Summer Camp 2025 Pledge & Prep
Hello Campers!
This is going to be my third Summer Camp, and I'm super excited for my favorite event of the year! Summer Camp 2023 was the first event I participated in at WorldAnvil, and it got me hooked on writing daily - so much so that I've been writing an article a day ever since. All that practice paid off last year, when several of my articles were short-listed for awards, and I'm hoping that this year I will show improvement again!
During my first two Summer Camps, I was entirely focused on a single world, The Million Islands. But at the beginning of the year, I started writing one article a week in a second world, the High-Magic Victorian Magepunk world of High Albion. Summer Camp was one of the reasons I wanted a second world to play in - sometimes a prompt was a little tricky to fit into my single world, but I think it will be easier with another setting to connect to.
Summer Camp Prep Week 1 - Nourishment
Assignment 1 Think about ways the theme of Nourishment affects your world. Do people generally have what they need? What happens when they don’t?
Nourishment is a broad topic, when you get into all the metaphorical ways it can be addressed. For the world of the Million Islands, the first thing that jumps to mind are the creatures who have found ways to nourish themselves using extra resources not present in our world. Some thrive on a diet of thought or attention, while others consume magic and emotional bonds. I'll also be looking for ways that nations and people nourish their relationships, and even how physical processes (like the Great Current) are nourished by the conditions they arise from.
High Albion is a setting much more focused on international relations, and the thing I want to look at is how the conditions and events are nourishing a climate of distrust between the world's major powers. Their rivalry is the engine driving the world's story forward, and I've only begun to explore all the players in their Great Game. I'm looking forward to how the prompts will drive me to explore all of these things in new ways!
Assignment 2 Download the pledge document and fill it out with your goal for Summer Camp!
Assignment 3 If you found any outdated articles in your world, update the most important ones now! Do the same with your worldbuilding meta.
This one's easy this year, as I've already done that in the last six months for both worlds. Meta and core articles are all up to date!
Summer Camp Prep Week 2 - Roots
Assignment 1 Look at the cultures and areas you’ll focus on for Summer Camp, and think about how their past shaped them.
I'm not focusing heavily on one area - I've found that when shooting for Diamond, I want to keep my scope wide and let the prompts lead me where they will. However, both of my worlds are heavily tied to their history. In The Million Islands, I've got several thousand years of history I can draw from, and the events of the past are always in mind as I write. In High Albion, I am still defining the history, and I'll be doing more of that during Summer Camp, I expect.
Assignment 2 Go to your world’s homepage and imagine you’re a new reader discovering the setting for the first time. What should you change to make the experience more engaging?
This is another place where I've recently done this exact exercise - so yay! Assignment done before it was given!
Assignment 3 Find your earliest worldbuilding project. What mistakes did you make that you want to avoid? What good ideas from those early days can you integrate into your current project? Remember to take a moment to be proud of how far you've come!
Hmm. I do a lot of revision, and I'm not sure I have a good way to look back at my earliest stuff. I know that I've advanced a lot in the last few years - daily writing has that effect (practice, practice, practice). I know in my early writing on WorldAnvil I tried to fill in the templates, regardless of whether it made sense - now I still use them, but mostly as a way to categorize the articles, not for their fields. I write what seems right, not what the template calls for. I've definitely learned more about the visual design of my articles, and how to organize them better (internally, and collectively too). But there's not a lot of old work I can drag out to compare (and all my earliest/foundational articles went through extensive revision earlier this year).
Summer Camp Prep Week 3 - Metamorphosis
Assignment 1 What transformations and adaptations have the people in your world gone through? What changes are going on right now… and who is trying to stop them?
In The Million Islands, I have a lot of historical and current transformations to work with. One that stands out is the change that occurs among the gods when culture changes underneath them. Some gods die when their believers are removed - others transform and become part of a new pantheon. On the other hand, the situation in High Albion is all about the growth and develop of a particular type of creature that I won't go into detail about here - it's a secret in the world, and only those who join my Lorekeepers group there will see those details.
Assignment 2 Choose a new genre, style, or author, and take a look at their art! Write what you learned from them and what inspired you.
Yeah - this one I'm failing at. Between writing, work, and kids, I don't have much free time. I read when I can, and I've mostly given up anything else. I'll see what I can fit in before the event starts.
Assignment 3 Read a couple of articles from the community, give them a like (and why not a sticker!), and write about what inspired you.
I'm consistently impressed by the quality of several of the authors here. I'm going to pick three at random:
Summer Camp Prep Week 4 - Tomorrow
Assignment 1 Think about current events that will impact the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?
My entire Kitsunjin culture is built around creating a brighter world - and they have adversaries working against them. I might have to dive into what the Hleemeentreezee are really up to this summer!
Assignment 2 Make sure everything’s ready—from your writing space to your writing schedule—before Summer Camp begins!
This one is easy. I write every day (coming up on two years of my streak!) so I'm always ready.
Assignment 3 Who or what will help you achieve your goal? What will your sharing strategy be during Summer Camp?
Practice, practice, practice. And my lovely friends in the Storyteller's Circle and the Articles Anonymous chapter, who will yell at me if I skip one of daily articles! :)
Have a great Summer Camp! Best of luck with your pledge, although I have no doubt you'll reach that goal :D
Thanks!
Thank you so much for including my article in your homework :) It means a lot that you are liking my work!