Summer Camp 2021 Imaginaerium: Day 25

Hello everyone!

Current Government Document Page Count Within The Black Vault: 2,932,922
The black vault is an online repository of declassified government documents acquired through the Freedom Of Information Act. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has its origin in the hunt for UFOs and whatever the Man might be hiding about them. Either way, the site is an interesting testament to the FOIA, and if you want to see what goverment secrets look like once let out into the open, in their own words, this place might have it.
Check out the Black Vault here
Many of us have heard of the Hero's Journey, or the Hero With A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell. But what are some of the details on this thesis? They are... Problematic, it turns out. Mythcreants explores some of the issues surrounding the book:
Read more about it here!
A worthwhile read, whether you've used it or not. And if it works for you, it works!

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For today's Imaginaerium, we are going to peer into the brilliant minds of the Anvilites who are taking part of Summer Camp and see what advice they have for us. One of WA's greatest assets is its amazing community, so lets get better together.
Today, we have two very special guests; the Ethnis Elite! Ademal and Barron!

Tell us about yourselves?

Ademal and Barron here, and we've been taking part in SummerCamp since the very beginning. We've been part of WorldAnvil since the early days where Janet judged all the competitions herself!
We have some tricks up our sleeves, and are excited to share them with you guys.

What world are you working on for Summer Camp?

Well if you know either of us, you know there is only one World for us. That is Ethnis. The Sci-fantasy absurdist world doesn't pull punches, but also knows how to let readers & players relax and kick their shoes off.
Specifically, we'll be working on two worlds in Ethnis; Saumai and the Junkberg Bermuda.
Saumai is very close to both of our hearts from years of shared campaign play, and the Junkberg was chosen by our wonderful support folks on the Ethnis Discord.
We'll be writing all of the prompts, and we are allowed to work on both planets interchangeably!

What did you learn from the past Summer Camps?

We've done Summer Camp many different ways. First one was of course the most private affair. We were part of the growing community [and joined in publicly at the very end] , and just took the prompts as we were inspired to do them, which led to crunch at the finish line.
Since that first Summer Camp we've been tackling the prompts through a community stream on the Ethnis Twitch. (https://www.twitch.tv/ethnisstudio).
We've done Summer Camp in a marathon stream before, last year we did multiple five hour streams in which we did ten prompts at a time.
Overall we learned that having some set days helps us deal with burnout, and avoid a last second crunch. It helps so much that we will be doing a familiar streaming schedule this year.

How do you go about generating ideas for the prompts?

This is a hard one, as there are so many different ways to get inspiration. Some will snap into place instantly. Some require a few days of pondering and working around. A few times it has just come down to us sitting down over coffee and helping each other brainstorm.
Most important tip we'd have is to be a part of the community, don't isolate yourself because ideas can quickly become stagnant when left in someones head.

What's your approach to this Summer Camp?

Four Streams. Ten prompts on the first three and the final on the fourth. We open up the space for anyone to join us, which allows us to help folks get their SummerCamp done as well.

What's your tricks for staying on track?

Stay focused on your target for worldbuilding. Stick with a planet, or a region, or a people. Try to dive real deep and think of everything that makes your target click, whether it be mundane or extreme. Having these dives will keep your brain going.
Another tip is to maintain a tracking sheet like we have started for our 2021 SummerCamp. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x5565HxXn7xjVB7qb2UfylSQ-_2PvJadt40FhEjnRH4/edit#gid=564801219)
Keeping this handy will allow you to not only keep your ideas in one place, but will also allow you to recognize your achievements and avoid burnout.

How do you handle those bad days when we get stuck or can't seem to get writing done?

Two options here come to the top of the mind.
You can set yourself a time to work, and do whatever you can to clear your mind for that time. Once that time is up, feel free to keep going if you are in the groove, but if you want to stop after that, then at least you got something done.
The other option is to let yourself take a break. Your mind is your greatest enemy, and if you have to fight it then you are only going to get angry. Play a video game, talk to the community, relax. You can come back to Summercamp the next day.

Many thanks to Ademal and Barron <3

And finally, here's some music to keep you company while you write:

If you wait for inspiration to write you're not a writer, you're a waiter.

— Dan Poynter