"The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to bloggers, to promote the blogging sites we love and support."
Accepting the nomination comes with these conditions:
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Thank the blogger who presented the award and link back to their blog.
3. Nominate 5-11 bloggers whom you feel deserve this award and have fewer than or equal to 3,000 followers.
4. Answer 11 questions posted by the nominator, and ask your nominees 11 questions.
I have to give a special thanks to Van for nominating me for this award, and for other reasons as well. The Kingdom of Naroni was one of the first Sims story blogs that I found, and I immediately became enthralled with the story. I devoured each chapter, spending hours on her blog. I honestly never expected her to read my story, let alone leave me the amazing, in-depth feedback that she has. It felt like one of my favorite authors reaching out to me personally and I was ecstatic. Every time she leaves me a comment I get so excited I drop everything to read it. I can't express how much I appreciate her taking the time to read each update I make, and for sticking by the story despite my long hiatus. She's a wonderful person and an extremely talented storyteller.
It is now my turn to nominate my fellow Sims storytellers for this award. A few of the blogs I have chosen haven't been updated in a while, but the stories are still incredible and I highly recommend each of them. I have hope that these writers will return to them as I have returned to mine.
My nominees are:
Here are the eleven questions asked by Van, and my answers to them:
1. What is your opinion on conventional writing
"rules" (e.g. minimal adverb use)?
I used to stand by Stephen King’s adage of “The road to hell
is paved with adverbs.” I’d go back through my stories and delete every adverb
that I didn’t feel was vital, trying to keep them out of my dialogue most of
all. I also own several copies of Strunk and White’s
The Elements of Style. As I’ve progressed as a writer, though, I
now tend to take more liberties with the “rules”.
WITCH and the series of novels I’ve been writing are told from a first-person
point of view and therefore, I want the narrative to sound like someone is
actually telling a story. People use adverbs and often speak in clichés. I
think sometimes the right adverb can add more flavor and meaning to a sentence.
Sentence fragments can add more drama to a paragraph.
In Chapter Thirteen: TheProposal, when Corynne gets drunk for the first time, she uses the words “floaty”
and “topsy” to describe how she is feeling. Most of the time, I try to follow
the rules, but every now and then I will write what I feel best suits the
story.
2. How do you choose clothing and hairstyles for your Sims?
Is it more important that they reflect their environment or situation, or their
personalities and ambitions?
What I typically like to do is assign each character a
color. Corynne’s signature color is purple, and she wears clothing on that
color spectrum. Ivaine’s color is red, often with accents of black to show how volatile
she can be. Galaea is always seen in black. Lothar wears bold “royal” colors
while Markius is often seen in more earthy tones. Keiry usually wears blue or
green. I like to go the Disney route and put my villains in darker clothing and
my heroes in lighter or more colorful hues. I switch up hairstyles a lot while
keeping them (as close as I can, anyway) true to their intended color and
length. Because Lyvenia is a fantasy world, I want my characters to have a more
whimsical look to them. Characters with more outgoing personalities get more imaginative
looks than my humbler characters, who have more “regular” looks.
3. Do you refer to your Sims' in-game aspirations and
personalities when developing their characters, especially when it comes to
born-in-game Sims whose personalities you didn't get to customize?
When I play legacies, I do this, but as far as my Sims
stories go, I create the character before creating the sim. I shape their
personalities to how I want them to be. Even my characters’ children have
predetermined looks and personalities. The biggest example of this is Donya.
She is supposed to have a specific appearance, so I made her in Body Shop and used
the reproductive adjuster from the Insiminator to make her have a baby with
herself. Infant Donya is actually the child of Adult Donya. In other cases, I
use the born-in babies for infant scenes, and for the rest of their life stages,
I use differently aged versions of pre-created sims. I actually have random
babies lying around my lots that will never grow up or be cared for. I suppose
I could kill them, but that just seems cruel.
4. Similar to the above, when it comes to love interests, do
you allow in-game chemistry to influence which Sims get together? Or do they
get with whoever you want them with, whether the game likes it or not?
My characters fall in love with who I say they fall in love
with. Or hook up with. I adjust their relationships accordingly. When I first create
my sims, I choose their turn-ons so that they will have higher chemistry with
their intended love interests.
5. If you were to start your story again, are there any
major changes you'd make right off the bat? If so, what are they?
Hmm… I suppose so, considering I started writing this story
as a teenager. A lot of time has passed since then and the characters and story
itself have evolved. Not sure if I’d still make the choice to begin WITCH with
a sex scene. As I was rereading it recently, I felt a little uncomfortable at
the sight of teenagers bumping uglies. If this were shot with real people and
not sims, that kind of thing would be quite illegal, regardless of the
standards of this fictional world in my head. At the time, though, it seemed
perfectly acceptable to me because that was what happened in the story.
6. Are there any books, films, shows, games, or even other
Sims stories that you think have influenced your work?
This is a hard question, because I think art is influenced
by more things than we realize. Inspiration is literally everywhere, and it
absorbs into us with everything that we watch or read. I will say that the
Lyvenia series in general was first inspired by the magnificent works of
Holly Black. A lot of music inspired it too, particularly Evanescence, Within
Temptation, Hawthorn Heights, Smile Empty Soul, 3 Doors Down, Blue October, Linkin
Park, and Staind (what can I say? I was a teenager). As I began working on this
project, the Sims stories that inspired me most were The Kingdom of Naroni as well as
Sea of Moons, and
The Kingdom of Varuna—The Warrior.
7. What are your favorite character names? Do any of your
characters have names you dislike?
My favorite character’s name would have to be Donya, and for
a reason. When I was nineteen, her character came to me in a dream. She basically
said, “My name is Donya and I belong in this story. This is who I am and what I
do.” When I woke up, I could still see her so vividly and I immediately grabbed
a notebook and started jotting down notes. I’ve never been hit with inspiration
quite like that before. Fantasy-sounding character names are hard to come up
with, but she essentially gave me hers and made demands with it. How could I
refuse? My other favorite name belongs to a character who won’t be born for a
long, long time. I won’t tell you who he is, but his name is Amarion. I
sincerely hope I can keep the series up until then because his character and
story are my absolute favorite in the whole series. The other names I like are
Keiry, Lathian, Saleri, Ivaine, Galaea, and Viletti—who will join the story in
a few chapters. As for names I don’t care for, I think Dracarus sounds a little
childish and obvious. It was a play on the Latin root of “dragon”, which I
suppose would be the kind of name Ivaine would choose for her child. I came up
with Markius in a pinch because I really couldn’t think of a name for the dude
so I just added an “I” in the middle of Marcus and changed the spelling. Magrid’s name is intentionally
ugly, and I think it suits her.
8. Do you listen to music while writing or creating visuals?
If so, what kind of music, and why do you feel it helps you personally?
Absolutely. Music is a must. I write to a wide variety of
music, but whatever it is, is has to suit the scene I’m writing. I listen to
everything from movie scores to symphonic rock to oldies. True story: the song
I was playing when I wrote the scene in
Chapter Fifteen: Wifedom, in which
Corynne is left alone to take care of Donya while Markius is out drinking, was “Are
You Lonesome Tonight” by Elvis Presley and it made me bawl like a little bitch
because I could relate so well to the feeling. And that’s it, really. Music
makes me feel deeply, and when I feel, I’m moved to write. I always hope that
my emotions come through in my words and that my readers feel something too.
9. Are any of your characters based, however loosely, on
people you know in real life?
As I believe is true with every writer, all my characters
have a piece of me in them. I had no idea I’d end up relating so well to
Corynne, but she became an outlet for some difficult emotions I was experiencing
at the time.
Chapter Nine: The Sickness might as well have been
autobiographical. As for other people I know, Keiry was inspired by a couple
friends of mine; I mixed their qualities to give Corynne a supportive, yet
believable, best friend. Galaea was based strongly on a couple evangelical ministers
I had the misfortune of knowing. ((
NOTE: That does not mean I think all evangelical
minsters or people are bad. I am referring to the emotionally manipulative,
power- and money-driven kind.)) Ivaine has the *ahem* qualities of some of the
bullies I knew in middle and high school, amped up to eleven with some
sociopathy and murderous tendencies thrown in.
10. If you can answer without venturing into spoiler
territory, which of your characters do you think have the best chance of
overcoming their personal hurdles? Are there any that you fear may be doomed?
This is delicate ground here, but I will give it my best
shot. Some of my characters will get their happy ending, while others are definitely
doomed. Corynne does have a chance to conquer her personal hurdles, but first she
has to learn that she is powerful. Conversely, she must learn to put the needs
of others before herself. She is so wrapped up in her love life that she doesn’t
give much thought to the evil around her, which may threaten everything she
holds dear. She has to learn that romantic love is not the highest love—self-sacrifice
is. Corynne is stubborn and misfortune-prone, but I think under the right
circumstances, she can realize these things. As for who has the worst shot, I’m
afraid to say that would be Markius. He is buried under his addictions and past
demons, and he doesn’t seem to want to find the strength to pull himself back
up.
11. Does anyone you know in real life read your story? If
so, how do you feel about that?
My ex-husband used to read it before my hiatus.
I haven’t told him I’ve continued it, and if I did, I can’t say whether he’d be
interested in reading it or not. I’ve shown the story to my cousin and a few
friends as well, but as far as I know, nobody that I know personally currently
reads it. And I’m okay with that. It’s a lot less nerve-wracking to present my
work to strangers than people from my real life.
And now, here are some questions of my own!
1. How did you become interested in Sims stories? If you write plotted stories, why did you choose The Sims as a platform to
share them?
2. Which do you feel you put more time and energy
into: pictures or writing?
3. Who is your favorite character to write about?
Your least favorite?
4. How much trouble would you be in if you were
trapped inside a room with your villain?
5. Which character do you feel is the most like
you? The least like you?
6. How have you advertised your Sim stories for
people to find?
7. Do you plot your stories ahead of time, or do
you let them develop as you write?
8. Which character(s) turned out the most different
from how you originally thought or intended them to be?
9.What do you do to become inspired to write?
10. How long do you play with or think about story ideas before you begin writing?
11. Do you ever find yourself with a love/hate relationship with a story or writing in general, or is it all love?
