The Sims 4 Stories: Creating Your Own Exciting SimLit

So you want to create your own SimLit?

Have you ever wanted to create and share your own SimLit, but don’t know where to start? Well, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know to get started!

SimLit has been a popular form of player created content stemming from The Sims franchise for a number of years. With players using the game to tell stories back in the days of the original The Sims game, spin-offs and right the way through to The Sims 4 era!

What is SimLit?

Now, you might be wondering what exactly is SimLit? Simply SimLit is the shortened version of Sim Literature, which ultimately means Sims Stories. This usually comes in the form of written media and incorporates in-game screenshots to help bring the story alive.

Creating Your Own The Sims 4 Stories

There are two different kinds of Sims 4 Stories, that which is Story Driven and the other being Sim Driven. Story Driven is where your story inspires the gameplay, whereas Sim Driven is when the game directs the story. Naturally, this also raises questions as to how you go ahead writing your Sims 4 stories, and there is no right or wrong way about how you go about the process.

If you’ve got an idea that you want to tell through The Sims or even let the game inspire your storytelling, then go for it!

Here are a few things to consider when you’re looking to start your own SimLit:

Writing Platform
SimLit Title
SimLit Style – Multiple Chapters, Graphic Novel, Short Story etc
Photo Editing Program
Schedule – daily, weekly, monthly?
Social Media

While this is not a definitive list of things to consider, these are some good starting points!

Ideas & Inspiration

The fuel behind your SimLit can come from a number of places. It can be from something you’ve seen or read that inspires you, an idea that has almost given you that lightbulb kind of moment, or maybe even a song or lyric that has sparked your imagination.

Regardless of where the source of inspiration or ideas has originated from, you’ll more than likely be looking for a way to document those as you plan out your Sims 4 Stories.

You may also have ideas for outfits, locations, builds/backgrounds, events, clubs, custom content or no custom content, mods and more that can also aide in the telling of your stories.

Word Document/Notebook

There’s nothing wrong with making notes in either a Word document or notebook. Both are quick and easy ways to jot down ideas on the go.

Notion

Notion is another great tool that allows you to fully customize your notebook the way you want by using a mixture of text, images, widgets and more!

Creating your own Simlit for The Sims — Example of a Blank Notion Notebook

Notion is available for free on via Browsers, as a downloadable app on your PC/Mac and on Mobile Devices. Better still, you can access Notion on multiple devices and access all your content with no issues!

Family Tree

Edit: Since this guide was originally published, the Plum Tree App Team has shared that they will be closing down in the near future. To find out more, as well as some alternatives players can use for creating a Family Tree click here.

If you are planning a story spanning multiple generations, documenting a generation’s challenge, or simply wanting to keep track of your families, then creating a family tree could come in handy for you!

Plum Tree App is one of the most popular and frequently used Family Tree apps within the community.

Family Tree for The Sims 4 (Plum Tree App) — The Harrigan Family via Plum Tree App

Find out everything you need to know and get started with your own Family Tree right now over on Plum Tree App!

The Plum Tree App

Sim Planners

Create a more structured and thought out plan when it comes to creating your Sims 4 Stories by using a Sim Planner. Well, Yellow Llama Co might just be what you are looking for!

The Sims Planners by Yellow Llama Co come in a range of different styles and are perfect companions for a number of different play styles. Better still, you can choose to use a physical copy or digital version, both of which are handy to refer to on the go!

Yellow Lllama Co

Interested and want to discover more about Sim Planners? Check out the Yellow Llama Co site!

Yellow Llama Co. Sim Planners

Now that you’ve got a place to keep your ideas and inspiration, it’s time to have a look at some of the places you can host your SimLit.

Where to host your Sims 4 Stories

There is a variety of places where you can create and share your content. Most of which are all free to do so and offer a number of ways to customize your experience.

WordPress & Blogger

Both WordPress and Blogger are popular options for writers! Not only offer you a great deal of customization, they also offer you more in-depth tools and a bigger insight into post editing and site traffic. While you can start both of these for free, you can, if you wish, take it to the next level by looking at hosting, premium themes and advanced tools to create a truly unique SimLit experience.

Tumblr

Also known as Simblr within the community, Tumblr offers you a range of ways to share your Sims 4 Stories as well as tools for scheduling multiple posts, customizable Tumblr site themes and more!

Additionally, Tumblr is a great place to also discover SimLit writers too!

As well as using Social Media to share and promote content, you can also use various features across the platforms to share your Sims 4 Stories. Be using the album feature on Facebook, posting your story directly onto X, using Instagram (aka Simstagram) to tell your story, there are plenty of options you can use right at your fingertips.

Social Media is also a great place to discover more Simmers and SimLit writers!

By no means, are these the only places you can host your Sims 4 Stories, they are, however, the most common places many SimLit writers tend to use when getting started. You can also share your content on multiple platforms as well if you wish to help reach an even bigger audience!

What Next?

By now you’ve probably got a good idea as to what you want to create and write as well as where you will be planning on sharing your stories. You’ve got plenty of notes written down and maybe even the first rough draft, if not more, ready to go.

Before you jump in to the next stage, have you got your title ready? Created some kind of title image and/or branding for your Sims 4 Stories? Have you thought about the places you want to promote your SimLit?

While you don’t need an answer right away to these questions, they are useful points to consider before you publish your Sims 4 Stories.

Of course, this also leads us onto editing photos, finding and using poses!

Photo Editing

This may seem like a more difficult aspect of creating your when in fact it can be simple, straightforward and fun!

While many people would automatically think of PhotoShop being an option for photo editing, there are actually a number of alternatives writers may find better suited to their needs.

Here are a selection of photo editing apps and software you can consider to help get you started!

Canva
Paint.net
Gimp
Photoshop Express/Adobe Lightroom CC
Snapseed (Android and iOS)

Sims 4 Stories ideas through Canva — Canva.com

Strike a Pose

One way to help bring your storytelling to life is through the use of poses. While custom poses are only available for PC and Mac players, using the default in game poses on console can still bring your story alive.

Important: New to Poses or Not sure how to use custom poses? Check out this helpful walkthrough here.

Now, if you are looking for poses, there are two ways you can go about finding the perfect ones.

Firstly, on Curseforge, you can search the Poses and Animations section. Here you will find a variety of different poses for single Sims and groups of Sims, those that focus more so on facial expressions and even family photo style poses.

Sims 4 Stories: Poses — The Poses & Animations section of Curseforge

The second way that you can find the perfect custom poses, is by searching Custom Content sites such as The Sims Resource, Mod The Sims, Maxis Match CC World and individual creators!

Here are some poses creators you can check out:

There are so many talent custom pose creators out there that create such a variety of poses. There is something for every kind of story out there, just waiting to be discovered!

ReShade

Another way to enhance your screenshots is through the use of ReShade. These ReShade presets alter your graphics overall look and can help bring your stories to life even more.

To find out more about ReShade, follow our getting started walkthrough here.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of creating your own Sims 4 Stories, it’s time to share them to the community!

When you are ready, it’s time to publish your SimLit creation on your chosen platform(s). It’s natural to feel nervous, however it’s exciting too! Don’t forget to use and check out tags/searches such as SimLit and Sims Stories when sharing your content too!

Additional Resources

Looking for some more handy and useful guides to help you on your Sims 4 Stories, journey? We’ve got you covered!

SimLit Creators

There are so many talented and creative Sims 4 Story writers in the game’s community! Whether you are ready to dive in and start your own SimLit or you just want to read.

Take a look at a few examples of SimLit from writers within The Sims Community:

With so many ways that you can tell your stories through The Sims, you’ll never be out of ideas! As someone just starting out, there will be some trial and error until you find what works best for you and your stories, and that is all natural.

SimLit is a great way to express and tell such a range of stories and better still you can use any of The Sims games to do so!

Are you looking to start writing your own Sims 4 Stories? Maybe you have been writing your own for some time now however, before you leave this post, we have one question for you that we’d love for you to share your answers.