19am
I just wanted to say, I think Corbin and Amelia are about 1000 times more hilarious fun to write together now that they're NOT sleeping with each other, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by maisie on Mar 1, 2010, 10:34am
I had this problem!! It happened with my Emma McCarthy, and I was able to fix everything, she's fine, the business is fine.
I had asked for help at N99, and wrote everything I tried and did there. I'm linking to you waht actually worked.
In moving the sim into a new household, I went to the household I wanted her to be in, popped Emma over, and then added to household. There is a cheat for it, there's Inge's teleporter plus, and I used Insiminator.
http://starlightsims.yuku.com/reply/6524....ml#reply-652423
HTH!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 1, 2010, 9:22pm
I'm long since past the point of no return, lol! But thanks for the link! I'm glad Emma's lot was saved. I think I did just about everything you did, until the point of putting her business in the lots bin. It wouldn't let me do that. All I could do to the lot was bulldoze it.
I have had that taxi thing happen to me on community lots too though! Never get in the taxi, lol! It's bad news
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 2, 2010, 10:02pm
Oh my sheesh! I did it again! No joke! This time to Aurora's level 10 salon. And yes, just after I warned against it, borked by the taxi bug - I didn't get in the taxi!!! I swear it!
Time to put down the testing cheats, and walk away very slowly. I obviously have no clue what I'm doing...
At least I'm able to package the lot this time, so I'll have a copy if I can't fix it.
Dude, what's my problem?
Maisie, I'm going to try what you did, since this time it looks like a similar problem.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Mar 2, 2010, 10:09pm
Hey, I just had a thought - has this been happening since you used that hack that adds all interactions to the pie menus, but you need testingcheatsenabled in the startup? (I hope you know what I'm talking about - can't remember the name of it right now but I know you mentioned it).
Just wondering, because I know I've read in various places that you should only enable testing cheats for short periods of time, do what you need to do, then turn it off... it can cause problems if its left on all the time, which is what would happen if its in a startup file. That was why I'm reluctant to use this hack even though it sounds really useful.
This might be the problem.
Good luck, REALLY hope you can save this lot! Remember the shrub if you have to try the residential/community switch thing!!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 2, 2010, 10:23pm
This particular problem I've been running into for ages, pretty much ever since I knew you could make Sims selectable with testing cheats, so years probably. I usually know my way around these cheats pretty well, since I've been using them so long. I should know better, and I do know better, but every once in a while, I leave it on too long, or try to do too much, and you know, bork my game, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Mar 2, 2010, 10:29pm
Yeah, I'm very familiar with that hindsight is 20/20 feeling
Wonder how I ever played before I realised you could do stuff like make any sim selectable?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 3, 2010, 9:41am
Ugh, so frustrated! I tried all the moving/bin tricks, but it still loads the lot in buy mode. THEN I tried loading up a duplicate copy from the packaged file, and had somebody else buy the lot, and it still loaded up in buy mode. Someone else owning a duplicate copy under a different name and it's still borked
I hate it when this kind of stuff happens. It's the biggest waste of time, when all I want to do is take some damn pictures and write a story, and instead I'm stuck fixing stupid crap that I broke. /whine.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 3, 2010, 12:47pm
Nope, can't fix it. Can't have someone else buy it, or play it as an ordinary community lot. I tried EVERYTHING! Even tried Pescado's old crowbar thing, which did free up live mode, but that did no good for me since she still couldn't leave the lot and travel home.
So is this the second major "electrical fire" in LH this month? I might as well write a storyline about an arsonist on the loose... except that I'd be afraid to travel to a community lot to get the pictures :\
Note to self though: as soon as you see that visitor-taxi thing, the pop up that says "will so-and-so be traveling as well?" Exit without saving, immediately!
And pretty much as soon as any business owner has trouble leaving a lot, exit without saving, immediately. Whatever progress made in a play session is not worth all these headaches!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Mar 3, 2010, 8:37pm
Oh, bummer, this makes me want to back up my hood before every play session (like it doesn't take long enough to get started already!). I hope this doesn't happen every time you send a sim to a community lot.
Is it only with taxi's? I rarely use them because I don't like waiting for them, they either take the car or walk - even if its too far to realistically walk from a story pov, I just imagine there was a taxi involved
.??crowbar thing???
Sounds brutal!Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 3, 2010, 9:48pm
No, actually, I NEVER use the taxis! It's just some glitch that happens sometimes when you make visiting Sims selectable on a community lot, whether or not you came in a taxi, or by car, or by foot. I can't even predict why, or when it's going to happen. But I know it's been happening ever since I knew how to use testing cheats. Or maybe since OFB? I just know it's been around for a while.
I found that crowbar thing on MATY from like 2006, lol! It seemed like it might work, but no such luck.
But anyway, yes, I'm seriously afraid to play owned businesses right now - or at least I'll play them strictly by the book, which totally isn't my style, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Mar 3, 2010, 10:26pm
hey laura,
have you tried uploading it to a website as a download (such as TSR- it usually goes up next day or two)
Then download it yourself and place it, buy it and stuff. You would proably lose the rank and employees (which SUCKS) but you'd get jolie jolie back.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 4, 2010, 7:33am
I did try packaging it, and then reinstalling from my packaged lots folder. (The duplicate still loaded in buy/build mode.) I'm not sure if going that extra step of actually uploading/downloading the file would change anything, but maybe I'll try it some time.
I'm also curious to know if it would work in anyone else's game - surely the saved game in progress wouldn't transfer? Maybe I'll share the link if I ever get around to uploading it... if anyone's brave enough to try it out, lol!
I've already lost the rank and employees when I put it in the bin for the first time. But that's easy enough to cheat back, compared to all the other stuff I've tried.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 5, 2010, 10:22pm
I really would write y'all an LH update... but I'm so, SO tired! Tomorrow just might be my last day of cleaning/moving, I hope. Hopefully I'll get my brain back after that
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 9, 2010, 10:58pm
The annoying thing about sim-storytelling? All the annoying glitchy crap!
So I have this girl, and she can't interact with her boyfriend. It's not the same attraction glitch I had before - it's different. She can interact with anyone else, everyone else, except for her boyfriend. Which makes it kind of hard to shoot an update between the two of them. He can interact with her just fine. They were interacting, to the best of my knowledge, just fine recently.
She can interact with him just fine on other lots, just not at home. I'm hoping it doesn't mean her home is borked, but you know, I've been known to bork lots before!
It's just frustrating. I have so little time available to work on this thing as it is, and then when I do have a free night to spend on it, I would rather it be getting useful pictures and things accomplished, and not troubleshooting some stupid glitch, you know?
I wonder sometimes if the neighborhood is just getting too old. I mean, neighborhoods don't last forever. Little bits of random junk data accumulate over the years, causes one glitch or another... after another.
I hate wasting time. There's so little time as it is.
Done ranting :\
ETA: fixed, I think - about 2.5 hours flushed down the toilet.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Apr 9, 2010, 11:49pm
Ugh-- seconds all of that. So true all of it! TS2 'hoods don't last forever. Especially considering some of the stuff we probably did to them before we knew better, depending on how long you kept it.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Apr 10, 2010, 8:17pm
Glad you could fix it... this is why my glitch was so frustrating... I was 99% sure it was cc-related, but it took sooo long to find out what was causing it... and like you say, I wanted to use that time for gameplay, not fixing things. I ended up staying up until 2am to sort it because I didn't want it to run over into another day...
The glitches might be a sign of the neighborhood 'aging'... I've decided with my hood that I'll make frequent backups and just keep playing the original for as long as I can fix the glitches and keep it working.
When it does die, I'll recreate it from the most recent backup (that'll be a big job but worth it as I've become attached enough to these families to want to keep their story going)... maybe I won't recreate every single sim (for move-aways and non-playables it will depend on their ties to the ones I'm keeping) but enough to continue the story. I'm hoping it'll last at least until the generation now becoming elders are mostly gone as that will significantly reduce the number of sims I have to recreate.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 11, 2010, 7:38am
Lunar, so true - this hood is four years old now, OMG! There was so much I didn't know not to do back in the beginning. This hood is officially older than my RL child, lol! Wow.
Blackcat, I'm backing up a lot more frequently too. I'm just hoping I can finish out this story before the whole hood blows up. Which might be a lot to ask, because I do have five more years of neighborhood time planned.
I won't recreate it though, even from a backup. If it gets that bad (hoping it doesn't!), I'll just replot the story a bit, clone and stage to tie up loose story ends, and move into the Sims 3 version like originally planned.
On a much lighter note... I shot a fun post last night. Some of my Sims just don't seem to like to keep their clothes on, that's all I'm gonna say
I was thinking about my story, and all the couples I have, and which ones get sex scenes (multiple ones even), and which couples only get suggestive sex. It's strange, because most of my couples have sex on a regular basis, even if only functional, routine sex.
I can't say it has to do with the innocence of the characters, because sheesh, Dallas and Lucy have had a fair share of skin time, and they're just about as innocent as it gets, lol!
I guess it must have to do with storyline. My couples who get lots of skin time are also characters with the richer storylines. Sex is just so useful to demonstrate such a wide range of emotion - love, lust, anger, sadness, comfort, confusion...
Lunar, I'm blaming this on you, with your "views on sex" part of your character profiles. It has me thinking about how all my characters view sex. I mean, it has me thinking about that more than I did already, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by applevalley on Apr 11, 2010, 4:25pm
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
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 11, 2010, 5:51pm
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?
Re: LH Babble
Post by applevalley on Apr 11, 2010, 6:44pm
Try simgaroop or maxis dreams for "normal" clothing. Mostly recolors of Maxis meshes, but they are "normal"
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 11, 2010, 7:26pm
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!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Apr 11, 2010, 7:54pm
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!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 15, 2010, 12:50pm
OMG, OMG, OMG, the places this story will go! :\
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 15, 2010, 1:50pm
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
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Apr 15, 2010, 8:17pm
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.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 15, 2010, 9:11pm
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
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 27, 2010, 11:50am
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?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 8, 2010, 10:35am
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.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on May 8, 2010, 11:40am
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.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 8, 2010, 11:56am
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.Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on May 9, 2010, 5:13am
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.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 9, 2010, 7:03am
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
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 10, 2010, 9:59am
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!
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on May 11, 2010, 5:03am
May 9, 2010, 5:13am, blackcat wrote:
|
Are you talking about the UK election, blackcat?
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
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on May 11, 2010, 7:04am
May 11, 2010, 5:03am, rad wrote:
|
*spits coffee on monitor*
Rotflol!!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 16, 2010, 11:29am
May 11, 2010, 5:03am, rad wrote:
|
Thank you, and yes, I agree!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 16, 2010, 8:06pm
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?
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on May 16, 2010, 9:36pm
Not a breakthrough like that. Looking back on your last journal where Corbin came up in a conversation with these two, that's interesting. It makes some sense!
Now you can get back to work.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on May 16, 2010, 10:43pm
Yes, OMG, it was subconscious all along, lol!
Oh, and I wrote in your babble thread too - don't know if you saw that or not
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 19, 2010, 8:53pm
Ugh, break my heart, these Sims! My vote for who needed the biggest hug, by the way, was for Corbin. Though I guess you don't really need much of an excuse to want to hug Corbin, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 27, 2010, 12:21pm
Question for LH fans:
I'm trying to put together labels for each of my major storylines, but I'm wondering what to include or not include. I'm asking this of you guys, since these labels are mostly for you to use
For example, Mariah's story - I've included everything that relates to Mariah, obviously. I've included the ones where Micah appears, relating to their story together. I haven't included Micah on his own if it has nothing to add to their story or his character development (which I'm not sure if there were any, lol!). I've also included all the ones including James as it relates to Mariah's story.
But, what about the ones with important character development for James, but not having to do with Mariah? There are a good few, especially involving April - I guess April has a way of cracking him open
Do you think those entries would belong in Mariah's story tag, or not?Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 27, 2010, 5:46pm
Don't you hate it when you think you'll just take a quick picture of Lake City, before you load up a house to play, so that you might make a revised map, except that Lake City is SO FREAKING GARGANTUAN that it crashes your computer all to hell, so bad you have to turn the damn thing OFF so it can recuperate? And you really should know better by now, because Lake City ALWAYS crashes out your computer, so you don't know why you thought it wouldn't this time, as if this time was special or something. And what should have been a quick snapshot ended up costing you an hour of play time! Don't you hate that?
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jun 27, 2010, 6:21pm
Done that... my downtown crashes my computer, too, if I zoom the camera right out... and there are a couple of other things that I know will freeze the game or the whole computer... but I still do them because, maybe, this time it won't... common sense tells me that if I want to experiment with things, I should do it when I've finished playing, because then if it crashes, too bad... but, no, I still make it crash when I've got other things I want to do.
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jun 27, 2010, 9:15pm
Argh, yes, I hate stuff like that! None of my subhoods cause consistent crashes but if I spend too long on the hood screen, placing deco or lots or swinging the camera around incessantly trying to get good pics, my computer generally doesn't like it and I either start getting graphical glitches or I crash. :\
And I never learn my lesson.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 28, 2010, 10:00am
Blackcat, yes, experiment when we're DONE playing for the session! Now that's the thing to remember, lol!
Carla, mine does that too, if I try to move the camera too fast or too wide
Now, on characters:
I just love it when two characters appear in my head and write themselves a whole conversation like magic! Some characters are just like that - I don't even have to write them, they just write themselves. All I have to do is stick them in the same room together, and they play off each other like magic! Love it!
I can't tell you who these two are though, because it's a secret!
I've got a lot of fun stories planned for the coming LH spring, which you're going to need because the winter is going to be so awful, lol!Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jun 28, 2010, 12:39pm
Okay, about those extra story lines, like the ones for James that don't contain Mariah, maybe you should put those in a separate little "extras" section? Or you can just link to those stories at the bottom of the Mariah stories. Like "For more James, see here" if that makes sense.
I'm glad you're putting up a page for story lines. It'll make it easier to revisit old favorites or to just read back.
Also, lol! That's your super hope hopefulness for you. "Maybe it'll be better this time?" I do that too when I refuse to believe something won't work.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 28, 2010, 8:19pm
Lunar, I think that's a good idea, like "further reading on James" and then I can just link to the "porter" tag, which will bring up all of his entries.
But then I'm running into the same problem with Tyler, in relation to Summer's story. He had quite a few entries on his own while they were fighting. Or I guess all the turmoil she put him through when they were broken up kind of does have to do with her story, doesn't it? Hmmm...
I can't really just link to the "jackson" tag on that one though, because the way I set that up, it could refer to Tyler, Beau, or their parents.
And then there's some of Hayden's character development in relation to Summer's story. Some of Hayden's pieces I have put in, but others I left out.
Oh, I'm making this much more complicated than I need to probably, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jun 28, 2010, 8:39pm
For the story lines, you're linking to special tags for those?
I have to admit I always wondered about you using last names for the tags. I imagine it's handy, but would get messy if you wanted to link to stories just containing Tyler. And I'm no help, because I'm all-- "Give them all tags!" I'd probably give someone like Tyler his own tag, probably just his first name.
Also, yes, I'd consider Tyler's stories part of Summer's story.
lol, it gets complicated. You story is very much life stories. There aren't really beginnings or endings, just a flow.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 28, 2010, 8:42pm
Okay, so I think I figured it out, lol! I included any time Tyler was talking about Summer or their relationship. But any character development that has nothing to do with Summer was left out, since it's technically not part of Summer's story. (There was only one or two, like the helicopter one, lol! And a few from when he was younger, before they were dating.)
But I linked to the "jackson" tag at the end of her story paragraph, so if anyone was really curious about him, they could dig through it.
ETA: on another note, a lot of what makes up the story (and what I include in the tag or not) has to do with whether I consider it a typical "romance" story, or a non-genre story. The romance plot has to do with the evolution of the relationship, whereas the non-genre story has to do with the evolution of a character and personal growth.
I do have a couple typical romance plots in LH, I think. Like Dallas and Lucy, for example, you know, a couple overcomes obstacles to be together.
But Summer's story really feels more her own, about her own development and personal struggles. And Tyler's just along for the ride. Which is probably why the poor guy's so wrecked, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 28, 2010, 8:46pm
Yes, true, the last names do get really messy - both with larger families, like the Deppiesses, and the Phoenixes, or when my girls get married and take their husband's name. And to be honest, if I started over I probably wouldn't do it that way again, lol! I think it would be hell to try to fix at this point though. I wouldn't even know where to start. So I just keep adding more, different tags, like these
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 29, 2010, 10:25pm
Pardon me while I SQUEE over this pic a bit!
*heart-farts for the Buchanan family*
Okay, that's all
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jun 30, 2010, 12:29am
Awww! That's adorable.
Is that a pose box pose on Micah or an in-game one? I don't recognise it.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 30, 2010, 7:12am
They're both using the decorgal box, and I think I have them each in at least two poses, lol! Micah is probably the "leg crossed to knee" and the "slouch with hands on lap" - there might be another thrown in there though, I can never be sure, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jun 30, 2010, 7:38am
Ah, I thought I recognised Mariah's pose as one of the "male sit" ones on the decorgal box but didn't pick Micah's at all. I haven't yet tried to combine those, except by accident! I should play around with them a bit more one of these days and see what I can come up with. That picture looks really great.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jun 30, 2010, 8:24am
I often use the male and female poses, all mixed up, interchangeably - whatever works, lol!
You can mix between most pose boxes too, and I'm just starting to experiment with that. As long as it poses without leaving an action in the queue, it can be combined with another. And in combination with OMSPs, there's really no limit to the kinds of scenes you could set up.
Thanks! My favorite part of this one though, is how it looks like he's holding Mariah's hands underneath Quinn's legs
I've got a few more that I'll post with my extras at the end of the chapter.Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 5, 2010, 12:44am
And so was written the biggest pain in the ass update I ever wrote!
It wasn't even just the writing, now that I think of it, but even the shooting, four separate scenes, took me a good eight hours, plus another hour or so in photoshop. (Okay, okay, maybe I indulged myself in playing April and Beau just a little... and played the hospital a bit, lol!) But I felt like I had to drag this one through the mud to get it into shape!
Some come easier than others. Don't know why. Maybe it's the story? Maybe it's my brain?
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 5, 2010, 7:49pm
Ugh, I know the feeling... for me, at least, in my drag-through-the-mud one, the number of different scenes and locations in the update was what did my head in! It was the one where Kyle overdosed, and when I planned it out in my mind, I didn't think of the practical implications of having 5 or 6 different locations in one update. I also didn't think ahead enough to take the pictures for the update during previous visits to the same lot - which I could have done, given that it was mostly storytelling with very little gameplay, and only a couple of pictures on some of the lots anyway.
So I'm trying to take the pictures for this thing, in the order that it happens in the update, jumping from lot to lot, teleporting sims in and out... and my game keeps crashing when I transition lots, and I forget to freeze the time so its dark when its supposed to still be sunset... and then its taking so long, that it's sunrise when its still supposed to be dark... and to cap it all off, I ended up having to watch one of my favourite sims 'die' repeatedly because I couldn't get the last picture right. And, ironically, my favourite picture from the whole update, was the one I never used (yet
).I didn't time how long it took me to make that update, which is probably a good thing, because my usual response to anything new lately is 'I don't have time!!!', and I'd hate to think how much I spent on it... I'm a bit more organised now (just took pictures for three unrelated scenes on the same lot, during a single play session... now just have to be careful no one changes their clothes... lol... ), but I'm never going to have that many places in one update again!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 6, 2010, 11:14am
LOL, I know, I've made that mistake before! All those mistakes! Isn't it the worst when you've got a shot all set up and then some stupid Sim goes and climbs in the hottub or tries to AutoWoo and you have to go stop the hell out of them, AND change their clothes again, lol! Stupid Sims!
But, onto the surprise and wonder of why we bother with all this nonsense...
OMG, these two (mystery couple that shall not be disclosed until story-Spring)! I wrote about them before (back on pg. 7), and they're at it again! These two write like MAGIC!!! I can't stop them, I swear it! Their conversations just keep filling up my head, and they've got so much to say, and such chemistry! It's crazy! They're about to shake my story into pieces, I'm telling you!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 6, 2010, 5:56pm
My "why we bother..." was the picture I never used, the spontaneous, huge awwwww moment, that almost made me cry at the time... I'm in the middle of writing a whole update inspired by that one picture!
Your mystery couple has me fascinated... how long until LH spring... didn't you just say something about first snow in the last update? Guess I'm gonna have to put up with the suspense a while...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 6, 2010, 7:52pm
Oh, I LOVE updates that are spawned off of one single picture!!! I can't wait to read it!
Ha, LH spring isn't for a little while. We're just finishing up fall, then the upcoming chapter is winter, and then you'll find out who they are at the beginning of the spring/summer chapter.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 7, 2010, 7:04pm
Random cuteness, just for the heck of it!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jul 7, 2010, 9:35pm
LOL! Okay, that and cheeseburgers have helped save the day. That's so cute!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 8, 2010, 8:46am
I know how Jodie's story ends! Like all the way to the end kind of ends. (Geeze, that's like four story-years away, lol!)
I'm listening to the song I'll use for her soundtrack right now, and I want to share it so badly, but I can't(!!!) because even the song itself is too telling. Oh, the lyrics are perfect! I'll tell you it's by Ingrid Michaelson
But I love a lot of her songs, so that's not too spoilery, lol!Oh I love Jodie! I hope you'll all be proud of her, and how her story ends up going. She's stronger and braver and more whole than she even knows.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 8, 2010, 1:44pm
So I tried to take a picture of Lake City... and so it crashed my computer... again. What's new? Why do I think I can maybe manage to take a picture of Lake City? I should never try. It always crashes.
*sigh*
Anyway, while I'm waiting for my game to restart, I might as well babble. Oh, all the babble, lol!
I'm supposed to be working on a chapter today, but *somehow* I started downloading instead. Then I decided to work on my hospital and birthing center a bit. I'm blaming Carla, for tweeting about working on her hospital
I was really eager to try out the hospitals hack (the Chris Hatch one from Back Alley Sims) - but I don't think it's going to work out for me. It looks awesome, but it loads as some different class of lot, not residential or community, and it's not really editable. It doesn't sound like it would mesh well with my storytelling needs. I use the hospital quite often for different kinds of scenes, so I need it to be accessible.
Oh, *sigh* So I'll probably stick with my hospitals as owned community lots thing. If I want to stage a birth for storytelling, I'm sure I could probably find the animation for it in some posebox somewhere...
Back to crashing my computer then...
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 8, 2010, 6:15pm
Laura, thanks for pointing out the hospital hack - one thing I hated about the way I play hospitals in my game, was that it was so fake - the community lot hospital and the sick sim living in the boarding house. I tried various other ideas - residential lot hospital, residential business hospital, etc - but none were really satisfactory. The only other idea, which I considered but never tried, was to somehow use the simlogical prison system - the prisoner/patient lives at the hospital, stays in his room, remembers where home is for when he's released, etc. But I wanted to change the 'went to prison' memory, for starters, but never got around to it.
I can see how the different type of lot would be a problem in normal gameplay/storytelling, but I have an idea - why not have two hospitals?? Apparently all that changes the zoning is adding an ambulance, so this is what I'm going to do: (after backup,backup, backup!)... I'll modify my community lot hospital so it will work with the hack (birthing room etc...), but no ambulance, then I'll save it and move it to the lots and houses bin. Then I'll put it back, leaving a copy in the lots and houses bin. Then I'll put another copy in my hood - I'll probably just put it next to the first one (two buildings on the same hospital campus...), although you could also 'hide' it somewhere to give the illusion of one building.
I will only add an ambulance to one of the two identical hospitals - so I have one for storytelling, as I always did, and one 'working' hospital for gameplay.
As far as I can see, you have a choice of whether to send your sim to the hack-hospital (call an ambulance) - so I will do what suits me/the story at the time.
*Excited*
Will report back on the experiment... don't know if it would work to tweet about it, though... I'm in a completely different timezone and would probably be tweeting people at 4am...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 8, 2010, 7:01pm
That did cross my mind, having one real working version and one storytelling version, but in the end, I think it's just more work than I'm willing to put in, lol! Yes, it is entirely up to you whether you send the Sim to the hacked hospital or not.
I was really hoping to accomplish both at the same time though. Because I'm already so crunched for time to spend on this neighborhood/story/blog and all that, I can't really afford to go through the extra hassle, you know?
But I can't wait to see you try it! lol!
Are you on twitter? I don't know if I'm following you or not. What's your twitter name?
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 8, 2010, 7:44pm
I'll let you know how it works in terms of storytelling, and how much longer things take... I'm kinda pressed for time myself, so that will be the deal-breaker for me, too... lol. I know that there are hacks around that universally enable buy/build on community lots/hotels/etc, if one of them will enable it on a hospital lot, too, then that would solve a lot of problems.
Also want to be able to teleport in any sim and make them selectable without breaking anything. At the moment I'm backing my my hood in preparation to make a separate 'hospital test' version. I've got a couple of sick or pregnant sims around at the moment, they'll be my 'test subjects' for the sake of the experiment
.Is there anything else in particular you were wondering about? Because since I'm testing it in a copy of my hood rather than in 'real' gameplay, I can set up just about any kind of situation for a test.
The more I read about the way this hospital works, the more I like it and I want it to work for my game! So I'll let you know what happens
I probably won't get too far with it until the weekend, though - got an update I need to finish (I changed the order of my updates so the one I'm really stuck on now comes before the ones I've more-or-less finished... bad move in a practical sense, but works better in the story), and my hospital will need some work, too, before I can use it for this.
I'm on Twitter (only just... someone bullied me into signing up a couple of weeks ago... lol...) - my twitter name is Blackcat325.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 13, 2010, 10:23am
Oh, nostalgia!!! I totally just managed to load up my very first neighborhood in SimPe, and all the families are showing! I loved that neighborhood! It was even before the one were my LH Sims descendants come from. It's been long-since corrupted, but I'm totally going to see if I can clone some of my Sims! Oh how fun!
Maybe some of them might move to Lakeside Heights and I can imagine they're long-lost descendants of the originals
You know, not that I really need anything else to distract me right now, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 13, 2010, 8:28pm
Oh, fun!
You've given me an idea... I found a very old backup of my hood and I wanted to open it to see my first sims from Richmond again (I can't resurrect them in-game because the character files broke when my cemetery crashed) and take some better pictures of them. But it wouldn't work because (I think) I've added Eps's since then. I bet it would work to clone them in SimPe, though!
Not that I need the extra distraction, either... never got as far as the hospital hack test last night because everything else took too long... and then there's my rebuild my hood project... and... maybe I'll just put this idea on the 'to do - someday' list
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jul 13, 2010, 9:21pm
Oh, how cool. I'm kind of jealous of you guys that you have copies of all your old hoods. By the time I got this computer, I was pretty enthralled with Sullivan and didn't think I'd ever want my old hoods again, so I didn't transfer them. And I don't really want them to play, but I did have some really awesome looking Sims that I'd like to have again.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 17, 2010, 10:30am
Random stuff:
I updated the database with BFF info! Stole the idea from Blackcat
Which spawned me onto a dilemma on Hayden's behalf - who does he ask to be best man at his wedding? His twin brother Jack, even though they've only been close on and off? Or his best friend Chad? Eeek!
Funny enough I'm feeling Piper having the same dilemma between her best friends, Jodie, Carly, and Amelia, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 17, 2010, 7:06pm
So glad you stole my idea, I'm usually the stealer rather than the... uh... steal-ee? Feels kind of like a coming-of-age or something... lol...
Maybe if Piper and Hayden both have the same problem, they could come up with some kind of creative non-traditional solution...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 17, 2010, 7:31pm
Jul 17, 2010, 7:06pm, blackcat wrote:
|
Ha, that would require me coming up with the creative solution on their behalf, lol! Kind of stumped here
Random funny: trying to shoot a serious conversation between Mariah and her mother and all I can see is Quinn here hamming it up, lol! What a cheese!
I'm really looking forward to seeing Quinn grow up. And she will grow up, in one story or another, because I think she's going to be a very special little girl! Besides having two of my very favorite characters as her parents (oh wait, not that I have favorites...), her personality is just stellar! Capricorn (I really don't get very many Capricorns), 10 points neat, 3 points shy, 10 points goof-ball like her daddy, and nice too. With a hobby of games.
And having the diva cousins she has (well, second-cousins, I guess) in Delilah and Naomi, what a fun contrast that's going to be! I'm already imagining stories in my head for when they're older, lol!
Getting ahead of myself, as always
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jul 17, 2010, 7:54pm
If Hayden was my Sim, I'd be inclined to choose Chad, unless you think he'd feel family pressure to choose Jack. Piper's maid of honour would be a difficult choice for me too - I've got no idea what I'd do there. Now you know why my wedding parties are often so large - I take the easy way out of making decisions!
Adding BFFs is such a cool idea, Blackcat. I have to admit that I often feel like I don't pay enough attention to that in my game. There are a few things I need to start noting for myself and that's one of them.
Quinn is too cute! I love that little toddler grin. What does she care about serious conversations, eh?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 18, 2010, 7:58am
Carla, I was thinking about just having all of them in the wedding, and making them all best men/maids of honor, or whatever, lol! Do people ever do that?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 18, 2010, 8:08am
Mariah, blushing, beet red: I had sex and YOU TOOK PICTURES OF IT???
Me: Well yeah, you're like the only one on my hottest 20 list who hasn't had a good and proper sex scene.
Mariah, redder: And people are going to look at the pictures? You're putting them on the internet?!?!
Me: Sure, that's kind of the point.
Mariah, cringing: Ehhh...
Me: It's okay, it was very tasteful. And you're mostly covered up by a man. It's the hottest I've ever seen the missionary position.
Mariah: Are my parents going to see this?
Me: No, I don't think so. I don't think that's possible. So there, at least you have that.
Mariah: Um, thanks?
Should be ready later tonight
Re: LH Babble
Post by applevalley on Jul 20, 2010, 9:49am
Yea, people do that. I had two maids of honor at my wedding; one of my maids of honor is going to have three maids of honor. I forsee the same thing happening to the others since the four of us have been best friends with each other for ~8 years and I've been BFFs with the two of them for 15+ years.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 20, 2010, 11:17am
Oh good! That's actually probably a really good idea in most cases. Saves a lot of hurt feelings that way
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 21, 2010, 5:32pm
OMG, OMG, OMG, I actually managed to recolor a buyable sky!!! SQUEE!!! I made my space from the moon black sky, with an Earth-rise! OMG, I'm so stupidly, nerdily happy, lol!
Still tweaking it a bit, but I will share pics as soon as I get it just right!
I can't wait to make all kinds of skies now
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 21, 2010, 7:12pm
How?? Where?? Was it for the sky-thing that I use??? *excited* . I wanna make more skies, too!!!
*gives self sharp slap* Skies are NOT on the to-do list!! (nor is reading message boards, but...
)Sounds great, anyway, and I know you'd wanted to do something with the sky outside your moon base. I should have known you'd figure out something like this...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 21, 2010, 7:41pm
Yup, the same one you have!
My only problem right now is trying to get the Earth right. It stretches out so much and looks really pixellated. And the first few times, I made it way, WAY too big, lol! The version I'm trying now is only 20 pixels in diameter, and I really don't know how much smaller than that I can go.
The clouds that come default with the mod look really nice, so I don't know why I can't get mine to look clear too. Hmmm :\
I thought I read once about someone trying to recolor skies and running into the same problem, with the stretching and pixellation. But I couldn't find that discussion when I looked for it just now.
Oh, and I should mention, I'm just recoloring over one of the default cloud covers - I should have done it as a separate recolor maybe, but you know, I didn't, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 21, 2010, 10:07pm
Oh hey, look, we have images!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s9MjAWFqMu9pJj6HG93OAKj_yn5uUiA_VxsyBCL9eImdus7Ss29LnHXxwbTWI1bKY2aR-LaXbjjnQZMpbWAGBaJT8LXWTdV4ZImDWI0NbfXjPAq6Ti1Y_VD6n9jkO1suSdLUTag4Csww=s0-d "[image]")
Okay, so here's my vision - There's the observation deck. It's a row of protected windows on the top level of the structure, while the other floors are all mostly below ground, with only those little round reinforced windows (do you see how scientific I'm getting here? lol!)
The troops would then be able to visit the observation deck whenever they have free time (and are on base), and it's a comfort for them to be able to sit there and see home, and not feel like they're so far away.
Keri, I imagine, spends a lot of time up here, since she's on base all the time. I already know she spends just about all her time calling home - and even sneaks calls home during her on duty time.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uSg9pi02I2YRBpFbaK-FjfrINDoKwEZt1TWPTl9kxP5oQvg4HitTzElGSBeHlRspdjKY0Ew31NpI9J5SGwCMuWw0Q-Csevze2lrFu6S-x7s1nWcQF2dDNhkYAoRHp46noBdw2mZYHpcQ=s0-d "[image]")
Her wants wants when she first arrived - Keri, honey, where do you think you are? This is the military, not a five-star resort!
She was pretty homesick, lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s422SAO4nk7v6F135zHJ2eIQXAJDb_89Thq14r2jCRb5rrN5uS6BtC0sLsdiQT7DYknb3xOFV59r8quDfiQDROvROpsimCkUsR-l9z9azMd6GEcXAKRXs8kbc-2b1M5vlxUacPw0Nw=s0-d "[image]")
So, problem is then, my Earth looks like bunk, lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vMbNIB1Ctt0kd5W23VVNEZ9pD0JO4NzJtrQm6GPtw1bxhBBUrDrKVDbnXfdnPIuloa-M0LxIT63u6oojAsHhpYnvWhAiMJpeCgzzO3t55tbt5Qh35nahy46W43KrUFthy3FkdyXz89cnc=s0-d "[image]")
ETA: this is what I'm aiming for, by the way.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t0blxPk9aAYGBjKqNBCON-8KRPyqeP40Cw9LTTjgMb7BA8Gw9H28mqkoCc3KF5Urk-zBus8gIsoOgY3ydBV6Ly2xaIQv2vtGVsKwcXDV3NAF-qIbpoYDKc91yKODFnxfajO8nBH3H-cQ=s0-d "[image]")
I got my flat black sky just how I want it, which is easy, you know, all black, lol! But I've finally gotten the Earth to about the right size, but the actual image size in this picture for that Earth is only 10 pixels in diameter, which of course is why it looks so stretched. That's just the nature of how the sky projection works, I'm guessing.
So sky objects, big fluffy clouds apparently look fine, little tiny detailed Earths? Not so much.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s0qcMPZDM0jDP_FKQ0823dlGyVW8DIPd2atp5Zvukuvx94g6e18s8pVL362q_4Q8bYYSTeuiu2C5SilBFZVt-ZzbSiuteVE0J09bswwc9MBHauyWrRHS428XmWytS4XoZLN9Y0TR5GJw=s0-d "[image]")
Plan B, lol, I might just recolor one of these Jupiter-looking lamps, and stick it far out somewhere in the right spot. That actually might solve all my problems.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_swLiiw3hxkukJ2RarlsfhoMWnaQhxkUCBJ6RnTFBobtNcnRC__Zi5yvxm2JJNlhTVxuOZyfGM14bWsejaWyHP1NZH1z0arY1AF9OroRiWz7C-oM1wMXUiaVvsCp6edkGQLcrAC8kUjjg=s0-d "[image]")
And hey, look, there's Abandia City, lol! I just spoiled the whole illusion for you, didn't I?
***I'll cross-post all of this on the blog, probably after the current story set is finished. You know, because I'm all anal-retentive about not disrupting the narrative flow 'n stuff
***Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Jul 21, 2010, 10:28pm
LOL, those wants are just perfect for Keri, aren't they? I love that she's worried about a burglar...in space!
I have no idea why the Earth isn't working for you (I just posted a really newbie recolouring question at N99, so I'm not the person to ask!) but at least you have the black sky working for you! That's just what you were wanting.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 21, 2010, 10:46pm
LMAO, a burglar in space! I know! Silly Keri!
I think it's just the nature of how the sky projection works, that such a small image is stretched across the whole big sky. It makes me wonder how big of images the default skies use? Anyway, I'll probably just have to work around it.
I edited the previous post to include an image of the actual Earth from the actual moon, lol!
ETA: Carla, I just posted my question at N99 too
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Jul 22, 2010, 4:26pm
Lol @ Keri's wants!
The black sky looks great, and I think the recoloured lamp would work well as an Earth.
I guess it doesn't matter about the clouds being stretched too much in the original skies, because they're supposed to look a bit blurry and hazy... its only when you want something precise like the Earth that it becomes a problem.
For all the drawblacks I mentioned on my blog, one thing I really like about the cloud mod is that its not a global one - it only affects the lot its on, and you can delete it any time. That makes it ideal for experimentation.
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Jul 22, 2010, 9:25pm
I made myself promise that I wouldn't come in here until I got up to date on the story, just in case there was a spoiler. But of course that promise lasted all of a couple of days. I can't remember the month/year I'm up to on your blog, but everyone just said their goodbyes to those who were going off to war so I'm getting close to caught up.
Loving the shot of Keri staring out the window into the blackness. Had to laugh at the wants though, they look so typically Keri always wanting the best!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 22, 2010, 10:37pm
Thanks guys! And Illandrya, you're not far behind at all now!
I'm totally going to bed now, but I thought I'd pop these pics up here for y'all to see. This is a little closer to what I was talking about...
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sSmpFvLarUI7hAOYq6tTgOow3vK5BHwW2ptSllpg61mh7PI_hMv8rp3n4t3_7lnnZom9DstshJynIObRtQzabQDtJ4OdkE4W56Z7CEl1QmKYKW27EOSyU2lY_5dx1MIrUuEfC_29yK_A=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vTkqJe8BOW6Vq_9zdmUG9cm5IRWDo145ZfNlT7Nr69LMGsBIAofSGxImU7SlrTXxRFy_4Wnt6DoS9aV4X7h25DHZzdPnPazl74MEDKOGAk6jKVIDWnNyo2iLi_uHH1REoX0QMX9M0Fxw=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Jul 23, 2010, 5:26pm
Yes! I am all caught up! I was so close I just had to read all the way to the end even it if meant the last few were read with my eyelids drooping a little. Laura, you have done a wonderful job with inviting us into the lives of the people in the county you have created. Over the past three (four? can't remember) weeks I have immersed myself in their lives and in your writing. I feel like I've not only watched your world grow, but you personally grow as a writer. Some of your more recent chapters just left me awed. I think "a poem about a freckle" is one of my favourites, especially how the simple line "He has an apartment he never stays in anymore. In his sock drawer, he has a box with a ring in it." Means so much more the second time it appears at the end of the update.
Onlyl problem is that now I'm caught up I have to wait like everyone else before I find out what happens next!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 23, 2010, 5:59pm
Yay! Wow, I need some confetti to throw for whenever one of you guys manages to catch up, because man that's a LOT! lol!
Awww, thank you so much! And I worked quite hard on that "poem about a freckle." Sometimes I try to make that English degree earn its keep, you know? I'm always ridiculously happy when anyone appreciates it
Thanks for reading, Illandrya! Glad to have you on board!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jul 26, 2010, 3:21pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vHgRMGTBxA9obb1b4TJgOa17UJ0sEBGfu64W6e2xK600093AI9Vy1oCrpLPCYU1IcX393pXIMrCV8LjenAiAtJTws3-Id9kLtESQyjZET84BbKEMkE7W4F5yjjizNcoIBO_6yQ2_ORBGA0VDZZ=s0-d "[image]")
Chandler shoots, and he scores? lol!
I ended up taking about a thousand pictures of these guys! It was very simple, but sweet, and seriously the most fun I've had doing a wedding in the longest time. I have so many shots to weed through. It makes me miss when they were all back in college together. Those were some good times
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t-uwHJWmY2AAAOQvYeHEDPfm9It2IgBjO2fDaCfpKVDDjAamO0FmXHxI8dfMoQkJLcrVsE12nwkmgVbr4Jpe7IFFRSAFdHdhyS8lz2lsdhaM9XB_frVpsetNUGxdQhmCnOvmcPw-B2AIIuRxL_Cg=s0-d "[image]")
It's kind of bittersweet to see them all grown up (or well, as grown up as they'll probably ever get, lol!) and getting married and starting their own families - oh, *sigh* nostalgia
Better save some pics for the update, huh?
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Jul 31, 2010, 2:42am
I love a wedding and this one looks like its going to be great!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 2, 2010, 10:12am
It's bus stop week in Lakeside Heights, lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v8EcAS6XG7QtaK1Q7-80CISJSi9-KjaUKX4wMIIYjokPiqviDGOoaVz2AveIcLrZUBKF7ifZat-n8lqe3NxSpcHfRyHyKAMifTivxlWNX-hq4jMZpu6M_Cy3m6uEqOtGx8We3IuSUM=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tNP8sX931hBsB8qilH0PL2_erTTjZefGB1FKqleHMFege4vxU8SQeXIrhWlMC-uUhpQtfhQ13MQsPxqlAK_y6Sl9jhWbDyvvpyAddYX4blv89Tp0hmIcdLapZUnaVL2dLAWHR1EH7log=s0-d "[image]")
This is one of the very perfectly plotted bus stops Micah was working on for his recent story. It's part of my three-or-so-weeks of building/remodeling projects, and I totally plan on sharing an update of all the different bus stops I've added throughout the neighborhoods. There are about 14 in Lake City, 6 in Lakeside Heights, and 1 in Bluewater.
Also adding a metro rail to Lake City with 6 stops. And I might try to (fake) extend it to one stop in Lakeside Heights too. They usually make it out to the popular suburbs.
This is also part of Madison's final push for reelection in these last few weeks before the voting starts
I'm going to have to look back and see what she even promised last term.
Berjes is up to a few things with the hospitals too, lol!
If you're interested in the full agenda of everything I hope to work on for my three-week build fest, lol!
- bus stops and metro rail
- revamp of the Lake City hospital, and Lakeside Heights Womens Clinic
- a full tour of LCU (since I don't think I've ever done one before)
- updated maps and neighborhood pictures
- LH public schools rebuild (2 buildings - elementary and secondary)
- moon stuff - military base, and civilian tourist area
I will share pictures, of course!
I've been in an epic building mood lately, and I really only have enough free time in the week to finish my story updates as they're posted. So if I didn't slot out this build time for myself, it would never happen. So the next three weeks are building stuff, and then I'll be getting back to stories again (with the new chapter) near the end of the month.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Aug 2, 2010, 3:49pm
Oh wow, everything looks so good! I'm quite jealous of your building skills, and even your decorating skills.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 2, 2010, 4:14pm
I think you mean you're jealous of my downloading skills, lol!
I do like to build, but there hardly a single building in any of those shots that I built. (The tall white one in the background of the second shot is mine.) I hardly have the time for it anymore. But you know, I sure can arrange them well!
Oh, I love that Gaiman quote in your signature!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Aug 4, 2010, 11:28am
Yes, I am also jealous of your downloading skills. I can't seem to find what I need fast enough, so then I try to make what I need which I also lack the patience for, lol.
Isn't that quote great? Very Gaiman-esque.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 7, 2010, 4:45pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uhu_16JhC4evVgATj04jsiKDcCN2dHizJY_A02S6Tvc3XYpM52eLgtgO0SWRmM8_squbREe0z4T1ApTy-JHSRKcGOhAc8sHezb2j9hbulXIfaiytXkMygyfGUpjYCR7We7EpkwKFW8aQ=s0-d "[image]")
Sneak-peek of my bus depot/train station - I know I could have used the neighborhood deco ones. But for 1- they're too big for some parts of my town, and 2- I want to be able to have my Sims actually visit them for storytelling purposes.
Totally not done with it yet, or even close. The building is basically a shell right now, and it's taking me forever to build, lol! But I'll be using this one as a template for the other stations though, and I'll just tweak the decorating to suit each neighborhood's style.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uKxT0NGKyYoIO6Fe5wzA6GRCeWGNPW6gYIsBJeBbTrfJzlRpTe5dylOTyQ1ideCiOjIA8FtaBXxabxSWZX-Hadk_Gx_MtqJ27nnM3YE5tbYRRKdRBC3nwpabkODIk3USO1XhAR0Bs6JQ=s0-d "[image]")
View from the back, where the train platform is. I'm using Criquette's train set
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ud4-iuUw0GXltK7RyiZDWQYH1-FqewjUv-73vYGe8unuwAqZy3ya91a60MHnso3befoKosT3J8Q0Eztsb4awCmuoTNupnX1zHQXRNrv9eGSIGcN5oHbVgqmRzbfu7AQQt8SxwmeIVoSw=s0-d "[image]")
Another one of my bus stops - a suburban one, which are much better-kept than my city ones
This is in the Hazel Park neighborhood, and I put a little patio/garden behind it.I was hoping to be finished with this whole transportation project soon, but then I just downloaded the motorway set last night, lol! I'm mostly done with my bus stops at least, so there's just the trains, and maybe I might do the motorway, or maybe I might save that for later.
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Aug 7, 2010, 6:10pm
Awesome! I'm so excited to see what you come up with during your build fest!
I downloaded that bus stop, because it's the best one I've seen and I'm planning on adding them to Sullivan too. So far, there's a solitary one outside the hospital, which would be fairly useless!It's so funny to read that Gaiman quote today. One of our politicians last night said something quite similar about the insane election campaign we have going on here. "Fiction has to be plausible" was his phrasing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by blackcat on Aug 7, 2010, 6:47pm
This all looks so cool! I've decided that, as I recreate my hood, I'm going to pay more attention to stuff like this, especially in my downtown. The layout doesn't really work as a 'real' city, and I know the things I'd change but I'm probably not going to bother in this version of the hood.
Transportation stuff is a part of that, I'll probably use the motorway sets, and a more sensibly-placed train stations/bus depots etc.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 7, 2010, 7:57pm
OMG, you want to know *real* dorkiness?
Right now, I'm actually graphing out my Lake City Metro rail map as it should correspond to the road maps of my neighborhoods, lol! I'm totally going to try to recolor a poster as a rail map for my stations.
There will be three lines: 1, west, through West Washington and Stoneview Court - 2, north/east, through the commerce district and LCU campus - and 3, south/east, out to Lakeside Heights.
Bluewater Township doesn't get a rail station, and they only have one bus stop, lol!
But otherwise, I might try to make up an image of all three of my hoods and how they relate to each other. Since I've got it all mapped out now.
Do I win a cookie for being the dorkiest Simmer this week? Really, I must, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Aug 7, 2010, 8:14pm
I started a whole post about Sim nipples at N99 (okay, it wasn't just about nipples, but that's what it was inspired by). I think we might have to share the Dorkiest Simmer title!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Aug 8, 2010, 12:07am
I'd like to throw my hat in for dorky simmer as well! I spent Thursday evening redesigning a map of Middle Earth so that I could use it as a war map for my Merindylen series
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 8, 2010, 11:35am
LOL, glad to know I'm not the only one making maps!
Here's what I came up with in the end
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tEwWNqd7hie3e1dNE-xx3F5N94zMmT0tmVbSVfuvwYtgjq0uwk_9YKAo_ju9vEhBp4siKN1_mxIV_XGNZ3Tnkx5-REfnrCYWQuZ-wFybbogoSIPDaWq1Dow7GmdvYXIZa8soq5rsrymec=s0-d "[image]")
This is what the poster I recolored will look like. Now I just have to lay out the actual tracks and stations at these points.
I only needed two rail lines in the end - 1, blue line, from Stoneview Court to the Lakeside Heights town center. And 2, yellow line, from Lake City Corporate Center out to the space where my projected airport will be. (Yet another project to save for later...
And you can kind of see how all the neighborhoods are laid out too, in relation to each other. (Traditional compass direction apply): Northwest of the river is all Lake City, and southeast of the river is Lakeside Heights. Lake City is landlocked except for the river running through its southeast corner. That same river then runs through Lakeside Heights' northwest corner, and then it carries on to the east along Bluewater's northern border.
Bluewater Township isn't on this map because it doesn't have a rail station, but it would be to the east of Lakeside Heights, with the same river to the north and the same lakeshore to the south.
Funny enough, I've always imagined Lake County was in southwest Michigan, but if I'm going to stay true to what I've established here, with Lake Michigan to the south, then Lake County could only be in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Ah well, so be it, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Aug 8, 2010, 12:25pm
*is rather speechless* All I can keep thinking is how much I love your nerdy brain. XD
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 8, 2010, 1:18pm
You're speechless from fear, lol! I see you slowly backing away...
But really, I had another thought, about how this entire project was kind of prompted by story, and how it might affect future stories.
I remember my first concepts of this project were when Corbin wanted to buy a car to go visit Leila, because there wasn't a train running out to Bluewater. And there was only one bus line between Lake City and Bluewater, and it didn't run very often because the distance was so far. I wasn't thinking about actual, physical train and bus stations then - it was just something I made up for his story. I kind of had these ideas and orientations vaguely in my head, but I'm sure my details weren't always consistent.
But now, I have a real solid plan for all of this. So if Lucy wanted to drive to visit her cousin Melissa in South Lake City, coming from Hazel Park, I know it isn't really that far, even if they're in different cities. Or Aurora Harris, living out in Stoneview Court, would have to travel really far to see her brother Nathan in Lakeside Heights - though she could just hop on a train to get there without much hassle. Or that anyone commuting by train from Lakeside Heights to the corporate district of Lake City for work would be really pissed off about having to take two trains.
So basically, now I don't have to just make it up, next time I want a detail about space or distance. I'll just look at my map
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Aug 8, 2010, 1:27pm
LOL! I don't think I can get any farther away than I am now.
But it's genius. One of my issues is always space. That's why playing Sims helps with the writing. Sometimes I see a space, but I have to build it so that I know what it looks like. I think this is a trick I'd use even if I wasn't taking screen shots for the story.
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Aug 8, 2010, 9:06pm
I am solidly impressed and a tiny bit jealous. Too bad the cove sits in (or is it on? damn prepositions) the ocean.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 17, 2010, 11:28pm
I had this idea (= illusion) in my head that this building stuff would somehow free up my writing energy to work more on my novel, but I've found exactly the opposite true these past weeks. Two weeks it's been since I published my last LH story update, and it's now been about the same amount of time since I accomplished anything substantial on my novel.
I *never* would have thought that working on LH *helps* me work on my other writing, but it certainly appears to be the case, lol! Or maybe it's that all this building stuff is actually much more time consuming than the demands of a normal weekly story update?
But considering all that, I'd hate to not finish what I started. Though I guess there's no rule saying I have to finish what I started this week - or even soon. I think my new priority is going to be to finish buildings well enough to take pictures from hood view, because I'd really like to update my maps. Any buildings built will remain shells until they're needed.
This weekend I have a semi-playables update scheduled, and that's kind of story-ish. As well as a SBP interview. So that'll kind of be my transition back into normalcy
And for now, more spam from Drew's new family, lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sefh88ye9TnaRmzm5M3GqIBBhp-VlBwLQu2Y0XlEOAqbdLFclsLtk2NxOg4pYFkVcWe0IYCxfJ6C3Qyy2TunhdYUFU5YUNO2kVQ4T3lTAL-_gAqOC1BO5q_UwxGSHF8rvyMEw=s0-d "[image]")
I made up this one for the Mothers and Sons theme at N99, so I wanted to share it here too where everyone could see it. Because you know, they're such an adorable family everyone should see them, lol!
It was weird for me at first to see them all as a family, especially knowing both Drew and Fenton for so long on their own. It felt a little bit like cheating. Though Drew never specifically said he *didn't* have a family. And neither did Fenton.
I know in Sims 2-land, it's not at all strange that a Sim doesn't have a family - with townies, it happens all the time. But I'm trying to divorce that way of thinking, lol! Especially since in Sims 3, townies do have families. In my real writing, every character has a family of some sort. And I've found even with LH lately, I've been writing about their family members, even if they don't have actual in-game Sims to represent those people. Like I know that James doesn't have a mom, and his dad lives in Ohio. Corbin is an only child and his parents live in Oregon. April has a mom (and a Sim to represent her) who lives in Lake City - she really doesn't know who her dad is.
Sometimes I feel like I can't reach a character until I know where they come from. And I think I was feeling that with Drew, actually, which might have inspired this whole surprise family thing. He has a few big story pieces coming up, and I think I needed to know where he comes from, before I could write where he's going.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 19, 2010, 12:04am
Oh hey, I think I just got a screencap of half of Lake City before it crashed! Maybe I'll post it... you know, after my computer is finished crashing
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 19, 2010, 12:12pm
Random stuff:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s1VM5XhQMJqvLnBaG8hS41iWuad44LWEABugdL_Fzatfm-4W7jD2qMWNkWP4Pv8W33geu26W9GJBXV4FA8TBgwVhxkkRD00d71Qwxqa3kkOp5qAi5l6mt02tyutLEYIqyT0-R4wQ=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vJCRkIiGB_Eae7W_hUySpHfjLn_t_3pB8bH9-Y-iYqkPUZdnDJ4jMuTyy3E4Go_J9Vqkip9Tp_3GhGWxUsU8AS00rWERgNmnMcv6hVRkU1NCZnEKSDJOXzWwWtUU3kgKR73n4wCQ=s0-d "[image]")
The two stations in Lakeside Heights are DONE!
And you can kind of see my faking-it job of having the track go underneath the town. Really, there was just no way to get those huge track pieces to work on my tiny layout.Lake City is just as bad, lol! It's going to end up being a "looks good from lot view" kind of thing. But as for actual track layout around the city, the pieces won't really make much sense. Good thing I can't take a whole picture of Lake City then, huh?
And I'm also able to get much more interesting camera angles with that mountain out of the way. Otherwise, I don't think I'd ever been able to take a picture from the back out towards the lakeshore.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vMEGOXtL4LUpO5njl4_IgwxnA9n6j3s_yh-t3DkAThMpTt3AoArwU2ZvJJWkUSWTvZB3aUPBIYxanO2KOfbWjO5ugVZwoJJSeDztP9Nx48Rnf0C91gQHmzewv7bkrxzXAQBDqHXg=s0-d "[image]")
Here's the random shot I was able to get of Lake City last night, before it crashed, lol! And this is only about half of it. (I don't know why I'm so stubbornly persistent about trying - really, I should just give up, but sometimes, very rarely, I'm able to, and it's easier to see how the layouts are working or not working when I look at it all together).
Anyway, I'm quite happy with how the west side (the two blocks on the left) has come together. I managed to get most of the empty space occupied, and that blank spot in the lower left corner is where the Old West End station will be.
The east side (two blocks on the right) is a wreck, but that's because I'm still kind of reconstructing the LCU campus and south end.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t_FSR6DdbyZU28mRGYU6gDyYjfXpZkEZ2zdG1mLCMhxGO8a85D3AiAre0j21Seo3cgxWkGq1NP6e7R6TykEBr275_xSiNLWxMYXCljcw9HLuqDfT8a9xQsp-q-bbPxnYtxSLzH=s0-d "[image]")
And I'm recoloring clocks!!!
I'm totally getting carried away with these - I'm going to make five thousand of them!What kinds of color schemes do your Simmies need for their clocks?
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u9lpJbwkrNGrvXJY91XBITUQ4rDbB7vrbJPjeWABBzWnnxByS7eQrAnqtPAmSCyc3u1cEK59tkmiuCE-3ZxThNlRLQ3FNgp0cEkbenNU3XRRHmavtiSD3Jisl5QpPIVwIZQ7Hu=s0-d "[image]")
And I recolored some posters for my train stations. Each station will have posters from the local businesses in the area.
At least SimPe isn't giving me any hell today, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Aug 19, 2010, 12:35pm
I like what you did with the deco stull. Most of them are way too huge for me to think about using but I love the way you incorporated them.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 19, 2010, 2:24pm
Have to stop for a bit, but I have three more clocks!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tHfjPnc8jSz19kjklKN83oDj4cEoZJsaEDYDwx_-tdmNlHwx_lc7fCR5l2WoPpZFq1LhPKO3fIcK8OQp8Wz7SQAyHw2voncfrkW9FywyxmJDuE6KsPKcXzrZvgSoMAHGTN0OqC=s0-d "[image]")
I must have had April in mind when I made these because they're all bright and bubbly, lol! The black one is a little more masculine for Beau. I might tweak that one a little lighter, because that came out *really* black in game, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 22, 2010, 9:50am
So hey! LH gets a sequel then! Sequel/spin-off, kind of. I'm imagining it'll be about half old families, half new. In a new town, which I'll attempt to do with TS3, but if that doesn't work out, I'll still continue it with TS2, I think.
Because the first story for it was just kind of born, lol! You know, all far ahead and sketchy. January 2089! Can't really tell you who or what it's about though, because that would be *such* a spoiler!!!
But yay for sequels?!
(But I'm supposed to be in a cave and working on a novel chapter. Far ahead and sketchy LH stories are much easier to write than real and actually polished novel chapters. Ack!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Aug 22, 2010, 10:32am
Ooooooooh! I think you could make it work with TS3 if you fiddled with the ageing and SP settings and downloaded some of Twallan's mods. The Master Controller lets you change active household a lot more easily than the main game does. Bbut whether it's 2 or 3, a sequel/spin-off would rock!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Aug 26, 2010, 9:07am
Sims 3 would make it easier for your sims to walk down the street and move around the town ... and Twallan's mods make it uber-easy to switch between active households.
But I'm with Rad ... whether it's 2 or 3 I don't care, I'm there for the spin-off!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Aug 26, 2010, 11:22am
Rad, I'll have to ask you all about a thousand questions about all these mods when I finally get the game. It's supposed to be my prize for finishing my novel, lol! (When I finish my novel - aiming to finish by the end of the year!) The game and a new supercool computer to run it
Illandrya, yes! That's just what I want!
I try to fake it sometimes for the story right now, and even have little pathways in between my lots, though my Sims could never walk to them that way. I'm really impressed with the things people are doing with TS3, so I do hope it works out.Right, either way though, I'm also excited this story still has a future!
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Aug 30, 2010, 4:32pm
Heh, thelunarfox is your go-to woman for mods. She knows all!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Aug 30, 2010, 9:55pm
I totally 100% completely and utterly agree with Rad - thelunarfox is definitely the go-to girl for mods and screenies in TS3.
I have learned bucketloads from her Sims in Testing blog and it's finally starting to spill over in my own stories.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 1, 2010, 2:34pm
Thanks guys! Good to know! I do read Sims In Testing, that I can't really apply what I learn there to anything without having the actual game to play with, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Sept 1, 2010, 2:36pm
*lol* ... yeah, guess that would make it kind of difficult
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Sept 1, 2010, 7:31pm
I just noticed it was your birthday ... happy birthday laura!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 1, 2010, 8:02pm
Shhh... I'm still 29 for a few more hours here
But thank you! LOL, I hardly even remembered. (Or maybe didn't want to remember?)
Re: LH Babble
Post by applevalley on Sept 8, 2010, 8:26am
A sequel will be interesting, I would love to read that
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Sept 8, 2010, 9:44am
You are such a tease, Laurs
I saw at work today that you had publshed the start of the season through my dashboard and was waiting to get home so I could look into it in my detail - only to find it was simply a trailer, a taste to come, and the story is not yet with us Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 8, 2010, 12:18pm
Ha, lol! Yup, that's just the intro post. Like a book cover, I guess. First real story comes this weekend, but I do have a little mini-something for you guys tonight
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 9, 2010, 12:10pm
Ah, road block!!! TS3 needs to have pets! I never really felt very passionate about the Pets EP in TS2, and in real life, I actually kind of hate dogs... and most animals, lol! But one of the characters I want to bring with me to my TS3 spin-off has a very special doggie (if you think about that too hard, it's probably a major spoiler, lol!), and he would certainly never leave her behind.
Oh, what to do? I think I heard somewhere that there was actually coding for pets in TS3 already in place, so it's probably likely.
ETA: okay, actually not *too* much of a spoiler, lol! I have at least 5 male characters that own dogs
Re: LH Babble
Post by tesseracta on Sept 9, 2010, 2:23pm
This link has decorative dogs cc, but the animals don't move or animate or anything:
http://mysims3blog.blogspot.com/2010/07/decorative-dogs-by-helen.html
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Sept 9, 2010, 3:06pm
*lol* ... I was so tempted when playing sims 2 to remove the pets EP and was glad to get back to a sims world (sims 3) where I didn't have to spend half the day filling in the holes in my lawn that the neighbourhood dogs dug up!
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Sept 9, 2010, 5:48pm
I'm sure TS3 pets is only a matter of time. It took several EPs for TS1 and TS2 to get them after all. They'll definitely make a pets EP soon enough.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 11, 2010, 10:06am
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxYTrdHlyaQfzNrusOtDM1jaVikmXTXB1IiCIXhjrbhcEGAG-l50mHlZJUNcNXk4BWjz7S8s_Wg-T9PSBzmlOyZDEMTeYgSQ6sQcTopSmV_BuG3Gu29Iy3JdLLg_S3D817grJ1ApecgGB0=s0-d "[image]")
Drew never could hold his liquor, lol! Mariah says to Amelia, "He's a silly one, huh?"
Oh, what a FUN party Amelia had last night! Or well, a fun night for about half the people there anyway. Problem is Jodie's telling the story, lol!
Totally going to need an outtakes post for this one!
I'm never sure how to go about situations like this - where the story itself is serious, but in the background, there's all this hilarious cheap comedy happening. If I'm telling a story from Jodie's POV, then there are all these moments between other characters that she's not included in. Those moments aren't part of her story. She'd never even know they happened at all.
So outtakes post then, I guess? I don't really know if there's any other way to handle it, or if I even would want to handle it a different way. I like the focus of having Jodie's story be just her story. As a story, it's more effective that way.
Also, some of the funny pictures are a little too "simmish" to fit in with the serious story part anyway, with heart-farting, and thought bubbles, and silly Sim gestures. (Not so much this one above - I'd love to include this one in the story, because it is relevant to the characters, but you know, not Jodie's POV.)
I wonder a lot of things this morning, lol! I wonder sometimes if people wish I hadn't taken all the "Sim-ness" out of my story. I like the realism in my story (a LOT, obviously), and I wouldn't go back, but I still wonder. I guess there are plenty of "Sim-ish" stories to read, if that's what someone is looking for.
And I still have my outtakes for my Sim-fix.
I also wonder if you all would rather have my idle chatter and building clutter and authors notes and outtakes on a separate blog? I notice that some stories work that way - only having the main story on the main blog, and all the other clutter is on a behind-the-scenes blog. Is it distracting to have everything all thrown into the main blog? Is it hard to find the serious story parts?
Okay, maybe that's enough questions for one morning?
Re: LH Babble
Post by ts8v2 on Sept 11, 2010, 5:22pm
I like having your idle chatter and building clutter and authors notes and outtakes on your blog, it's kind of refreshing to see about the writer behind the stories, to see what you like to talk about. I also like it because it's nice to have a quirky little post or two in-between the seriousness. Don't take me wrong, I love the seriousness, it gives the game so much more of a story feel, and I admire you immensely for being able to capture that with just some words and pictures, but it's neat to see the sim-characters themselves in action
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Sept 12, 2010, 1:40am
I actually like everything being on the main blog. Maybe I'm just used to it by now though? It just seems to make sense to me to have everything together. The behind the scenes stuff is just as much part of the story as the serious story bits are.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Sept 12, 2010, 9:07am
I like having it all there, too.....it makes it much more likely that I'll see it.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 12, 2010, 10:58am
Oh good! Glad it works for everyone! It makes it easier on me too having it all in one place. Yay for easier!
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Sept 13, 2010, 11:40am
I am going to venture and guess... This is a lesson of trust for poor Amelia. They are going to be okey. Yet judging the title of the post, the dust will not settle until 10/10.
For the 2nd part.. the camera will follow Jodie running out onto the street. Who is she going to run into in her most vulnerable state? Hmm.... Hmm....
Or maybe I am just completely clueless as to where the story will lead as I had always been. lol
oh I am babbling about the latest update at Lakeside Height.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 13, 2010, 8:04pm
lepifera, lol! Babble away! That's what this thread is for, right? Of course, I can't tell you if you're right or not
Oh my though! Let me just say, Jodie has opened one UGLY can of worms! And she pretty much doesn't have to deal with any of the consequences. These next few stories are going to be loaded, and very hard to write. Ack!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 15, 2010, 10:12am
Oh, secretly squeeing over some super-sweet pics I got last night - really great accidental posing, lol! So perfect! Like they were real life actors or something - just how I saw it in my head! I love it when that happens. I can't wait to share... in like 4 weeks, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Sept 15, 2010, 10:22am
LOL! It's going to be tough to wait that long. But yes, that's great when that happens!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 15, 2010, 1:20pm
Lunar, so tough! I'm dying here! lol!
This is a cross-post from N99, since I figure a lot of people don't go there:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vkck5FnBAT_A8MHr8SNz-GMjEkCHO4EdvIoM5u9CMm2qtxKHcdD-8GWf9p1aRxYCDI00WLeQ1CyHd6mUz_HyhYR_68L5AmotCxJ16dsHVOH4SH2KAduEpwWjt9BjFmn1othWm7kuy3RgK-mA=s0-d "[image]")
A refresh on Amelia's bedroom. This is all before "the incident" btw. I keep forgetting that Drew has this *massive* trust-fund! Seriously huge! And Sim Drew walks around rolling all these wants for better TVs and stereos and beds, scoffing at all of her stuff since he moved in, so I figured he wanted to upgrade it all. The real Drew would be much more subtle and charming about it though.
But it's all good, because Drew doesn't know that the bed they were sleeping in was the same bed she shared with both Alon and Jason, lol! And maybe Corbin once or twice...
Just as well though, because Jason and his new wife are sleeping in his old bed that he used to share with Amelia.
Eeew, lol!
Ah well, can't hurt if they don't know
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Sept 15, 2010, 2:01pm
Lovely! And very Amelia.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Sept 15, 2010, 3:19pm
That's gorgeous. I'm jealous of your decorating skills.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 15, 2010, 3:21pm
Thanks guys! I wish I could go crazy decorating like this in real life. My hubby doesn't come with a trust-fund like Drew does, lol!
One more, the flip side of the room, from between the towers she brought back from studying abroad:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sfLuXCajHP_BVWKM-fT0t2aTaF9hPrF0-ASPNEqrSNvdAJmaac6f6nipFX0AOvoeD23a9byCEF2iOhtC0jLc2Tmsv6o1PbdAy8v6yuA_HzI_CTp8mKlzzLwyY6wFyMAWdJI1yS7QGQrVCFIlA=s0-d "[image]")
Which reminds me to ask - don't know if anybody's a camera buff around here - but is there a way to make a real camera do the zoom out thing that we can do on Sims? (TS2, at least, don't know if you can on TS3). Like what the X key does? That would be SO handy, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Sept 16, 2010, 8:50pm
I already told you I loved Amelia's room but I really do.
Camera controls in TS3 are about the same as they are in TS2, I think. As for real life cameras, I don't know. Walking backwards, lol?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 19, 2010, 9:40am
Carla, I think this one is probably your fault...
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vhnrZmCLfM8aYPjSSTbp7uZYKtVlBTgoFsc9-F1fyXNeTfwSqASVEP1y1-A0r0_EsAACKRo2b50XXjRqPG6Bf8xLXeLHsG3OiOwPR3AB4jcXS77_jneKn7UC9tH7_3XUAXdoapbA=s0-d "[image]")
Tongues!!!
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Sept 19, 2010, 10:52am
OMG that is awesome! I never noticed before, sims don't have tongues? How did you even find those?
and love the Hazel cameo!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 19, 2010, 11:57am
Tongues are here.
Hazel has an actual, tiny, and very important, cameo coming up in one of the stories
Re: LH Babble
Post by katherine on Sept 19, 2010, 7:28pm
Oh, now I'm going to go crazy trying to figure out whose story Hazel has a cameo in!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Sept 30, 2010, 3:24am
Yup - often feel bad for my sims. But I still do it. I'm such a meanie. Everything finally going fine and then shattering her world? Eek!
Kiri
Edit - somehow your post is gone? Nope. I just replied to page 1.
Yes. I am a doofus. Why do you ask?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Sept 30, 2010, 6:04pm
No worries, Kiri, I linked all the way back to that particular post since that story has *finally* come up! This set has been in my mind a LONG time! The shattering is very necessary though. You'll see
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Sept 30, 2010, 8:38pm
I trust you Laura - you have a great storytelling gift
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 3, 2010, 10:40am
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tgsXeZjZiJMd4UY7re58iNnlsNpnQ4AZHtq157Eb7Cpvs8I7xGetqQgLtyEJfSOa2N6lWK5nF21t7DD17CXWGsMNqnH_A2pd0-gUta21r6mREf3GnWQ3lIhQr1vWPP_qnBM1koJv5Z=s0-d "[image]")
I shot my elections press conference last night!!! OMG, at *least* thirty Sims on the lot, which is a 3x4 and quite large for my little computer. My graphics card pooped out about halfway through it, so hardly any of the pics for that one will be very crisp. Can't really avoid that though if I want to do a large shoot on a large community lot :\
Then because my computer was so strained from doing that, it then pooped out on a couple of the shots for Amelia's story, which is disappointing. They aren't as noticeable as the elections shots though.
But OMG, between the elections and Amelia's story update, I have like 200 pictures to go through. And in fact, there's no way in hell I'll be able to get them both done tonight! So I think I'll probably push the elections back a bit (yet again...). I feel like I've been saying these elections were coming up for ages, and yet they never actually come up, lol!
And OMG weird, I had Corbin show up in two of my dreams last night! (Not *those* kind of dreams, lol! Unfortunately?) One was with Amelia, and the other was with Leila. Looks like he's itching to tell his part of the story soon!
I only wish all my characters were so eager to get to work. Had to hunt down Danny from my novel for three weeks for the last chapter I finished! Drew is actually kind of hard to work with too, and he has a story coming up so I hope he cooperates! Hmmm, I wonder if I could study what it is exactly about certain characters that makes it hard for me to reach them. These two, in particular, aren't even very much alike in personality. Weird.
(Blah, nonsensical rambling...)
So hopefully Amelia story tonight, and elections some time mid-week.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 3, 2010, 11:02am
Oh wow! That picture looks amazing! I can't imagine trying to do anything with that many Sims.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 3, 2010, 11:59am
I just wanna say THANK GOD for "free will off" lol! And I had about 25 of them all selectable. I thought that for sure would crash my computer, but it didn't!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 3, 2010, 1:02pm
Honest opinions please!
Going for a blinding effect:
Original:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_saYAdxuPD0Kwtcw1hq9dMFsDg61aqlgidUAA5D42DROxpZmFlsSlRGxS1xaFoXhSRBJOw9tfJOpToG2E5kkWaQAcFfym4hZKHIWfx4R01gaWP13tXqwkl658SvM3g4nWWX6-yXwjQ=s0-d "[image]")
Photoshopped:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tbsUyg7xQD1oTZ0RT-5qT19cc97EU7ftvkCPN3Ezo_exv_pETV7qeB9OkD2B8HyKszDJzIxsiisU1Oe4K47fX9YmeN3sEjm-KA8xIF0UdRMJxixhUgjtbd67PwUC7xTcCkIP-5L_-R2G0=s0-d "[image]")
Does that make the lights look brighter, like they would look if you were standing in front of them? Or does it just look stupid? lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Oct 3, 2010, 1:13pm
I think it looks just fine - reminds me of how lights look when I take off my glasses.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 3, 2010, 1:37pm
I like it--it does look that way if you have lights trained on you.
Re: LH Babble
Post by gayl on Oct 3, 2010, 1:38pm
I think it looks good! Very bright.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 3, 2010, 1:39pm
Thanks guys, I'll go with it then!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 3, 2010, 8:25pm
(Not to do with the current set of stories, by the way.)
You have to wonder sometimes what kind of story you want to tell.
If you have these characters, and they *would* do something - it's right for their characters and the situation they're in - but you can't see any good that could come from it, would you still tell the story? Would you tell the story and just hope you can make some good come from it? Or would you steer the story in a different direction?
Then if you have them not do this thing that they would actually do left to their own devices, does that cheapen the story? I think maybe it does. Then you're not telling a true story anymore. You're not staying true to their characters.
Maybe what we find out is that there's more light at the end of the tunnel than I can see right now? Maybe we're not far enough into the tunnel to see any light at the end yet? But what if we're wrong? What if this is basically just a mistake that ends up ruining their lives, and no good ends up coming of it in the end. Or is there always something to be gained? If you look hard enough?
Oh, sorry for the teaser, lol! I just had to write that down and get it out of my head. I'll tell you who these people are when it happens. It'll happen during this current season.
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Oct 4, 2010, 4:06am
Leaving aside the fact that I firmly believe we learn more from our failures than our successes, there's a couple of questions you can ask yourself to help with this decision:
(a) Would there be any regret for the path not taken if you steered them away from this "something", not letting your characters and readers see where it might lead?
(b) Does every decision your characters make have to be the "right" one? Because, let's face, none of us are perfect and I know I've made some colossal blunders in my time.
(c) Have you ever done something, wished you hadn't, and then at a later point in time looked back on it and realised that if you had avoided that particular mistake other, better, things that you have experienced since then would not have come across your path?
You've asked whether it would cheapen the story, so my guess is you're already halfway to deciding to let them do what they need to do without interference from you.
I'd say go for it. You might be surprised what comes out of that light at the end of the tunnel.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 4, 2010, 7:10am
a. regret if they didn't? I may have to come back to this one. I don't know how to know if they'd regret it without seeing how it ends :\ Although, if they do regret not doing something, then that's a story in itself!
b. absolutely agreed! And we don't often think about what's "right" or what the consequences might be as we're making these mistakes, but only after, lol!
c. this too. I love to explore this in stories, and it's usually the most rewarding things that come of stories where you couldn't see the ending when you started it. This reminds me of Jodie's recent mistakes actually, lol! And come to think of it, way back when I wrote that story, and allowed her to take that plunge, I *didn't* actually know how it would turn out at the time, but (in writing the draft) I let her go for it anyway.
Yes, I am already halfway decided, aren't I? lol! It's been a long road in teaching myself not to write "safe" stories where the characters make all the "right" decisions and do all the "right" things. Because true, real people don't do that. And agreed that mistakes are how we best learn and grow.
Okay, lol! Diving in! Thanks for talking me through this. I usually am surprised by the outcome. And honestly, that's most of the fun!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Oct 4, 2010, 8:15am
Actually with (a) I meant would you as a writer regret it if you took the safe path and didn't try to explore the consequences - does that make a difference to your answer?
I have to admit that as I was reading your post I was thinking "but didn't you just do this with Jodie?" *lol*
That said, I really need to get to bed or I'll never get up in time to go to work.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 5, 2010, 9:56am
Last night, I had the pleasure of watching a couple of not-too-bad-looking dudes play some basketball, lol! But I noticed something funny, and I'm not sure if it's always been this way or not - from what I hear, it has.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tj34V0WPLGcEbnbYGmFLM89bhvy1WpqQses0bqjgshBd3yDnHWXURdQ2UyO0RVWwgW4CdjWEiON5XdMDcKyLIuKNPVAOLJhcVL6UDzb5UvGTDmMsKZDWW8-tXwmkW_EcraxDq1xtKhMroI=s0-d "[image]")
So every time Jack scored a shot, Corbin would cheer for him! And if he lost a shot, Corbin would look all sad and sympathetic. And then Corbin took his shots, and the same! If he scored, Jack would cheer, and if he lost, Jack would be disappointed for him. LOL!
I mean, they both are very nice guys, but really, I totally expected a little more jesting and competition out of them! A little less encouragement and compassion from two very macho kind of dudes
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 5, 2010, 11:24am
Finally, FINALLY, I thought of a proper and fitting and meaningful name for Amelia's story thread! Man, that girl is just difficult all around, isn't she? lol! Now I can link up all the older story parts, and maybe even write her story blurb too.
It's called "broken shards of color", and I took it from a line in her recent story
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 5, 2010, 8:26pm
Those are lovely men Laura! mmm sweaty males playing basketball.
Great name! btw - it really suits her story line too.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 7, 2010, 10:06am
They are quite lovely, aren't they?! I was SO tempted to make it a shirtless game, but alas, Corbin is at work
Damn shame too, lol!(Seriously though, he is *terrified* of those college girls! They're insatiable!!! They're like hungry little hormonal sex-starved monsters!!! Have some funny outtakes after this weekend's update though.)
And this morning's thought - oh hell - does she, or doesn't she?!? Whatever she does changes the *whole* tone of the story. I think she does though. And I'm excited and terrified for her! It's the bravest thing she'll ever do!
I hope that's not a spoiler, lol! I don't think it is. It's a little ways off in the story still.
And happily, I don't really have to re-write much, but just move some scenes around. Bonus though, it changes a story that was planned to be quite gutting into something almost inspirational. We need a little more inspiration around here
ETA: and looking back on the previous conversation, about what characters would do, or shouldn't do, these are actually completely different sets of characters, lol! I guess I have a lot of people with heavy choices to make!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 7, 2010, 9:46pm
You have dozens of characters with heavy decisions, Laura! It's one of the reasons your story sucks people in - lots of things to think/feel about.
Anytime you want to do a shirtless basketball game.... feel free to post up pictures - I'll bring a towel as a drool protector for my keyboard! LOL
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 10, 2010, 10:28am
Kiri, I might have taken a completely gratuitous shot of a shirtless Corbin in his next update just to make up for it, lol!
Next weekend's update, I mean)Oh, I hate being sick!
But apparently, being sick is conducive to my writing? I have the next 8 LH updates drafted, and a few of them even second-drafted to a pretty polished degree. How about that?!My laundry though, don't even ask me about my laundry!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 11, 2010, 9:14am
Following on from the previous conversation, I apparently took a good dozen gratuitous shots of a shirtless (and completely clothes-less?) Corbin for the next update, lol! Oops!
But anyway, I played Emmy last night, and gave her a new hairstyle (mostly because everyone kept thinking she looked like Summer, lol!), but also because the one she had then looked too similar to Jodie as well.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uZLJ03Dfol9SwYZLruwHs3oDqvj37k6O-mU8x5ewzdGOC4xxMwIl79srkC9xVU8ezUJ7tVMXcT0kPc84Bi6Y5u-_kLyCeVqYvfswO8hO5mYLfEe-MtNT1ZbSsOw4gestaBQ7G0=s0-d "[image]")
So here's Jodie and Emmy now.
And I got some super steamy shots last night - but was annoyed because when you use the modeling pose box, the Decorgal one, and then set clothing to naked, their legs go super funky! I never noticed that before - did anyone else ever notice that before?
But it was seriously warped and it looked really bad. Like her thighs were all thinned out and twisted. Not very sexy, lol! Not sure if it was the same with all of the poses, since I only needed to use a couple, but it looked perfectly fine in underwear, just weird naked. So I had to shoot around all kinds of weirdness, and hopefully I'll be able to make something of it for the story. I might have to pull out some mad Photoshopping skillz!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uRjjH56ghl24WxvjdTKX7kks2acZDPkV3LcthFItgOE8edRUE75C8PX5pehUqAf7dGu74cQpKxvcE8PUhvGiPi7u6OQa8_XcS2juxSdsV-o_GGgfAk2Zrrxo8PWo6YWDuxwxdb=s0-d "[image]")
But anyway, I made over her bedroom too, since it apparently gets so much action
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 11, 2010, 9:34am
Uh oh....I can't wait for this update!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 11, 2010, 9:36am
Jodie looks miserable in that shot. But the new hair on Emmy is great!
Oooo Corbin!!! The only thing better than shirtless Corbin, is Naked Corbin!
I've never used Decorgal's pose box for nakedness (I'm glad you have mad photoshopping skills) ... isn't there a hack or invisible clothes for nakedness? I seem to remember invisible clothes? It's been about 2 years since I've played Sims2, so I could be dreadfully wrong). Hairfish made some I think. That would get around the wonkiness.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 11, 2010, 9:49am
Rachel, lol, believe me, I can't wait to share it!
Kiri, I was trying to capture her usual demeanor in that shot, lol!
Oh my, yes, Naked Corbin certainly does trump Shirtless Corbin!
I have to say, these ones made me blush a bit, lol! Not sure which ones I'll use for the story yet, but I've got a bunch.Oooh, invisible clothes! That is a good idea! That just might make the difference! I'll see if I can find some! And bonus, then they won't keep doing that "OMG SHOCK, somebody's naked" thing, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 11, 2010, 10:36am
If you can't find them - let me know - I'm pretty sure I remember how to make them.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 11, 2010, 12:25pm
Kiri, I found some and yes, they worked perfectly! It's like when she designed that pose, she forgot to test it in the naked state - which I guess is probable, since I'm sure she didn't intend it the way I'm using it, lol!
But LOL, funny side effect, since they're technically in "clothes" the dude's manly bits don't show up! I think it's almost more shocking not to see something there!
So workaround - (OMG, the things you can learn in the LH Babble thread, lol!) - if you happen to want, or need (lol!), manly bits in your shot: set up the pose in real naked state, so the manly bits are there, then pause, use your SimBlender to switch over to Everyday where you'll have them planned in their naked clothes, and voila, your dude is no longer castrated, LMAO!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 11, 2010, 10:25pm
Yay! Glad it worked! I'd hate to see any of your men castrated - they're all so gorgeous and it would be a damn shame!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 12, 2010, 7:07pm
Sharing pics for those who don't go to N99:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sy7iKYlloXmEMtXAHVoJI2aDF1zCMrHSOnYEfEcl17JZFjS7MCkh91zadW2cJ81S2iGCHKv40IQQHQK1w1RKTxHwCv0jB7_hdJzvTG4qZgI5Yyk5QvtmWtmp-QH8b5MoRDYppZTooP=s0-d "[image]")
Here's the results of my downloading spree of (seriously!) about 300 new decorative pillows, lol! But doesn't it look comfy?!?
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t98AY5o5bJuIxxQ1phkFJAM2ozyzfr8v0Q6fA9jeOXlv1-cpBKKKhY_sx6w1tMuTIaNPyalxeCVRZVH4oIn-MS_f1mg7MorXJT1RVcOxdgbDP-N5FnLV1uUOa8pQEWoZwYrQiTby0=s0-d "[image]")
And today, Corbin forgot to pay his rent, lol! Poor guy's got a lot on his mind, I guess, because he left it until Wednesday, lol! That's too funny! I've never had a Sim forget their rent until now.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 13, 2010, 1:43pm
How weird! Just going through some OLD stories, working on my story and character tags, and I found this one, Jodie's first appearance in LH!
How funny that she only entered the story because Jason was dating Amelia. Now Jason has moved away, and she's one of my main characters.And oh nostalgia!!! Reading that old story! Back when Charlotte was still single and writing for that conspiracy theory magazine, and now she's married with twins and has her own pie shop! And back when Amelia had only just started dating Jason, and now she's engaged to Drew! And back before Piper met Hayden, and now they just bought their own house and are getting married! And Bella and Cameron were just messing around, and now they're married and expecting their third!!! Wow, so much has changed in just five years of story time!
But even back that far, you'll notice that the first picture of Jodie ever to appear in the story is one of her arguing with her brother, lol! Some things never change
ETA: more funny! Drew once went on a failed date with Charlotte! Man, like 6 story-years ago? And I still had him in his Mr. Big clothes, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 13, 2010, 3:29pm
It doesn't feel like it's been that long for me since all that happened because I read so much over a short period of time to catch up.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 13, 2010, 3:45pm
Rachel, true, I bet you probably remember some of this stuff better than I do! lol!
Oh *exhales* I finally finished writing a blurb for my "fish and the bird" storyline, and it was the hardest one yet! It probably sounds stupid, lol! And it's too long. But here it is:
Matt and Leila are a busy young couple with ten years of marriage, a farm, and three children under their belt. And on what could be a different planet, Corbin's life is filled with freedom, curiosity, and adventure. But when Corbin meets Leila, he is faced with the confusing desires of wanting things he's never wanted before, and she is faced with the most impossible choices she'll ever have to make. As friendships develop and histories are explored, the three of them have to decide which connections are meant to be shared for a moment, for a while, or for a lifetime? (warnings: drama, OMG hard decisions (!!!), skimpy yoga clothing, metaphysical bullshit (you can blame it on Corbin if you want), and a box of tissues or two.)
So many angles to cover, and I'm trying not to give any spoilers. Ack! Feel free to rip this apart if you want. This is actually good practice, since some day I'm going to have to try to pitch my book, lol!
And Charlotte has a character tag now too
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Oct 13, 2010, 8:09pm
It doesn't sound stupid to me. Blurbs are difficult, and I think you probably said as much you can without giving the whole story away. The warnings made me laugh!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 13, 2010, 8:43pm
Yes! So difficult! And that's the thing I wonder about, I think, have I said too much? Am I giving away too much? Ack!
The warnings are fun!
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Oct 13, 2010, 8:55pm
I'm definitely interested in reading it - as always, I relate so much to your characters.
I think it's a great blurb. And I love the warnings too.
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Oct 13, 2010, 10:22pm
I really like the idea and the excecution of the blurb. I'm so ready for you to start!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 14, 2010, 6:59am
Thanks guys! The blurbs are for this page, by the way, in case you didn't know already. I think I probably posted it once on my blog. The idea is certainly not mine (think I first saw it on Lunar's old story, Tierra de Legado?), but I thought it would be useful, since I have so many story threads going at once.
These are already started though, lol! I mean, they're the same stories I've been writing, but now they have blurbs for them. Hope that wasn't confusing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 20, 2010, 7:07pm
*shhhh...* Leila just told me a secret!
OMG, funny how you can forget something that happened so long ago, and then it resurfaces again, and at such a shocking time, and means such a shocking thing!
This is such a unique experience, writing these super-long ongoing stories. It's like trying to dig back into my own memories and remember when I was eighteen years old. There will be nothing, and then all of the sudden, there's this *something* that was there all along, it was just kind of forgotten. And of course she forgot it, because she never thought it would mean anything at the time. But you ask the right question, and it pops right back up!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 20, 2010, 7:45pm
Argh! You are torturing us!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 20, 2010, 9:01pm
Sunday is not going to come soon enough for me!! I hope we hear this secret of Leila's!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 20, 2010, 9:46pm
Oh I am full of torture, lol! I'm torturing myself too, because I can't wait to reveal it!
Not this Sunday though, but soon-ish at least. You definitely need to hear this secret! We're getting to Leila's bunch of stories very soon
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 23, 2010, 10:56am
Oh dammit! Don't you hate it when you shoot half a scene, and then after the fact, realize that they should have been wearing something different, and now you have to do it all over again?!? Grrr! (We need a *Grrr!* smiley, lol!) Oh *sigh* it was only about 4 pictures, and at least now I know how I set it up, so hopefully I'll be able to recreate it.
It's not from this weekend's update, btw. That one's pretty much already done, and you might even get it tonight!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Oct 23, 2010, 7:46pm
Yes, that's so annoying! I just made that same mistake in the Sitko update! There was really no reason for Camilla to be in pyjamas and Lila to be fully dressed, except for the fact that I'm a moron. I left it though and nobody noticed. Or if they did, they didn't say anything!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 23, 2010, 8:15pm
Grrr Smiley? OK. It' on my list! (So is a giggle one!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Oct 23, 2010, 10:34pm
I do that more often than I care to admit ... and it's painful in Sims 3 if you forgot to save the textures/colours you used and have to remember how you got that look in the first place!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 25, 2010, 9:10am
Setting up a bedroom scene, and this amused me:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uJIpey8DGqsRQAd6qgLd9mxtyreIPEeQWFvUXfx3IwS2pRwh2BimfDrG4y3Zg1QSJAhYYv2qkZKPu8RZZbSIhVF-jnTTaqj--K-9cq10uobMrJcUd4C8eudXIcDH1xuomUYBOb3Zw=s0-d "[image]")
Well at least we're all on the same page about things? lol!
Sorry if that's kind of a half-spoiler. I just couldn't contain it any longer!
You already know from the story (here and here) that they've sort of made up already, but you haven't seen it with your eyes yet.So now you know, if Amelia and Drew get more "bedroom scenes" than my other couples, then it's because they're *very* cooperative, lol!
Oh boy, they were giving me some good shots last night! *fans self*
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 25, 2010, 10:39am
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vYUWnft0WfgYNAsJSu9O7FLpTTdLt861DZfRxisZa7r6w6_-Ji9jzZH3wYto7kTdXHlmeHGgyN3q9Vay3YLDP2h9hxxhAcjWXMmLLYDG43=s0-d "[image]")
Man...I really envy the poseability for love scenes in TS2. Can't wait to see the steamy scenes.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 25, 2010, 10:53am
Can't you do love scenes in TS3? Lunar manages to do them all the time in Ruin, lol! (And steamy ones at that!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 25, 2010, 10:54am
OK - that's definitely an encouragement on their parts!Yes. I agree. It's one of the things that makes me think about returning to TS2 - the poseability is so good!
And yeah - any sim soft porn you want to post here... it will be appreciated!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 25, 2010, 10:57am
There's a question then: why has no one made pose boxes for TS3 yet? Surely it's possible?
LOL, just wait until story-spring, lol! I have a whole set of stories based on people hooking up!
(Maybe I need to remind myself that I am not actually an erotica writer? lol!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Oct 25, 2010, 3:25pm
I'm still anti-pose boxes. >:| But if I remember right, pose boxes didn't really work until Sims 2 had been out for a couple of years and people figured out how to do animations on them, and we're just not at that point with TS3 yet. But I think it's very close. There was an animation script hack on MTS, but I've yet to see anything come from it though it specifically mentions Sims.
We're just a little pervy. It keeps us healthy. Keeps those creative juices flowing. (Go where you want with that one.)
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 25, 2010, 3:42pm
Lunar, why are you so angsty against pose-boxes? I know they're frustrating and all, lol!
OMG @ creative juices, lol!
But no, people, I'm not an erotica writer after all, but maybe a crime-thriller writer now! Evidence here:
LOL, do you ever just roll ROS for the hell of it, just to see what comes up?
Poor Delphie Deppiesse rolled to get murdered in another lifetime, lol! Who on Earth could murder sweet doe-eyed Delphie?
There's only one person I can think of who's angry and jealous enough to murder this little sweetheart. Could it have been her SISTER???
One night at Modern Robotics, her twin sister, in a fit of passion and rage, sabotaged a security bot to attack poor Delphie, and she died a quick but painful death of 5 million volts surging through her tiny body. Dakota passed off the "accident" as bad manufacturing, and the family claimed it to their robotics business insurance. Orion and Violet will spend the rest of their lives covering their daughter's crime, or else turn her in to be tried as a murderer, sentenced to life in prison, and possibly execution herself. By the electric chair?
OMG scandalous story, lol!
No really, I already have next round's ROS rolled. Nobody gets murdered
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Oct 25, 2010, 5:53pm
You can do love scenes in TS3, but it takes quite a bit of finesse to get the timing right (because there's no Freezer clock either), and it isn't the easiest thing to pose. The invisible furniture has definitely helped, but there still aren't nearly as many sweet/romantic animations in TS3 as there were in TS2, and that limits it quite a bit.
Lunar is just awesome (
to Lunar)--she makes it look easy, but it definitely isn't!Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Oct 25, 2010, 7:57pm
I just have a need to rally against something and figure, why not pose boxes?
(I'm sure I'll give them a go though when they come to TS3. Shhh! Don't tell my rebellious side.)Aw, thanks Rachel.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 28, 2010, 7:05pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u5ezvevBZbrllKmrjOVnWhT6XQb4x2os01D-aKhbKTbZefERtP-RTwK-AUFSSUA0BW16ER89Ym4GHceYRjCCdk980g1spNuFTIAmaapHicUGyFJHieSca40ygnFmJ41E4L0LKooFFYkQ=s0-d "[image]")
Here, have some random Drew spam!
Doesn't he look so pensive? lol!
(You see, I'm really just trying to appease you all, lol!) I'm thinking the update might be a little late this weekend. I already have it pushed back to Monday. I need a few more days with this novel chapter I'm working on, and I don't want to break the flow. Finish or die trying!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Oct 29, 2010, 6:09pm
Oh my gosh, I didn't know you had murder in your ROS! Poor Delphie - I'm glad she's not really being murdered!
I have rolled an ROS just for the hell of it though. It always seems to be a death when I do that. Kendal was supposed to drown, and Asha was supposed to die of illness. Won't be writing those in, if I can help it!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Oct 29, 2010, 7:14pm
What a gorgeous shot of Drew! I really hope Amelia gets her act together soon, he doesn't deserve to be left out in the cold (pun only partially intended
)Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Oct 29, 2010, 8:04pm
Carla, lol! Yes, I certainly do! I wonder if anyone else has ever rolled that one before. I'd love to read the story that came of it.
Just not poor Delphie, lol!
Illandrya, thanks! I love snow scenes!
Nope, Amelia didn't send him out there. Drew is definitely there, in that particular "there", absolutely of his own accord
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 29, 2010, 11:06pm
I have to say - I do love that Drew spam
I miss Snow in Sims3. Snow is not very common where I live, so I still get a big thrill every time I see it.Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Oct 30, 2010, 3:32am
I used to run permanent autumn in sims 2 *lol* ... I haven't seen it snow in real life, so why should my sims get all the fun?
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Oct 30, 2010, 3:42am
LOL - Autumn was really cool in Sims2 - I loved the lighting for it. I hope we get that for sims3 soon.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 2, 2010, 12:20pm
This is more random than you can even imagine, lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t4Q49ZivNvkTjVaMpzbUjnUqt4stE2tFSKT0f6wJzrYRiRA8Ru2w_sIuiLKBhQKLEa4tfX13Mi5WlVYNRxRi5NmhZO8n-CftVCysowMDnktEQJG5_Qz6Tj1fHWRbuJ7wcT1P0RxMWKyw=s0-d "[image]")
I was bored, lol! I ran across these wings in an image search. They're totally not mine (and I didn't ask permission either - he-he, I'm bad!
) But anyway, I already had Jodie cut out from her wallpaper image, so I turned her into a dark fairy!(I'm still a little sick, the illness is apparently going to my brain, lol!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Nov 2, 2010, 12:43pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sq_u4hjKc6qRtDt45a3q0yEnwifPx9f9fuAoMjT_jvA6AOPd0Er1KHBwnkgZ--_3s0i3cXrsOs1M-JOw8RV8lFUw6tTm_Roif03Qdm0zkH=s0-d "[image]")
Laura! Just WHAT would Jodie say? *has a feeling that she'd probably look at you just like that*Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Nov 2, 2010, 6:13pm
Nov 2, 2010, 12:43pm, thelunarfox wrote:
|
Bwahaha, yes! It's a good thing you had her looking so unimpressed for your wallpaper, because I think she'd be pretty unimpressed if you ever gave her fairy wings. Even dark fairy wings, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Nov 2, 2010, 6:19pm
It sort of reminds me of dressing up a dog....they just sit there like, "Uh...yeah. I see that you think this is great and all, but honestly, I want to tear your face off now."
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Nov 2, 2010, 6:39pm
Haha. Just what Rachel and Lunar said.
Oh man, I love Jodie.
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Nov 2, 2010, 9:27pm
It reminds me of a LOLCat. In many ways, Jodie reminds me of a LOLCat too! In fact! This LOL CAT!!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sdV5QcOn6Whm87RAyIcbGyvviZ6fL2-Ge_eKKvu8P1dVRpyw4rJW2ANv0ttZQHBhpi7A1lNdXXfr1b4OATa1Irjs6VYLMfUwcWXuqCvnp4_aE5jFRejODTj6el9JDcfuqrk3NFbqiNjOMBO7STuUc=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 3, 2010, 7:26am
LOL, Jodie as a LOLcat! Yes, I think if I ever had the opportunity to meet any of my characters for real, she'd probably have me in several dumpsters for sure!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 8, 2010, 11:35am
It irritated me that Amelia couldn't put a coat on over her regular sweater dress. I've had this issue before, when I wanted Summer to put a jacket on over her regular dress. I photoshopped Summer's jacket there, and for the coming updates I'm working on, I photoshopped Amelia's dress underneath her coat too. But then last night, I wondered if I could just re-skin the dress part of her coat outfit, and if that would be easier than photoshopping each image she's wearing it in.
For comparison, her "favorite outfit" this season, a red sweater dress and gray leggings:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sncmT06xeEFrScY9kznp5cu8Qz5TM3uRfxZFAMTn3QRCKsU_Oz36TVIwGa3YODHsTuYifGmIFYStJ7qtaL4OuX_PHH6iejFYbexHfdqx6zHoZkwA1veX4cclcCywkwM_Zyh0LICsyn=s0-d "[image]")
(Which prompts a mini-discussion on Sims, and how they wear the same clothes every day. Before, I would always just pretend that this one was her "favorite outfit" this season, and that's why you saw her in it so much. But considering this current set of several stories all takes place in the same week, you probably should see her in some different clothes at least once, lol! Ah well...)
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ucHVslKjZkYzS5XdCeKQXtY6Eba_LbE6KXb4FqYgUY42VxVFdX7sZIudfeTl8inYbY7fGElmYrjwPl_H15ftskrSo_RT2e7YrwJmNi0hPn0qjiFdYJBPbeS2t9NfXe3BfbNlwNdoxIAwnpDA=s0-d "[image]")
And I did!!! And yes, this is going to make things a billion times easier!!!
Oh, I should have done this a LONG time ago!!! It was actually quite easy to do, and took me about an hour. And it'll save me a bunch of time in Photoshop. I just love that I can do a scene now where she'll wear her sweater inside, and then put her coat over it, and it'll really look like she put a coat and some boots over the exact same outfit! Yay!!!
*dorky glee*
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxRyK2H140w1ASXrst1rjRQA_jqwQPsYXHajHBY3AK1EXp6-r-9rKjPB1VVpT-NkPfC98r9qCC7NpP4DJiVMhpxXRNrusHKk0J4ZpZF20lHg=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tBOPm5YGVrkXO6EAPaEt2jUE_6Fi25K1qcUBmSJh8FRrfifGO4wPnyJKcpSwp0k_Pb63x32oSKnmvTVyCODvamNlExQYqb6qSDrYCCUdAxvOGRGLhYILtqXXw2VZSMXG4bnOiDyLAXIqAsWQ=s0-d "[image]")
Now, if only the poor girl had some gloves, lol! Brrrr!!!!!
But unfortunately, I already have all my screenshots taken for the next two updates, but after that I'll have this new coat to use. You'd better believe she's gonna be wearing that coat constantly from now until spring, lol! I'm gonna get some use out of it.
And since it didn't really take me that long, I might see about making some of my other prominent characters some coats to go over their regular clothes!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Nov 8, 2010, 12:22pm
lol! So long as this isn't distraction from actually writing.
That's really cute! Ah the details you notice. Personally, when it comes to sims, I don't even think about it. I just expect to see them in their outfit for a certain period of time until there's a change of some sort. It's like an indicator on its own, if that makes sense. A season change, sometimes a character change even. Like the way Amelia's hair changed around the time Drew moved in. He had something of a make over too, right? And that all happened around the start of this season.Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 8, 2010, 12:34pm
Yes, exactly! And good memory! Yes, they both had makeovers then
I tend to stick to that philosophy more strictly with hairstyles than with clothes, but you have a great point! It's kind of like in novel, maybe, you wouldn't describe every single clothing change a character has. (I don't describe enough of them anyway, lol!) But the clothing is more symbolic, maybe? Like this is the kind of thing Amelia would wear, at this time in her life, but not necessarily this is exactly what she was wearing on each precise day of December, 2083, lol! It represents a state of mind, and personality, and when it's changed significantly, it also represents a change in character.
But yes, I'm ultra nit-picky about these things, lol! Especially when needing to change from wearing a coat to not within the same scene. That, and seeing her barelegged in the cold made me feel sorry for her
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Nov 8, 2010, 1:19pm
Nov 8, 2010, 12:34pm, laura wrote:
|
I must quote that one for posterity. No one really ever says something like that to me.
Also, good point. True, I wouldn't bother describing clothing in a story either unless it was note worthy. Like a character normally prone to casual clothing puts on a slinky dress. There was one story where the narrator would actually describe each outfit she was putting on (lots of jeans and halter-like tops), and then would always add that she "slapped" a little make up on which makes me think of cold cremes and those women with greasy shiny faces. Ick.
Needless to say I couldn't read more than one or two of those books.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 12, 2010, 1:34pm
These shouldn't be too spoilery, since you don't know the context yet. They're not for the coming update, but the one after.
The traffic picture I was trying to get last night:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uvsKwWpNUrL4odKHhei28it8gO_ptH8wLYVsUf7-lrt7JTBU3nZJMR_x22DuHKrztte2qF12MPLBqiFEhjTmBRlqUoVW4WeX1aEiznWNNEOX9K3lNM8E5m5p0yT8_WLn3caTnyJvv_=s0-d "[image]")
I could only do cars on the lot she was actually standing on - unless I wanted to go into all those lots down the street (which I didn't, lol!) But really, I just wanted a couple cars going through that intersection as the light turned green, so good enough I guess.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vnlJFM8GjEtHy36Ci9KYaj0MZB5IioX0cpAzXi8KNyBXuV3uUMo7cOSk2NqVe0B5tHrXEH7SqgNbZx9Q0uRAJ2RtYm5u24KOFRX-LWH7GoTkFAUHdERPLhaT-GH8V-_NrpyFMXuYys=s0-d "[image]")
One more, since I shared it at N99, thought it'd be fair to put it up here too. This (and the one above) is actually two pictures spliced together. My graphics card is so crappy, I have to take one on small lot view, to get all my foreground textures in detail, then I crank it up to extra-large to get the background, but it's not usable like that since everything in front goes all fuzzy. So then if I get the angles close enough, I can overlay the two.
It's ridiculous the things I do for this story, lol! Truly, it is!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Nov 12, 2010, 2:17pm
Well the results are amazing, really! It looks great!
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Nov 12, 2010, 5:23pm
Those are beautiful pictures!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Nov 12, 2010, 8:17pm
I'm impressed with how you do it. The two cars in the top picture look perfect and like they're just going through the lights! You do the neighbourhood backgrounds so well, I forget Sims2 doesn't have a continuous hood.
Actually to be perfectly honest, you do the pictures so well, that I forget that they're sims at all and see it as the story unfolding.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 13, 2010, 1:05pm
Thank you guys!
Kiri, it makes me happy to hear you forget they're Sims! That's kind of my intention, I suppose. For as long as I've known how, I've been trying to stretch the in-game capabilities to fit the world and characters I have in my head. (Rather than the other way around - fitting my story to the in-game capabilities.) That's the most fascinating thing about these games, with all the mods and CC, there are really no limits to what you can do with it!
I really hardly see it as a game at all, most of the time. Or at least the way I'm using it isn't as a game.
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Nov 14, 2010, 9:10pm
great pics! I'm always awed by how much effort and detail you put into your pictures. they come out truly beauitful. It makes me wish the creators could see what you do - they'd be floored!
Umm quick quesiton, ive been wondering for weeks, actually. can you please explain/ link what N99 is, i googled the heck out of it and CANNOT find it. is it a sims 2 website? Everyone mentions it, its driving me crazy lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Nov 15, 2010, 2:13am
http://starlightsims.yuku.com/directory is a Sims forum. It has been going since the beginning of Sims1. It's called N99 which is short for Neighbourhood 99.
There's actually a call-out to it in the Sims1 game. In Making Magic, the neighbourhood you got to by climbing the beanstalk was Neighbourhood 99.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 15, 2010, 1:43pm
Thank you for posting that link Kiri! You're amazing! I'm totally knocked out with this cold and have no brain right now, lol!
Billy, you should join, it's awesome there!
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Nov 15, 2010, 8:17pm
Great shots, Laura. And yeah, sims and clothing. All the Taken characters have multiple outfits, though admittedly that multiple generally extends to two! I am planning on giving some of them a few more. My other sims can stay in their default sets of clothing, though - but my hood sims will all have a few changes of clothing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 16, 2010, 9:12pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s7y90AEiUmnyZfIqA-utrNIMNSqbDQH1DiBkUnzbiGDaEApuDG7j_YSs52kkts5tyMyGBjCWBITVhYEa1drr1N_3zhLGqQv12E2jcAppH3yz4iC7f0abOgRf4wobNZTd5FrGwyMrQjJ9w=s0-d "[image]")
A little makeover for Stephanie.
And Willow for bonus! I think it's just adorable how much she looks like Jeremiah!
Then I'm trying to figure out why Stephanie isn't able to babysit Lily (Justin's daughter). Their relationship isn't superhigh, but it's not bad either - like 60/40. But the only interactions she's allowed is play > peek-a-boo. This is so weird. I know I've had people take care of toddlers they weren't related to. And Lily specifically, I know that Corbin has interacted with her before at his apartment, so it's not necessarily a home lot thing.
But anyway, she kind of needs to be able to interact with her if she's going to babysit. You know, basic childcare things...
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s_bZ_TcOKs8M6LhyByg2CAGu4fhMejJ2r1fIa9o4SujQBlkWOxXFxoNFFq42cY1O2mN98j4ELOaOcuNJVA80ir6CvC4nKcq99nG8UAA28zk5UsQGC9M15zXt-WnAHdLujCJD9BYY_BHg=s0-d "[image]")
Willow says, "Mommy, she stinks!!!" lol!
So anyway, the conclusion I've come to is that Lily just doesn't like Stephanie?
Re: LH Babble
Post by katherine on Nov 23, 2010, 3:10pm
"So anyway, the conclusion I've come to is that Lily just doesn't like Stephanie?"
I think this could turn into a great example of gameplay influencing storytelling.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 23, 2010, 5:38pm
LOL, you're right! Not sure if I want to write that in though - she's sad enough already just having her own baby hate her, lol! Though I can imagine it would be hard for her not to translate that into the idea that all babies hate her. Poor girl!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 23, 2010, 9:52pm
Just a little bit of Felicity spam!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uyBqFHwNyg79DxG6ZXv7cW5EgDZua0mHCSd7YDFU0N5tO9qZgAHrdV6gHVL9UUcB4nFgd3N124JcTRqz7Spo5heItnWM3Parl7bouxneriIYzh7aG0FRxmiUbRqqDopfXIfB_IpQeD=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u0SPp3PVXfFKvfhmxupv_vQSEP4K88azJOuK21CL4orIBmwGhfbm0hhyM7plwFnS9KYH_HkgVxTpKMvdSDYhP00aP7WrBAaC_jAZKJtXqYU1z-1eDVdzcrpY3dfRxdBtvYnDOUn4zNBA=s0-d "[image]")
Because I had to share *something*!!! I was surprised as all hell that I actually got the shots I wanted to get for this weekend's story. (One of two mini-stories, actually.) I want to share them so badly, but I can't, because I want this story to come second of the two, so I'm sharing these scraps instead, lol!
It's nothing really groundbreaking or anything - but it's just so hard to work with kids, so I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off
Re: LH Babble
Post by tipix on Nov 23, 2010, 10:55pm
Aww, loved the pictures. Any little bit of extra LH is a good bit!
Unrelated, but a curiosity I've had for a while: Within your round overviews you started linking certain updates in blue and other in black around 2080. Each theory I've put to the test always comes across some exception at some point, and I was wondering if there was a specific purpose to the colouring that I'm failing to notice?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Nov 23, 2010, 11:05pm
Oh, that! LOL! Are you going to be terribly disappointed if I tell you it's just a Blogger glitch? lol!
I swear it! It has something to do with when I change the color from light gray to dark gray, when I post something and link it. If the link is only part of the line (like if the story has a set of names after it) it will turn blue, but if the link is the whole line it will stay dark gray.
OMG, you poor thing! You must be so frustrated! I should put a note or something, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by tipix on Nov 23, 2010, 11:23pm
That makes SO much more sense, thank you! I was afraid I was finally going crazy with my desire to find organization in everything, having come across something I couldn't make heads or tails about!
I don't think a note is necessary (although admittedly I searched for one a couple times a while back), unless there are other crazies such as myself out there. Perish the thought.
I think I'll sleep soundly tonight knowing LH hasn't come up with some new organization tactic that I'm dying to try.
lol!Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Nov 24, 2010, 8:03am
Aww....Felicity is a cutie. I hope the kids aren't picking up on Leila's conflicted feelings.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 2, 2010, 12:18am
I'm trying to dig through this next set of stories, which is HUGE!
I have all these pieces to tell, both current pieces, things from the past 6 weeks when we haven't heard from them, things from early in their marriage, things from the very beginnings of their history together. It kind of boggles my mind how I'll slot it all together. I have the first story done, and the last, but man, the in-between stuff is a wreck!
For the record, this story, the Corbin/Leila/Matt thing, is far too big and complex to exist with all the other stories in this serial. I think I've probably said that before, somewhere. I really don't feel like I've been able to do it justice. Some stories work really well as part of the serial, because they unfold slowly, and can be left for large chunks of time while I focus on something else. Summer's story works. Jodie's story, Amelia's story. Those kinds of stories unfold over a lifetime, and those are the kinds of stories that work in a large messy serial like LH.
But my "fish and the bird" story is too fast, too compact, too much happening over too short a time, too much going on simultaneously, and far too much left in the histories on both sides.
I don't like to share my plans for ideas so far ahead, but I will say that I hope I get around to turning this story into a novel some day. Really doing it justice the way it was supposed to be told.
Can I even do that? Is it allowed. I don't actually know, for sure, and I've always heard that the pre-publication thing would be a challenge. But I saw someone else recently who wrote and published a novel based on his web series. And then I saw another person recently sell a non-fiction proposal based on her blog. So hey, if they can do it, then I can do it too. And just the sheer amount of changes that would need to be made, between taking it out of serial form into novel form, taking it from illustrated to not, taking it out of the LH world and into another independent time and place, the story would probably end up very different from what I started with.
But it's something I'd need to do for myself anyway, to make right the fullness I didn't get to give the story on this blog. Even if nobody wanted to buy it. Though I do think this story would make a nice departure from the themes in novel #1, and that's good because I don't want to end up looking like a one-trick pony
But you know, no promises or anything. I'm actually quite terrified to write Corbin in a real and actual story. (As opposed to this play story.) I'm scared of writing characters who are supposed to be much smarter than I am, and have seen so much more of the world than I have. How do you write a character who knows more than you do?
But anyway, I'm only about 40% through my second draft of novel #1, so by the time I actually get to novel #2, I could have completely changed my mind. I've already changed my mind once on what I thought my next novel would be.
So probably best not to pay attention to any of this
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Dec 2, 2010, 12:23am
Quote:
|
Who's going to stop you?
And yes - Matt/Leila/Corbin deserves to be a novel.
Whether they're novel #2 or #22, doesn't matter. As long as they're on the list.
Oh - and whether you publish it or not. I want to read it!!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 2, 2010, 12:29am
Ha, true! Of course nobody could stop me from writing it, though I'm sure people could stop me from publishing it. Probably a lot has to do with what kind of deal (if any, lol!) I get for my first novel. I'm not far enough along to know how follow-up novels work.
You're right, it doesn't have to be #2, necessarily. I am just getting started here
And maybe a character like Corbin might be easier for me to write when I'm older and wiser (hopefully, lol!).So don't worry, it'll get told, and you'll get to read it too!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 4, 2010, 10:14am
A weird realization I had recently: I never think about any of my LH characters having different accents. Though, I suppose some of them must, especially the ones who move to LH from other places.
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tUQyoyn27vZ9AtjXsUJEc2sy0cn4E6Z8F7TbKTpQHTGce8U37H9p2znuV6zyOuvps_vT75kEYxR-wqWRB7GUn1PuUrIXZgXr7iCxVtOxCmecKWaGWnt08CqJkaIWp_GIa1t-u_NEl1phqwd60=s0-d "[image]")
(We need more gratuitous pictures in this thread, I think.) I was just picking ahead at a story and wrote that Micah's family are living in Boston, and the Bostonian accent is a pretty strong one, so I imagine if that's where he grew up, he must have a bit of an accent, even if he has been living in LH for a good 7 years or so now. And thinking about it now, I can actually kind of imagine that he could, though I've never shown that in the story. Maybe it's something he tries to hide?
(See, we can make up an answer for anything!)
Now I'm trying to remember where some of my other move-in families come from, and I'm pretty sure most of them come from mid-western places like LH, or places without a very strong accent.
This kind of also ties into a question that was asked at N99 the other day, about do your Sims/characters have different heritage or ethnicity? I really tend not to write characters that have a different heritage than my own, which is mostly mid-western working/middle-class generic American. I think I'd be especially scared to write different accents! I might have to brew up a question thread on this... hoping it doesn't cause some big fat heated debate, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 4, 2010, 12:57pm
Waitaminute! You shouldn't be putting this much thought into your sims stories anyway, young lady. (Though I love that you do!)
Accents are an interesting thing, but I think of it like clothes. Accents themselves aren't necessary unless they're important to the story. Like I gave Alex an accent, but only because I wanted it as a clue that he was from somewhere else. He was a stranger.
Maybe more important is word usage? Like we were learning with "scones" and "cookies" and "biscuits" the other day.
I have to head to work again, but I hope that makes sense, lol. I'll elaborate more if I need to.
Also-
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 4, 2010, 1:48pm
I agree with Lunar, word usage is probably more important than trying to write in an accent.
Two of the minor characters in my Veronika series (Marc and Elise) have an accent. I know that I mention Elise's accent once then say no more about it. I'm not sure that I even do that with Marc, but his English is more grammatically correct (as is usual with people who study it, they speak it better than us lazy natives) and occasionally he will use lapse into French - such as calling Veronika Veronique.
Scones, cookies and biscuits is a good one, as is chips, crisps and fries (been caught out with that one myself). Actually, most of the examples I can think of relate to food
Then there is the story of actor John de Lancie who was speaking at a fan convention in Sydney and about halfway through decided that his audience needed a break so he asked them all to stand up and turn to the left (or right, doesn't really matter) and rub their neighbour's fanny. He was met with some curious stares from the audience and didn't understand the problem until someone whispered in his ear.
In Australia, fanny does NOT mean arse
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Dec 4, 2010, 1:57pm
I see now!
If I were going to write a different heritage/ethnicity than my own, I think I'd do a massive amount of research and also see if I could find a person of that heritage/ethnicity to read it before showing it to anyone else, so they could offer suggestions and criticisms and tell me where I got it wrong.
It's not like I wouldn't write it if the character/story came to me, but it would be the one thing I would really hesitate about putting online and that I would sit on for weeks before hitting publish. I'd want to make sure it was right and real and that I was not showing off my privileged white ass.
But a Boston accent in specific - I think for that I'd probably just do some linguistics research. Which I did a little of that for Farmer Brown, even though I was writing the accent I grew up hearing.
I do think it'd be a really interesting thread. And I think we could probably keep it civil. Maybe.
Dang, yo. For the first time I'm a little scared to bring something up too. But well - maybe that's a sign that we need to bring it up, you know?
Maybe if you put some disclaimers in the first post about what you expected from the thread?
Oh, just read Illandrya's post - see, there are issues that aren't fraught with social tension! Like just slang and word choices and brands and local food and drinks and stuff. And really I imagine that's what the thread would mostly be about.
But I'd like to talk about the social tension angle too. But I totally recognize that it's a minefield and although I think everyone here is conscious and enlightened and open and willing to hear other perspectives and learn from them, there's no way of knowing for sure.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 4, 2010, 3:08pm
I don't think I've ever seen us not be civil to be honest. Am I completely missing it? Yes, we're passionate, and perhaps we might misunderstand, but that's part of discussion, and we shouldn't be afraid of it.
And when I see Stacy mentioning us keeping it civil, I can't help but to think of tossing tea cups.
And then I can't help wondering if that sounds dirty to anyone else.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 4, 2010, 3:49pm
Yes, I agree with you all that in writing, it becomes more about word choice most of the time, rather than the actual sound of the accent itself.
Lunar, lol, yes, I am supposed to be working this weekend! And then my writing laptop blew up
So that's kind of on hold, for now, at least until I can figure out if I should attempt to get LSB working on my PC so I can carry on. And good thing my LH update for the weekend was already moved over to Blogger!Yes, I think there's something I'm stuck on - what does it even mean to the story? Like why make his family from Boston at all if it doesn't mean anything to the story? Or why is Piper's family from Idaho, or Corbin's family from Oregon? Except that it's unrealistic for everyone to come from the same place.
You're right, thinking far too much about this for a Sim-story, lol! But these are also things I think about for my serious writing too.
Illandrya, that was something I had to remember when I was in England too, lol! I'm pretty sure I never managed to say anything really embarrassing!
Stacy, I do believe we could come at it with grace and respect and maturity, and I agree (though I'm terrified, lol!), I would also love to talk about the social tensions.
And you know, the same is true (about research) for writing anything outside of your own experience. And I think I'd probably like to include gender and sexuality in our discussion as well.
Lunar, LOL!
Okay, I'll try to gather my thoughts on all this and work something up for us to talk about by tonight - but right now, my family demand my attention!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 4, 2010, 3:59pm
Dec 4, 2010, 3:49pm, laura wrote:
|
Well, it is the weekend, so you're allowed some flack and some family time. But come Monday, you'd better be breaking out the notebook if you have to.
Also, they're details that make the story come to life, but you don't have to go deep in depth with details. I think you are starting to over think it and while I love the amount of details you put into thing, I don't think it is always necessary. Readers fill in a lot of the details themselves unless you get something majorly wrong (like word usage, I'd guess). They appreciate things like knowing where someone's from, but I don't believe they need to read through an accent for that character to become real.
Does that make sense? Roger Zelazny once said in a compilation I read that in a short story, he'd throw out the details of a past for a character. He didn't think it was necessary to go into great detail, but throwing in some thought at the right time that hints at a past before the story was often enough.
Okay, back to work! *zip*
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 7, 2010, 11:03am
Matt and Leila story: I keep thinking I know the narrative flow - the order I want the pieces revealed, the rise and fall of emotions - but again, I'm not sure. And every time I realize that I'm not sure, I have to come back and pick at it until I am sure again.
So I changed it again. Was going to be Leila/Matt/Leila/Charlotte - but now going to be Leila/Leila/Matt/Charlotte.
"OMG," you say, "What's the big fracking deal!?!"
Oh, there is a deal, people! The narrative flow is a very delicate thing, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Dec 8, 2010, 9:29pm
Narrative flow is a tight balancing act. That's for sure! I'm sure you are going to pull it off though. Are you able to write all 4 pieces and then choose the balance? Or are they too interlocking to be able to flip them around if it doesn't quite work?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 8, 2010, 10:32pm
It is quite easy to flip scenes around, but only because I have everything all portioned out in LSB!
Then I just have to edit for little time things, like what happened before or after or whatever.(OMG, if I make no sense, it's because I spent all my vocabulary on 800 words of fiction today. I have no words left in my brain, lol!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 12, 2010, 12:44pm
Yay, I have pics for tonight's update!!! Didn't know if I was going to get them done so fast, but they were really coming easy last night. I don't think I've ever gotten all the pics I needed in so little time - four scenes in like 3.5 hours? And that's with loading community lots too!
LOL, that probably sounds like SO much time compared to some of you! But it's quick for me. My computer is slow and finicky, and I'm ridiculously anal about each picture being exactly the way I want it, lol! So it can take me a really long time to finish an update sometimes. Usually 1-2 hours per scene, but some single scenes have taken me up to 3 hours to get pics for before
Yes, I am crazy.
This shouldn't be too spoilery:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ts1YXtGGKHR7TQODYQBLnweIEEIELIxH7uf3r_Zhfdbsl3_urp_a8zKZnOOZIqIPkTaWvYWPh14nVbD43I7sOsUld1b-QQIxRNvgL9RDpBJtuxybDex6iKq8Ta7nBEFYYJupZ3mRDWpcraGw=s0-d "[image]")
Here's one of the poses I was ridiculously proud of. The book in her hand, and resting on her lap! Took me forever, lol! (Pardon Matt's crotch, lol! This isn't the crop I'm going to use for the story.)
There's one other I was quite proud of, but you'll have to wait for the story for that one
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ti54THNwL-fMoRJt_vQpQKaDfOvBzMBbIAJO2xlb2Zo6BeAKxIX8Johxn1Kxjtapghin4g2LMu616zFcDT45C3IyDWnEjipMaiuQZgyDinSvtT5oJVifHTbq5gaol7vJ8cCkUSKFZy6---YA=s0-d "[image]")
I also made Leila an everyday/coat mash-up.
So you guys will actually get an update tonight! I didn't know if I was gonna pull it off, but it's looking promising now. The writing is mostly done, just needs a final polish tonight after the kid's in bed
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 12, 2010, 4:39pm
Wow, that shot with the book is amazing. Yeah, hours?
But your dedication shows in every single picture. You really do make your sims look so natural which is not easy to do at all.Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Dec 12, 2010, 5:02pm
The shot is amazing! I can't wait to read it!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Dec 12, 2010, 5:02pm
The book shot is awesome! I'm so impressed! So is SimLeila holding the book or is that clever posing too? Because if that's posed too, I'm even more impressed.
Love the coat mash-up as well!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 12, 2010, 6:09pm
Lunar, lol, dedication is a nice word for it - sometimes I wonder if it's more like wasting time? I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about my dedication to this hobby sometimes.
Rachel, thanks! Coming right up!
Carla, every part of that is independently posed - her legs are crossed with the parts box, her left arm is another from the parts box, her right arm is actually the toasting glass pose, I think, from some props hack I have, and I did some spine adjustments with that new overlay box. The book I had her read first, then forced error on her to keep the book open, and placed it with a OMSP. Then I turned her head with "look at player"
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 12, 2010, 6:23pm
*lol* ... I don't know how you do it, Laura, I go completely spare and want to toss the computer out the window if it takes me more than half an hour to get a shot
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 12, 2010, 7:44pm
Illandrya, believe me, sometimes I want to throw the computer too! But sometimes it's kind of fun to see what I can make them do, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 12, 2010, 9:05pm
It is an amazing shot! What new overlay box that will let you do spine adjustments?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 12, 2010, 9:11pm
Beth, it's here. It's huge! It does so much! But be careful, it does so much you could easily get lost in it for hours! (Or at least, I do, lol!)
What I like best about it is you can use any regular pose first, and then fine-tune it with this box. So you can really get it just exactly the way you really want!
What I'd really love to have now though is more poses that work with independent arms, like the parts box, but I wish it had more variety to it.
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Dec 12, 2010, 10:07pm
Never would have thought to use testing cheats to keep the book open! Aren't you clever, lol?
We definitely need more independent arms poses. More standing legs poses as well. I'm happy we've got the parts boxes now but I'd love to have some more options.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 14, 2010, 12:17pm
I just love telling stories! These characters of mine are always so full of surprises! Even as well as I think I know them, they still surprise me.
I changed up my narrative flow again, lol! Or well, Matt did, if you want to point fingers. *points finger at him*
So now the story order will be Leila (which you already have), Leila again, Charlotte, Matt, and Leila at the end. Also Matt's fault I have to half-rewrite Leila's last piece. Ah well, I have to concede that I agree with him. I did feel there was something off about that one anyway. This way is better.
No more changes though! *puts foot down!*
Re: LH Babble
Post by billybop428 on Dec 14, 2010, 2:35pm
Dec 14, 2010, 12:17pm, laura wrote:
|
you tell them so well!
I wanted to say something about the ethnicity topic - I rarely think of my characters as having an ethnicty, but one of them, Carmen, has always seemed so overwhelmingly hispanic that I couldn't not write it in! I consulted my puerto rican friend and everything.
I don't really get offended though when someone portrays something that I happen to be. It's the writers just adding depth (and having fun!) to their story.
and man, that pose of Leila is phenominal. You really went above and beyond.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 14, 2010, 6:44pm
This is inspired by those photo mosaics that Beth and Gayl post up for their characters
And I stole a couple questions from Illandrya's mosaics too!My first one is for Leila, and since this took me SO long to do, I'll probably go through them slowly and post them up as I write each character's story.
I'm also going to give each of my main characters an individual profile page, and I'll post this on Leila's page as well when I have that finished (later tonight, probably).
Leila (Meyer) Watts:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tVtmjsKrajTSOS2wEGXm1NgfG8fLUPVpF0jogxC-TCNjka_DzXtahHGqFzmwtUMi3EJIqTi6jsZqmvTNLTZQ5P3SZv5tyLxq2szDma-bul1XQTKpopSYvb7jNM-0l9xHUVBlJKbzM2Pg=s0-d "[image]")
1. name: Leila
2. grew up: near the shores of Lake Michigan
3. favorite food: watermelon
4. favorite color: muted pink
5. favorite weather: clear sky and fluffy clouds
6. favorite drink: iced tea
7. currently reading: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, fourth time through
8. most important job: mommy
9. if she had one wish: to live without regrets
10. thing she loves most in the world: sleeping babies
11. one word to describe her: heart
12. something else: she had the best intentions
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 14, 2010, 6:55pm
That's just beautiful - gorgeous colours and very Leila
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Dec 14, 2010, 8:45pm
I love that mosaic. I hope you do more!
And good for Matt! I'm glad he's helping you with the story!
(I really need to pull my finger out and do the giggle smiley)Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 14, 2010, 9:16pm
The mosaic is absolutely beautiful, and completely Leila! I love the new questions - we have to change ours. So glad you did this and you're going to do more - they really do open up the character!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 14, 2010, 9:23pm
Thanks guys! These are really fun to do!
And thanks for helping me Beth! I would have been lost without you! lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 15, 2010, 4:07pm
Okay, one more of these, and after this I need to get back to actual writing!!!
Matthew Watts:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v6c-DBLbJuwfZFxxnuf6u35U4B7LLO6J2QtjIkPbxXb9ehmX1N_MHzc_PQjYM_27qqMcq5kGGwou6Y5wsBrgAZhHHPVM4YnriphIRBmDyLygncecsCwvzdHtzhWn7Ou_KCIIRdK64EaA=s0-d "[image]")
1. name: Matt
2. grew up: on a farm
3. favorite food: grilled fish and fresh veggies
4. favorite color: golden orange
5. favorite weather: cool autumn harvest
6. favorite drink: whiskey, on the rocks
7. currently reading: the Cabela's catalog
8. most important job: farmer
9. if he had one wish: that his parents could meet his children
10. thing he loves most in the world: fishing at sunrise
11. one word to describe him: rock
12. something else: plays by the rules
I'll post the rest of his profile on the blog later tonight
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 15, 2010, 5:16pm
You know, I was never certain I understood Matt, but after reading/looking at this, I feel like I do. I can see why there are problems with Leila, and why they were attracted to each other to begin with. Beautiful work.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 15, 2010, 6:26pm
Thanks Beth! Yes, it really does highlight their differences, huh? But right, all of this, the rugged masculinity, is also exactly what she was attracted to when they started. That's all a girl really needs at eighteen, lol! Oh... *sigh*
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 15, 2010, 6:51pm
Oh hell, so I might as well do one of these bad boys for Corbin too, and just round out the triangle? lol! I have half of his profile written already anyway...
(I'm hopeless.)
(It's okay, I'll go into a writing cave tomorrow.)
Re: LH Babble
Post by gayl on Dec 15, 2010, 8:08pm
I have to say I find it interesting that the one thing he loves most in the world is fishing...
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 15, 2010, 8:30pm
LOL Gayl! Yeah, that looks bad, huh?
In his defense though, I'm purposefully trying to put actual "things" and not any specific children or spouses in that slot for any of them. I thought it might be more telling this way (as for Matt, it seems to be). I figured we could just assume the children and spouse are a given. Though I bet sometimes Leila feels like his passion for fishing trumps her (... and maybe it does? lol!).
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 15, 2010, 8:51pm
That seems so Matt! Curious how playing by the rules fits with him taking off his wedding ring that night though.
I agree that this really brings their differences to light and explains why they may be having problems, with him bring far more down to earth and concrete than she.
Curious what you say about trying to avoid children and spouses in the "things I love most" field. I'm trying to do that myself and it's working for everyone but Simon. He just keeps saying Veronika.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 15, 2010, 10:03pm
Dec 15, 2010, 8:51pm, illandrya wrote:
|
Oh man, good memory!!! (I swear, you guys remember my story better than I do sometimes, lol!) Hmmm, let's say... I think in moments of extreme frustration, any person is capable of (and maybe even driven to) test and break their own rules. Good enough answer?
You know, I like that, what you said about him being down to earth and concrete, while her head is in the clouds. There's nothing really wrong with the way either of them are, it just is what it is. But with him being SO grounded, and her being SO up in the clouds, how would they reach each other? Without one or the other changing drastically, and do they want to do that? See this is what I was trying to say all along, lol! The fish and the bird?
Oh man, you're pulling out the hard questions tonight, lol! I'm honestly having a similar problem with Corbin right now. So I'd say, if Simon wants to say "Veronika" then I'd make him name some very specific thing he loves about her. Because Veronika is not a thing, she's a person
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 15, 2010, 10:17pm
*lol* ... yes, that's good enough. I actually had my own theory and it was along the lines of testing himself (he went home alone of his own choice).
Now I feel dense that I didn't get the fish / bird reference, it describes them perfectly and their situation. Makes it sound insurmountable though because if either the fish or the bird compromises then the one who sacrifices for the other must give up his/her ability to breathe.
Good point about Simon, I'll see if I can interrogate himfurther and narrow it down, although I think I already know the answer.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 15, 2010, 10:19pm
Dec 15, 2010, 8:51pm, illandrya wrote:
|
I think it does fit. He was sensing that something was wrong, the very beginnings of the idea that she might have moved on and lost interest from what I remember. So maybe deep in his subconscious he felt he wasn't the one in the wrong, she was.
Also the fishing thing is very telling. Not in comparison with loving fishing more than Leila, but because fishing is pretty much a solitary thing to do. Even if you invite someone along, it's still something that each person technically does separately.
Perhaps I'm looking into that too much, lol. I don't feel that Leila loving sleeping babies says as much as Matt's loving fishing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 15, 2010, 10:34pm
Oooh, yes, it is telling of how much of a loner he is - not just fishing in itself even, but the time, sunrise, the quietest time of the day. Even the work he does is mostly lonesome, and he loves it too.
I did put a little bit of thought into Leila's sleeping babies though. Not only are they just cute, but they represent love because of how they were created. And they also represent the peaceful time the parents get back while they're sleeping. So her favorite thing stands for cuteness, love, and peace all wrapped up into one
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 16, 2010, 1:31am
Sorry, I should clarify. I think Matt's love of fishing says more about why there's such a division between them now, though thinking about it further the sleeping babies that does add to everything. I think I do see them both a little clearer after this.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Dec 16, 2010, 5:46pm
Damn. All these awesome mosaics lately are really making me want to do this for my characters. Laura and Beth seem to find the perfect pictures! Gorgeous.
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 16, 2010, 6:48pm
Just be careful if you start, Rachel - they are highly addictive (says she who is working on number five already)
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 16, 2010, 7:39pm
OMG, yes, Rachel, these things are ridiculously addicting! Be careful if you start, lol!
This is my last one for now, then I have to get back to real stuff. I'll maybe finish off his profile later tonight.
Corbin Gray:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s0P0Lu6J8aWd-tT1NiqW3eYswS1rNEYfO8IS10kz-ij76Exc5HIqLHzHVS3C7w-KsSPVltiiNnwxQaaC9inMdxSmQCxzZ47M76BYrk0I06SO-LzXi3dfD_kGijA1U2rx61RV2amw77qIw=s0-d "[image]")
1. name: Corbin
2. grew up: in a small woodsy town outside Portland, Oregon
3. favorite food: steak and potatoes (organic)
4. favorite color: rich shades of green
5. favorite weather: crystal clear starry nights
6. favorite drink: green tea
7. currently reading: the third draft of his doctorate dissertation on physical therapy and eastern medicine
8. most important job: teacher
9. if he had one wish: to spend his life showing her everything there is to see
10. thing he loves most in the world: the soft breath of surprise Leila takes when he touches her
11. one word to describe him: limitless
12. something else: too soft for his own good
*If you can't read it, the caption on the photo for #9 reads: "now, take my hand, and we could run away." <-- I thought that suited him well, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Dec 16, 2010, 11:50pm
Ow ow ow ow ow ouch!!! Poor Corbin! It really looks like Leila is 'the one' for him. And neither Matt or Leila have anything in their mosaic for each other. Matt is job, and Leila is family.
It's ok Corbin - in TS3 I am creating a very special single lady just for you!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 17, 2010, 1:22am
mmmm, yes, what Kiri said, ouch indeed.
the last row is heartbreaking
Re: LH Babble
Post by choco on Dec 17, 2010, 3:00am
These mosaics are so gorgeous. It makes me want to do one for myself. I love how Leila is incorporated into. In response to what Kiri said, I think they've been together so long they probably assume that they're ingrained into each other's life (mosaic) without saying so or even thinking about it all the time. Corbin, on the other hand, hasn't felt like this before so it's so exhilarating how could you not think about it? It's beautifully tragic.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 17, 2010, 8:43am
Thank you guys!
I would say Leila has something for both Matt and Corbin in her mosaic - I don't know if I can explain that without giving away spoilers though. Or is this story already spoiled by now? lol!
I do feel them both being very present in her mind, but I also feel her masking herself still, especially right now, which is why her answers are kind of vague. They're vague, but also 100% true for her at this moment in time. It's kind of odd that I choose to do these at this specific point in time. I wonder how different these mosaics might look if I'd done them a year later, or a year earlier?
But no, Matt doesn't have anything in his mosaic for her, which is telling, and the couple things he had for her in his "loves" list of the profile are even more telling.
I feel kind of bad about doing these, actually. It feels a little bit like cheating, in a way. Like I'm giving away too much. Though I guess there aren't many things in these profiles that you haven't heard already in the story, but putting them all together like this is very telling. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? lol! I don't know, I guess I kind of feel like if I'd done my job right, you should have been able to get these things from the story already?
But anyway, thank you all! Corbin's mosaic was extra hard to do. Especially #10! OMG, how impossible is it to find a picture of "touch" on Flickr? There were lots of holding hands pictures, but I had this very specific kind of touch in mind. So hard to find! I think I ended up searching through the "lovers" tag in the end, lol! Should have started there first
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Dec 17, 2010, 5:13pm
Yeah - looking back at her mosaic, I can see her with Matt and Corbin in there - but hidden, while Corbin's all on the surface. There's a lot that you can tell from the stories, but I think that there's also a lot that the mosaic clarifies because you get to see it in a different way - so all the things just click.
Well done finding the right pictures! I'm amazed at the photos you have found! How long did it take to make?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 18, 2010, 8:57am
Kiri, Corbin's took me the longest. The answers he gave me were more abstract, so it was harder to find images of actual things to represent them, lol! I probably picked at his, on and off, for most of an afternoon. Maybe a couple hours in total?
Leila's was difficult in that way too, but because it was my first, I wasn't as nitpicky with it. I kind of wish I could go back and tweak a couple of her pictures, but I'm not going to. Hers took me probably just as long as Corbin's though, but that's partly because I was still figuring out how.
Matt's was pretty quick and easy, lol! He's a pretty simple kind of guy
Maybe 45 minutes?Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 20, 2010, 11:33am
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vb7XTOQv6BgoxA6u5oLcS0t07F7gspBEtZNY3eoyaC0P5arX5YxJjlItBLrNSOG4t08cNR5qeScDG4KLzjRoucU1sKLQyH_H9L-gd0nq_tDm_KPj_RpTB5b72E3Jhk862f5vaZsQ=s0-d "[image]")
Wow, random childhood memory just popped up. Isn't it amazing how memories get suppressed and stuffed down? It's not like you mean to forget these things in a deliberate way, but it just happens. Like a defense mechanism or something?
Personal life experiences are SO individual and important. They really shape a life, and I truly believe that. It makes me wonder how we can manage to relate to each other at all, since we're all seeing the world through such a completely different view?
Not sure I want to talk about the specific memory in such an open and public way, (having to do with my mom, and the summer before she died), but I just have to say, I'm sure it plays a huge role in how I write Leila's story. (<-- not that I mean Leila is going to die, lol!)
Not only that, but I can also see how it's made an impact on my own life. Everything does, everything we live through, it all adds up, it all means something. Every little choice that everyone around us makes, and how we react to it, it all steers the course. And we think we have all these choices - we make choices every day - but do we really? Because as shaped as we are, how could we possibly make any choice other than the one we've been conditioned to make in that moment?
(And I've clearly been spending too much time in Corbin's brain lately, lol!)
Sorry, that's so unbelievably vague. That can't possibly make any sense to anyone but me
LH update is well in the works, just putting a final polish on it right now.
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Dec 20, 2010, 1:48pm
It made sense to me.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 21, 2010, 2:03am
Made perfect sense to me too. It's a very poetic truth.
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Dec 21, 2010, 3:01am
It makes complete sense to me as well. Your own experiences are shaping the way you write, just as our experiences shape the way we might interpret what you're writing.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Dec 21, 2010, 7:16am
It does make perfect sense. The philosophy department I was in for my graduate work specialized in the topics surrounding the concepts of free will and action theory. So it's not at all surprising that this thought crossed your mind, particularly with the way you delve into the motivations and histories of your characters.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 22, 2010, 12:01pm
Thanks everyone! Glad it made sense!
lovers vs. screwers vs. flirts
Post by laura on Dec 22, 2010, 12:22pm
Okay, first of all, I have no idea why I was so compelled to do this study, lol!
It must have something to do with the profiles I've been doing, thinking about each character and how they view sex (which of course, is a question inspired by Lunar's profiles for Ruin, lol!). It was especially noteworthy to consider the "Romance Sims" in my neighborhood (either primary or secondary), and how each of them view the sex they have so much of. They all pretty much clearly fell into one of three categories. So that made me wonder about my other aspirations of "sim/characters" and what their differences might be toward sex.
I have a theory brewing on my "popularity sims" at the moment, but we'll come back to that later. This just might become another one of my huge epic character studies, lol! (Still have yet to post the MBTI study I started...)
First, "romance sims": they fall into three types - lovers, screwers, and flirts. <-- I personally used a much more colorful and appropriate word for the "screwers", but alas, this is not my blog, so I tamed my potty-mouth, lol!
lovers: would opt for emotional and connected love-making over purely physical sex
Tyler Jackson
Corbin Gray
Joel Harris
Aurora Miguel
Sophie Phoenix
screwers: would opt for vivid and exciting physical sex over emotional connection
Maxwell Shaw
April Hutchins
Emmy Masuko
Bella (Bradshaw) Gibson
Adrian Jackson
Heather Huffington
flirts: all talk, gutter brain, but follow-through is usually either with devotion or no game at all
Leila Watts
Summer Phoenix
Cameron Gibson
Berjes Monif
too young to decide:
- Fiona McCullough... this one is hard! She's definitely void of emotion, so that rules out "lover" for her. She uses her sex appeal to get what she wants, but has yet to actually put out, so I'll speculate "flirt" for her, and she's certainly devoted to herself, lol!
- Ryanne Phoenix... she's definitely not all talk, so that rules out "flirt", but otherwise, she's too young to tell, I think.
- Angelo Shaw... given his short attention span, you might guess he'd end up a "screwer" like his dad, lol! But somehow I feel him caring more about them, in the moment. So I'll speculate him as a "lover" - though a serial one.
See, wasn't that fun?!? Hmmm, I wonder if this is a very fascinating exercise in procrastination? lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 22, 2010, 3:25pm
That's a really interesting way to divide them up. I've had at least three that seem to fit in more than one category. A flirt who will follow through with great game if properly motivated. A screwer who will chose not to do so if it causes too much trouble for him (the why bother, find another house without an alarm system). And the very accomplished flirt with game who enjoys the physical enormously but will opt for the emotional connection if it's there. Maybe that falls into the first category though.
Re: LH Babble
Post by muzegoddess on Dec 22, 2010, 3:50pm
Lovers, screwers, and flirts. I love it, never thought of it quite that way. Excellent character study idea that I'll have to try with some of my characters.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 22, 2010, 4:08pm
Beth, of course! Characters, like people, often act outside their own personality norms, given the right motivation or emotional circumstances.
I get the multiple categories thing too. This was just for my "romance sim" types though. I'm working on 12 types in total, and each of my characters has two - one for primary aspiration, and one for secondary. And some even fit types they don't even have an aspiration for at all, lol!
It's a lot like how I interpret their aspirations though, very loosely. I think of it more as a primary driving force. It doesn't mean they can't or won't do these other things, it's just what they prefer, if they were given the choice.
Muze, thanks! Let me know if it rings true for any of your characters! I'd be very interested to know if this fits for anyone other than me, lol!
I'll have the full post up tonight, I think. I want to take some pictures for it, and that should be fun!
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 22, 2010, 4:14pm
I'm looking forward to it! I stuck with the romance sim types too, but they can be very different people as you pointed out, depending on other motivations, drivers, or emotional circumstances. Or boredom. Your 12 types are incredible...
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 22, 2010, 6:54pm
Sounds interesting! Looking forward to the full post.
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Dec 22, 2010, 11:18pm
So you've been talking about this sex study all day on Twitter and I finally thought that there might be a few more details here in Babble! Anyway, it sounds unbelievably interesting and I can't wait to read it.
I am actually very nerdily excited about it!Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 23, 2010, 10:07am
Okay, here it is kiddies! Enjoy!
"views on sex: a study on fictional nookie"Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 24, 2010, 7:10pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tgNlFM3Fi6gAm8l7jVnn6QLTnM2BmDzE5J27zuZNiw5wQKkpgSof4EvDwtLUKEYzHWyQXba9CZ-d8YLdUJyfxWc-jYfuVw-emcbcozCCSsIkNyGiQQ03g99DnWQpmMOg9KLHWx12-LLWfC=s0-d "[image]")
I went through a hell of a lot of trouble to get one of my shots this afternoon, lol! I needed access to Matt's inventory, but I also needed a town street shot. Now it dawns on me that I could have just had him just buy some community lot in town for a minute, but honestly, this set only took me about half an hour. It would have taken me 15 minutes just to send him somewhere in load time, and I'll only need this spot just this once. So I whipped up a fake street front in the yard, lol!
Ah well.
This is a bit of a flashback shot too. So I grabbed a couple of "actors" to play the parts of this scene that took place about 12 years ago
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tor5oDlzoc82bnItn1kCxLGIb6FexRBW9r2gxo11k7-h1JNDGtiMgsc83Ce76wYPh3ia9xnsfFOvqRYJPwys6z9mV7kfEnSo8h39cPdwE_L6hrhRtA8u_KifVj2en_tJK73wBJ-hNgXtPX=s0-d "[image]")
Liza says, "Oh my God, I can't believe you put me in a skirt."
Robbie doesn't mind.
Under the spoiler, because it's actually the first shot of my next story piece. Final shot then. Is it worth all the trouble, maybe, probably not...
[spoiler]
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uQQOFhZmtJY2IwjQXQNbpXANpT-7yFERqaiHNnIzbDqKX7hxb3isZ8Q_KsHnCyZjOuahef7VOZQZOOjZH7Gh8nsMeNJIdB2Vaq-h-l9YRF0_Gd1zjCKF7krXmwd43RRdwqx3vpJZ-JxW7C=s0-d "[image]")
Bonus points to anyone who can guess what this shot is from
[/spoiler]
And Robbie says, "Hey Lizzy, you kind of have nice legs."
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 24, 2010, 7:14pm
Those shots are beautiful! What a wonderful, creative solution! adore the pumpkins...
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 24, 2010, 7:20pm
*sigh* ... that's just beautiful. That one little picture is a story unto itself.
Maybe if I was as creative as you are Laura, I wouldn't grumble so much about having to take screenshots and wonder why oh why I ever thought it might be a good idea.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Dec 24, 2010, 7:26pm
I know what that shot is from!
[spoiler]It's from Matt and Leila's first meeting, isn't it?[/spoiler]
Awesome picture! I can't wait for this update.
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 24, 2010, 7:33pm
pssst ... that was my guess too
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 24, 2010, 7:39pm
Thanks guys!
Oh, thought I'd also mention that I just exited without saving when I was finished so I wouldn't have to take everything back down, lol!
Rachel, gold star! You're right
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 30, 2010, 4:04pm
Sometimes I feel very frustrated at my inability to reach 100% of my readers. Maybe someone tell me it's impossible so I'll stop worrying about it. It's distracting me from my other work. :\
(Kiri, I need a "meh" smiley, lol!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 30, 2010, 4:37pm
*lol* okay, for starters it IS impossible and, more importantly, who said you had to? Everyone sees things in a different way, based on values, perceptions, experiences. Trying to write so that everyone gets everything all of the time will probably drive you around the twist.
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Dec 30, 2010, 4:39pm
Dec 30, 2010, 4:04pm, laura wrote:
|
*hugs*
I know that feeling. Haven't found a cure for it myself. But screaming "They don't understand my art!" has a certain therapeutic value, lol.
Also what Illandrya said.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 30, 2010, 4:50pm
Exactly what Stacy and Illandrya said.
I think you sort of have to let go once it's out there. Perhaps you had intended it to be one way, but if it's a good piece of work then it should be possible to be read multiple ways that you might not have intended. Of course there are also the times when someone completely misunderstands, but like Illandrya said, it's based on their own experiences and perceptions.
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Dec 30, 2010, 5:32pm
I've been thinking about this on the way home from work and wanted to say more.
Someone once told me they tried to read my stuff but didn't make it all the way through because they didn't like the horror elements. They were very friendly and cordial about it and said that I shouldn't think my stuff sucked. It was just a personal taste issue.
And also - I thought about sharing this part and I don't know if I should do it but I'm going to.
I wonder if maybe I don't get your stuff the way you mean it. If so, it's because I am weird and didn't have a lot of experiences that you guys seem to have had and I don't think about relationships in the same way that you guys do. And honestly I've had to take a break from reading a lot of people's stories because of all the sex around lately, lol. Which again - that has nothing to do with the stories themselves or the writers. It's all my own experiences and issues and perceptions, like everyone's said.
It doesn't mean at all that you're not a good writer or that your stuff isn't great, because it is. It just means that as much as we want objectivity, as much as we fight for it, it's impossible. Even though I do think people are capable of objective aesthetic perception, it's on an individual basis and it's fairly rare. I don't think that we should stop aiming for universal constant objectivity though, and I totally understand angsting about it, and I guess I just wanted to say that I hear you and maybe get what you're saying.
*hugs* again
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 30, 2010, 7:40pm
Illandrya, thanks, lol! I just wanted to hear from someone else that it's actually impossible. It is driving me a little mad.
But yes, it's the experiences and personal values I keep running into problems with I think, especially with the kinds of stories I write. It's fine, and I DO get that everybody comes to these stories from a completely different perspective. Hell, I think I've shown that even within my own stories, two people come at a situation with completely different values and world views. So I *get* that, but I still don't know how to react to it. What do I say? What is the appropriate response?
I feel like I keep getting defensive in order to explain things. I feel like Leila trying to explain her whole world view to Matt, and he just can't see it, lol!
Lunar, yes, but how!? How do you let go!? It's like one of my babies, lol!
If I write a story with a certain intention in mind, but a reader comes at the story wanting to find something different there, something that it's not, and will never be, what do I do?
Stacy, lol! Yes, yelling that totally does help a little!
I think you and I see our work a lot the same way. We make ART with capital letters, lol! We have big ideas in mind, and we want them to be understood. Maybe we bring this on ourselves then, lol!
No matter what story I write, I suppose there's going to be somebody pissed off over it. I just happen to write about the kinds of things that incite passionate reactions in people. So I need to learn to deal with that. And I'm trying. No matter what book you look up on Amazon, even the ones unanimously agreed to be *great*, there's going to be at least one person who slammed it and gave it 1-star. It's the nature of putting your work out into the public. It's not everybody's cup of tea. Fair enough.
Thanks for the hugs!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vICBLlrqBKLYkfZlx4aP0f_ti4f0VjRbuvbSrZngSOSZbFSi8vkXjogxmIGEuno8kJEX9Km7DnnaT-wf_NQ2exPuK358so5R0QzS6YkiruRgL3=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 30, 2010, 8:01pm
How do you stop from getting defensive? No idea. Would like to know the secret to that myself. Those comments I usually have to walk away from and do something else until I can come back at them rationally (not always successful, but it works some of the time).
What I have learned - and this is probably going to end up in the "absolutely no help" basket - is that sometimes it can't be explained. The reader will either get it or not (the Leila and Matt analogy is perfect). You can expand and explain and break it down into itty bitty bite-sized pieces but it still may go flying over their head or be interpreted in a way you didn't intend/expect and they end up completely missing the point, because they have absolutely no point of reference in their life to use as an interpretation tool. I'm not sure there is anything that you can do about that.
I don't believe in a one-size fits all world. I think I'd start to worry that I'd stepped onto a different plane of existence if I wrote something that everyone read and understood and interpreted in the exact way it was intended. Either that or it was so incredibly bland that it couldn't possibly have been misinterpreted - and then I'd REALLY worry.
As you say, writing is art and art is notoriously subjective. About the only thing about writing that is objective is spelling and grammar and even that is open to interpretation depending upon geography and schooling.
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Dec 30, 2010, 8:52pm
meh smiley will be top of my list when I get back to Melbourne.
I don't think you should even try to explain. Let them not understand it, and hope that it makes sense later on. Sometimes when you get defensive trying to explain, it can make it worse because they move further in. Also - you're always going to know more about what's going on because you are in your character's head, while we (the readers) can only see it from the outside.
Also, I think that sometimes we get where you are coming from - we just want a different outcome based on our experiences and values. But in the end, it's your story and your outcome. You need to stick with the original, and not let yourself feel pressured to change/explain it. Because no matter how you explain it, they/we will still want the different outcome.
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Dec 30, 2010, 9:15pm
By objective I meant coming to the story free and open and not imposing your will or worldview on it. Like what Kiri said about readers wanting certain outcomes- that's the reader imposing their will.
I get Salinger now.
Basically - Laura, you're awesome and you should do what you want and write what you feel and screw the people who don't get it or try to force you into their mental boxes.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 30, 2010, 9:17pm
Illandrya, yes, walking away is a very good method! I often find myself having to do that, lol! Or I'll write out my vent version of the reply, and leave it sit there for an hour or so, then come back and write the sane version
That's a very good point, that if everyone 100% got what I was writing, it would probably mean that it was very bland. Never thought of it that way.
Kiri, yay, thanks in advance for the smiley!
Yes, I know, the defensiveness and explaining does make it worse, and I end up giving away most of my story when I do it too, lol! I need to come up with some stock responses for these kinds of things.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 30, 2010, 9:21pm
Stacy, yes, that's really the part I have the hardest time with, the mental boxes, and the readers wanting very specific outcomes based on a narrow world view. Drives me batty, lol! I guess the thing of it is, when I come to a story, I want the author to tell me a story. If I wanted a very particular story that ended up just how I wanted it, I would write it myself, lol!
Okay, I think we got this hammered out now!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 30, 2010, 9:29pm
I wish I could tell you how to not be defensive about it, lol. Honestly, I feel that way too sometimes. And then I feel like such a failure because if I were a better writer, it would have been clear. But if people are reading and invested enough to want a particular outcome, isn't that a good thing? I know it's still not exactly the same, but it's something.
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Dec 30, 2010, 9:29pm
I think that the fact that you have characters who are complex enough to be misunderstood is actually a very good thing. I mean...I really don't think it's anything to do with your writing--it's that you've made a character so real that just like in real life, sometimes their motives and explanations are misinterpreted or only half understood. I think confusion about Matt and Leila is...well, to be expected--it's such a tricky situation, and I think a lot of people (myself included, surely) are always looking for the "bad" guy--the one who is at fault, to blame, etc.. The problem is that you've created such a realistic and complex story for them that it's difficult to see who is to blame, or exactly where they made their wrong turns--it's really difficult to say, "And *that* is where they went wrong so now we have an explanation", and that can drive readers crazy, but in a wonderful way. You don't give us easy solutions or situations, and in that way you reflect the dizzying complexities of real life. That's amazing!
Re: LH Babble
Post by admin on Dec 31, 2010, 1:45am
I went and read all the comments on your latest update.
You know - it was a frequent commenter of mine who killed Gunky. She never got it, and her suggestions for the story went against everything I wanted and the characters and the situation. It was like she was taking control of the story rather than playing along. And so it died.
She must have found something in my work though, because she kept reading and commenting.
It's like you say in your responses to the comments - some people are just fundamentally different and things won't work between them, even if they care about each other. Even if they see something in your work and you appreciate their reading it and their comments. And it may be best to cut your losses, thank them for their comment, and go on with the story you want to tell without regard to what they think.
It's totally not a failure in the storytelling. It's not. It's just - you know, maybe you're a bird and they're a fish.
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Dec 31, 2010, 3:36am
Isn't it frustrating for a driver who is trying to have a conversation about how beautiful the landscape is on a journey, when the passengers are too busy arguing whether to turn left or right at the next intersection, or about whether they should have turned left or right five minutes ago?
-from one of the many back seat drivers
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 31, 2010, 8:32am
Lunar, yes, that's it! I also feel like I've failed when people don't get it. I'm glad to hear you guys feel these things too, because you all always seem so confident and collected, lol!
Rachel, ha, I do do that, don't I? I make my own head spin sometimes with the complicated and impossible situations these characters get into, lol!
But awww, thank you!
Stacy, awww, I'm so sorry to hear that about Gunky
You know, I totally get it though. And I've felt, not quite to that point of giving up, but so frustrated that I stew on it for three days and can't do anything else and wonder about what I'm doing and if I want to be doing it.
But yes, I think you're right, a simple thank you and carry on. Because it's in the explaining and defense that I think I get even more worked up, so from now on maybe I'll try to skip that part.
lepifera, lol, yes! Thank you! It is just like that! I appreciate that you understand.
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 31, 2010, 9:36am
I hesitated to say anything about this whole issue since I have little to offer as a writer, but, coming at it as a reader, I think the people with the problems are in the wrong aisle. It's possible to begin reading wonderful, complex work like yours, get very involved, and then realize it is NOT the kind of book you thought you bought. Readers get very displeased when you don't give them what they want, even if they had no reason to expect you would. Unhappy Reader needs to put down the book and go ask directions to the aisle with the kind of novel she wanted to read.
You know you cannot possibly please everybody. Your writing is beautiful.
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Dec 31, 2010, 11:09am
Don't worry Laura. I only try to seem calm and collected in public. IRL I end up rolling around a lot, whining, eating chocolate, and crying that I'm not a real writer, lol. But I can't really do anything else other than write, so then I end up going back. What a vicious cycle. See why I need the chocolate always on hand?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 31, 2010, 3:58pm
Beth, thanks! You're right, there's another part of it. I suppose especially in the community of Sims stories, where probably 90% of them are perky-happy-kittens-and-rainbows kinds of stories, it could be quite easy to take a random turn and end up on my blog where everything's all tears and angst, lol! It's certainly not everybody's cup of tea. But then, you know, I never promised kittens and rainbows either.
Lunar, lol! You act the part well!
OMG, it is too vicious a cycle! Chocolate and glasses of wine are necessary, lol!Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 31, 2010, 4:11pm
Amelia Bradshaw:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sAgiFbm3Bjmlqxz25GZZZ7xUv-yD6q-xGVrHLjYxu6EV9vWGfZRE1wFupr6-rH33lBQ5fi3aF66psI6pe13A_qBm99BWxXtRZrht9XeS7UGjR4zS4nZA8bsaWmyjmsByt_BIMJhDXsBBvM=s0-d "[image]")
1. name: Amelia
2. grew up: in the perfect loving suburban home
3. favorite food: eggs florentine
4. favorite color: green and gold
5. favorite weather: crunchy fall leaves
6. favorite drink: pinot noir
7. currently reading: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
8. most important job: financial planner
9. if she had one wish: that they all come home safe
10. thing she loves most in the world: cuddles on the couch with Drew
11. one word to describe her: cautious
12. something else: she sees the world through fractures
notes:
#1, I searched for her name meaning "strive" and this came up, titled "fragile" which is also very fitting of her.
#2, a little bit symbolic for this one. If you can't tell, it's actually a dollhouse. I'll let you all take stabs at the hidden meaning in that
I should have the rest of her profile up on the blog in a little bit, and Drew's mosaic and profile will be next
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Dec 31, 2010, 4:48pm
That is Amelia right down to the dollhouse. Put them where they should be and make them stay there all safe and happy and not worrying you. From her choice of book (happy revelations) to her choice of drink (good old Pinot) to the very last image. That's the only one that kind of threw me. and I know it doesn't matter, but your choice of colors and imagery nails it. Completely beautiful!
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Dec 31, 2010, 5:06pm
The dollhouse is perfect, where she can make everything just as she wants it to be. I wasn't sure it was a dollhouse until you said but I did think "these people have chosen a very bright colour for their roof!"
Another great one here!
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Dec 31, 2010, 5:56pm
That is so Amelia!
The dollshouse is curious as two interpretations spring to mind. The first and obvious the "perfect" family home. The second that occurred to me is that, now that she knows of the troubles in her parents' marriage, looking back does see begin to see that perfect childhood as being something less than real?
Or I could just be reading way too much into it, feeling very introspective today which isn't always a good thing *lol*
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Dec 31, 2010, 6:08pm
The one I had in mind when I was making this was like Illandrya said, her "perfect" childhood wasn't real, or was pretend
Beth and Carla, oooh, those are some awesome interpretations of the dollhouse! Love it! Both very true as well! Amazing how many true and valid interpretations we can find of the same image!
Thanks guys! These are a ton of fun! Oh, and Beth, I am very picky about making sure my colors go together, so I'm glad you notice that, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Dec 31, 2010, 9:09pm
Gorgeous mosaic, and so fitting for Amelia. The dollhouse is an inspired way to discuss the way she grew up. I can't look at a dollhouse without thinking of Ibsen's "A Doll's House", which is kinda sad.
My heartstrings were tugged quite a bit by her #9.
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Jan 2, 2011, 8:53am
Beautiful mosaic, and very telling. The colours are perfect.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 5, 2011, 11:30pm
Rachel and Rad, thank you!
And next...
Drew Bruty:
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sEKjzo1JDo76WbpDvPt0fS9i7Wr0hMWGHmtdDsxGmcndw8EL8UlL4eJJYFta8BIk3DDbM5SMr0CXiMZR5oykEMKAAWfGaNh7GPkDO_LX53yv1JtoRSso_AyW1Cn15psxZJwalZtD6mWw=s0-d "[image]")
1. name: Drew
2. grew up: as the odd one out
3. favorite food: raspberry chocolate torte
4. favorite color: all shades of blue
5. favorite weather: the first snow flurries
6. favorite drink: water to swallow some headache pills for his hangover
7. currently reading: The New Yorker
8. most important job: poet
9. if he had one wish: to have a family of his own
10. thing he loves most in the world: freckles on a redhead
11. one word to describe him: charming
12. something else: everything's just fine (even when it's not)
notes:
#1: couldn't find one associated with his name or its meaning, but then I found this guy, perfectly content, not bothered a bit by the rain as he reads, and it made me think of Drew. So be it.
#12: was a crapshoot, lol! I could hardly put this into words much less find a picture to represent it, lol! I mean really, how do you find a picture of that? So this picture felt optimistic, yet muddy and vague at the same time. Good a picture as any!
I am still picking at Amelia and Drew's full profiles as well. I'll get them up on the blog soon (= eventually)
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Jan 6, 2011, 6:51am
Love love love Drew's weather picture (#5). It's spooky but kinda cozy at the same time.
You found amazing pictures to describe him. His one wish is so sweet, and really puts so much of his character and actions in perspective. Freckles on a redhead--perfect answer!
His number 12 is very interesting, and definitely seems to be borne out by his behavior when he and Amelia were having issues. He just wanted it to be fine, and he was telling himself it was fine the whole time...but he kept worrying.
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Jan 6, 2011, 7:03am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38104469@N00/3899953986/
How about this one for question 12?
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Jan 6, 2011, 8:06am
Just fixed your url so that it went to the picture, hope you don't mind Lepifera.
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Jan 6, 2011, 10:23am
Love 9 and 10. Aww.
And those eggs
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uHcKcnCbkPC2kGAgCx1QP5anHCDNvWFpuKUUPLv-bQ4l6G8kG_ajVjfOoesrXB6ehaqcgN231DWX4E5JusTILCxxrwW8JtIGTDaA33QA=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vDs5eEvo-mFy-N8ptem1K2amypMSOoippjP652jVv9CjQzm-C-R_5lj6JK8hXIU6-wqWZbDhQJ0eXVU3kMAJwbLsA79b7tT4aUsO-zxPI=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Jan 6, 2011, 2:27pm
oh, Drew, I sooooooo understand No 2!! The last line, from 9 to 12, that just sums him up perfectly.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 7, 2011, 9:59am
Rachel, that snow picture is a little spooky, I love it, lol! I've seen his #12 in him for a long time, and it gets him into trouble - with Amelia, with Jodie, with his drinking, with his family issues. Though I have to say I identify with him on that, unfortunately, because I do that sometimes myself, just pretend the problems aren't there to see if they'll go away, lol! (They don't usually, do they?)
Lepifera, LOL! That's great!
Rad, aren't those eggs amazing!? I was so happy to find that picture. I couldn't have found one more fitting of that idea.
Illandrya, thanks! I'm glad it suits him!
sometimes they just speak to me...
Post by laura on Jan 7, 2011, 10:05am
So I'm sitting in my car, kid in the back, rocking out at a stop light to some classic rock after dropping hubby off at the train station. It's Bob Seger, "Night Moves," and of all people, I hear Tyler, and he's nodding to the beat, and he says, "I like this shit."
Tyler? Really? I don't know what kind of music I imagined he did like, but I never saw this coming.
But he insists. He says, "Hell yeah, dude's got fucking soul!"
And I'm like, okay, fair enough. The dude does have fucking soul.
(And Kiri, I need a "rocking out" smiley!!! I'm so demanding, lol! *adds, pretty, pretty please!*
)Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jan 7, 2011, 11:21am
LOL! Actually, it makes total sense to me that Tyler would like some classic rock. He just seems like one of those guys who would even if he wasn't around for it.
Re: LH Babble
Post by sarahjane on Jan 7, 2011, 3:16pm
I love the photos you found for Drew! The first one is perfect for him. I can't wait to read his full profile.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 17, 2011, 11:21pm
I'm like, totally not a writer anymore.
I've been trying to write this update all weekend. And Monday. And tomorrow will be Tuesday. Nothing.
Last week, I couldn't finish my novel chapter either.
Even my board posts are stupid.
There's like, no words in my brain. Where did they go?
I can't even finish Drew's stinking profile!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t4534dM73lt5PETKEFX570Nqnv40kBWh3qFkAMQ30yrI7X4v6TstakjIjBcSDyuWsPDDf2E1QQxrwW3msI7jjEclsn0rqTmrpnPR0hCHI=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by dinuriel on Jan 17, 2011, 11:55pm
I haven't caught up yet, but I just thought I'd post and say I know exactly what you mean. I've been neglecting both my novels like crazy. I'll open the Word documents and try to think of what to say next and... nothing. I feel like a neglectful parent
Re: LH Babble
Post by choco on Jan 18, 2011, 6:36am
Don't feel bad Laura. I'm there too. I have a post written up in draft and I want to finish it but the motivation just won't let me. I feel like I can't. Whatever energy I do have for writing is being re-directed to my personal statement essay. I think once's that's out of the way writing will come. Maybe you have something on your biscuit that needs to be taken care of right now? It's a thought.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 18, 2011, 8:03am
Problem is this, I think - first scene of the update, I keep waffling on POV. The story belongs to Charlotte, meaning she's the protagonist, the one whose action matters to the piece. But there is also some vital info I need Leila to share, which means since she isn't POV character, she's spewing a ton of dialogue to get it done.
It would feel cheap to me to head-hop, since that isn't my normal style, so I don't want to do that.
Bah, I need to just suck it up and let Charlotte own the story and cut Leila's crap, lol!
I know she's got stuff to say, but some of it might have to wait if it can't be worked in authentically.Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 18, 2011, 4:20pm
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sOMgOfyCWCzlyiDWXcyTtiNxE-4L2vIowiaoYds83i_ZvqKLvM4uwWmjbg9JY7MvXvwyOaJoNb7eCR-TBOhPCbJPfyi6qt-xYyReRmthieMcJyGosJU_HxWND0L3Z_dZeph7Uf8Q=s0-d "[image]")
I liked this picture, but ended up having no use for it. I was clearly just looking for an excuse to make a shot out of those condiment bottles, lol!
Thankfully, the story is starting to come together, I think. Hopefully tonight? (*prays* lol!) Really though, I need to get this thing out there so I can move on to one of my other five million projects
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Jan 18, 2011, 6:18pm
Yay! I', looking forward to the update. I want to see where this story is going next.
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Jan 18, 2011, 7:55pm
Love that shot! And I've been waiting patiently for an update.
Really! ![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vqY9bfU5ddVV5LodxnCc2xc27AYyGwPGTHJHjkyEjuxeS7O9M2My9bB7Jj5e7Ytq54tujTlgeFPgjafnsXDHSByGKPCZLM5MeZlk4jnwI=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 18, 2011, 9:34pm
Oh, it's coming! I swear it! About an hour maybe?
Here, have another picture I'm not gonna use
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tUjLaP98yOGCV1nrCb6gpbTrj4ctpCaNLc51DZIKVWjesBblLxVVhOHVa-gbu8AW8sh-bT0YbgYbBIZgHiKL6EJe-JgD-7rnwVKi1Y1Ic0edPg-NB644GayBbqduQoudVxL7RdSQ=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 25, 2011, 10:32pm
If you were Drew, what would your romantic history look like? lol! That's the only thing I have left to finish off before I post his profile (which I actually meant to post all the way back when I posted Amelia's). I think I mentioned somewhere in the story that he's only been with 2 girls before Amelia, which is a little bit odd for as much of a charmer he is. But he's being damn stingy about the details there - names, or how long they lasted, or what happened?
(Ah-ha, he now tells me he dated a lovely church-going girl in high school who was saving herself for marriage, lol!) <-- also where he learned to appreciate certain activities that don't count as technical sex
Okay, he's talking a bit now. Let's see what I can do about this very belated profile.
a novella
Post by laura on Jan 28, 2011, 1:11pm
There's not much else I can do on these snow days, with hubby working from home and me having to keep D out of his hair, but think up new projects to add to my ever-growing list, lol!
I hadn't realized how finished Amelia's story already was. There was really only one or two pieces left to it. And as much as I love Amelia, I'd really love for her to exist in the "real" literary world. I want to wrap up pieces of her story, largely the most recent once concerning Drew and Jodie, and make them into a novella. I'm really excited about the whole new indie e-publishing business, but most of my current projects are HUGE and their completion seems so far off in the distance. I'd love to have something out there now. And I need to gain some experience with the publishing formats and marketing stuff before my other big projects are ready to launch.
Fun! I just might be an indie-author a little sooner than I thought?
I'll also be looking for some beta-readers for it in a couple/few weeks. It'll likely end up being 25-30,000 words. I'm also wondering if it might be appropriate for that new Amazon Kindle Singles program - I'm really not very sure how they distinguish those Singles from the rest of their e-books. Anybody understand that better than I do?
And I need to think up an idea for my cover image! Good thing I started this photography project, huh?
I'm thinking spring/summer-ish should be enough time to really whip it into shape and get it out there.
Yay, fun!
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jan 28, 2011, 1:34pm
Well you know you can count on me for beta reading!
I'm not sure on the Kindle Singles program, but I'd guess from the tag line that it's just a way of denoting that these aren't normal length books. I hear that some people have sold their novellas for $2, and the readers complained because they thought they were getting a full length book. (Especially since a lot of full length indie books are like $3.) Amazon doesn't seem to include word count like Smashwords does. That might help avoid those incidents if they did.
Re: LH Babble
Post by celebkiriedhel on Jan 28, 2011, 8:04pm
I would definitely love to be a Beta-Reader!!!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Jan 28, 2011, 8:46pm
Lunar and Kiri, thanks for offering to read! I'll be throwing together a proper draft of the thing over the next couple/few weeks, and I'll definitely be letting you know when it's ready to tear apart!
It is going to need some revisions from how it appeared in LH. Especially the conflict between Jodie and Berjes, that they would have been going for the same job at all, since they're both in completely different areas of medicine. (These things can fly in a Sim-story, lol!) I'll have to retouch the bit about Amelia's dad being at war, or at least think about if I want to use a real historic war conflict in the story(???).
Man, it really makes me realize how much of a play story LH really is, lol! That's probably what makes it so easy to write, I guess, because I gloss over all these finely-tuned details I need to pay attention to in my "serious" work.
I'll be keeping all of the character conflicts though
Re: LH Babble
Post by thelunarfox on Jan 28, 2011, 8:59pm
Oh yah, sounds like me. Even my story has gone through some serious changes as I'm writing it up more seriously. Still with all the conflicts (and a few more layers added) but details have to be changed and reworked.
Re: LH Babble
Post by illandrya on Jan 29, 2011, 2:27pm
If you're still looking for beta-readers, I'll throw my hat in
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Jan 30, 2011, 7:24pm
I would throw my hat in as well, but only if you believe that I wouldn't be an annoying backseat driver
, and would at least give feedback that could be slightly useful Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 1, 2011, 1:38pm
Thanks Illandrya, I'll add you in!
Lepifera, let's give it a try. I think you and I only get out of sync on one particular storyline, and that's not the one I'm working on so we might be good, lol!
That makes four readers, so that'll be good for now! I should have the draft ready by the end of February!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 5, 2011, 7:16pm
Ah, so Matt's update...
LOLReally, this is the first time I've turned on my game in like, a month!!! I hardly even remember what the controls were, lol! I think I'm going to play tonight. Like play it, like the game that it is! I'm moving Melissa and her dad into one of those cute little rentals I built, so maybe I'll get it all prettied up and share some pics of their new place.
I'm so behind on everything and I've loaded myself up with so much to do it's kind of ridiculous, lol! I just don't feel like jumping straight into posing Sims, you know
So I'm gonna PLAY!
And Matt's story will take a couple/few more days.Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 7, 2011, 11:28am
Still working on Matt's stories (split into two halves, to be easier on me, lol!), but wanted to share some cuteness!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u1xUHkRK5K0vGfi0UHsq2fyTh2Q1m87JwcfRStd982GmrNSid-kY9aIS3sWMWny0kWFyQjlKnRmtqFV_V5opCJxdJdbZ4lDeNh6yz3B1HbjVXZkPAoGm43cHJPBBizQpGSgBhHF5N1=s0-d "[image]")
Matt's update is coming soon-ish!
ETA: okay, still soon-ish, but I can't cut it in halves. Hoping for tonight, and I'll probably get the writing done by then, but I don't know about pictures.
Maybe I'll go mostly text, lol!
(Oh man, am I totally going off Simming?
)Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 7, 2011, 7:01pm
Maybe I should stop taking pictures of Sim snow and finish this damn update? lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxZ5FB5eFsNKYQwfYW14D4M-ClGYf0BE1ey5YKxpTemeSyBQ1vyC_MQlcc-kUY6uhLg_mDLVIP36xuZDMXYTpkT0_aafqZQGOn3VhP-dVgzVlw751js_e4ulxsh6uAwMp7-vtlgTTk=s0-d "[image]")
Re: LH Babble
Post by rad on Feb 7, 2011, 7:14pm
Very pretty.
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Feb 9, 2011, 4:59pm
I read Part 4 for the first time 12 hrs ago. I just went back to read the comments.
The fire... Now how did I miss that?
Gees, sometimes I am blind as a bat.
Usually a fire going out, or the end of a marriage, would invoke the feelings of doom and despair.
Now I just remembered the little discussion about fire that Stacy, you, and I had here. It dawned on me, 'oh, perhaps Laura had that in mind when she wrote that'. Sharing lives for nine(?) years could not have simply been a mistake. Perhaps after the Leila and Matt have finished mourning for the death of their old selves and love, they could look back with more than despair as well.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 9, 2011, 5:13pm
LOL, we all talk and think about fire so much you'd think we were all pyromaniacs!
There's quite a bit left of this story to come still. And I don't believe in mistakes, so I'd have to say you're probably right!
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Feb 10, 2011, 6:52am
Did you say pyromaniac? Ho ho ho ho.
How would you ever know if I am not one in real life?
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uLARvWUg1dGRqH5kUfKBh9GX0yuCuB9G332Jh4QsbK2Gonfi_H-YvHsd0go0gwwgmBRuTfxQl3Ms4AJLl_ArzUoAXLMSuLZvcpf4zqGWNXuRfTxLk=s0-d "[image]")
The last thing I have set fire to are incense and joss papers the Taiwanese people burn in order to send "money" to deities and dead relatives.
While I was doing that, I turned to my mom and said,
"Hmmm... would you talk to the one above to see if he would set up ATM up there so we could wire the money instead. There is global warming you know."
Then while visiting relatives, the still living ones, the conversation somehow jumped to the fire hazards associated with burning joss papers. I said to my aunt next to me, "I wonder if we would cause an inflation on the other side if we burn too much of those."
Pyromaniac? me? no no... of course not....
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 10, 2011, 3:29pm
Lepifera, LOL! Well no judgment from me - I spent a good couple hours the other night just watching and taking pictures of my fireplace, lol! (I still need to upload those!)
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 10, 2011, 3:41pm
I'm getting a lot of work done on the Jodie/Amelia novel. (Turned into a novel, by the way. A smallish one, at least, and will probably top off at about 60,000 words, or around 200 pages.) It's going to be called "likely to fail".
I thought I'd share a character list I made up, if anyone is interested about which LH characters will make it into the novel!
Jodie, Amelia, Drew, Piper, Berjes, Claire, Corbin, (Alon), (Andy), Hazel, Moira, Richard, Jason, and Hayden.Alon and Andy in parenthesis because they don't actually appear in the novel, but are important to the story anyway.
And that's all I can say about it for certain right now. I should be able to say a lot more by early March
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Feb 13, 2011, 4:03am
Wow, that's way more characters than I thought would make it in! I guess I never sat down and thought about just how many people were involved in that story arc on LH. That's very cool that you've got so much work done on it!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 13, 2011, 10:48am
I should also note that a lot of those will only get minor appearances
And the only POV characters will be Jodie and Amelia, I think. Possibly Drew too, for a chapter or two, but I'm not quite sure on that yet. Piper, Berjes, Claire, and Corbin will play a pretty significant part in the story though.Re: LH Babble
Post by choco on Feb 20, 2011, 4:40am
I'm quite interested in this "smallish" novel. Yay for being productive. Feels great doesn't it?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 21, 2011, 7:56am
Yay! Thanks for the interest! I'm very eager for you all to see it!
It really does feel good to be so immersed in something, and loving it! I'm sure when I get to about the halfway point, I'll start to feel more sluggish about the project, lol! I'm still in the honeymoon phase
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Feb 25, 2011, 5:04am
Laura,
Hmm... You know. I must confess, I have shamelessly and selfishly signed myself up as a beta-reader, partly because then I could have something by Laura to read while LH is on kind of hiatus.
I just checked your 'accountability box', 2nd draft of Likely to Fail won't be done until the end of March. WAH... What am I going to do before then?
Just curious, where do we find your non-sim related short stories? Are there entries that are already out and about?
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Feb 25, 2011, 8:37am
LOL! Awww, thank you for asking though!
I should actually have another LH story ready (or at least I'm planning to) before my LTF draft will be done. Though I was considering sending you guys a couple/few of the first chapters of LTF to start, while I'm finishing off the rest.
I don't have any shorts out there available for reading just yet. I have one that's being shopped on literary markets - and that takes FOREVER so that one is kind of lost to the world for now, lol! I'm working on two more for contests this spring, one in March, and another in May.
The one in March though (starring Dallas and Lucy, lol!), if that one doesn't win, I'll probably put up as a digital download, because as specific as it is for this contest I'm entering it in, I couldn't imagine it being placed anywhere.
I'm glad to see people actually look at my accountability box though, lol! Hopefully that'll keep me accountable
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 14, 2011, 5:05pm
It's kind of weird Simming out a scene that's been in my head for MONTHS! It's like, no matter how close I get to "the real thing" it still seems a small bit not right.
Don't mind me, lol!
Just got my last two pics! *throws confetti* Might have an update up tonight! (That is, if I neglect to finish writing this other thing that I'm not really sure I'll make deadline for anyway...
)Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 17, 2011, 6:08pm
Just sitting here, thinking about Leila's story, and being baffled by how many different endings it has had, lol! You see, I have these flash-forward kind of visions of what the ending might be as I'm drafting this thing. But then, as I'm actually writing through it, a character will do something so slightly different. A tiny little misstep. And it veers them off that course. Then, that ending I saw like a flash is wiped clean. New ending is born. Until that slight misstep affects another character's path, and again, the ending is wiped clean. And over and over again. Even as recently as the last update, brand new ending. I suppose that since this is the actual ending though, that this one will have to stick. No more flashing-forward, because we're there now.
And the best thing, maybe, is that all those endings I thought of first were the most expected ones. And this one is one I never could have come up with until now, after having tossed out all those other endings that I'd guessed first. Maybe that makes for a better ending? One that's a little more original, a little less expected. Something surprising, and different, and maybe even deep? I don't know - I guess we'll see
Also, funny enough, I was worried along the way about all the spoilers I thought I'd dropped. But they really don't matter anymore because my ending has changed about four times since then, lol!
Re: LH Babble
Post by pinkfiend1 on Mar 22, 2011, 4:44pm
So I'm still not completly up to date but I just had to say I love this bit. It's from Tethered
"A friend that she watches movies with, holds hands with, and kisses goodnight at the door. A friend who drives her home from work, invites her over to dinner with his family, and stays until ten almost every night to "study." And the touching, always touching, her fingertips graze his ankle, or his hand comes to rest on her knee, as if they might die if they weren't constantly tethered by some kind of vital but invisible life force."
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 22, 2011, 9:21pm
Awww, the beginnings of Dallas and Lucy's story!
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Mar 25, 2011, 12:20pm
Just a heads-up, since I'm using the title Likely to Fail for my novel, I changed Jodie's story in the LH version to Ambitions of Teamwork, so not to conflict with myself
Also (and this was said once already, somewhere), I've decided that I don't need to take down any of the stories I've posted on the blog to this point. They will all remain as is. But I did feel a little self-conscious about my gameplay notes in relation to those storylines, so I did have to take those down. I have them all backed up though, so if anyone wanted to see one of them (ummm, not sure why anyone would, lol!), I still have them. (And whoa boy, there was almost 10,000 words of just gameplay notes alone!!!)
The only one I think anyone might miss is the "gameplay vs. storytelling" post, but because that included such a long and involved "making of" Jodie and Amelia's story in this LH version, I didn't want to leave that up as is. I may begin work on a new and updated version of something similar though - my revised thoughts on the whole "gameplay vs. storytelling" discussion.
Anyway, so that's that! lol! I'm hard at work on Leila's next update, and it's looking like it might be ready around Monday-ish!
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 2, 2011, 9:45am
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ueq0UniS3KiSjjmKrnDuKY6oxvpNi1FOeIdINSszRcKcQMeTZp79yPuXAsQnL20uLHbdlYiYTp2Xm8RAaa--rPnBo9JAFpj4FKFBlbfd68GNh3N5ivyEM8Nur-i91-dpGF1syL=s0-d "[image]")
OMG, I spent a ridiculous amount of time getting the pictures for this next update! Three sessions of about 2 hours in the last few days, then two more sessions of 2 hours last night!
Ten freaking hours posing Sims for one update, lol! I am certifiably insane!
But I also had some very, VERY precise ideas for how this story looked in my head, and I refused to compromise.
I just hope you all like them... and if you don't, then humor me, lol!
Now I've got some Photoshopping to do.
Update should be posted later tonight.
Re: LH Babble
Post by sb on Apr 2, 2011, 10:24am
It will be perfect...
I just read something someone did in 2008 with minimal poses and got all wistful about how easy it was then. It is crazy how much time it takes to force the game to produce a vision it was never designed to do. I'm forcing myself to go into the game and try to get shots today, and there are maybe 8 shots, and I know it's going to take me all day long and still won't look the way I want it to look.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 2, 2011, 3:14pm
Oh, I know it! Back at the start of LH, I was cranking out 3-4 updates a week, with 40-60 pictures each. For serious! lol! These days, it's more like one update every 2-3 weeks, with 15-25 pictures in it. But you know, back in the day, it wasn't like I thought my pictures sucked or anything, lol! I mean, I was doing the best I knew how.
But I guess at a certain point, we become spoiled on our own standards or something. And we learn new tricks to get the pictures looking exactly how we want them, and then we're used to having pictures exactly how we want them. Then it's harder to please ourselves, and so we try harder, and need to do more to be impressed and not feel like a picture is crap. It's a vicious cycle, lol!
Or that's my theory anyway
Re: LH Babble
Post by lepifera on Apr 2, 2011, 7:16pm
ho ho ho....
I have only gone semi-serious about posing for two stories so far, and decided to focus on improving the text part, instead of the illustration part in trying to get the things in my head across.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Not to say I am any good in getting across to the audience with words, yet at least manipulating words on word processor is a little easier than getting the unruly sims to behave for photo sessions! I still need to remain sane and functional for IRL job. LOL
Yay... only a few more hours before Part II. I have at least checked a dozen times to see when it would be up since two weeks ago.
Re: LH Babble
Post by choco on Apr 3, 2011, 2:00am
With time comes new technology. I'm so grateful for the pose boxes I've found, even if I haven't used them all yet. It does make me feel better to know that even seasoned bloggers and simmer such as yourself still have a bit of trouble.
I do want to give myself a bit of a break since, by blogging and TS2 standards, I came in pretty late in the game. I know you'll do great Laura. I have to go in myself and try out some shots soon too. I can't wait to see the next post, Laura.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 4, 2011, 7:09am
I posted this to Lepifera in the other thread, but since I don't know how many people read that one, I though I'd post it over here too.
I figured since I'll never get to use this song as a soundtrack (and you *know* how I love my soundtracks, lol!), since we're not going there in the blog, I might as well post it up here. This one was particularly inspirational in the later parts of Matt and Leila's story:
[spoiler]"One" by U2 [song here]
Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say
One love, one life
When it's one need
In the night
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it
Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's
Too late, tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to, carry each other
Carry each other
One
Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much?
More than a lot.
You gave me nothing,
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say, love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
One love, One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life, With each other
Sisters, Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
[/spoiler]
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 4, 2011, 5:36pm
I'm picking at Lucy's upcoming story, and wow, this feels a bit like deja vu! (These eighteen year old girls know everything! I know, I used to be one, lol!) I wonder how many of you would advice Lucy to marry Dallas, after having seen what Leila's been through!?!
Re: LH Babble
Post by raquelaroden on Apr 4, 2011, 5:50pm
I'd advise her to live with him for a very long time before doing that LOL.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 4, 2011, 5:58pm
That's good advice! You know, before I wrote Leila's story (and I'm pretty sure Lucy and Dallas were engaged before I got to most of Leila's story), I would have told her to go for it. But man, now, let's just say, I'm writing her mother's point of view very easily, lol!
I think Leila would tell her to run for the hills!
Re: LH Babble
Post by heredoncove on Apr 4, 2011, 6:11pm
I'm not sure. I think Lucy and Leila are very different. I actually feel that Lucy and Dallas would do a much better job of growing together than Matt and Leila did.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 4, 2011, 7:20pm
Apr 4, 2011, 6:11pm, heredoncove wrote:
|
That's a good point too. They are different people, and if they did, they'd be getting married for different (and maybe better) reasons.
Re: LH Babble
Post by somuchsong on Apr 4, 2011, 10:57pm
Laura, I read an interview with U2 once where one of them mentioned that people tell them all the time that they used "One" at their weddings and that it always confused him! I have always loved that song though.
As for Lucy, I can't think of a circumstance where I'd tell an 18 year-old to get married, even one as adorably in love as she is. Live together first, or even just have a very long engagement would probably be what I'd advise her, if I was April. I don't know that she'd listen but I guess I'd feel like I had to try!
I do agree with Nicole about the differences between Leila and Lucy though. Lucy and Dallas just seem like a good fit, whereas Matt and Leila probably never were. But I don't know...we're all looking at that with the benefit of hindsight now, so it's hard to say.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Apr 5, 2011, 1:16pm
OMG "One" as a wedding song, lol! Sure, it's a beautiful and inspiring song, but it's also about people to do terrible hurtful, things to each other, lol! SO not a wedding song!
We'll see what we can talk Lucy into (or out of?) - she's a very sure and headstrong girl! She's a lot like Leila in some ways, but completely different in other ways.
Re: LH Babble
Post by laura on Yesterday at 10:36pm
LH Babble has a new home. I'd love to have you join me there for the usual behind-the-scenes shenanigans.
And thank you to everyone who's followed this thread, for all nearly-8000 views and 24 pages! Wow, thank you for listening to me babble! I hope it was interesting enough
Oh, wow, that was fun! :) I won't pretend to have read it all, but skimming through the older posts was a nice memory trip. And nothing imploded, lol... with my computer, that's worth noting!
ReplyDeleteBlackcat, that is impressive! I think I almost imploded Blogger trying to get this thing posted, lol! I had fun looking back through the old ones too! :)
ReplyDeleteYou weren't kidding Laura. That is a lot. I also skimmed but it's nice to see a bit of history there.
ReplyDeleteHow were you able to import the archives? I might be stealing the idea of a babble blog from you, by the way. Hope you don't mind it too much. I certainly don't have one as long as yours but it would be a bit useful.
Choco, I know, right? lol! I don't expect anyone to read all of this in one sitting, but I just wanted to have it here for reference!
ReplyDeleteIt was really so, SO easy! You go to the last page of whatever thread you want to import, and there's an icon that says "print", and you click on that, and it'll give you a long read-out like this. Then just copy and paste!
Oh, and I am by far not the first person to ever start a babble blog, so steal away!!! :D