Sim Storytellers Spotlight - Iceraptoress
Hi! I'm iceraptoress, and my stories can be found in my live journal. Wasting Time in Strangetown (WTiS) in particular can be found on its archive page HERE. Please feel free to check it out, and if you do, I hope you enjoy. ^_^ Now to the interview...
1. Tell us about yourself. (What you do for a living, your interests, where you live, your non-sim hobbies, etc.)
Well, my name is Jenn, I live in the United States, and though I am originally from the Great Lakes area, I've been up here in Alaska for over 18 years. No, it's not as cold as most people think, in fact sometimes it's too hot for me. XD I'm currently in Anchorage, but I did live for about 7 years up in Fairbanks. Alaska is a phenomenally beautiful place, and I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
I've been married for 11 years to a man I imported from Pennsylvania. :) We have three fabulous cats. I'm currently enjoying my time as a stay-at-home housewife, but I've worked most recently doing inventory control for a local bead store. The hubby is a network administrator for an engineering firm.
I have way too many interests and hobbies, and it's a big problem when it comes to time management. I like to write, do artwork (drawing and oil painting), do crafts (beading and wirework mainly), garden (even though I suck at it), hike, read, play video games, watch movies and cartoons. Interests include sci fi, fantasy, metaphysics, geology, paleontology, religious study, Asian cultures, politics, sociology, animals, the paranormal, ect ect, on and on…
2. Do you have other creative pursuits that affect how you tell your sim stories? (Such as photography, creative writing, etc.)
Yep! I've been writing since I was about 13. I started out with Star Wars fan fiction, and moved slowly into writing original stuff. Then my 20s, I wrote a lot of anime fan fic, mostly in the Ranma ½ and Digimon fandoms. I've also done a lot of collaborative writing and RPing. Writing sometimes feels as habitual to me as breathing, and I think it would be a very bad thing for my psyche if I couldn't do it for some reason.
I do like taking photographs, so that probably figures into it, but I'm also an artist, which I definitely believe affects how I take shots in the game and put together my pictures.
3. Why did you start creating and posting sim stories?
I'm not sure why, actually. The first story I ever posted was on the official Sims site, it was called "Lessons of the Legacy". I had started a legacy challenge, like so many other people, and I just really liked how the story of the first generation was going and wanted to share it. I posted 3 chapters. It got a positive response, so I felt encouraged by that. I never continued it, or the legacy really, but I felt the story I wanted to share had been wrapped up nicely.
It took awhile before I made the jump from posting on the Sims2 site to posting in my live journal. I was working on a new legacy that never got posted anywhere, but I started reading other people's stories and enjoying them, and appreciating live journal as a good vehicle for sharing stories. Then I started posting a few pictures here and there, and before I knew what happened, I had a whole Strangetown saga going on!
Just as an aside, now and then I think about reposting Lessons of the Legacy in my live journal. I actually did a lot of rewrites on it after it was originally posted, that no one ever got the chance to read.
4. Do you use Maxis pre-made sims, original sims, sims based on other sources (TV, movies, books, other games), or some combination of these? Why?
I use pre-made sims that intrigue me or catch my interest. Obviously, with my main story being based in Strangetown, I almost have to use the sims that came with the neighborhood. A couple of them have really surprised me by almost demanding spotlight, like Johnny Smith. I originally sent him off to college to forget about him, but he wouldn't let me!
I do also use original sims, but I think it's fair to say that most of them are a combination of original and based on other sources. Many of them started out as characters I developed in RPs or other games, such as Takuya Kawazoe. I've been RPing him in various forms for nearly six years or so, so naturally he found his way into Sims. Yuuki and Mina are gender-swapped versions of old established RP characters. The Castaways cast are all based on characters of mine and laridian's from the online super hero game City of Heroes/Villains. A lot of my older characters, like one that I actually have been writing since I was 13, are in the game as townies or tertiary characters.
5. How long does it take you to create a new CAS sim for a story? (If you create original sims, that is.)
Hmm. Probably longer than it should, considering how long I've been playing this game now and how used to it I am. But I get very picky with my sims, especially if they're recycled RP or story characters, because I want them to look a certain way and be distinctive. I also will almost always have in mind a personality for any new sim I create, because that will dictate to me how they'll dress, what types of accessories they'll wear, their hairstyle, ect. So, yeah. I can waste a ridiculous amount of time in CAS making sure sims are exactly the way I want them to be.
6. Do you have one sim that frustrates you more than any of the others?
Oh, Johnny Smith immediately comes to mind, in WTiS. Like I said above, I just wanted to sent him away and forget about him, but he practically demanded his own story. And now that he has one, he still won't shut up!
For All My Pixels, it's Viola. She wants to get into every kind of trouble she possibly can. I can hardly keep up with canceling actions out of her queue, which I have to do, because if I didn't I think she'd be snogging half the men in Bella Donna Cove, and probably some of the women too.
7. Do your sims have their own theme songs?
Some of them do. Actually, I have playlists of songs that go with each of my stories, and some of the songs are situational, while others are specific to certain characters. And I really like to use lyrics from those songs on my preview pictures, if I can.
A good example would be:
I always figured that once I got to a certain point in WTiS, I would post a 'soundtrack' for it for folks who might be interested. But I can't do it yet, because some of the songs are spoilers for things that haven't happened yet! ;)
8. Do you like using aliens, vampires, zombies or any other non "normal" sims?
I do like some of them. Aliens I enjoy just because I dig the sci fi aspect to them. I had a lot of vampires in the second legacy I attempted, but haven't had any in the game for awhile. Zombies are cool, but I haven't had the opportunity to really use any yet.
I accidentally ended up with a werewolf in unposted Castaways, but I absolutely did not enjoy it, so got the afflicted sim fixed as quickly as possible. Plant sims unfortunately don't interest me very much. I've played around with witches in the All My Pixels 'hood, but I don't think they'll be making any appearances in the story.
9. Do you usually create backstories for your sims?
Oh yes, yes! All of my original sims have backstories, that very much affect how they act and react in their current storylines. I keep most of it in my head, but every now and then bits of backstory will slip into what gets posted. Such as the Yagami sisters and Takuya originally being from a different part of SimEarth, or Annike having had troubles with her mother that prompted her to move to Bella Donna Cove with Viola.
10. If it were possible, would you carry out "romantic interactions" with any of your sims?
Ha ha! Well, I can think of one sim who I'd snog, but he's not mine. ^_^ Mostly I think I'd prefer watching certain pairs of sims doing each other.
11. Have you ever cried when a sim died? How emotionally attached are you to your sims?
I'm very emotionally attached. This is one of the biggest reasons why my first legacy story came to a screeching halt. My favorite sim in the story had reached elder and was only days away from death. I couldn't bear the thought, so I retired the legacy rather than lose the sim.
Naturally, there are certain sims I'm more attached to than others and would not want to see die. Luckily I am not doing legacy-type stories for the most part, so I can keep sims alive indefinitely for story purposes! XD
12. Do you have a favorite character/family?
For WTiS, I adore Yuuki and Takuya, and I love the Curious Family. Pascal is one of those sims that won me over when I originally didn't think much of him.
In Castaways, my favorite is Tag. He's just so grumpy and put-upon and has such a martyr complex, it just slays me. But I have to admit, the whole group of Castaways keeps me extremely entertained.
In All My Pixels, my favorite is Annike. She's very different than most of my female characters, who I tend to play or write in extremes. I mean, I've got super shy Mina, and very outgoing Yuuki, wild Viola, ultra-girly Amber. All at one end of the spectrum or the other. But Annike is somewhere in the middle of all of those extremes and doesn't quite know where she wants to settle. She's awkward, and I like that about her. She's a challenge to write.
13. Are there any stories in particular (sim or non-sim) that have inspired your storytelling?
A lot of my inspiration just comes from sci fi and fantasy themes in general. Things like Star Wars, the original V, various anime, will always have a big influence on my writing and my characters. Right now, the super hero genre is a very strong influence, as is post-apocalyptic types of things.
14. How do you decide on names for your sims?
Many of my original sims come from my other writing or other games, so they come equipped with names before they end up in the game. Sims born in the game sometimes get names that are part of a theme. Like the Curious boys got names based on computer languages - Parallaxis and Arexx. Other names have meaning to the characters. Such as Amber's son Martin in Castaways. He was named after her father.
15. Do you use hacks in your game? If so, which ones? How do they affect your stories?
I use most everything in the MATY Director's Cut, though there are a couple that I leave out. I use the Sim Blender, but definitely not ACR. I'm way too much of a micromanager for that! I use Inge's teleporter, and a bunch of little fix hacks. So, just mainly things that improve game playability or fix glitches. Nothing that would really effect game play all that much. Things like Macrotastics I have, but actually don't actively use very often.
16. Do you have a favourite EP/SP? Which expansion adds the most to storytelling for you?
I thought Seasons really added a lot of good storytelling and gameplay content, and I really like it even if it was what destroyed my Eridanos hood. :( Apartment Life was very good too, and added a lot of things that should have been in the game much much earlier. I don't think I have a favorite expansion, they've all added both good and not-so-good things to the game.
I will say that, although Pets isn't really a favorite EP, I absolutely adore having cats in the game. They remain endlessly entertaining to me.
17. Do you make your own custom content?
I have made some things. Under my super secret alias at MTS2, I've got some sim-realistic poster recolors. I've done some clothing and hair recolors too, though not a lot and I'm not very good at it. I end up doing most of Wennie's clothing myself, because I can't find anything that I like for her any place else.
I almost always build my own houses and lots, and I share the ones that I end up being really pleased with in my journal.
18. Do you have a favourite sim outfit or hairstyle?
I really like the hair that I have on Jeffrey in All My Pixels, and run the risk of really abusing it. But I can't say that I actually have a favorite hairstyle, especially since I try hard to put a different style on all my main characters, just to keep them distinctive from one another.
The same goes for clothing. I have a lot of CC clothing, because I want each of my characters to wear something that reflects their personal style and personality. A lot of my characters also have very specific colors that they wear. That's on purpose, as color has a lot of meaning to me.
19. What are some things that you wish were included in Sims 2, but aren't? (For example - social interactions, the way sims interact with objects, etc.)
A swing or ballroom type of dance. Couples being able to hold hands as they walk. A hotdog (or some other simple food) cart, rather than the huge food stands. Being able to hold babies, toddlers or kids while doing other things (like watching TV). Rollerblading or skating on sidewalks or to get from place to place. Bicycling. Couples being able to shower together.
20. How long does it usually take you to prepare a story update?
Aheheh… ^^;;; A very long time, actually. This is a failing of mine, a combination of procrastination and nitpicky perfectionism. I have a tendency to write a chunk, then obsessively pick and proofread and rewrite and change and rework until it absolutely can not be worked anymore, before I continue to write. And then the next chunk will get the same treatment. Then once the entire update is done, I do all the proofing all over again. A couple times I have thrown out completely finished posts and started again.
It's frustrating. I love to write, I do it every single day, but it takes me a long time. I can obsess over a single paragraph for days if I let myself. I have been working hard lately trying to train myself to write faster and not get so uptight about it.
21. Show and tell: Please show us your workspace (a photograph, if possible, or just describe it), and tell us about the conditions you prefer to work in. Do you have any bizarre habits or rituals?
Here's my workspace. It's actually tighter than it looks, as it's crammed into a corner of the room and blocked off into a cubicle by bookcases. The dual monitors will be going away soon in favor of a larger flatscreen. I've got lots of books and magazines and fiddly bits all around me, plus my important and meaningful rocks and crystals. I collect toys, so there's lots of those too. I always have a notebook right next to my keyboard so I can take notes on the fly, and I take tons and tons of them for all kinds of different things.
22. Do you usually have your sims act to a pre-written script, just follow what they do, or some of both? what comes first - the text or the image? Is one of the elements more important than the other to you, or are they about equal?
For WTiS, I have a pretty clearly outlined story in mind, so playing means more maneuvering the characters around to do what I want to fit what comes next in the story. I make a lot of use of Inge's teleporter to get the sims I need to where I need them, and occasionally use pose boxes or the Hula dance hack to make them do what I want.
For both All My Pixels and Castaways, I tend to give the sims a lot more freedom to do whatever they want, and then interpret their actions into the story afterwards. When I wrote All My Pixels, I was testing the Apartment Life EP, without hacks or object CC, so I didn't have my usual storytelling aids available and it was pretty refreshing.
Outline for the story comes first. I need to know at least roughly where I'm going. Then come the pictures. And I usually take several tons more than I'll actually use. Then I do the writing as I process the pictures. Pictures are just as important as the writing, because I rely on the pictures to convey a lot of information so that I don't need to write it.
23. Can you give us any hints about what is coming up in your stories? (Oh, come on...)
WTiS is pretty slow moving, but I've reached a point where something is about to happen and my next story post (which I am about halfway done writing) will be leading to a major big event. As a hint, here's the preview pic to the next post:
People involved in this event will include the Curious Family, Takuya, Teff, and a character that I actually haven't written about very much.
For All My Pixels, I'll admit that it's been at a stand-still to the point where I'm not sure if I should even try to continue it. I'd like to, but I don't really have a good plot in mind, not even nebulously. I guess I'm not very good at straight soap opera type stuff.
As for Castaways, well, I've got a ton of pictures taken and a story well in mind. It's just a matter of getting it written. ^^;;;
24. In your opinion, what makes a good sim story? What do you like to read in other people's stories?
I love a good plot, so I tend to be more interested in non-Legacy stories. Not that there's anything wrong with a well-written straight Legacy type of story, and if someone can get a good plot going in a Legacy story, than that's all the better.. But I really enjoy seeing character development. That's what gets me to emotionally invest in a character. Stories don't need to be filled with special effects, don't have to make huge use of pose boxes or other tricks, if the characters are interesting, engaging, and have faults and virtues that I can understand and identify with.
25. How often do you check your flist to see if your favourite authors have updated?
I check my flist everyday, sometimes several times a day. I don't always read new story posts right on the spot, but I do try to get back to them. And one of my major failings is that oftentimes I don't comment on other people's stories. *hangs head* There are a couple of social phobic reasons for that, but I really shouldn't use them as excuses. I apologize to everyone whom I read, for not being more considerate.
26. Storytelling aside, what first drew you to The Sims? What do you like most about playing The Sims?
I absolutely love world-building. Creating settings and then putting characters into them. So, I like the Sims2 because it allows me to do that. If I can find or make the CC, I can create just about any setting or world I want to. I can put as much detail into it as I want to, and then I can put my little dolls down into it and micromanage them like crazy. So a large part of why I like the game is the customization, and being able to create my own little realities. Building lots and houses and doing the interior design.
Another attraction is that it is as close to bringing the characters in my head to life as I can get, aside from just writing about them. Ever since I was young, I've been drawing pictures of my characters. With Sims, it's like being able to draw them, but with the added benefits of dimension and personality, having them interact, and yelling at them when they don't do what I want.
27. How long have you been playing The Sims? Have you been playing since Sims 1?
I got into Sims1 when the Unleashed expansion was released, because I saw ads and commercials for it and thought it looked like fun. I bought a bundle with the base game and Unleashed. I played it for awhile, but my main goal was to get the two male characters I'd created to share a bed with each other. Once I did that, I kind of lost interest in the game. ^^;;
When Sims2 came out, I seem to remember that my hubby had downloaded a demo/trailer video for it from somewhere, and when we watched it I was pretty impressed by how much the graphics had improved, and all the feature improvements over Sims1, so I decided to give it a try. So, I'd say I got the game probably not too long after it was released, and I've been steadily playing it ever since.
I love how the game, and my way of playing it, has evolved. And I think it's a true testament to the concept of the game that so many of us are so willing to put up with the bugs and the glitches and crashes and overclocking and other problems, just to be able to play it. There's an appeal and staying power to it that, unfortunately, I think Sims3 is going to be greatly lacking.
28. Do you only play the game with stories in mind, or do you also play just for fun? Do you record everything with photos anyway?
I take pictures of every dang thing! Hee! But I play both for stories and for fun. I have my story hoods, but I also have other hoods and other sims that I mess around with just for myself, to relax with or just to run them through the basics of the game. And I do a lot of building and decorating, which I also find relaxing. Sometimes I share my results, sometimes I don't, depends on whether I end up liking them or not.
29. Do you have a self sim? (We'd love to see him/her, if you want to share a pic.)
Yes, I do have a self-sim. ^_^ I don't remember why I originally created her, she's currently in my game as one of the sims that I like to play just to relax. She has her hubby (not my real hubby's self-sim ^^;;; ) currently has one child with another on the way, and is happily living in one of my favorite houses in a crowded test neighborhood.
30. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Yep! I'd just like to acknowledge the fact that aside from being fun and a great creative outlet, this game has also brought me some very dear friends that I don't think that I would have met otherwise. I'm very grateful for that, and I'm thankful to have those people in my life. ^_^
From laridian:
Your sets are always so beautiful. How long does it take you to create a neighborhood/house/lot and decorate it?
Thank you for the compliment! And, really it depends. If I'm just working with in-game content, it doesn't take as long as if I need to go and find the CC that I want to make everything look just right. Naturally a full hood takes a lot longer than just a lot, but I really enjoying doing hoods. The Round Robin hood took me several nights to create, but wasn't that difficult really, as a lot of the residential lots were just copies of each other, and I tried to stick with in-game content as much as possible.
For just a house or other lot, I can usually get it done in one evening, which might be 3 or 4 hours of game play. Add another hour or more if I build from the ground up.
Decorating in an ongoing process, because a lot of times I'll be setting up for a shot and suddenly think I could really use a painting on that wall, or something to fill in that corner. So, actually sometimes I end up with continuity errors when adding things in at the last minute!
WHOSE BABY IS VIOLA CARRYING?!
Ha ha ha! You tell Jeremy he just has to wait to find out. :P
Will we get a Castaways update soon?
Do we want one? I'd like to do one, and I have plenty enough pictures taken for one, I just wasn't sure if people would still be interested.
Will you be making the jump to Sims 3?
And from madame_ugly:
If you jump to sims 3, will you take your well-known original characters with you?
Probably not, to answer both questions. I've never been real thrilled with Sims3, not from the beginning when they first started releasing information about it. I adopted a wait-and-see policy on it, because things can change from early production to the final product. But now that the release is almost here, and I've been following pretty closely the things folks already playing are saying about it, there are still a number of gameplay aspects that absolutely turn me off.
Chief among these is that sims in other households, aside from the one you're playing, continue on with their lives, and so far there doesn't seem to be anything the player can do to stop that. This is no good for storytelling purposes, especially for something like WTiS, where I am running many plots over many different households. Also, the restriction on designing your own hoods and community lots. Storytelling and world building are the main attractions to the game for me, so to have those taken away pretty much destroys any interest I have in Sims3.
That's not to say I'll never get the game. I probably will at some point. But it's going to take heavy modding, hacks, and CC before I'd even consider taking WTiS over to that vehicle. For the time being, I'm still plenty happy with Sims2.
From amaryssobellus:
What got you into Sims?
Probably just general interest in seeing what the game was all about, to start with. Long long time ago, I played Sim Ant, and Sim Earth, and I'd poked around with the various versions of Sim City. Sims was the next logical progression, I suppose. And being able to put characters of my own creation into a game was very appealing, but it really took Sims2 to get me completely hooked. Sims1 was limited and once I'd reached the goal I set for myself, I was done. Sims2, however, is just wide open in how one can play it. Everyone does it different, and it's all good. And you can do so much with it. That's what really appeals to me.
Do you ever just play to play? Or is it mostly used as a story telling tool?
Yes, oftentimes I play just to play. I have a test hood full of families and characters that I can just kick back with. Remember Tag and Jason, from my testing of the Seasons expansion? They're still going, and I still play them fairly often. :)
What do you find hard about using the sims to tell your stories?
I guess that they don't do quite everything that I would like them to be able to do. I have a lot of grand ideas for my stories, but they end up getting scaled down a bit, just because the animations aren't available to convey exactly what I want. Plus, trying to get a group of sims to do something is like herding frickin' cats, seriously. Little twerps have their own agendas more often than not, and they end up going all over.
I'd just like to say thanks for inviting me to do this interview, it was lots of fun! And thanks to the folks who asked questions. ^_^ I look forward to more great stories from everyone!
1. Tell us about yourself. (What you do for a living, your interests, where you live, your non-sim hobbies, etc.)
Well, my name is Jenn, I live in the United States, and though I am originally from the Great Lakes area, I've been up here in Alaska for over 18 years. No, it's not as cold as most people think, in fact sometimes it's too hot for me. XD I'm currently in Anchorage, but I did live for about 7 years up in Fairbanks. Alaska is a phenomenally beautiful place, and I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
I've been married for 11 years to a man I imported from Pennsylvania. :) We have three fabulous cats. I'm currently enjoying my time as a stay-at-home housewife, but I've worked most recently doing inventory control for a local bead store. The hubby is a network administrator for an engineering firm.
I have way too many interests and hobbies, and it's a big problem when it comes to time management. I like to write, do artwork (drawing and oil painting), do crafts (beading and wirework mainly), garden (even though I suck at it), hike, read, play video games, watch movies and cartoons. Interests include sci fi, fantasy, metaphysics, geology, paleontology, religious study, Asian cultures, politics, sociology, animals, the paranormal, ect ect, on and on…
2. Do you have other creative pursuits that affect how you tell your sim stories? (Such as photography, creative writing, etc.)
Yep! I've been writing since I was about 13. I started out with Star Wars fan fiction, and moved slowly into writing original stuff. Then my 20s, I wrote a lot of anime fan fic, mostly in the Ranma ½ and Digimon fandoms. I've also done a lot of collaborative writing and RPing. Writing sometimes feels as habitual to me as breathing, and I think it would be a very bad thing for my psyche if I couldn't do it for some reason.
I do like taking photographs, so that probably figures into it, but I'm also an artist, which I definitely believe affects how I take shots in the game and put together my pictures.
3. Why did you start creating and posting sim stories?
I'm not sure why, actually. The first story I ever posted was on the official Sims site, it was called "Lessons of the Legacy". I had started a legacy challenge, like so many other people, and I just really liked how the story of the first generation was going and wanted to share it. I posted 3 chapters. It got a positive response, so I felt encouraged by that. I never continued it, or the legacy really, but I felt the story I wanted to share had been wrapped up nicely.
It took awhile before I made the jump from posting on the Sims2 site to posting in my live journal. I was working on a new legacy that never got posted anywhere, but I started reading other people's stories and enjoying them, and appreciating live journal as a good vehicle for sharing stories. Then I started posting a few pictures here and there, and before I knew what happened, I had a whole Strangetown saga going on!
Just as an aside, now and then I think about reposting Lessons of the Legacy in my live journal. I actually did a lot of rewrites on it after it was originally posted, that no one ever got the chance to read.
4. Do you use Maxis pre-made sims, original sims, sims based on other sources (TV, movies, books, other games), or some combination of these? Why?
I use pre-made sims that intrigue me or catch my interest. Obviously, with my main story being based in Strangetown, I almost have to use the sims that came with the neighborhood. A couple of them have really surprised me by almost demanding spotlight, like Johnny Smith. I originally sent him off to college to forget about him, but he wouldn't let me!
I do also use original sims, but I think it's fair to say that most of them are a combination of original and based on other sources. Many of them started out as characters I developed in RPs or other games, such as Takuya Kawazoe. I've been RPing him in various forms for nearly six years or so, so naturally he found his way into Sims. Yuuki and Mina are gender-swapped versions of old established RP characters. The Castaways cast are all based on characters of mine and laridian's from the online super hero game City of Heroes/Villains. A lot of my older characters, like one that I actually have been writing since I was 13, are in the game as townies or tertiary characters.
5. How long does it take you to create a new CAS sim for a story? (If you create original sims, that is.)
Hmm. Probably longer than it should, considering how long I've been playing this game now and how used to it I am. But I get very picky with my sims, especially if they're recycled RP or story characters, because I want them to look a certain way and be distinctive. I also will almost always have in mind a personality for any new sim I create, because that will dictate to me how they'll dress, what types of accessories they'll wear, their hairstyle, ect. So, yeah. I can waste a ridiculous amount of time in CAS making sure sims are exactly the way I want them to be.
6. Do you have one sim that frustrates you more than any of the others?
Oh, Johnny Smith immediately comes to mind, in WTiS. Like I said above, I just wanted to sent him away and forget about him, but he practically demanded his own story. And now that he has one, he still won't shut up!
For All My Pixels, it's Viola. She wants to get into every kind of trouble she possibly can. I can hardly keep up with canceling actions out of her queue, which I have to do, because if I didn't I think she'd be snogging half the men in Bella Donna Cove, and probably some of the women too.
7. Do your sims have their own theme songs?
Some of them do. Actually, I have playlists of songs that go with each of my stories, and some of the songs are situational, while others are specific to certain characters. And I really like to use lyrics from those songs on my preview pictures, if I can.
A good example would be:
I always figured that once I got to a certain point in WTiS, I would post a 'soundtrack' for it for folks who might be interested. But I can't do it yet, because some of the songs are spoilers for things that haven't happened yet! ;)
8. Do you like using aliens, vampires, zombies or any other non "normal" sims?
I do like some of them. Aliens I enjoy just because I dig the sci fi aspect to them. I had a lot of vampires in the second legacy I attempted, but haven't had any in the game for awhile. Zombies are cool, but I haven't had the opportunity to really use any yet.
I accidentally ended up with a werewolf in unposted Castaways, but I absolutely did not enjoy it, so got the afflicted sim fixed as quickly as possible. Plant sims unfortunately don't interest me very much. I've played around with witches in the All My Pixels 'hood, but I don't think they'll be making any appearances in the story.
9. Do you usually create backstories for your sims?
Oh yes, yes! All of my original sims have backstories, that very much affect how they act and react in their current storylines. I keep most of it in my head, but every now and then bits of backstory will slip into what gets posted. Such as the Yagami sisters and Takuya originally being from a different part of SimEarth, or Annike having had troubles with her mother that prompted her to move to Bella Donna Cove with Viola.
10. If it were possible, would you carry out "romantic interactions" with any of your sims?
Ha ha! Well, I can think of one sim who I'd snog, but he's not mine. ^_^ Mostly I think I'd prefer watching certain pairs of sims doing each other.
11. Have you ever cried when a sim died? How emotionally attached are you to your sims?
I'm very emotionally attached. This is one of the biggest reasons why my first legacy story came to a screeching halt. My favorite sim in the story had reached elder and was only days away from death. I couldn't bear the thought, so I retired the legacy rather than lose the sim.
Naturally, there are certain sims I'm more attached to than others and would not want to see die. Luckily I am not doing legacy-type stories for the most part, so I can keep sims alive indefinitely for story purposes! XD
12. Do you have a favorite character/family?
For WTiS, I adore Yuuki and Takuya, and I love the Curious Family. Pascal is one of those sims that won me over when I originally didn't think much of him.
In Castaways, my favorite is Tag. He's just so grumpy and put-upon and has such a martyr complex, it just slays me. But I have to admit, the whole group of Castaways keeps me extremely entertained.
In All My Pixels, my favorite is Annike. She's very different than most of my female characters, who I tend to play or write in extremes. I mean, I've got super shy Mina, and very outgoing Yuuki, wild Viola, ultra-girly Amber. All at one end of the spectrum or the other. But Annike is somewhere in the middle of all of those extremes and doesn't quite know where she wants to settle. She's awkward, and I like that about her. She's a challenge to write.
13. Are there any stories in particular (sim or non-sim) that have inspired your storytelling?
A lot of my inspiration just comes from sci fi and fantasy themes in general. Things like Star Wars, the original V, various anime, will always have a big influence on my writing and my characters. Right now, the super hero genre is a very strong influence, as is post-apocalyptic types of things.
14. How do you decide on names for your sims?
Many of my original sims come from my other writing or other games, so they come equipped with names before they end up in the game. Sims born in the game sometimes get names that are part of a theme. Like the Curious boys got names based on computer languages - Parallaxis and Arexx. Other names have meaning to the characters. Such as Amber's son Martin in Castaways. He was named after her father.
15. Do you use hacks in your game? If so, which ones? How do they affect your stories?
I use most everything in the MATY Director's Cut, though there are a couple that I leave out. I use the Sim Blender, but definitely not ACR. I'm way too much of a micromanager for that! I use Inge's teleporter, and a bunch of little fix hacks. So, just mainly things that improve game playability or fix glitches. Nothing that would really effect game play all that much. Things like Macrotastics I have, but actually don't actively use very often.
16. Do you have a favourite EP/SP? Which expansion adds the most to storytelling for you?
I thought Seasons really added a lot of good storytelling and gameplay content, and I really like it even if it was what destroyed my Eridanos hood. :( Apartment Life was very good too, and added a lot of things that should have been in the game much much earlier. I don't think I have a favorite expansion, they've all added both good and not-so-good things to the game.
I will say that, although Pets isn't really a favorite EP, I absolutely adore having cats in the game. They remain endlessly entertaining to me.
17. Do you make your own custom content?
I have made some things. Under my super secret alias at MTS2, I've got some sim-realistic poster recolors. I've done some clothing and hair recolors too, though not a lot and I'm not very good at it. I end up doing most of Wennie's clothing myself, because I can't find anything that I like for her any place else.
I almost always build my own houses and lots, and I share the ones that I end up being really pleased with in my journal.
18. Do you have a favourite sim outfit or hairstyle?
I really like the hair that I have on Jeffrey in All My Pixels, and run the risk of really abusing it. But I can't say that I actually have a favorite hairstyle, especially since I try hard to put a different style on all my main characters, just to keep them distinctive from one another.
The same goes for clothing. I have a lot of CC clothing, because I want each of my characters to wear something that reflects their personal style and personality. A lot of my characters also have very specific colors that they wear. That's on purpose, as color has a lot of meaning to me.
19. What are some things that you wish were included in Sims 2, but aren't? (For example - social interactions, the way sims interact with objects, etc.)
A swing or ballroom type of dance. Couples being able to hold hands as they walk. A hotdog (or some other simple food) cart, rather than the huge food stands. Being able to hold babies, toddlers or kids while doing other things (like watching TV). Rollerblading or skating on sidewalks or to get from place to place. Bicycling. Couples being able to shower together.
20. How long does it usually take you to prepare a story update?
Aheheh… ^^;;; A very long time, actually. This is a failing of mine, a combination of procrastination and nitpicky perfectionism. I have a tendency to write a chunk, then obsessively pick and proofread and rewrite and change and rework until it absolutely can not be worked anymore, before I continue to write. And then the next chunk will get the same treatment. Then once the entire update is done, I do all the proofing all over again. A couple times I have thrown out completely finished posts and started again.
It's frustrating. I love to write, I do it every single day, but it takes me a long time. I can obsess over a single paragraph for days if I let myself. I have been working hard lately trying to train myself to write faster and not get so uptight about it.
21. Show and tell: Please show us your workspace (a photograph, if possible, or just describe it), and tell us about the conditions you prefer to work in. Do you have any bizarre habits or rituals?
Here's my workspace. It's actually tighter than it looks, as it's crammed into a corner of the room and blocked off into a cubicle by bookcases. The dual monitors will be going away soon in favor of a larger flatscreen. I've got lots of books and magazines and fiddly bits all around me, plus my important and meaningful rocks and crystals. I collect toys, so there's lots of those too. I always have a notebook right next to my keyboard so I can take notes on the fly, and I take tons and tons of them for all kinds of different things.
22. Do you usually have your sims act to a pre-written script, just follow what they do, or some of both? what comes first - the text or the image? Is one of the elements more important than the other to you, or are they about equal?
For WTiS, I have a pretty clearly outlined story in mind, so playing means more maneuvering the characters around to do what I want to fit what comes next in the story. I make a lot of use of Inge's teleporter to get the sims I need to where I need them, and occasionally use pose boxes or the Hula dance hack to make them do what I want.
For both All My Pixels and Castaways, I tend to give the sims a lot more freedom to do whatever they want, and then interpret their actions into the story afterwards. When I wrote All My Pixels, I was testing the Apartment Life EP, without hacks or object CC, so I didn't have my usual storytelling aids available and it was pretty refreshing.
Outline for the story comes first. I need to know at least roughly where I'm going. Then come the pictures. And I usually take several tons more than I'll actually use. Then I do the writing as I process the pictures. Pictures are just as important as the writing, because I rely on the pictures to convey a lot of information so that I don't need to write it.
23. Can you give us any hints about what is coming up in your stories? (Oh, come on...)
WTiS is pretty slow moving, but I've reached a point where something is about to happen and my next story post (which I am about halfway done writing) will be leading to a major big event. As a hint, here's the preview pic to the next post:
People involved in this event will include the Curious Family, Takuya, Teff, and a character that I actually haven't written about very much.
For All My Pixels, I'll admit that it's been at a stand-still to the point where I'm not sure if I should even try to continue it. I'd like to, but I don't really have a good plot in mind, not even nebulously. I guess I'm not very good at straight soap opera type stuff.
As for Castaways, well, I've got a ton of pictures taken and a story well in mind. It's just a matter of getting it written. ^^;;;
24. In your opinion, what makes a good sim story? What do you like to read in other people's stories?
I love a good plot, so I tend to be more interested in non-Legacy stories. Not that there's anything wrong with a well-written straight Legacy type of story, and if someone can get a good plot going in a Legacy story, than that's all the better.. But I really enjoy seeing character development. That's what gets me to emotionally invest in a character. Stories don't need to be filled with special effects, don't have to make huge use of pose boxes or other tricks, if the characters are interesting, engaging, and have faults and virtues that I can understand and identify with.
25. How often do you check your flist to see if your favourite authors have updated?
I check my flist everyday, sometimes several times a day. I don't always read new story posts right on the spot, but I do try to get back to them. And one of my major failings is that oftentimes I don't comment on other people's stories. *hangs head* There are a couple of social phobic reasons for that, but I really shouldn't use them as excuses. I apologize to everyone whom I read, for not being more considerate.
26. Storytelling aside, what first drew you to The Sims? What do you like most about playing The Sims?
I absolutely love world-building. Creating settings and then putting characters into them. So, I like the Sims2 because it allows me to do that. If I can find or make the CC, I can create just about any setting or world I want to. I can put as much detail into it as I want to, and then I can put my little dolls down into it and micromanage them like crazy. So a large part of why I like the game is the customization, and being able to create my own little realities. Building lots and houses and doing the interior design.
Another attraction is that it is as close to bringing the characters in my head to life as I can get, aside from just writing about them. Ever since I was young, I've been drawing pictures of my characters. With Sims, it's like being able to draw them, but with the added benefits of dimension and personality, having them interact, and yelling at them when they don't do what I want.
27. How long have you been playing The Sims? Have you been playing since Sims 1?
I got into Sims1 when the Unleashed expansion was released, because I saw ads and commercials for it and thought it looked like fun. I bought a bundle with the base game and Unleashed. I played it for awhile, but my main goal was to get the two male characters I'd created to share a bed with each other. Once I did that, I kind of lost interest in the game. ^^;;
When Sims2 came out, I seem to remember that my hubby had downloaded a demo/trailer video for it from somewhere, and when we watched it I was pretty impressed by how much the graphics had improved, and all the feature improvements over Sims1, so I decided to give it a try. So, I'd say I got the game probably not too long after it was released, and I've been steadily playing it ever since.
I love how the game, and my way of playing it, has evolved. And I think it's a true testament to the concept of the game that so many of us are so willing to put up with the bugs and the glitches and crashes and overclocking and other problems, just to be able to play it. There's an appeal and staying power to it that, unfortunately, I think Sims3 is going to be greatly lacking.
28. Do you only play the game with stories in mind, or do you also play just for fun? Do you record everything with photos anyway?
I take pictures of every dang thing! Hee! But I play both for stories and for fun. I have my story hoods, but I also have other hoods and other sims that I mess around with just for myself, to relax with or just to run them through the basics of the game. And I do a lot of building and decorating, which I also find relaxing. Sometimes I share my results, sometimes I don't, depends on whether I end up liking them or not.
29. Do you have a self sim? (We'd love to see him/her, if you want to share a pic.)
Yes, I do have a self-sim. ^_^ I don't remember why I originally created her, she's currently in my game as one of the sims that I like to play just to relax. She has her hubby (not my real hubby's self-sim ^^;;; ) currently has one child with another on the way, and is happily living in one of my favorite houses in a crowded test neighborhood.
30. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Yep! I'd just like to acknowledge the fact that aside from being fun and a great creative outlet, this game has also brought me some very dear friends that I don't think that I would have met otherwise. I'm very grateful for that, and I'm thankful to have those people in my life. ^_^
From laridian:
Your sets are always so beautiful. How long does it take you to create a neighborhood/house/lot and decorate it?
Thank you for the compliment! And, really it depends. If I'm just working with in-game content, it doesn't take as long as if I need to go and find the CC that I want to make everything look just right. Naturally a full hood takes a lot longer than just a lot, but I really enjoying doing hoods. The Round Robin hood took me several nights to create, but wasn't that difficult really, as a lot of the residential lots were just copies of each other, and I tried to stick with in-game content as much as possible.
For just a house or other lot, I can usually get it done in one evening, which might be 3 or 4 hours of game play. Add another hour or more if I build from the ground up.
Decorating in an ongoing process, because a lot of times I'll be setting up for a shot and suddenly think I could really use a painting on that wall, or something to fill in that corner. So, actually sometimes I end up with continuity errors when adding things in at the last minute!
WHOSE BABY IS VIOLA CARRYING?!
Ha ha ha! You tell Jeremy he just has to wait to find out. :P
Will we get a Castaways update soon?
Do we want one? I'd like to do one, and I have plenty enough pictures taken for one, I just wasn't sure if people would still be interested.
Will you be making the jump to Sims 3?
And from madame_ugly:
If you jump to sims 3, will you take your well-known original characters with you?
Probably not, to answer both questions. I've never been real thrilled with Sims3, not from the beginning when they first started releasing information about it. I adopted a wait-and-see policy on it, because things can change from early production to the final product. But now that the release is almost here, and I've been following pretty closely the things folks already playing are saying about it, there are still a number of gameplay aspects that absolutely turn me off.
Chief among these is that sims in other households, aside from the one you're playing, continue on with their lives, and so far there doesn't seem to be anything the player can do to stop that. This is no good for storytelling purposes, especially for something like WTiS, where I am running many plots over many different households. Also, the restriction on designing your own hoods and community lots. Storytelling and world building are the main attractions to the game for me, so to have those taken away pretty much destroys any interest I have in Sims3.
That's not to say I'll never get the game. I probably will at some point. But it's going to take heavy modding, hacks, and CC before I'd even consider taking WTiS over to that vehicle. For the time being, I'm still plenty happy with Sims2.
From amaryssobellus:
What got you into Sims?
Probably just general interest in seeing what the game was all about, to start with. Long long time ago, I played Sim Ant, and Sim Earth, and I'd poked around with the various versions of Sim City. Sims was the next logical progression, I suppose. And being able to put characters of my own creation into a game was very appealing, but it really took Sims2 to get me completely hooked. Sims1 was limited and once I'd reached the goal I set for myself, I was done. Sims2, however, is just wide open in how one can play it. Everyone does it different, and it's all good. And you can do so much with it. That's what really appeals to me.
Do you ever just play to play? Or is it mostly used as a story telling tool?
Yes, oftentimes I play just to play. I have a test hood full of families and characters that I can just kick back with. Remember Tag and Jason, from my testing of the Seasons expansion? They're still going, and I still play them fairly often. :)
What do you find hard about using the sims to tell your stories?
I guess that they don't do quite everything that I would like them to be able to do. I have a lot of grand ideas for my stories, but they end up getting scaled down a bit, just because the animations aren't available to convey exactly what I want. Plus, trying to get a group of sims to do something is like herding frickin' cats, seriously. Little twerps have their own agendas more often than not, and they end up going all over.
I'd just like to say thanks for inviting me to do this interview, it was lots of fun! And thanks to the folks who asked questions. ^_^ I look forward to more great stories from everyone!