Summer Camp Pledge 2021

Another year, another prompt filled Summer Camp! Welcome to the pledge article for Ma’rune - if you follow my sci-fi world Osiron, you might see another pledge article appear over there too! Whilst this is going to be the main pledge, including what I learnt from last year’s Summer Camp, the one over on Osiron will cover a few topics that I want to focus on.

But enough talk about sci-fi! We’re in a fantasy world here, so let’s get down to business.

Summer Camp 2020 - The Ups and Downs

As my first SC and first real challenge, it was a massive undertaking. Up until that point I hadn’t spent too much time thinking about the overall world building for Ma’rune, just parts that would be immediately integral to the plot of The Wayfarer. On top of that, I had just started building my new sci-fi world as a side project, which was effectively just a blank slate at that point. So the idea of pumping out 33 articles over the course of a month was a little bit daunting, but it was a challenge I was more than happy to sink my teeth into.

What went well?

• Having my own personal goal
  Although the minimum word count was 300 words, I set myself a personal goal that every article I wrote would have 600. That way, instead of just getting the bare bones of an article down and moving on to the next one, I was adding a little bit more information to each of them. In the end, I think the only articles I didn’t manage this for were the platinum prompts, but that was more due to the time constraints of their release and the quick turnaround time needed for getting them done
• Using a tracking sheet
  For me, it helps to see how far you’ve come and how far you’ve got left to go. My tracking sheet had both the SC word count goal and my personal word count goal, and automatically calculated the progress as I filled it in, which did wonders for keeping me motivated. It helped me stay organised to and I was that happy with how it worked last year that I’m using the same sheet again this year
• Completing all the prompts
  This was the goal for me. It wasn’t about the competition or potential prizes, it was about writing an article for each prompt that I could be proud of. Whilst some of them were more difficult than others in terms of actually creating something that would fit in with either Ma’rune or Osiron, the joy of getting past those hurdles and completing all 33 prompts was immeasurable

What didn’t go so well?

• A lack of focus
  I went into SC last year with one thought in mind: complete all the prompts. I didn’t really decide on an area to focus on for either world which meant every time I thought of an idea that I could roll with, I had to spend even more time deciding where that idea would fit in with each world - if it even could! This year, I want to go in with a few key areas to focus on
• The articles
  They weren’t bad and I’m really proud of a lot of them. The problem is - which ties in to my point about a lack of focus - I never went back to them. In the grand scheme of things, most of them were so far removed from the realms of what might come up in The Wayfarer or in whatever story I had planned for Osiron at the time that I just never bothered to go back to them

Preparation for SC 2021

This year, I want to focus on a specific region in Ma’rune. That area will be the kingdom of Valissa. As a planned major location in the second book in the Wayfarer series, I’ll be looking at each of the prompts and seeing how they would a) fit into the political / geographical / cultural side of Valissa, as well as how they could potentially be included in The Wayfarer. I’m hoping that limiting the prompts to a single kingdom will help keep the ideas concise and grow that region of the world.

I’ll also have a specific area of focus for Osiron, which you can read more about over here:

Reviewing SC 2020 Articles

I probably won’t get through all of them, but this is one of those things that I’ve always wanted to go back and do, I’ve just ended up putting it off for like, all of eternity. And you guys might not even see the the effects of this review until after SC 2021 is over, but here is the plan I’ve got in mind for it:

• Links and variables
  First of all, I want to go over these old articles and link them to other relevant articles in my world. I don’t think I did this as I was initially writing them last year! That will, hopefully, help me to see where these articles connect to other parts of the world building and identify other possible threads that I can toy with. Where there aren't any articles but I think it's an important piece of information for others to know, I'll stick in a variable instead (might help give me some more worldbuilding ideas too!)
• Grammar and spelling mistakes
  There’s definitely a few in there. I know there is (very embarrassingly, I realised after the SC deadline that the title for one of my submitted articles had a typo in it - the title!). So yeah, I want to go in and tidy them up a little bit just to make sure that they make sense
• Expansion
  Finally, I want to expand on some of the points I made in these articles. Even with 600 words, they were still the fundamental basics of an idea, so now I want to make them into proper, fully fleshed out articles. This is the one that will take time. In all likelihood, I’ll probably make notes on what I can add to an article, then elaborate on those notes after the SC 2021 deadline but before the awards ceremony

The Pledge

I, Beth, will complete all 31 prompts for Summer Camp 2021. The prompts will be spread across two worlds - Ma’rune and Osiron - and kept within the focus stated above. (Wowza, that sounded really formal, didn’t it? Quick, someone say something funny)

As per last year, I’ll be using a google sheet to keep track of my progress throughout the month. Personally, I would love to say that my aim would be to have 1000 words for each article to make sure that they’re fully fleshed out, but that’s not feasible between other writing projects and working a job Monday to Friday. Instead, I’ll be tentatively upping my personal word count goal from 600 to 750. Tentatively! If it looks like I’m getting a wee bit overwhelmed, I’ll put my personal goal back down to 600 words, but that’s definitely as low as I’ll go. If I did it last year, I can do it again this year!

To sum it all up...

Which project are your worldbuilding efforts tied to?

My worldbuilding efforts in Ma'rune are linke to The Wayfarer series. These will be choose your own adventure novels with a focus on story rather than character stats, and maybe a few romance options for readers to choose from (though you probably already know that if you've seen the 'Romantic Pursuits' category in Ma'rune!)

What world are you working on?

Two worlds - Ma'rune and Osiron!

Which area of the world(s) are you working on?

The kingdom of Valissa will be a major location in Book 2, so that's where the focus above comes in. I want to get a bit more lore down for this kingdom so that, when I eventually get to working on Book 2, I can sprinkle that lore in the actual writing.

How much are you aiming to complete?

All 31 prompts. 300 words a day is an easy enough task for me to achieve, so I'm definitely aiming for the diamond badge. You'll also know from above that I'm personally aiming for a minimum of 750 words for each article. Potentially a big task, but I think I'm up for the challenge!

When will you write?

I'm going to schedule in an hour a day for SC, and a couple of hours at the weekends. I'm also planning on getting the ideas down (and maybe some writing) during my work breaks - might as well use the time if it's there! I've also got a few days booked off work mid July which I intend to use as catch up days (or days to get ahead of the prompts, but that will depend on how far through them I've gotten by that point)

Who is your support network?

My main support network will be my awesome hooligans friends. I'm hoping to be a little bit more active on the WA discord too!