Summer Camp in Avalon, Indiana

Summer Camp prep has begun and it's as if someone has lit a candle inside of me, casting flickering light into the deepest corners of my imagination and driving away the darkness that settled over me during the winter. Inspiration is slowly unfurling, like the quiet emergence of a new moth in the moonlight.

It's my favorite creative time of year.

Week 1: Change

When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can turn into deadly projectiles.

— Despair, Inc.

Over the past week or two, I've been thinking idly about SC, and whether I would choose one world to work in, or let the prompts guide me to which areas of which world needed work. However, today's announcement of this year's theme, Change, made the decision for me. The obvious answer was Avalon, a liminal space, a transition zone, and the very representation of change.

Welcome to Avalon; There's No Reason to Leave.

The rural midwestern village of Avalon, like it's mythical namesake, exists between places but in standard time. It is inhabited by a curious mix of lost souls, living and dead, and serves as the setting for my WIP novel, Cornfields of Avalon. One of the major themes of the novel is change and how we cope with it (or not), and so it just seems a natural fit as my focus world for SC 2024.

Organization

I'm so bad with using tags on my articles. I was a bit better during Summer Camp last year, but I fear it's going to be one of those constant struggles for me as I continue to grow my projects. Fortunately, I'm very good at putting things into categories and folders, so at least there's that.

This year, to help myself improve, I've put a section in my notebook devoted to my tags. This seems like an adequate solution, especially with the nifty ability to pin my notebook open. I hope that making it easier to keep track of the tags I've used, I can be more consistent in using them.

Tagging is also going to be especially critical as I continue enveloping real-world contemporary lore into this fictional village. Cryptid stories, flap locations, and podcasts are all going to need cross-referencing through tags. Also, I plan to begin exploring some interesting CSS options with Avalon! (This is the next project on my agenda, after GenCon is wrapped.)

Meta

My meta is currently pretty thin. I am going to make it private and flesh it out a bit more. There is a lot more that I want to say. At the same time, I do not want to give away spoilers to the public. Since it's supposed to be my own primary reference, then it doesn't matter if anyone else can see it. It has to be useful to me.

Meta Update

As I was tidying up my meta, I noticed that it's a half-decent way of presenting a pitch. (A key detail which I am certain is a design feature, rather than a happy accident. I see you, Janet.) Absolutely something I'll be keeping in mind as I continue writing up Cornfields of Avalon, and especially when it comes time to seriously pitch it to an agent.

Week 2: Refuge

I pointed out in stream chat that it seems like Janet and Dimi are pulling directly from what I, specifically, need to work on in the world I've chosen to build. I was not alone in this feeling, which means that once again Janet has put together a list of themes that speak to world-builders of all genres and styles.

Avalon as Refuge

The village's population is, generally, divided into 2 types of people: the living and the dead. While these two groups share more in common than not, there are some key differences -- mostly in perspective -- between the two.

Politely refered to as 'sensitives,' the living residents of Avalon are exactly that: they are sensitive to the presence of the dead. They are mediums, oracles, empaths, those who tend toward the strange and unusual. They come to Avalon to find refuge from a world that neither understands nor embraces them.

Spirituals, the polite name for the deceased, are exactly that: dead spirits making a stop on the way to the afterlife. Transitioning out of one's body is much easier than transitioning out of one's life, and so the dead linger in Avalon. For them, it is a refuge that allows time to reflect and repair the spiritual damage inflicted by life.

Accounta-bullies

If you see me not making progress, bully me about it. But, yanno...kindly.

— Polina "Line" Arteev

I'm as feral about this Summer Camp as I was last year, and already a member of the Chapter of the Seven Tomes, run by my friend and fellow Twitch streamer, Strixxline (Polina "Line" Arteev).

In addition, I'll be resuming daily streams through July where I'll be working on my own articles, and reading the articles that others have submitted.

Adventures in Style

Thanks to the #summer-camp Discord channel (and massive thanks to Tillerz specifically), as well as this portion of prep homework, I have finally tackled Containers! And, as everyone promised, it has been life-changing! In addition, thanks to Tillerz instruction, I've also taken on Variables.

Right now, I'm applying the principle of agile worldbuilding and only built a couple of simple containers: one that matches the sidebar, and one each for the different perspectives of the Living and the Dead. Combined with quote blocks, aloud blocks, and the carefully matched in-container green text, I think I have a decent handle on breaking up the text in my articles. I'm also an old hand at the [row]s and [col3]s.

Week 3: Belief

It is late on Thursday evening as I finally begin to tackle this. I have chosen to use Avalon, Indiana as my dedicated world for Summer Camp this year, and so when the theme of 'belief' was revealed, it took a while for me to stop laughing.

Inspirational

An Obsession with the Supernatural, and Dark History

Paranormal fiction and non-fiction dominate most of my media intake, because I listen to podcasts for 8 hours a day while I'm at work. Most supernatural thrillers in the bookstore, however, tend to focus on one of two things: vampires and/or werewolves. I've chosen to reach beyond that into the rich lore of North American cryptids and the dark history of the midwest.

Stock Image Local Photos & Public Library Documents

It might seem almost unfair in some ways; after all, I live in Indiana, and Brown County State Park is one of my favorite places. On top of that, there is an Unsplash Stock Photos photographer, Steven Van Elk, who has a great eye and has managed to not only capture a great deal of inspirational nature -- all of it actually local! -- he's also got a few pictures of the exact shelter in Brown County that inspired a fey gate-type story in the first place.

Stairs to the North Lookout Tower at Brown County State Park by Steven Van Elk

North Lookout Tower at Brown County State Park in Indiana by Steven Van Elk

Brown County State Park Map (1988) by Indiana State Library Digital Collection

However, I think there is an unappreciated challenge that goes with bringing fiction into a real place. That's very much what I'm doing here: taking a real place and introducing an improbable liminal space and a set of supernatural rules. After all, the map tells us there's a forest there, but a map doesn't always know what's in the forest. And so I have to pick and choose very carefully what to include and what to leave out. That is the special trick to world-building within a world that already exists, how to find an empty corner where imagination can be free, when it seems like everything has been touched by people. (Shown below.)

Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, West 38th Street, Indianapolis, IN, USA by Steven Van Elk

Field's edge in fall. by Steven Van Elk

Brown County State Park Road, Nashville, IN, USA by Steven Van Elk

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Local Poetry and Folklore

• Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
  
• An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
  
• An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
  
• An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
  
• An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
  
• We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
  
• A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
  
• An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
  
• Ef you
  
• Don't
  
• Watch
  
• Out!
  

— James Whitcomb Riley, Little Orphant Annie; 1885

Week 4: Decay

In a world where the lost living mingle among the unsettled dead, set in the middle of an ancient and priveval forest...decay is a subtle and ever-present influence on everyone's life. From foraging for fresh morel mushrooms among the downed logs within the forest's verge, to the quiet spiritual decay that paves the path to purgatory.

Homepage & Author Page Tidy

Done and done!

I made that sound ridiculously easy, I know. But it wasn't. Once again Janet, Dimi, and the team have managed to rip pages straight out of my journal and pick on exactly what I need to address. Both of these involved a whole lot of little changes, followed by a refresh, then another little change, then another refresh. However, I am satisfied with the results of this fiddly bit of work.

...Dot...Dot...Dot.

All there is left now...is waiting for the prompts to start dropping.

Pledge
Meta checkup
Community
Styling/layout
Inspirations
Pictures/Maps
Invite the Muse
Homepage
Author Page

Spooky Shenanigans Badge 2024

Spooky Shenanigans Badge 2024 by Haly, the Moonlight Bard/Canva

The frost has lifted from the fields
and early summer's moonlight yields:
A dewy carpet 'pon the ground
as we sit the campfire 'round.
Deep inside the forest's night,
cast in eerie shadow-light
Summer Campers stir with glee
amongst their spooky family!

— Haly, the Moonlight Bard

Are YOU Afraid of the Dark?

If you're like me, then you look for any excuse you can to work a little bit of the spooky, the creepy, the mysterious and unexplained into your world. After all, everybody loves a good story about a monster under the bed, things that go bump in the night, or that weird thing that disappeared into the bushes.

The Challenge: Spooky Shenanigans

Claim this badge when you submit one (or more) Summer Camp eligible article that also features information about:

• a ghost/haunted house/cursed object, OR
• a cryptozoological mystery, OR
• a legendary true crime.

This is an honor-system badge, I won't be checking. But I think it's a fun little extra challenge, especially if you're building a spooky world or just like telling ghost stories.

Created by Haly the Moonlight Bard. Snag this with: [imgblock:5648735] or [img:5648735] and drop a link in the comments so I can like your work!

Camp on Stream

Camp On Stream #WASC24 by Haly, the Moonlight Bard

For the streamers and the podcasters who are doing special Summer Camp-themed content. For the fans who are the difference between "mental illness and a microphone" on one side, and "entertaining internet personality" on the other.

#CampOnStream #WASC2024

Display this badge on your Summer Camp stream setup, put it in your profile, stick it in your pledge article, or just stare in sunny neon awe at the beauty of the digital doo-dad.

Click here to grab this image code!

[img:5689588] or [imgblock:5689588]

Camp Feral Badge by Strixxline

Dewy Diamonds Badge by Strixxline

My SC'24 Articles

Avalon Village Public Library

Blood Bone and Soil

Briard

Briard Brigade

Dead

Departure

Ellen Allen's Last Straw

H1N1 Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919

Jesuit Missionaries

Lashawn Markus Nelson

Lashawn's Email

Living

Living Village Elder

Mask of Misinghalikun

Midwestern United States

Misinghalikun

Misinghalikun Guardian Ceremony

Old Avalon

Parasol

Puckwudgies

Storm of '74

Summer Camp in Avalon, Indiana

The Catacomb Caves

The Double Header

The Legend of the First Misinghalikun

The Strip

Tornado Siren

Varla Eagle Pro One eScooters