newbie's guide

Lakeside Heights is a serialized neighborhood drama, illustrated with the Sims 2 to begin with, and later transitioning to Sims 3. This romantic-comedy/drama follows the interwoven stories of several families who live along the shores of Lake Michigan in the later parts of the 21st century. Yes, there are very slight sci-fi elements (we've got some aliens up in here!), but I'd really probably just call it contemporary fiction. With a literary slant. And some funny, and a few boxes of tissues, and a good bit of *swoon*, and shenanigans in the bathrooms, people, I'm telling you! ;)

This story has been going strong for over three years now, and there's a lot to read! So if you're new to this story, there are a few strategies you can try to get started. (Note: the preferred method of reading Lakeside Heights is #3.)

#1: Browse by major storylines. That page will take you through the major ongoing stories in this blog, and all of their related components. Some of these stories are completed, and some are still in progress. This will be useful if you just want to read a sampling to start, or if you only want to follow one or a select few stories. (Note: browsing by storyline will likely give you spoilers for other storylines you may or may not be reading, as the stories are often related and interwoven.) Also helpful for longtime readers who want to browse backwards easily to refresh on a storyline.

#2: You could just drop in! Pick a favorite character, family, or group of friends. The labels are all located to your right on the sidebar. Main characters all have their own first name label, and main storylines are labeled as well. (See #1) Last name labels are for whole family stories, or minor characters in a family. Each entry will list its labels at the top, and will also contain footnotes linked at the end, which will lead you to the relevant backstory.

So essentially, you can start from the beginning, or start in the middle, or read it backwards, or sideways, or read it like a wikipedia if you like. (No, for real, you can!) ;)

#3: But you'll probably gain the most enjoyment and understanding by reading this story as it's written, in its ongoing, connected, and rambling pieces. As messy as it might first seem, there is actually a very precise order and method to things around here. This story thrives on the way it meanders from one character to another, or from one storyline to another, so the best way to enjoy it is to follow that path. Each individual piece contributes to a movement in the overall story, and these movements I call "seasons". There are 4-6 seasons in each round, and they focus on the development of certain characters and storylines, sharing a common theme.

I suggest starting at the beginning of one of the rounds (I'll link to the round start pages below.) Each family is featured at least once in every round, so that way, you'll get to know everyone. Each round page has its own directory of the stories that took place during that round. From your starting point, you can simply click on the "newer post" at the end of the entry to move forward. Or use the links on the round page, if you just want to read the story posts and none of the notes, outtakes, or chatter in between.

the rounds:

intro
2076
2078
2080
2082


(Personally, I would definitely read as far back as round 2080 - there's some good stuff in there! 2078 has some important story stuff in it, but it also marks a sort of transition this blog took from a silly pseudo-prosperity blog to something of an actual story. This is what happens when you write straight out into the public - if this were a novel, those early rounds would be the sketchy pre-drafts I'd never let you see.

So the early stuff, (round 2076 and earlier especially) is pretty lazily written for my standards. But it's kind of funny, so go ahead and read it if you want. It's at least worth a laugh or two. And it's light reading, so you could breeze right through it.

A bit of a FAQ:

It is dorky, isn't it?

You're probably thinking that this blog/neighborhood in all its overwhelming complexity, makes me look like SUCH a monumental nerd! For the record, I am a monumental nerd, but in my defense, I would just like to state that I've been reinventing and adding to this neighborhood and characters, little by little, for a long time. Maybe that makes me seem like an even bigger nerd... my point being that I didn't think up all this stuff in a day ;)

I'm making it up as I go, people! You are welcome to "borrow" any of my gameplay ideas or methods, and I have some of my popular gameplay posts linked on the tab called "highlighted posts".

What is this business then?

I suppose Lakeside Heights is a neighborhood story - not exactly about the neighborhood, but about the strange and fascinating people who live there. You'll read these stories sometimes as self-contained shorts, and sometimes linked from one into the next.

There are no main characters, and at the same time, there are about 105 of them - everyone is the main character of their own life, and everyone has a story to be told. But don't worry, I won't make you read about all of them at the same time. Instead, we'll follow the stories of a few, we'll see where life takes them, and then when they've become happy and boring, we'll let them fall to the background so we can follow the stories of others.

Gameplay or storytelling?

This story has evolved over the years, for many different reasons. The earlier stories were much more inspired by actual gameplay. They were also shallower and more sloppily written, though always trying to disguise the Sim-ness of the game that was used to illustrate it (meaning, calling it sex rather than woohoo, or giving them the impression of real life careers rather than "captain hero"). Sometime around rounds 2078 and 2080, I started to move toward storytelling as the primary driving force with gameplay tidbits woven in. Now as I bring round 2082 to a close, I have to say that the story is about 85% written before I even turn on my game. The only gameplay I do anymore with these Sims is to amuse myself as I'm in there to get pictures for my story updates. Sometimes I weave in bits of that gameplay, but a lot of it gets ignored.

One of my favorite Sim-storytellers once called this "using the game as a writing prompt," and I love that description of what I'm doing here, and what many people do with this game. (You see, it's much easier for someone else to tell you what you're actually doing, when you're too close to see it yourself, lol!). So, writing prompts. It's true, in these later rounds, I'll only use a gameplay tidbit if it already fits the idea of the character and story I'm writing. The story is written first, the characters trump the Sims, and there ends up being so much gameplay stuff that gets ignored.

Because really, Sims are silly and gameplay is often ridiculous, and while gameplay might inspire an interesting twist or character trait, it's very hard to make a serious story out of straight gameplay.

This post is a good explanation of how this story evolved from a gameplay/story-hybrid to a primarily story-based series. 

Not your average Sim-blog:

If you're in it to see these kids grow up and get married and have boatloads of babies, then you might be waiting a VERY long time. Aging in this 'hood is SLOW! And as I've allowed the story to take over and become richer, neighborhood time is slowing by the very minute. In fact, it's nearly slowed down to real time (meaning one Sim month passing in one real life month).

But I'm fine with this. Seeing genetics carry on through the generations is interesting, but I've played those kinds of neighborhoods before and that's not what you'll find here. Now I'm much more interested in the minute complexities of their characters, and the stories that emerge when I'm able to slow way down. The up-side is that you'll actually have time to grow attached and care about them as characters.

What the crap is a round?:

Hmmm, who made up the idea of rounds? It wasn't me. I think it emerged from prosperity challenge bloggers, but we've since evolved it into something slightly different. I guess I kind of made up the idea of keeping neighborhood time. It didn't really seem like anything revolutionary at the time (lol!), but a lot of people are having fun with it, so feel free to try it out if you want :)

A round, in this story, covers two years of neighborhood time. Sims/characters are aged in real seasons, months, and years. And the idea is that each family will be featured at least once during this round, with several more "mini-updates" in between to fill out the shape of the story. To further enrich (complicate?) things, I then break down each round into 4-6 "seasons" which will explore a common theme and develop a set of characters and their stories.

This will make more sense when you take a look at the round pages.

How to tell the real story updates from the fluffy stuff?:

All real and actual story updates that count (for serious, folks!) will have a date and character heading at the start. All real and actual story updates are also linked on the round pages. I try to be careful in the fluffy stuff (outtakes, extras, bloopers, Simish gameplay stuff) to never portray a character in a way that would be confusing to the storyline - but you know, sometimes I do, because it's funny :D

Links, FYI:

Most of the informational posts you need are linked up above on the header bar, and your archives and labels are over on the sidebar.  If you're starting from the beginning, just note that you might not want to look at the resident database if you're worried about spoilers (as well as maybe the family trees or obituaries). These things are kept up to date for the current stories, which means they're about seven or eight years ahead of the beginning stories. I don't really know a way around that little dilemma.

But there are a couple you are welcome to look at with little or no spoilers:

The author's note: an overview of the thought processes behind this story.

The neighborhood overview: learn more about the different pieces that make up Lake County, and get a general tour of the area.

The Lake County Rail Project: another overview of the different areas of Lake County, stringed together in by a real and concrete rail system.

Lake County Public Pages: a listing of public officials and their duties. Also rules and procedures that the residents live by.

The conversation, join it!:
Comments are always welcome! Even on older posts. (Though keep in mind, posts older than 30 days are moderated for spammers and other riff-raff). This story has a brilliant and witty cast of regular readers, and the conversation that goes on in the comments is every bit as fun as the story itself! So feel free to join in! I love hearing from you all! :)

Dissenting opinions are acceptable (no need to walk on eggshells or anything), but rude or derogatory comments will not be tolerated. Foul-mouthed comments will be deleted without ever seeing the light of day - I don't mean swearing (I have a bit of a potty-mouth myself sometimes), I mean horrible, foul, disgusting, derogatory, putrid comments. I got one once, it was shocking! And I'm not even easily shocked! :o

Though comments that are both cruel and ignorant will most likely be highlighted and poked with a sharp stick, so that we might laugh at you.

Consider yourself warned:
New readers should also note a content warning: in addition to nudity, sexual situations, and crude humor, this blog has often explored heavy and emotional adult topics in some of its storylines. These include (but are not limited to) war, death, divorce, depression, suicide, cancer, abortion, and (hinted) childhood abuse, and I intend these stories for a mature audience. 17+ please.

And finally:
Thank you for reading, and welcome! :)