Writer’s Guide

Introduction

Welcome to the Writer’s Guide.

This is a compilation of tutorials for creating quality Sims 3 stories.  You may use it as a step-by-step guide, or click on something specific of interest within the Table of Contents to jump to that topic.

Table of Contents

Story Creation

Choosing a Theme (Getting started)

Story Setting (Envisioning your story’s world)

Character Design (CAS, speech, personality)

Writing Style

Plot Development

Character Development

Additional Writing Tips

Image Creation

Snapshots vs. Shot Setups (Taking pictures with and without cheats)

Picture Setting (Location, time of day, etc.)

All the World’s a Stage (Creating a stage and setting a mood)

Composition

Sim Expressions

Basic Photoshop Editing (Enhancing images)

Advanced Photoshop Editing (Special effects)

Using Cheats

Cheat List

Manipulating Sims and Objects

Ghosts and Mummies

Website Flourishes

Sim Portraits (Photoshop Tutorial)

The Family Tree (Photoshop Tutorial)

Postcards (Photoshop Tutorial)

Story Creation

Choosing a Theme

Getting started with a new story can be challenging if you don’t know where to begin.  Whether or not inspiration finds you, there is a process you can follow to create a good story for your readers.  That process begins with the foundation of your story: the theme.

THEME: A recurring and unifying idea in a story

One story can have multiple themes.  Even legacies have themes and motifs, such as the importance of family, in addition to messages about life and human nature.  Ask yourself what types of themes you want to portray in your tale.  Keep in mind that they are unifying ideas; a story will not flow well if you stop using a motif half way through.

Deciding which genre your story falls into can help get those juices flowing if you are having trouble determining what you want your story to portray.

  • Comedy
  • Dark Comedy
  • Documentary
  • Fantasy
  • Historical
  • Horror
  • Mystery
  • Romance
  • Romantic Comedy
  • Science Fiction
  • Sci-Fi Western
  • Thriller
  • Western

Doing a little research online can help flesh out your ideas and give you inspiration.  Once the general concept of your story has come into focus, it is time to start envisioning your story’s world.

Story Setting

The setting of your story is simply when and where it takes place.  Will you create a futuristic world or one from the distant past?  Will the houses be classic Victorian or hyper modern?  The genre you chose for your story will help determine what the setting will be.

Setting is very important because it sets the mood for the story.  You should also be careful when you are designing characters and neighborhoods to stay true to the setting you chose.  You might think the pink castle you just downloaded is totally awesome, but if your setting is supposed to be the farmland of Riverview, it won’t fit well in your story.

If you are writing a legacy, the setting is usually determined for you.  For other types of stories, you can create a stage within a single lot to use as a backdrop.  This is more limiting, but much less time consuming, than creating a new neighborhood using the CAW tool.  The latter could be the better choice if you are familiar with the tool and plan on using the neighborhood you create for multiple chapters.

While you are creating a particular scene, pay attention to the time of day within the game.  For example, if you are trying to create a dark, moody, suspenseful chapter, you shouldn’t place the characters on a colorful stage in the middle of the day.

Try to envision the setting for your story before you start building and keep that vision in mind throughout its creation.

Character Design

—