Summer Camp 2024 Homework
Hello, everyone! Is everyone excited about Summer Camp?! I can't believe it's already here, but I'm a mix between excited and nervous. This will be my third Summer Camp and I think I have enough experience to know where to set my goals and how much effort to put into my articles. Switching between two worlds went great last year, so I'll be doing that again. I'm simultaneously writing two articles during June, but most of the work on those will be the images. I'm also going on a week's vacation, so my homework updates won't be perfect.
For this year, I'm keeping my ambitions low. I know I have a lot going on during July, including a trip near the middle of the month, so I might not have as much time to write as I would like. However, I have surpassed my goals in the past, so I hope I'll do it again. And so this year's goal is to write fifteen articles (!) and absolutely achieve Copper. Last year I surprised myself and wrote seventeen after aiming for ten, but my inspiration can come and go. We'll see how it goes, maybe I'll get Silver again! I know that even after achieving Copper, I won't stop writing, so I'll just write whatever inspires me, whatever sounds cool, and whatever I feel like I can write. I'm a very chill writer. (What's that camp that's more casual? I can't remember the name...)
I'll be switching between my worlds of Jerde and Tread of Darkness this Summer Camp. I'll actually probably focus more on Tread of Darkness, but I'm writing this article on Jerde because it's active for the articles I'm writing.
Homework Week 1: Organization & Meta
Honestly, I feel pretty good about my organization in both worlds. I always create lots of categories at the beginning just in case, but I should probably check the categories just to be sure. There may be a few uncategorized articles. Alright, I'm back after going through and checking my categories. There are still a few uncategorized articles in Jerde but all three are still drafts. Tread of Darkness had several, mostly items that I wrote during February. I created a category for the uncategorized conflict articles since there are likely to be many more such articles. As for the items, I added most of them to the Culture category and added one to Commerce & Trade. Oh lights, the meta. I'm going to be brutally honest here. I don't really pay attention to the meta of my worlds, nor do I look into it in other people's worlds. I have checked it before, but I feel like I should be able to get my ideas across in other ways rather than an overview of everything. I'm also really bad at in-depth overall summaries. I prefer more direct methods. But, for the purposes of the homework, I went over it. Jerde's meta is... pretty much nonexistent. It also apparently glitched and started showing stuff from Tread of Darkness, which is unfortunate because I remember writing stuff and now it's gone. I guess I'll be working on it in between my other projects. Tread of Darkness, on the other hand, is pretty good. It's not totally complete, it only has sections about the scope and theme, but I feel good about it. I don't think I want to change anything.Homework Week 2: Community & Styling
I'm going to be honest. I'm not a super social person, especially not online. Therefore, I will be relying mostly on encouragement from friends and family to keep me going. I do love commenting on articles and reading ones people write for me, so I really hope that will happen this year, but other than that, I guess there won't be much from anyone else on World Anvil. It's mostly my fault for refusing to have social media accounts yet, but I really can't find it in me to regret that, so I guess I'll be fine with this. Please don't think I don't love the World Anvil community, my reasons are entirely personal. Talking about styling... well, I haven't really figured out all of the widgets for making things look perfect. I have figured out a lot, which has definitely improved my article style, but I haven't been able to do much with the homepage or other features. Most of that is probably my subscription tier, but a decent amount is that I really don't want to spend hours trying to make something look perfect only for it to fail. Ah, perfectionism. However, speaking of things that actually work out, I think I've got a good grasp of how to balance text with images and other details. I've also begun experimenting with different article formats and creating my own layouts when I don't like the template.Homework Week 3: Images & Inspiration
I won't be publishing it here, but I have collected various things that help inspire and motivate me. Music often helps me write more productively and there are different playlists I have used before that I'll use again. I'll try to take some walks more often, those often give me ideas for dialogue. And of course, I love to bounce ideas off of my brother whenever we're together. We've been working on a vague plot for Grade Unknown, a story we came up with together over the winter, but he can still help. I probably should have put him in the "community" section now that I think about it, haha. Images are the hardest part of any article for me. My art skills, while passable at times, rarely have motivation. My photography is much better, but there are only so many pictures of flowers I can use before I have to stage incredibly strange photos or pull friends into my ideas. I now have two friends who are good artists, but I just commissioned them for help with some Gifted powers I was working on and only one has finished so far. As wonderful as it is to have friends who are willing to create art for me, I never want to push or pressure them. So this year, like the ones before it, all photos will be taken by me as I go along and any art used will also be created by me as I write.Homework Week 4: Environment & Page Reviews
I write on the floor a lot. It's more comfortable, don't ask. I have a lot of papers stacked on my desk (mostly old notes I have to sort through) and I'm planning on cleaning them up later, maybe today or tomorrow. Sometimes I drink tea when writing, sometimes not. We have enough, I know there's at least one full box of my favorite in the closet. As for time...I had previously used Thursday and Sunday afternoons the most, but I now have engagements during those times. I can perhaps use Wednesdays, those are now my best days. Additionally, I am going on a trip during the second-to-last week of July and will probably be exhausted when I return. But I'm certain I can make time, especially in the morning and late at night. I have finally updated my home pages and reviewed most of my introductions! Most of the Jerde ones are pretty old, but I've decided to work on Gifted Downsides after Summer Camp. The basic article on Gifted Powers is still under work, since I haven't written an article for every single power just yet. I did finish one recently though! I also modified my author page just slightly to remove some things I didn't want to be public. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about my introductions!Theme 1: Change
Hmm. I think I can roll with this. Over the past year, I've had to deal with various changes in my life, most of them small, but some of them large. One of them was just announced this weekend and I was taken aback by it. There were many things slowly piling up and then the one thing I believed would stay the same is going to change in... July. Going to be a fun summer, isn't it? But apart from my life, so many of my stories and characters have to deal with change in some way or another. Change is constant and neverending. There are so many ideas I can use, in both Jerde and Tread of Darkness, and I'm sure they will eventually bring good things. I think this theme is a good one.Theme 2: Refuge
I attended an event last year with the theme of refuge, so I have lots of ideas. Refuge can be a place, a person, an idea... many things. In most of my worlds, characters find refuge in friends and family, but there are plenty of more conventional places of safety. There are many ways I can go with this theme and many interpretations. From people, places, and buildings to rituals, objects, and cute fluffy pets, comfort and refuge are things I look forward to writing about.Theme 3: Belief
I feel like this is a theme that fits best in Tread of Darkness. Most people believe Celestials and Eternals do not exist, and I can use that in many different ways. I'd also like to work on some Gifted-centric religions in Jerde, so there's the possibility of that too. I'd love to write some myths, so if any of those appear in the prompts, I'll try to write them.Theme 4: Decay
From physical buildings, landmarks, and structures to morals, organizations, and ideals, destruction and decay are everywhere in my worlds. I recently came up with the end of an era in one of my worlds and although I don't want to reveal it yet, I'll see if I can sprinkle in little hints of it. In the Tread of Darkness, I can use the end of civilizations, cultures, and many others, while in Jerde I can use more grounded crumbling.Conclusion
Well, that's my homework completed! I'm so excited to begin Summer Camp and try to get farther than last year. It's certainly going to be interesting but hopefully, it's a good interesting. I've got some more notes to write and some articles to check over, but other than that, I'm good. I hope you all have a wonderful Summer Camp and I can't wait to see how everyone does this year! Best of luck!Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
I'm definitely with you on the mix between excited and nervous! I hope you have a great summer camp and meet (or beat) your goal.