I want to share my trouble in finding Sims stories that I love reading. Perhaps I've not looked in the correct places or perhaps I'm too picky, but I am asking you to help me out. If you have a story or know of a story that you think is awesome, please share it with me. If I like it as much as you do, I will share it here. I love reading Sims stories as much as writing/playing them.
Advice for Making Sims Stories Fun to Read (in my humble opinion):
Advice for Making Sims Stories Fun to Read (in my humble opinion):
- Pictures! Include lots of pictures from different angles and close up. It is boring to see all the pictures from the same zoomed-out default angle. I want to get attached to your Sims but I can't if I can barely see what they're doing or what they look like.
- Don't have huge blocks of text without pictures. If you are going to have a long dialog or explanation, for goodness' sake, take pictures of their expressions as they talk or show scenery so readers don't get bored reading on and on without interruption. I see Sims stories as sort of a graphic novel.
- Generally speaking, no one wants to see detailed pictures of every outfit your Sim has or every room in your house from various angles. Let them be displayed in the story. Seeing a new room or outfit in a new post makes it all the more entertaining.
- Use a blog to tell your tale. I personally love Weebly for this, and it is free afterall, so why not? It's very difficult to read a story posted only in forums because one has to scroll through the forum backwards to read in the correct order as well as sifting through everyone's comments.
- Make your stories easy to navigate with links to the next part. Sometimes I find a story I like but spend a lot of time trying to locate the which part goes next. Help us out please; make it easy to read.
- Go slow enough to enjoy each Sim in various life stages. I want to love your Sims as much as you do, but I can't get to know them well if they age up in every new post or you entirely skip ages with only a few comments about what happened.
- Write it as you go along based on what happens in the game. Some people use pictures in Sims games to help them tell a story they've already written, and that is fine. But I don't consider those to be Sim stories in and of themselves. To me, a Sims story is one that tells itself and that's why they're so fun!
- Don't break the 4th wall by talking to your Sim and having them talk back to you as the "Watcher" or whatever. A lot of people attempt to make jokes this way and I personally find it annoying. I am more interested in you getting on with your story than your banter with your character. That being said, there are some exceptions in which this can work, such as silly challenges.
What else makes a good Sims story? Let me know your opinions and I might add them here.