This page is located on the SimsWiki. To view it in it's original form, click here.
Sims 3 Game Help Categories:

Custom Content  | Installation  | Gameplay Guides  | Technical & Graphics Issues  | Miscellaneous Issues

MTS Help Q&A Forums


Contents

Writing Skill

The Writing skill is a skill career, so your sims can register as a Self-Employed writers, earning special rewards for selling their work.

It starts out with the options to Practice Writing, start Fiction Novel and start Non-Fiction Novel. As your level progress you have the added options of additional Novel types, and the royalties paid for these also increase.

  • Bookworm Trait can write and read books faster.
  • Perfectionist Trait writes book slower, but royalties will be greater.
  • Artistic Trait writes books faster and with higher royalties.


EP Level Genre Average Length Expected Royalties Comments
Late Night 0 Action Screeplay 100 Requires level 8 in the Directing branch of the Film career
Base Game 1 Fiction 90 §
Base Game 1 Non-Fiction 90 §
Base Game 1 Science Fiction 150 § Computer Whiz Trait requires 0 Level
Base Game 2 Trashy 190 §
Late Night 2 Sci-Fi Screeplay 100 Requires level 8 in the Directing branch of the Film career
Base Game 3 Journalism Article 79 §
Base Game 3 Drama 305 §§
Base Game 3 Childrens 105 §§ Requires Painting level 4
Late Night 4 Romantic Comedy Screeplay 100 Requires level 8 in the Directing branch of the Film career
Base Game 5 Humor 345 §§ Good Sense of Humor Trait requires Level 2
Base Game 5 Satire 350 §§§ 3 Humor Novels written required
Base Game 6 Historical 505 §§§ Sim must be an elder.
Late Night 6 Indie Screeplay 100 Requires level 8 in the Directing branch of the Film career
Late Night 8 Drama Screeplay 100 Requires level 8 in the Directing branch of the Film career
Base Game 8 Mystery 510 §§§
Base Game 10 Romance 675 §§§§ Hopeless Romantic Trait requires Skill Level 5
Base Game 10 Vaudeville 1250 §§§§§ 2 of each Genre Required
Base Game Biography 400 §§ From opportunity
Base Game Auto-Biography 400 §§ From opportunity
Base Game Fantasy 150 §§§ 3 Sci-Fi Novels written required
Base Game Life Story 400 §§§ From top level career opportunity
Base Game Political Memoir 400 §§§ From Political career opportunity
Base Game Masterpiece 2000 §§§§§§ 25 books written required

Writing Speed

There are several factors that influence a Sim's writing speed.

  • Standard Writing Rate .12 ppm
  • Book Worm Bonus Rate Adds .03 ppm
  • Level 10 Writing Skill Bonus Adds .25 ppm
  • Read 50 Books Bonus Adds .15 ppm
  • Speed Writer Bonus Multiplies total ppm by 1.4

For example, a Sim with the Book Worm trait, maximum writing skill, who has read 50 books, and who has completed the Speed Writer skill challenge would have a writing rate of 0.77 page per minute: (0.12 + 0.03 + 0.25 + 0.15) * 1.4

Such a Sim could complete an average Masterpiece in under 44 hours of total work. However, if that Sim had not yet read 50 books, their page per minute rate would be 0.56 and an average Masterpiece would require closer to 60 hours.

Quality of Book

Each level brings the chance of the book to be a flop, a hit or a Best Seller.

Level Chance of Flop Chance of Hit Chance of Best Seller
1 0 5 2
2 35 5 5
3 20 8 5
4 15 10 5
5 10 11 7
6 10 11 7
7 8 12 7
8 8 12 7
9 5 12 7
10 4 15 10

These are relative chances. So at level 10, you have a 15 in 29 chance to write a hit.

Note that there are several significant factors that can alter these odds.

  • Each book written in a given genre improves your chances in that genre.
    • Completing the Specialist Writer challenge improves your chances in your genre of specialization even further!
  • The Prolific Writer challenge increases your chances in all genres.
  • There is a skill opportunity available (write a book with royalties of §100 or more) that will also improve your chances from then on.

Challenges

Title Description
Speed Writer Speed Writers are so prolific that they've earned §30,000 in royalties. Speed Writers write more quickly than normal writers.
Prolific Writer Prolific Writers have written at least 20 books in their career. They are so well known that they tend to write far more hits and best-sellers than their counterparts.
Specialist Writer Writers must pen at least 5 novels in a specific genre to be known as a specialist for the genre. Such specialists write far more hits and best-sellers in their particular genre than most.
Sims 3 Game Help Categories:

Custom Content  | Installation  | Gameplay Guides  | Technical & Graphics Issues  | Miscellaneous Issues

MTS Help Q&A Forums