Featured Author, an Interview with Raymond

 

Greetings, wonderful readers! It’s that time again when we learn more about a fellow author! I’m really excited to announce that today’s featured author is raymondsanti the creator and writer of Set Apart!

Raymond is currently writing Generation 8: Karissa Dunair. Let me just say that this is a really unique story! I’ll let Raymond tell us more about the premise itself in the interview, but I can definitely say that from the first moment of reading, I was hooked!

Shall we get started?

Raymond, how long have you been playing The Sims and what got you into it?

I’ve been playing since around 2011 when my dad gave me The Sims Pet Stories for my birthday. The game basically walked me through The Sims by providing a decent plot and characters to start with, and from there I just became obsessed. I bought The Sims Castaway Stories shortly after, and when I finished that game I moved on to The Sims 3 around 2012. I immediately loved it and that’s what I have been playing ever since!

Why did you begin blogging your Sims story?

I’m actually not sure about this one haha. I first started a blog a long time ago when I still played The Sims Pet Stories, but that blog was positively awful and I deleted it a month after I began. XD I guess I truly started blogging when I stumbled upon some other people who wrote stories and supplemented them with pictures from The Sims. It was an interesting idea and I had always loved reading and writing stories, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

How do you come up with your story ideas?

Random bursts of inspiration. I’ll be sitting in class, or in bed just about to fall asleep, when suddenly a thousand ideas come rushing into my head. I always try to write them down as soon as possible or else I forget. I also get ideas from movies and books. When I find a character I’m really interested in or a plot that strikes me as different, I try to break it down and figure out what I truly like about it. Then I try to incorporate a little element like that into my own story, just for the fun of it 🙂

Do your Sims’ actions help create new ideas or make the story go in a different direction then you had intended?

Sometimes when I pause the game I find a Sim doing something that looks cool, which definitely changes up my story a bit. But as far as going in a different direction entirely? No, I tend to stick to my own premade plot line.

Which is your favorite character and why?

Agh this is hard… I’m going to go with Tyler Dunair from generation six. His character really changed my entire story and marked the beginning of a more solid plot line. And I liked that he was not a perfect person. He was mean at times, but in the end he turned out good despite everything he went through. I think Vox might be my second favorite though, it’s hard to tell since I haven’t written many scenes with him yet. We’ll just have to see!

What chapter has been the most difficult to write so far and why?

Ooh man, I narrowed it down to 7.12 – Violet Eyes just because that one took me the longest to write. I had to make sure I explained the mystery behind violet eyes in a satisfying way without contradicting anything I said in the past, which was hard considering I’d written a lot about them without ever having a clear goal for their meaning.

Is there anything you wish was different about your story?

All of generations 2-4? Haha, I wish I’d had a better plot for those generations, especially generation 4. Willow had potential for a great character but she never really developed throughout the story. The chapters were really short and choppy back then too. Yikes :/

Do you have any advice for other writers who may just be starting out?

Write for fun! Don’t write just because you want other people to praise your stories or because you want to be a billionaire writer someday. Write because you love it and you want to tell your character’s story. Also, you don’t necessarily have to have a plan when you start out, though I would recommend it. Just try not to contradict yourself in your writing… Because then you either ignore the plot holes or try to explain them, which takes a lot of work (trust me on that one!).

Making sure every character has both good and bad qualities. No one is perfect, but no one is fully evil either. Writing realistic romance is also something that’s hard for me, especially when in The Sims they just kiss, get married, and end up with a billion kids in the blink of an eye. Romance is something I am trying to write better this generation with Karissa.

Would you like to share an excerpt from your story or a summary of your story (or both)?

Synopsis:

Set Apart has definitely changed since I started out, but it is a Difference in the Family Tree (DITFT) challenge. You basically follow one family’s descendants throughout their lives, and each one has a different career that is supposed to influence your playing. However, I follow those rules very loosely. XD My story, at the moment, is about the Dunair family. They are essentially the royal family on an alternate plane called Svartur  where they fight against invading supernaturals. Karissa is the current heir who has just been denied her right to rule because her town decided they want a patriarchy, and now she is being held captive by some vampires intent on getting revenge on her father.  (this is so hard to explain…)

Excerpt:

“What’s going on?” I rolled off the plank and shuddered as my bare feet hit the ground.

Elubarin turned, his jaw clenched unusually tight. “They want our blood.”

I knew this was inevitable. Those bloodsuckers would use me until my dad came looking, or until I died. I didn’t want either of those to happen, but I couldn’t think of any way to avoid them. For now, it was best to play along.

“I’ll go first,” I said. My feet had edged halfway to the bars before Elubarin protested.

“Are you sure? Maybe I should go first.”

“But they want me. I’m the reason they attacked us in the first place. We might as well give them what they want and save ourselves some time.” I winced at the sound of my own words. They were weak. They made it seem like I was giving up.

Elubarin shrugged nonchalantly, but I noted the flicker of guilt that crossed his face. “I was only trying to protect you, Karissa.”

“If you wanted to protect me you could have stopped them back at the garden!” I spun on my heel and stomped to where Treznor had quietly been waiting, belatedly realizing what Matt had said about the magic ring. Sure enough, an emerald-studded ring sat on the head vampire’s finger.

He ushered me out the door and into a small room that held two chairs and a blazing fireplace. “Sit or stand, your choice,” Treznor said. He beckoned down the hall to someone out of my sight.

I chose to stand. Another vampire entered the room and my heart gave a sudden jolt. He was the one who tried to kidnap me when I was twelve. The whole group from then was almost in this room, except for the female vampire and the mysterious Vox.

You know, Vox, if you want to jump out and save my ass again, now would be a great time…

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Intrigued? I know I’m anxiously awaiting the next installment!

Thank you again for stopping by and sharing with us, Raymond!

If you would like to read our featured author’s Sims story, it can be found here:

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Author’s Note: If you are a blog author (it does not necessarily have to be The Sims related) and would like to be featured in an interview, please send me an email using my contact form! I would love to interview you, too!