Hi guys!

At this point i think everyone’s made their way (hopefully safely) into 2019. This morning, I did a little my year in pictures on Tumblr which you can look at here, and I also want to do something for the blog, since WP is my true home online. I don’t want to do the same thing twice, however, so for the blog I’m doing a little retrospective. I’m going to take a look back at my stories and I’ll look a little ahead to some plans for 2019. So, let’s do this retrospective that nobody wanted. Yay!

Champion of Moonlight

 

So, I want to do CoM first just to get something out of the way. I finished CoM in March of this year and at the time it was the story I’ve done that I was most proud of. I’m still proud of it, but of course I can look back on it now and see a million mistakes that I’d like to change. For a long time, I left in a picture with a blatant continuity error (it’s gone now, so don’t go looking) and of course I’ve improved my picture quality immensely since I finished it. Honestly, I’d love to go through it and replace the pictures, but since I’ve got a lot of other projects on my plate, I’m not sure it’ll happen anytime soon.

The thing I want to get out of the way is that sequel that’s hovering over my head all the time. Thing is, I haven’t worked on it for months, once I realised that I just didn’t know where to take it. I really, really, really want to do the sequel at some point, since I left the story on a bit of a downer. Pressuring myself did nothing for my creativity, however, and that’s why nothing much has happened on that front since the summer. I really hope I’ll want to pursue it at some point, but I feel like I might want to edit the original a bit before I tackle the second, just so I can feel better about where things are going. When I’ve got something, I’ll let you know, but I’m afraid it won’t be anytime soon. Now, I do want to share a few pictures that I took for it at one point while I was still trying to force it and I edited them quite a bit. They’re pretty nice-looking, but alas – it wasn’t to be.

Not sure I’ll ever post a version with pictures that have been edited this much πŸ˜›

Monte Vista Stories

I finished my first generation in May of this year after much frustration. Generation 1 had grown out of hand for me, since I had nothing even resembling a plan when I started. Still, I feel like I ended the generation on a bit of a higher note with a chapter that was actually fun to write and had me using ReShade for the first time in a chapter. I’ve been using it ever since, and I’m really loving the way my game looks these days. For gen 2, I feel like the quality has been way higher. There are things that annoy me (poor Enzo’s characterisation was very weak in the beginning and I’m only just getting a feeling for him), but all in all, since I started having my boyfriend beta-read for me, I feel like my writing has become stronger.

Of course, I’ve also started rewriting gen 1. It just annoyed me too much to have new readers come to the blog, only to be met with that old mess. That’s why I decided to start doing it over and just posting it as I feel like, without a set schedule. It’s a lot of fun to be going in and changing things to suit my current style and tastes better. And, most importantly, I’ve got my beta-reader on the case for this one as well, of course! He’s already prevented me from posting a version of chapter two that was very close to the old version (i.e.: it was bad). I’ve been taking some pictures for it that I think are nice, and I’m fleshing out the characters a lot. Both gen 2 and the new gen 1 have come to mean a lot to me, and I can’t wait to continue both of them in 2019. Of course, my next gen 2 chapter will already be out on Saturday (yikes!). The gen 1 rewrite is a bit more loose, but I have a much improved version of chapter two, and as soon as boyfriend has had another look at it, I’ll be posting!

Future Projects

But of course, 2018 is over and as much as I like to look back, looking ahead is exciting as well. If you’re following me on Tumblr, you’ll know I’ve been fiddling with a few new characters lately. It’s actually a story that’s been haunting me since August or something. I did a few pictures and such for it at the time, but the story never really clicked with me (and I was too busy with gen 2 anyway). Here are a few pictures from that version of the story:

The main character’s name was going to be either Tridia or Trivia, but I could never really get her right and I never could nail down her personality. She still has a pretty nice face, though, so I may find a role for her later. If you’re wondering about her red eyes, I’m not going to tell yet, since the red eyes were relevant to the story then and are still relevant to what I’ve been working on since. Which brings me to what’ll happen now.

See, the story has finally started clicking (hopefully – it’s still early days), once I had yet another story idea that wouldn’t leave me alone. This one wasn’t explicitly fantasy, but I wanted it to be, and after a few failed attempts at coming up with some new magical universe, I decided to merge it with the story I talked about above.

I’m not going to go into much here. It’s still early days and I don’t think this story will see the light of day for a couple of months (possibly longer than that), so I’d like to keep it to myself for now. I will probably get overly excited and post pictures from it on Tumblr now and again. In fact, I’ve already done so. Here they are, in case you haven’t seen:

I can’t help but be stupidly excited about how they turned out, and they’re the first time I’ve tried using contacts with a slightly more realistic touch to them. All I will give you now are their names – Vida and Rennon – and then I’ll keep all the rest in my head and my notebooks πŸ™‚

Thank You for Being Here!

Having this blog is truly one of my favourite hobbies in the world. Thanks to all the kindness, support, and enthusiasm of the community, I’ve really enjoyed the time I spent here in 2018. I’m hoping 2019 will be an even better year for writing, reading, and being creative. Thanks to those read all of this rambling and had a look at the pics – I know nobody asked for this. Happy New Year to everyone and I’ll see you in the next post!

Cheers!

Categories: Random

20 Comments

Jowita · January 1, 2019 at 3:51 pm

I really loved all that you prepared for us in 2018 and I’m eager to read all your future projects. The picture with Trida/ Trivia walking down the street is so beautiful. I can see how you’ve improved with your pictures. They’re truly gorgeous. And I can definitely agree about WP feeling like my true home on the net. β™₯

    NotJustaBook · January 1, 2019 at 8:16 pm

    I’ve loved everything I’ve done so far and I think I’ll continue to have a lot of fun with these stories. They make me so happy πŸ™‚
    And thank you for the kind words <3 It's been fun making my game look nicer and nicer - it especially helped when I got my powerhouse pc πŸ™‚
    Tumblr is nice and all, but WP is just such a nice, friendly place. And seems we're getting more people coming around now that Tumblr's a little more strict.

audreyfld · January 1, 2019 at 6:11 pm

Your pictures are amazing! I find it was easier to pose in TS3 but have gotten the hang of 4. I don’t β€˜do’ tumblr. It’s overwhelming. Although I just got on Twitter and it’s crazy.

    NotJustaBook · January 1, 2019 at 8:18 pm

    Thank you, Audrey <3 the posing is one of the things keeping me from going over to ts4. That and not wanting to start over with all my CC.
    Tumblr can be really overwhelming and I don't think my style fits very well on Tumblr either - a lot of users are very young there and I can tell I fall outside of the group a bit sometimes πŸ˜›

lazysunjade · January 2, 2019 at 10:18 pm

Wow, those edits for the CoM sequel look amazing! Editing is so time consuming and sometimes unrealistically so with sim stories, but damn the products look great. If only we had unlimited time and energy lol. And your new characters look gorgeous! Especially this Trivia girl (which I love as a name btw, even if you don’t go with either of those!), and that shot has me drooling, how beautiful, and that city scene! I wish you a very happy, and productive 2019! Can’t wait to see what this new year brings for your blog =)

    NotJustaBook · January 3, 2019 at 3:28 pm

    Thank you so much, Jade! It’s sad but true – I don’t think I can do that much with my pictures for each chapter – if only!
    I really like Trivia, too! After digging out these older pics, I really want to find a role for her in the current story :p I’m just generally obsessed with all of these characters right now, haha πŸ˜€
    It means so much to hear you say my shots are nice, sine I’m constantly in awe of yours. Thank you so much!
    I’m really excited for all the stuff to come πŸ™‚

twinsimskeletons · January 5, 2019 at 4:02 pm

I really loved all those pictures, but particularly the one with the girl walking, backpack and headphones on, with that beautiful backdrop and the shadow of the tree. WOW. I felt like I was there, and I’m SO jealous!!
I am always excited to read things from you. Wherever you take your blog in 2019, I’ll be here reading πŸ™‚

    NotJustaBook · January 5, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    Thank you so much Carys <3 I like that shot a lot myself and I'm glad I got a chance to share it. The pictures I took for that version were great, but the story never clicked, unfortunately!
    So glad that you're reading along. It's always nice to hear your thoughts πŸ™‚ And you hopefully now at this stage that I feel much the same with SOL. I love it a LOT! πŸ™‚

Kymber · January 5, 2019 at 6:25 pm

You never cease to amaze me! All your pictures are so lovely. Like, better than lovely. lol πŸ™‚ I can’t wait to see what happens in 2019!

    NotJustaBook · January 5, 2019 at 7:48 pm

    You’re too sweet – thank you <3 πŸ™‚
    I'm really excited about all the stuff I'm doing. I think 2019 will be nice!

socallucyfan · January 12, 2019 at 2:00 am

This is almost 2 weeks late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I enjoyed this walk down memory lane. I feel like it has been forever since CoM wrapped. Time really flies. What I am even more excited about is what you have planned for 2019.

    NotJustaBook · January 12, 2019 at 8:01 am

    Happy belated new year to you, too, friend! πŸ˜€
    I can’t believe how long it’s been since I finished it either. This year has just flown by. I can’t wait for all the new stuff!

sempreviva · January 27, 2019 at 7:29 pm

Hmmm I’m really, REALLY late – but I wish you happy new year!! Yeah… this is weird such a long time later lmaooo πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
It was so nice to see your past stories mentioned, and I am more excited to learn about your new story! This is in Boroughsburg, right? Such a sweet world <3 And those two pictures are amazing – Tridia (or Trivia) is beautiful 😍 Can't wait to see what she will be up to – if you decide to tell her story of course!
Here's to many more great years to come! πŸ˜€

    NotJustaBook · January 28, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    Ha, ha, happy belated new year to you as well, friend! Things happen and the time after new year is usually busy, so no worries!
    Yeah, that’s Boroughsburg. I’m thinking I’ll be using it for my new story, though it won’t all be set there. I’m still shopping around for world to set the majority of it in – I’m not sure yet.
    He, he, since Trivia is so popular, I think I’ll end up giving her a secondary role and maybe her own tale later. For now I’m too attached to Vida as a main. πŸ˜€
    Thanks for reading this and commenting. <3

Lila Remonn · May 22, 2019 at 7:22 am

Love the reflections and awesome bonus pictures <3 Have you done anything more for these other stories or are you focusing on Gen 2 right now?

    NotJustaBook · May 22, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    Thank you so much, Lila. πŸ™‚
    I still look at these stories now and again but unfortunately I haven’t managed to make them really click in my mind. I mostly focus on gen 2, yes, though there’s a little for-fun thing I’m writing on the side to relax. πŸ™‚

amyqueen · September 19, 2019 at 1:11 am

I love how I’m here right as we near the end of the year. Woah, that unintentionally rhymed XD
CoM was great, and man those photos are so lovely. I don’t think I need to remind you how much I loved it, but I figure I might as well express it again: I LOVED it! I could not stop reading once I started~ And I shall patiently await the sequel, though I don’t want you to feel pressured in the slightest <3 Those photos of your potential new story are so nice. That city shot is especially impressive. The eyes on Tridia/Trivia are striking <3.<3
Well, the year's almost done, but I'm looking forward to everything you have in store till the end <3 πŸ™‚

    NotJustaBook · September 19, 2019 at 4:15 pm

    Ha, since you reminded me of this post, I’m sort of missing CoM now. Hopefully some day that fabled sequel will happen…
    As for other projects they’re on the backburner, but I’m so glad you liked these pics. I really wish I had more time on my hands because I’d just write everything. <3

Monte Vista Stories | 2.23. After Summer – NotJustaBookSims · January 9, 2019 at 9:04 pm

[…] been spamming something fierce through my Christmas break and it resulted in a taggy thing and a 2018 retrospective, in case anyone’s curious. No? Oh well, it’s there if you get bored or need something […]

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