Vicky is wearing Carla's retextured Nouk Tommie hair, and I just love them! So if you haven't already, head over there and pick that up!
The first month of my year has been amazingly productive, full of creativity and more ideas than I know what to do with. Unfortunately, all that good work is wreaking havoc on this blog, lol! Please bear with me. I don't have Matt's story ready - I haven't even started it, to be honest, and there's a novel chapter I want to finish before I turn my focus to anything else. But there are a couple things I want to tell you about first! :)
Amelia and Jodie's stories were a lot more finished than I first thought. And looking back over them, I found them so full of literary potential that I couldn't help but see them filling out a little novella. So starting next week, and for the month of February, I'm going to be working on a little project with them. Their stories won't be deleted, but I won't be able to write about those characters in this blog until I know how the novella will end up going. It's kind of like quarantine, lol! It would be like trying to wrap my head around two dimensions of space at the same time, and that kind of hurts my brain.
(ETA: I should have known that this story would be too big for a novella, duh! It will actually end up being a smallish novel instead.)
There! I've been absolutely *dying* to tell you all which characters are coming over to the spin-off, so I finally get to say one out loud. Jodie is one of them!!!
Which I guess also makes the spin-off an official thing? (You see, it's over a year away, so I can be all ballsy like this and make things all big and official, lol!) It doesn't have a name yet, but the first book is slowly being first-drafted at the moment. It's tentatively planned to begin in Fall of 2012, and since I'm already drafting it, and very excited about it, you could 90% say it's a certain thing. It will be made up of about 15-ish characters you know from this story (and some new ones too), but it will not be illustrated with Sims, and it will not exist in Lakeside Heights either. It'll be a full text story, set in modern day (not 2083, lol!), with some assorted photography (hence my photo/story project this year). It'll be indie-published, just digital to start, one chapter a week. And at the end of the season, I'll also release it in book form.
I'm very excited about this project, as it combines two of my great loves - writing and photography - and I hope you'll all decide to follow along when the time comes.
So between now and Fall of 2012, my main priority will be prepping the characters coming over to the spin-off for where their stories will pick up, and finishing those storylines of the characters not coming over, since I don't want to have loose ends hanging when I pick up their stories in that other format.
I honestly can't say one way or the other what will happen to this blog, and the characters left behind in it, once I start writing the spin-off. I would like to continue writing these Sim-illustrated stories, but I really can't say how much time I'll have for it. The spin-off is going to be a very big project, and around the same time, I also hope to be pimping out my novel. At the very least, there will be a large hiatus while I get my head screwed back on straight.
In fact, I might even use that break to make the transition from TS2 to TS3. Lord knows I'll probably never stop playing my Simmies, in whatever form they take! That much is certain! And maybe some of these quiet background characters, like Melissa, might come to TS3 with us :)
Also, so sorry, I have comments I need to respond to allllll over the place. I haven't forgotten about anybody, and I'll spend a whole day responding to comments as soon as I finish this torturous chapter! And dammit, I'm gonna PLAY my game too, lol! I might decorate somebody's house. Which family do you think deserves a home makeover?
It is very weird to work on one while the old version still exists. So I'll support you. This has been a very good start to the year, hasn't it? So many great ideas floating around and so little time!
ReplyDeleteYou really have had a ton of ideas this month, haven't you? I'm sure you already know I'll be following along and supporting you, in whatever way you need or want. I really think this all sounds so exciting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pimpage, by the way! ;)
I'm sad that I won't be able to read Amelia and Jodie's stories for a while, but if they ever get published I would definitely buy it! I love Amelia and Jodie. They are such smart, strong women, and watching them struggle with love and relationships is so real, I can't help but empathize with them. Both of them really jumped from being Sims to being Characters.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd kind of guessed (or perhaps hoped?) that Jodie would make it to the spin-off. Who is more fantastically flawed than Jodie? You could probably fill several novels with her drama and ice-cold stares!
Just as I've finished reading the back stories too *smiles*. You have some wonderful stories here and sims related or not I'll definately be interested to see what you come up with next.
ReplyDeleteJodie was my favourite character over all here, followed by Corbin, you have a gift for making them come alive.
Awww, I love you guys! Thank you all for the support! You guys are all kinds of awesome!!! :)
ReplyDeleteLunar, it's truly confusing, lol! I've tried to do it once before, with the couple of short stories that were inspired by more minor characters here, and I finally had to just pick one or the other. It's like there can only be one "true" version, or I get twisted on what things happened and what things didn't in each version.
Carla, the only thing I've done Simmish in the past few weeks is download your hairs and put them on half of my ladies, lol! You should do more - they're so gorgeous! Lucy is wearing the other one you did! :)
Sarah, oh thank you! I love writing about Jodie and Amelia for those very same reasons! Jodie has a long and full story ahead of her, between the novella and however long the serial goes on. I'm really excited about giving her a wider audience than just the Sims community.
Anonymous, great timing, lol! Thank you! I'm very glad to have you reading! :)
Corbin will probably have a small cameo in the novella too, for his part in Amelia's story. And beyond that, I would like to give his storyline (with Matt and Leila too) its own novel some day, but that's quite a long ways off still. My motto this year is to finish the stuff I've already got started, lol! :D
Couple of ETAs to this one: #1, the large novella has decided to become a small novel instead. Not a big change, but notable still, especially since it makes this story my debut as a novelist, and that kind of feels like a big deal, lol! So given that weight, I'll just want to make sure it's extra perfect before it's released.
ReplyDeleteETA#2: okay, I lied. I'll decide whether these stories will come down at the end of the draft, rather than the beginning. I'm finding them a little bit useful being online still - they're easier to review that way. But still, I won't be able to write about these characters in the LH context until this novel is finished.