Writing (The Sims 4)
- For the writing skill in The Sims 3, see Writing (The Sims 3).
- See also: Book
Writing is a skill in The Sims 4 in which Sims can create new stories and publish them in a variety of ways to gain simoleons in royalties.
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Writing
A Sim practicing her writing
The skill is enhanced by having the Sim Inspired or Focused as well as the Aspiration Bestselling Author under the Creativity category. Other emotions can benefit writing books, which in turn will create higher quality books and larger royalty payments, Sims with the Expressionistic Trait from the Painter Aspiration can write all types of emotional books, even if they are not currently experiencing that emotion.
Every book writing experience begins with a pop-up dialogue asking the player to enter a book title and description of the book's content. The title field will already have a randomized title, which the player may re-write, and the default description is always "This is a <whatever genre> Book." After every book is finished Sims may publish them by clicking on the mailbox and selecting either Self-publishing, Selling to a Publisher, or Submitting to a Literary Digest. Each of these publishing options impact how much a Sim will earn in royalty payments.
Sims can only write using a Computer, and completed books can only be published through the Mailbox, and they take 4 Sim hours to write.
Useful Traits and Emotions
Traits
Some traits can aid in creating books and raise their quality:
- Genius: Genius Sims can randomly be Focused for four Sim hours, this is an opportune time for them to be writing.
- Creative: Creative Sims can randomly be Inspired for four hours, this is an opportune time for them to be writing.
- Bookworm: Bookworm Sims will get happy after reading or starting a book, becoming inspired or focused after reading a book.
- 'Muser': Available only if a Creative aspiration has been selected. Musers get better boosts to their skills when they're inspired.
- Poetic: Available after completing the Bestselling Author aspiration. Poetic Sims can capture life itself in a book, and wield it to bring back someone they've lost.
Traits bought from the Satisfaction points Rewards Store:
- Creative Visionary: (2000 Satisfaction Points) Sims with this trait have a 20% higher chance to make Bestseller books.
- Great Storyteller[TS4OR]: (500 Satisfaction Points) Sims with this trait will be more happy when writing books and will get moodlets making them feel certain emotions after telling a story to another Sim, these emotions can easily be used to create better books.
Emotions
- Inspired: Inspired Sims can write better quality books.
- Focused: Focused Sims will writer better quality books and be less distracted.
- Flirty: Flirty Sims will write better quality Romance books, especially when they're Very Flirty.
- Confident: Confident Sims will write better Motivation books, especially when they're Very Confident.
- Playful: Playful Sims will write better Playful books, especially when they're Very Playful or Hysterical (However, it is very ill-advised to have a Sim Hysterical as they are greatly risk of Dying from Laughter.)
- Energized: Energized Sims will write better Workout Guides, especially when they're Very Energized.
Unlocks
Sims can create a variety of books of several genres as well as do many other things with the Writing skill itself:
Writing Skill Level Unlocks
While raising a Sim's writing skill does not reduce the amount of time it takes to write a book (4 Sim hours), as a Sim progresses through the Writing Skill they can unlock interactions such as new book genres or writing other forms of literature:
- At Level 1, Sims can Practice Writing, and write Children's Books
- At Level 2, Sims who are sad can write Sad Books, and Sims are able to Self-Publish their works.
- At Level 3, Sims can write Short Story Books, write Excuse notes for Sims in school or work, read Non-fiction Books for reference (reading will make your Sim Inspired). Sims can Discuss Favourite Book/Author with other Sims. And Sims can write Motivational Books while Confident as well as write Playful Books when Playful.
- At Level 4, Sims can write Love Emails to other Sims and write Poems, as well as, can write Romance Books while Flirty and Workout Guides while Energized.
- At Level 5, Sims can write Non-Fiction Books, unlock the ability to Sell to Publisher, and Recite Love Poetry as a Social Interaction.
- At Level 6, Sims can write Screenplays.
- At Level 7, Sims can write Fantasy Books.
- At Level 8, Sims can write Science-Fiction Books.
- At Level 9, Sims can write Mystery Books and now can Submit to a Literary Digest.
- At Level 10, Sims can write Biographies and Mentor Sims in Writing.
The Book of Life
See full: Book of Life
The Bestselling Author Aspiration under the Creativity category is an Aspiration path specifically for writing books and becoming a famous author.
Once the Bestselling Author Aspiration is complete, Sims with a Level 10 Writing Skill can write The Book of Life. The author may bind a Sim's life to the Book, which will allow them to be summoned or even brought back to life. If a Sim has bound the Book of Life to themselves, only other Sims who have completed the Aspiration and have Level 10 Writing can resurrect the Sim. However, if a Sim reads the book bound to themselves they can become Very Focused.
Starting a Book
Sims can start a book at any writing level, but certain genres aren't available until the Writing skill increases. The full list of books Sims can create are:
Genre Books:
- Biography
- Children's
- Fantasy
- Mystery
- Non-Fiction
- Poetry
- Science Fiction
- Screenplay
- Short Story
Emotional Boosts and Genres:
These are the book genres that can be created only when a Sim author is in a specific mood (unless the Sim has the Expressionistic trait from the Painter Aspiration):
- Motivation Book (Only if Confident)
- Romance (Only if Flirty)
- Playful Book (Only if Playful)
- Sad Book (Only if Sad)
Book Quality
Authors can write books of varying quality, from Normal, to Good, Excellent, and Bestseller, depending on the skill level and mood of the author. Sims who are experiencing a Very emotion (Very Inspired, Very Flirty, Very Confident, etc.) will help increase the quality of the book being written in the appropriate genre.
Publishing a Book
There are three ways of publishing a Sim's book: Self-Publishing, Selling to Publisher, and Submitting to Literary Digest. All of these methods of publishing are available through the Mailbox, however not all forms of publishing are available right away.
Self-Publishing: Available at level 2. Self Publishing is the fastest and easiest way of publishing a book, however it produces the least amount of royalties.
Selling to Publisher: Available at level 5. Selling to a Publisher gives the Sim author a moderate amount of royalties. Selling to a Publisher gets 50% more earnings than Self-Publishing.
Submitting to a Literary Digest: Available at level 9. Submitting to a Literary Digest is only available once a week but allows for the Sim author to get a large amount of royalties. This option doubles the royalties you can get from selling to a publisher,
Royalties
Royalties are earned at 10AM every day for about 20 Sim days for each book published. Royalty payments vary according to the quality of the book:
For a Normal Book the Sim can earn approximately §10-50
For a Good Book the Sim can earn approximately §50-100
For an Excellent Book the Sim can earn approximately §100-300
For a Bestseller Book the Sim can earn approximately §200-800
Stacking Royalties
Sims can write multiple books of multiple varieties of quality and genre. Because Publishing to a Literary Digest earns the most, but is available only once a week, Sims can earn the most by reserving their Bestseller quality books for Literary Digests, and selling the rest to a Publisher.
The more books, the more royalties that the Sim author can rake in every day which, if the Sim has made lots of Excellent-Bestseller books, can become quite lucrative.
Other things to do
There are other things that Sims can do with the Writing skill, such as writing a Love Email, in which Sims can send emails to a Sim they know (preferably a lover) which will increase the romantic relationship between the writer and the Sim the email was sent to.
Sims who are in the journalist track of the writing career can write articles for cash. They first need to interview other Sims by using the 'Interview for Story' or 'Interview About Life' social interaction. In addition, a Sim can also click on rubbish bins around town and select 'Rummage for Info'. The Sim should then sit at a computer and select 'Write Positive Article...' or 'Write Negative Article...' under the 'Write' menu. They will then choose the Sim to write about. A Sim who finishes an article with a level 10 writing skill will earn anywhere between §190 and §210. Writing a positive or negative article does not directly affect the money a Sim who wrote the article can earn but it can slightly affect the relationship with the Sim that was written about. It will take four or five Sim interviews to complete the daily writing task for the writing career's journalist track.
Sims can also write notes for Children to skip a day of school or Young Adults and older to skip a day of Work