How to beat writer's block (according to the Sims 4)
Monday, 30 July 2018 20:14Writing is half reason, half ritual. There's an element of magical thinking to it, and also an element of self-reinforced habits. You make your own recipe for a muse, more or less. Some of the advice for beating writer's block is so bland, or so arbitrary, you feel like you might as well...
Well, you might as well take advice from a video game.
In The Sims 4, individual sims are ruled by their mood. The canonical mood for creative work (which includes playing instruments, writing, painting and cooking) is "Inspired". Inspiration don't come easy -- except in TS4, where it literally does. True, true, it comes a lot easier if you have lots of money, or if you've already had success in one of the creative careers. But even at the lower levels, there is always something your sim can do to get in a creative mood.
How to beat writer's/artist's block, TS4 style:
Ah, fuck it. I'm gonna go drink my ginger tea and eat my black licorice and hope for the best.
Well, you might as well take advice from a video game.
In The Sims 4, individual sims are ruled by their mood. The canonical mood for creative work (which includes playing instruments, writing, painting and cooking) is "Inspired". Inspiration don't come easy -- except in TS4, where it literally does. True, true, it comes a lot easier if you have lots of money, or if you've already had success in one of the creative careers. But even at the lower levels, there is always something your sim can do to get in a creative mood.
How to beat writer's/artist's block, TS4 style:
- Take a "thoughtful shower" -- the easiest way, available to all but the poorest sims. Grants four hours of blissfully enmused creativity.
- Drink green tea (my flesh and blood self prefers ginger, because it's caffeine free).
- Interact with a reward you got from progressing in your creative career (lovingly strokes the paperback copy of the anthology I was published in).
- Cloud or star gazing (it was cloudy yesterday, dammit, why didn't I take advantage).
- Playing with molding clay (this is actually a good idea, I gotta get me something like that).
- Drinking coffee, but only if done at a cafe (can confirm, I just had a moccha latte).
- Completing a piece of art/writing, but only if you're at a low skill level (presented without comment).
- Mentoring from a sim with a higher skill level (...).
- A special creaitvity-boosting mixed juice drink called the "Prose and Pop". I'm gonna have a lot of fun trying to invent a recipe for that one.
- Just fucken' be born naturally creative or something. Don't even.
Ah, fuck it. I'm gonna go drink my ginger tea and eat my black licorice and hope for the best.