Tips on Writing a Good Sims Story!

Hello, all you who read my blog! I see this topic frequently on the TS3 forums...
"How do I write a good story?"
Since I have a little bit of expertise on this topic, I've been told eh, one or two times my stories are great =] so today's post is all about writing a good story. I will indulge in some very helpful strategies I myself use when I create my master work.

Tip #1: Read
In order to be a good writer, one must be an avid reader. Check out other stories on the forums and see what works and what doesn't. Reading can inspire you to write your own stories, for example, I based a lot of my story Mary, Just Mary on The Notebook (which I believe is painfully obvious). A book called The Watcher gave me the idea for the experiments in writing style I used with Becky's narrations in Love You to Death. Also by reading, you can find out what is popular and what isn't.

Tip #2: Make it New
Teen drama is a dime a dozen. So are stories about vampires, and people will get bored of something if they see the same thing over and over again. I find legacies, for example, notoriously predictable and I rarely read them. So to make it interesting, be creative. Put your characters in an unusual setting or have them encounter strange circumstances, or make your sims themselves a bit out of the ordinary. I once saw a blog that featured a "Wizard of Oz" themed legacy. And there is a reason Berrypie's stories are so popular, just look at her sims!

Tip #3: Draft
Once you write down your ideas for your story, take a step back and look things over. I constantly move paragraphs, switch the course of events in my story, and add/delete characters before I come up with a finished product. You might write something down one day and decide you hate it the next. Drafting also helps you catch any mistakes you might have made.

Tip #4: Get Feedback
It is extremely helpful to get other people's opinions on your story. Sometimes, what looks good to you might not look so good to other people. I feel extremely uncomfortable posting a story without having someone else look at it first. They might catch a hole in your plot, awkward spatial confusion, or other things you might have missed while drafting.

Tip #5: Mind Your Mechanics!
There are so many good stories out there that are spoiled by sentances such as: "So like I talked to Kyle in school, and I was all omg! Lyk wow!" I personally find it annoying when a story reads like a text message. Even if the subject is interesting, I usually don't continue reading. Having proper spelling and grammar will make you look professional, and all the more appealing.

I'm sure I could come up with dozens of more tips, but I think these five are the basics. They're the rules I myself live by, and they've served me well during my career as a writer. I hope you all find them to be helpful. God bless the writers!

Engaging Phase 1,
Cerulee