Amanda's Summer Camp 2023 Reading Challenge
I've never done a reading challenge before, so this is pretty exciting! Despite having World Anvil for a bit, I've never ventured out and seen what others have created. I'm looking forward to learning more and expanding my world building! Woop! Woop!
About My Summer Camp Experience
This was the first year I actually finished enough prompts to win a certificate! I didn't have the time to do as many as I wanted, but seeing my friends at the World Anvil NYC meet up was definitely the extra boost I need to finish the 9 I did.
Shout out to my friends both old and new!
Prompt 1: A Destructive Natural or Supernatural Event.
Entry 1: The Sundering
- What I Liked: Short, sweet, and to the point. Less is more.
- What I Thought Needed Work: I'd have liked to know about what happened to the area after the decade long flood. What happened a year, ten, twenty years down the line. Super interesting!
- What I learned: I tend to go over board but Bataf's world reminded me that the simplest way is often the most effective. The most important thing is to get words on the page!
- What I Liked: I loved this article! Yerran created a vivid world in just a few words, like Bataf above. I understood everything that was going, it was very clear, considering they spoke about several incidents.
- What I Thought Needed Work: I would have liked to know more about how regular people dealt with the storm but Terran's inclusion of Stormriders was perfect!
- What I learned: SHUT UP! When you link something in an article and hover over it, a mini article will pop up!
- What I Liked: I really liked how OperaQuest used photos to break up their sections. I tend to use icon type things (Is that a leftover from being an elder millennial and the early myspace days???) but I love these picture breaks! I also really liked how the article gave a quick overall world view of the event, the topography, and the people.
- What I Thought Needed Work: I would have liked more. *insert gif of Kylo Ren going moooooooorrreeee here*
- What I learned: I really like the additions of photos as a natural divider.
Prompt 2: A Useful Plant Found in a Wild Area of Your World
Entry 1: Black Moss
- What I Liked: I really liked how Sir Richard broke down how different people interacted with the moss. Those that new how to work with it vs those that charred it. It was a nice littler snippet into his world.
- What I Thought Needed Work: I would have definitely broken them down into "digestible" paragraphs - but that could just be the copywriter in me.
- What I learned: I really honestly did not take into consideration the little, useful things people take with them on journeys.
Entry 2: Oxhide Root
- What I Liked: No Bees Nova did a really good job at describing the root and what it's used for in only a few words. They don't have an option to add comment or like the page sadly.
- What I Thought Needed Work: Honestly, I would have just broken up the uses paragraph.
- What I learned: This was great! I haven't given much thought in my own books about fertility and childbirth. So this concept will be interesting to expand in future books!
Entry 3: Golden Moss
- What I Liked: Kamiwell did a great job describing the moss, its flower, properties, and uses.
- What I Thought Needed Work: They set up the difference between the golden moss and its similar but deadly counterpart but not how to tell them apart while in the sun. What happens if I get lost in the Farrow and need sustenance?? What happens then Kamiwell!!
- What I learned: I actually never thought of moss and things like that that would realistically flower. Super cool!
Bonus Foreign Language Entry: Camomille Nocturne
- What I Liked: I loved the way Voldrack formatted this article! It was si simple but they included so much about the plant.
- What I Thought Needed Work: I honestly thought it was great, maybe some author made pictures so we can see what they are envisioning.
- What I learned: Shut up! I honestly did not think of adding properties to the plant species of my book! Ha! Back to the editing!
Prompt 3: A Children's Tale or Song Based on a Real Event.
Entry 1: The Tale of Woe
- What I Liked: There is so much I loved here! First, I love the way Terry has formatted their article! It already put me in this smoky, warm, guttural environment. I thought they did a great job of weaving their magic and history into a children's cautionary tail. Very fun!
- What I Thought Needed Work: Just breaking up a few of the bigger paragraphs.
- What I learned: I can definitely use my articles to put the reader into the correct mood of my book with a few choice images and backgrounds.
- What I Liked: Ok, so this was a mini cheat, as I picked this article because I met Chris during last years World Anvil meet up in NYC. I loved the way he formatted the world and was able to naturally weave/pacing the song with the world building and the history of Eden. It was a lot of fun!
- What I Thought Needed Work: I really liked this! There isn't anything here that I would have changed, except maybe had a recording of the song and a gif of the statue. But less is more.
- What I learned: I'm definitely going to look at the pacing of my articles and how I weave everything into digestible articles that are brain dumps for me, but fun to read for others!
- What I Liked: Ok! Another mini cheat! I also met Polina during last year's NYC meet up! So I wanted to read their article. This was so much fun! First off, I read the song and article in their voice, which I felt added to it. But I like how short, sweet and to the point it was. Plus, I love the art work they added, which was simple but set the mood perfectly.
- What I Thought Needed Work: I neeeeeded mooooooorrreeee!
- What I learned: I liked how Polina played with the layout. It's giving me idea of what I'd like to do next in my own articles!
It was great seeing you at the meetup! Congrats on the shiny copper badge, and thanks for the feature! :D
Seek a new dawn, in Malkora!
Craft a bright new world, in Ayun Sovos!
The Feral Sovereign returns for Summer Camp 2024!
Awww! YAY! Thank you!! :)