“Another important feature of the motif is the couple’s abstract conjoined form and the faces that shade into each other. This is Munch’s way of underlining that the couple are as one, and the picture is a beautiful expression of belongingness and togetherness between man and woman.”
“It is quite something to spend your entire life feeling like you are somehow out of place, and then to meet someone who understands you before you even say a word. Someone whose singular qualities match your own. Whose kindness makes you feel warm. Who can read your mind from across a whole room.”
hi, i'm just getting back into the sims 3 after having dropped all sims games a few years ago. I'm wondering what the current big CC finds blogs are? Similar to LLama CC Finds/sssvitlanz.
Maxis match CC for Black sims is especially appreciated <333
Historical Fiction Winner 🏆 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Affairs of the Heart
It was an incredible pleasure to interview @doriana-gray-games, author of the overall winner in the historical fiction category for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Affairs of the Heart. It's an IF with incredible writing, most lovable characters, and swoon-worthy romance.
Doriana has been a truly amazing, uplifting presence in the IF community for so many years now, and this interview contains... a relic from 2021, mentions of witches in ancient Egypt, and if you read nothing else today, let it be this.
See the full list of winners in this category here.
About the author
I am not British! This comes up a lot… 😅 I’m Swedish, and I learnt English through video games. I knew the English word vehicle before I knew the word cardigan. I host guide and working dogs in training 🥰 So I usually have a Labrador or two around. One did, once, eat my homework…
About the game
Play as your own Sherlock Holmes, but it’s a romance.
Tell me more about your journey into interactive fiction
Sure! I think I’ve told this story a few times, but I don’t mind re-rambling once more. I started this project (aaoth - the full title is far too long) as an interactive writing exercise. I was in the early days of a software engineering degree (that I only took to make games and have a steady backup profession… Ask me how the IT industry is doing for juniors now lol…)
Anyway, I had been sitting on this other RPG game idea for like 2 years. Far too ambitious in hindsight. And when covid hit, I finally had time to sit down and do something with it. I wrote my first scene and… God. It was shit. I thought, like most ignorant people probably do, that writing would be the easy bit in making a game.
Ha!
So, fast-forwarding a bit, I decided to teach myself creative writing + branching dialogue. Gave myself about a year. I had been reading Wayhaven a lot at the time, and loved it, and I decided that ChoiceScript could be a great little way to practice.
[Imagine a montage of writing and reading here] 😌 ✨
I did some really tedious writing exercises, and I skimmed some very long books on writing. I began the project during the late summer of 2020, and I posted my first demo and chapter in the summer of 2021. I had showed it to no one. I didn’t really know Tumblr was a thing at that point, so I didn’t have one. The only person who read it before I posted was one user on the forums, a few hours before I put it up. I think I asked in some writing support thread…
HOLD ON IM SKIMMING MY OLD POSTS AND DMS, I found it:
I posted this, and someone very nice DM'd me. And they were complimentary enough of my demo that I posted it publicly like an hour later. With very shaky hands.
And, the rest, as they say, is history!
Everyone was so nice about it that I very quickly moved it from an exercise in my mind to something much more. Thankfully, I had already done all my outlining and planning as part of my learning process 🥰
I want to end this part on an unusual note.
My journey into writing was a strange one, and in many ways quite late in life. I always thought only a certain type of person was a writer—someone born with a pen in hand, who speaks eloquently and has read Tolstoy in multiple translations. AS I NOW KNOW THIS ISN’T TRUE, I can say that anyone can do it if they are ready to work on it, and do the hard work and practice ❤
What was the inspiration for this game, and why did you want to write a story in this genre?
I love historical anything. I like stylised language, I like worlds slightly different to our own. I think that some of the barriers to love seen in history can be used to write some great yearning. I had also just played Wayhaven and was probably thinking in terms of “detective + romance”. And one day it just came to me. (Also, Sherlock Holmes is iconic!)
What's the one thing you're really proud of that you've written so far? Do you have a fave character or scene you've written?
I’m strangely proud that most people seem to find Mrs Hudson amusing or lovable, despite her… many eccentricities. I thought I would be bombarded by hopes that she soon dies in some gruesome crime scene…
What does your writing process look like? Any habits, tips, tricks, routines or approaches that have worked well for you?
My biggest tip is this: Just start. No really. You can plan and dream forever.
Do you have favorite Interactive Fiction games, characters, scenes, or authors that you'd like to recommend?
This is the most biased thing I could say, and anyone who knows me will not be surprised. But I think Eden’s introduction scene in A Pirate's Pleasure is the most perfect example of a historical romance genre done in an IF. In everything from prose, tone, tension, and characterisation. (Warning: it’s FeMC locked, MROs, and quite stat punishing—even in the flirting!)
Ugh. Eden 🥺
What're you excited to implement/work on next?
I’m excited about two things—
Showing off the final ball romance scenes in my upcoming aaoth chapter 6.3, and doing playtests for my day job game, A Courting of Curses (It’s a 3D romance RPG made in Unreal Engine).
Then there’s a scene in chapter 7 that I hope I can do justice to how I imagine it in my mind… 👁 🫦 👁
Fun section for the historical fiction genre
Personal fave historical fiction protagonist archetype:
Gahhhh, I don’t know! Um… Like for me? Or to write? Because, like, witch? That’s fun 🧙 but victorian detective is also very fun!
Personal fave action/adventure setting:
These are all needlessly hard and difficult to answer! 🥹 I seem to gravitate towards creating things set in the 1800s, in England-like worlds. But, kid me would have 100% said ancient Egypt (I loved it after playing Age of Mythology, and watching The Mummy Returns).
If you were transported into the setting above, as the protagonist archetype you selected, what quest/adventure would you be on?
… A witch in ancient Egypt? I really don’t know if I have the skills to survive in any ancient world… 😓 As much as I like to write isekai stories, I’m far too aware of the dangers, and my own fragility, to not assume I’d die real quick…
I, uh… shall end this on that fun note! 😆
☺ Thank you, everyone, for reading, and the Interact-IF team for the questions and all of this! ❤ Have a great day ❤
as much as I love badass characters pushing through pain to fight, I also love when they hit a point where they just can't. something structural is wrong or broken, so they can't stand. their muscles are simply too weak and overworked to hold them up. their bloody hands slip off the handles of their weapons, they can't aim through their vertigo or tunneling vision, they shake from blood loss or exhaustion even if not from fear. they've just reached their limit, and no amount of willpower will change that!
At this point there could be a video of Doechii and Chappell Roan hitting a man with their car holding hands Thelma & Louise style and I'd still be like "well let's hear them out"
ellievsbear
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annaxmalina
andulkaphoto
turnnoffyourmind
