Source

how to make a story file

As I am preparing for Camp NaNo*, I have been working on my story file. It occurred to me this might not be common or popular practice. “Story File” is a name I gave it and maybe some of y’all have a different name with the same contents. 

*There’s still time to apply to join my Camp NaNo cabin!

My Story File contains everything about my story that doesn’t go in the outline.

It’s broken up into major categories and specific templates. So without further ado, here is how I structure my Story File. 

Intro

Title

Logline

Synopsis

Genre

Estimated Total Length (word count)

Draft Length Goal (word count)

Character Bank

Main characters and brief, one-sentence descriptions with ages

Themes and Character Development

Central Question

The Yes/No question that is being asked through the whole story

Should have objective qualities, rather than subjective

i.e. “Will they fall in love?” (subjective) vs. “Will they leave their partners and become a couple?” (objective)

Thematic Questions

These are the internal conflict questions that reside in your character(s) and your story

ex. “Can there really be a successful government?”

ex. “Does grief excuse bad actions?”

Themes at a Glance

Words or phrases that relate to the themes of the story

ex. person vs. nature

ex. isolation

ex. grief

ex. first love

Motivation / Stasis State / Final State

for each main character, you should write a sentence or two pertaining to these three things

Motivation: What is the drive behind this character and their past, present, and future actions? What part of their background makes them the way that they are? What are they looking for? What do they want out of this/a situation?

Stasis State: What are they like before the inciting incident? What problems and questions do they have?

Final State: What has changed about them and their outlook? What questions have they resolved? What has happened to their internal conflict?

Relationships

I usually make a little web of the MCs and their relationship to one another. One for the stasis and one for final.

Stasis: How do these characters see each other? How do they act toward the other? (All before the inciting incident)

Final: How do these characters see each other now? How has their idea of one another shifted? 

Even if a character dies before the end, include the most recent relationship status in the Final web.

ex. this is how I organize it, using the Draw feature of Google Docs

Character Bank

This is just a very preliminary character bank. If you prefer a more in-depth one, check out my 6 Box Method.

Per (relevant/important) character:

Name

Nickname/preferred name

Age

Field/Occupation

Physical Description

Personality

Personal History

Education/Occupation History

Extra Notes:

Worldbuilding Bank

(Check out my worldbuilding posts on Categories Pt. 1 and 2 for better context)

Seasons and Climate

Languages

Other Cultural Pockets

Folklore and Legends

Fine Arts

Dress and Modesty

Classes

Jobs

Currency and Economics

Shopping

Agriculture and Livestock

Imports and Exports

Literature, Pop Culture, and Entertainment

Food and Water

Holidays and Festivals

Family and Parenting

Relationships

Housing

Religion and Beliefs

Government

Health and Medicine

Technology and Communication

Death

Transportation

Plants, Animals, and Human-environment Interaction

Education

Beauty Standards

Gender and Sexuality

—————————

I hope this helps y’all and supplements what you’re probably already doing. I know it’s helped me tons to have everything in a central place.

Best of luck!

So you want to get your friend obsessed with the Dream SMP?

I have made The Dream SMP Powerpoint, a collection of clips, VODS, animatics, and helpfully organized information to concisely explain the story of the first season of the ream SMP. I’m going to continue editing it, but it currently covers the L’manburg revolution to the final battle. 

If you have suggestions for how to improve it, send me an ask!  

Update: just got a friend to go through this with me, and she is now in love with Wilbur Soot. It works! 

It's VERY important Tokoyami, he swears!!

hey there everyone ! do your past vs current self !

The killer. I am not surprised.

extremely cursed quiz.

in a murder investigation, who are you? the killer? the witness? the detective? with a heavy dose of vibes assigned. i’ll reblog with a link in case it doesn’t work.

NETFICS!

This is a combination of the three things I love most: fic, editing and netflix ❤️  The idea popped into my head and I went for it before realizing I would have to make covers FOR ALL THESE FICS??? I have no words for how much I enjoyed myself while I was making this, just - no words. For the names of the categories I tried to go with ones that netflix actually does have!

Here’s a list of every fic included, they are all wonderful, mind-blowing, gorgeous pieces that I love dearly!!! The downside of the format is that I can’t gush properly, but believe me, every single fic in here will make you vibrate with how good it is. 

All-time favorites (pretty self-explanatory)

1. Grounds for divorce - @tepre (my actual fave of all time, individual rec here)

2. Dwelling - aideomai 

3. A Sword Laid Aside - @korlaena 

4. Running on air - eleventy7/ @tinyhistory

5. Who we are in the shadows - @quicksilvermaid

New Releases (fics published this year that I’ve loved)

1. The Ferret’s Nest - @l0vegl0wsinthedark

2. Catch and Release - @shealwaysreads

3. Give me a quiet mind - calrissian18

4. Inside Your Mind - @lazywonderlvnd

5. Kiss me in the doorway - @primavera-cerezos

Bingeworthy (catch me dry-eyed and delirious at 3 am, refusing to put these down)

1. What we pretend we can’t see - gyzym

2. Embers - @shiftylinguini

3. Turn - saras_girl

4. Away Childish Things - @letteredlettered

5. That Old Black Magic - @bixgirl1

Action & Adventure 

1. Shibboleths - zeitgeistic

2. Tangiers - @magpiefngrl_fngrl

3. Eternally Consistent - kitsunealyc

4. For Thine is the Kingdom - @kedavranox

5. The Pirate and the Prince - @nerdherderette

I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THIS OMG I LOVED MAKING IT I WANNA MAKE MORE ALREADY!!! ❤️

Windbrook Save 2.0 (In collaboration with @cowboycid and @bobnewbie)- Feat. a family by @oshinsimss

DISCLAIMER: While this is a CC free save file, it is pack and kit heavy. To give more context, this save utilizes ALL EPs, GPs, and SPs (except My First Pets) as well as ALL KITS (except Bust The Dust and Poolside Splash) While you may not own every pack or kit that I used, the save file is still playable. Everything missing will be substituted.

What's new in 2.0

Willow Creek has new homes, rentals, and one new retail lot

Newcrest has been built (restaurant, gym, retail, and generic lots)

Magnolia Promenade has been built, while somewhat finished, still needs work

Every lot that's finished (including commercial) and families have descriptions, stories, jobs, etcetera

New townies from @simsontherope and @cowplant-snacks

Families from @bobnewbie

A special family, The Westfalls made exclusively by @oshinsimss

Special collaboration with @cowboycid

Other worlds are still empty, I do plan on building new worlds

SCREENSHOTS AND MORE INFO BELOW

SPECIAL THANKS

First and foremost I want to thank my good good friend @cowboycid for collaborating with me on this project. I'm so happy we met when we did because I was starting to lose light. You inspired me to keep going, and for that I appreciate you DOWN. You're a real one sis, no tea. Hugs and kisses for ever. I also want to thank @bobnewbie for coming through with families. You don't understand just how life saving they were. I didn't get a chance to use all of them, and my original concept for the save fell through due to time constraints, but I'm thankful to have had access to the diverse array of families you made for the save. A huge thank you to @oshinsimss for taking the time to create a beautiful family, The Westfalls, exclusively for Windbrook 2.0, I love them so much. Also a big thank you to @cowplant-snacks and @simsontherope for their townies. Without them, the townies would just be... ugh, you know. So, thank you for having them available on the gallery. I also want to thank @anthonydaydreamer for just showing up for me through this whole process. Like, you just get it boo! Hugs and kisses! Finally a quick apology to those I intended on sending preview copies of the save. Time was not on my side near the end, things took more time than I thought. Honestly, I needed to get this project off my computer ASAP. I really hope you guys understand. Big hugs and kisses. Thank you everyone for all the kind words and support over these past few months, your words kept me going, even if I didn't feel I had anymore left to give. This save is a love letter to you all, the simblr community.

Thank you, honestly, truly.

*terrain replacement in screenshots by K-hippie, you don’t need it, it’s just for screenshots + updated download link to include The Westfalls made by @oshinsimss for Windbrook 2.0 - please find more info here*

*updated download as of 10/11/23*

Download (SIMFILESHARE)

TOU: Don't upload any part of this save to any platform without explicit permission, thank you.

Stick it to Rainbow Capitalism!

Since rainbow capitalism sucks, here are some small queer shops to support this coming pride month instead of giving all your money to Disney and Walmart!

Pride bows!

All the buttons you could ever need or want!

Dice and dominoes!

Bottle charms!

Armour-inspired jewelry!

Stickers, stickers, and more stickers!

Black queer art prints!

Shoelaces!

Hats!

Patches!

Cross stitch!

Earrings, earrings, and more earrings!

Bat dolls!

Bracelets 1 and Bracelets 2

Dragon dolls!

Sweaters!

Queer Goats!

Abrosexual pride!

Do no harm, take no shit!

Pride moths!

Misc. Identity merch!

Chocolate!

Pride shrimp!

And finally, it's not specifically queer, but these shops do custom flags!

If you have a shop or know a shop you want to promote, please reblog with a link!

DEAD END 1.0 NAVIGATION

watch the save file overview

save file information post

the history of millhaven / LHV medical description

journals masterlist

listen to the playlist

chinese translation version here - thank u so much @sulsulduck for taking the time to do this!

DOWNLOAD (patreon, free)

i felt like there wasn’t enough polyam trio art memes so i decided to make my own <3 self indulgence be damned

❤️💛💙

( feel free to share and tag me in any of the cute art you make i would love to see!!! 🥺💕)