#lazarish

lol this one, but you've already seen it bc I haven't had time/energy to shoot more

describe your story in three words or less

im a wordy bitch so this is hard for me BUT let's go with: haunted by past (for gen 4)

describe (insert character here) in three words or less

I did an RNG with the characters listed on my character page and got Sapphire so: just a baby

how did you choose the name of your story?

In terms of the legacy name, I was thinking about last names for my white berry founder, and thought Mirror sounded cool, and I didn't really see it too often amongst other BPRs, so I went with it! In terms of each individual gen (gen titles can be found on the full story hub here!), some were named after the fact (Beginnings and Dreams), but I tried to choose names that reflected the overall story of the gen/what the biggest things are. So like, I feel like Beginnings, Dreams, and Nightmares are extremely on the nose after the fact, and tbh all the others are very on the nose too! Similar to how Dreams and Nightmares are kind of part one and part two of the Garden introduction arc, Mishaps and Shattered are also going to be part one and two of their own mini arc too :)

how do you choose your characters’ names?

Typically after things that suit the colors! But also some are based on things that suit their story/concept! For example, Jasper is orange like the stone, but also jasper the stone tends to represent protection/grounding and calming your troubles (in my very basic understanding) which I thought was a fun reference to his bella swan powers. I very occasionally hide things in names.

how long have you been working on your story for?

Oh man I started it in spring of 2020!!!!! It's been four and a half years, that's wild. I'm impressed I've gotten to gen 4 already, I never thought I'd get out of gen 2

whats the biggest risk you’ve taken with your story? did it pay off?

i feel like briefly killing Irus was a bit of a risk lol I wanted to scream that it was gonna be okay while I was posting that, but I feel like it paid off bc that scene turned out so amazing and I love how well I managed to pull it off

what about your story are you proud of?

See above!! I feel like in general I've gotten a lot better at writing as this has gone on! I also LOVE whenever I get to make gifs for my story, it's so fun

what about your story are you looking to improve on?

Still my writing/delivery of scenes lol I've gotten a lot better but I still struggle when writing certain conversations or fleshing out the plot points between A and Z. Like gen 2 was way too long winded, but then I feel like gen 3 was too short/I didn't expand on things enough

is your story fully planned or are you still working things out? is there a definitive end?

There is a definitive end! I don't have the entire thing fully written, but I have gen 4 set, 5 is mostly set, 6 is like 25%, and then the general concepts/maybe a few scenes of 7 8 and 9. I kind of think of gen 1 as it's own thing and then 2-6 as the first act, and 7-9 as the second act.

why have you decided to tell this story? are there any messages or meanings within it?

tbh it just started as my silly little berry sim story, and morphed into this giant supernatural monstrosity, so really it's just I'm having fun with it and getting to be creative :)

do you actually play the game or do you just use it as a storytelling medium?

haha noooo i definitely never play the sims.... but no like actually i do legitimately love playing this game, and you'd THINK that means I'd post more gameplay, but my problem with that is I either spend too much time taking screenshots and then barely make any progress, or I get too locked in and forget to take screenshots

from basic planning to a finished post, how long does that take you?

On average, it takes me like 30min to write the dialogue for a scene, and then maybe like 30min to actually shoot it (depending on the complexity/number of sims), and then like. 15 seconds per image for editing because I have a PSD and editing actions that I use to speed up the process, and then like maybe another 30min drafting the posts before I add them to my queue (which is taking longer now bc 50% of the time tumblr goes "oops! something went wrong!" when i try to upload a photo and it's driving me insane). Obviously things like making poses/gifs, or drawing in magic effects, or searching for hyper specific poses make it take longer!

do you have any regrets about your story so far? if you could go back in time, how would you fix these?

I really wish I was a better writer back when I killed Howlite! It feels very shoehorned in and like I just killed her for the sake of killing her which I absolutely hate and tbh kinda ruins gen 1 for me! but we're gonna have a Howlite backstory told in flashbacks eventually, so I'll hopefully get to right some wrongs

what have been the highlights of creating your story?

reactions from people!! obviously I love getting comments on my post, but I also love when I see someone clearly going through and catching up on the story and liking every post as they go lol

what about the process do you enjoy?

i looooovvveeeeee dropping little hints and foreshadowing in my story, i have a folder where I am keeping every single hint/reference I've ever made to a huge plot detail of gen 5 and I cannot wait to post it. this has been going on since 2020

what about the process do you hate?

uploading/queuing and also the fear at the back of my mind that one day tumblr is going to shut down and my magnum opus will vanish

choose a song that reminds you of your story

lol so i initially wrote the answer to the next one for this one before i saw what was below this so UHHH it's hard to narrow my story down to one song! I feel like each gen is such a different vibe. I'm gonna say gen 4 as a whole and go with Daffodil by Florence :)

choose a song that reminds you of (insert character here)

I'm doing all my heirs, so my picks for each gen (that I have playlists for so far) in order starting with Star are: 1. In Bloom - Neck Deep 2. Cowboy Blues - Kesha (this one is just kinda funny for Holly lol) 3. Sleep - MCR 4. I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab (for Carn)/Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - Florence (for Yarrow) 5. The Archer - Taylor Swift 6. Family Tree (Intro) - Ethel Cain/Millstone - Brand New Plus a bonus Howlite song: Valley of the Dolls - Marina

choose your favourite shot from your story so far

ohhh there's a lot but lets go with these:

choose your least favourite shot so far

these bc some idiot (me) messed up the wall settings/made build mode errors. no joke i think about these all the time. they haunt me

choose a favourite character from your story so far

haha i have no idea who my favorite character is. not a single clue

choose your least favourite character so far

lotus bc i just irrationally hate him

are there any characters who remind you of yourself?

Holly when she's spiraling and overthinking and avoiding her problems lol also gen 5 and her caffeine addiction

what inspirations have you drawn on for your story?

definitely music a ton! I'll be listening to a song and then go "OH THAT COULD BE A FUN THING TO DO" and get an idea for a plot point. But also folklore and things! There was actually a pretty major piece of gen 3 that got cut at the last second because it was based on a folktale that was hyper specific to where I'm from, and I just ended up not being comfortable with posting that! Maybe one day I'll share what was meant to be, but no time soon

have other sim stories inspired you? 

yes!!! @tainoodles Fairyfloss BPR was the very first sims story I read and it made me get into berries and here we are :) and @simblrinterests Light Family BPR definitely pushed me to magic and supernatural things

what genres would you describe your story as?

Depends on the gen, but 1-3 definitely have that teen drama vibe, and then 2-the end is fantasy, and 4 is a bit dark academia

if you could reproduce your story in another medium (movie, novel, comic, etc.) what would you choose and why?

Possibly novel or graphic novel. I feel like a graphic novel could be fun bc I have a background in illustration and I'd get more visual freedom than I can achieve in the sims! As for a novel, it would be similar reasons! It is easier to describe things than it is to show them in the sims!

what would your story’s rating be? (G, PG, M etc.)

PG-13 maybe??? Maybe higher technically bc of swearing??

if you were leaving simblr and had to choose another creator to continue the story for you, who would you ask?

oh man I don't think I could ask someone to carry out this monstrosity. I'd probably just drop the links to my docs for people to read lol

drop some random trivia about your story

some of my favorite folder/scene names are "all according to keikaku (keikaku means plan)" "bella swan" "HOWLITE!!!!!!!!" "so..... we fucked up" "FUN-eral!" (tragically cut, that was Aster and Porcelain going to Pearl's funeral) "BRO ANSWER YOUR TEXTS" and in the scrapped gen 1 reboot "Rosalie energy" idk why I reference twilight so much

give a light spoiler

by sheer technicality, the gen 5 heir has already appeared in the story

recommend another creator’s story!