Summer Camp Homework 2024: Kadegan
Here's my homework for Summer Camp 2024. My caveat is that I am still working on my New Year's Resolution 2024 which involves successfully writing a complete draft of a novel. This is my summer break from teaching (but I have a lot to do to prep for the next school year) and I need to make some real progress over the next month or so. However, external deadlines and the like are major motivators for me, so here I go.
Assignment 3: Organization
I organized my categories recently. My organization is very much tied to making it usuable for me when working on my manuscript. I haven't really figured out what I want to do with tags, and so I'll be leaving those alone for now.
Assignment 4: Meta Updates
At this time, I don't want to mess with the meta. I believe it is still fairly accurate to what I am working on. I would like to make a primer or index to the world at some point, but as my focus is getting that manuscript done, making a primer is low priority right now.
Week 1
Assignment 1: Changes The obvious change would be the return of magic. I don't think it will happen during the novel (or at least the first one), but it is coming and those sensitive to magic will feel it. This will also bring more interference and meddling from Nykt's children which always leads to fun times for the mortals. Another change that will be happening is my hero's change during the events of the novel which revolves around faith and belief. My world meta mentions themes of family and what it means to be family. I'd like to keep an eye out for opportunities to reinforce both of these themes through my world building. Assignment 2: Pledge I've downloaded the pledge and attached it as a cover image. I plan on going for the copper level (8 prompts) this summer. Along with that, I would like to write at least 10k words on my manuscript by the end of July. I am currently at 18925. In reality, I need to write more to complete my resolution, but for now, I'll keep my goal modest.A Trick of Fortune
Week 2
Assignment 1: Refuge Whenever I hear the word, refuge, I think of Newsies, Mr. Snyder, and The Refuge. In that musical, The Refuge was certainly no refuge. I would like to consider one or more places or people that might be considered a refuge at first pass, but turn out to be another place of danger. True refuges that I would like to develop more are my MC's found family (some of which she'll find during the course of the plot), her home, and places of religious significance--in particular, the Temple to Deja. My MC starts the story with a complete lack of faith in pretty much everything and must learn to believe in order to accomplish her goals. Locations and people that she can find refuge in, can believe it, would fit right in. Assignment 2: Community In addition to here, I have friends and family to share my stuff to. They are very supportive of my dreams. I do want to call out FlyerStitch. They read and like every new chapter I post and I greatly appreciate their support as I go through this journey. Thank you, FlyerStitch and the rest of my followers on World Anvil! Assignments 3 & 4: Styling + CSS This one just frustrates me. I struggle with a lot of the coding, formatting-type stuff. I like what I currently have--sure, there are things that my merchandiser brain wants to improve--but I like what I have. So, I'm not going to mess with it for now.Week 3
Assignment 1: Belief This particular assignment is the core theme of my manuscript. My MC needs to learn to believe in those around her, in herself, and in the gods. My antagonist is fanatic in his beliefs and that will be his downfall. I don't want to list anything more here as I am letting some of these themes develop through my story.You have to believe. Otherwise, it will never happen.Assignment 2, 3, & 4: Inspiration I recently came across this playlist for Fantasy Music for Writing on Spotify. I've discovered that it helps provide noise when silence is distracting, and it helps put me in the mood for writing. Otherwise, my inspirations are stored elsewhere and are constantly growing. I have people that inspire me, images, some historical research, and good conversations that keep me thinking. At this point, my biggest hurdle is learning to BIC (Butt In Chair) regularly. I am a master at avoidance behaviors for it. I haven't found the right inspiration to make that happen regularly enough. But I am working on it! As for a map, my kid created the world map that shows up on my world. There are some things I would like to do related to that... in particular, zoom in on the region around Corethe and map Corethe itself. For now, I am going to let it be.
Week 4
Assignment 1: DecayAll things are subject to decay and change...This theme feels very much like the other side of the coins of change and belief. In order for there to be change, something has to decay or be removed to allow for that change. In order for new beliefs to arise, old beliefs need to decay. So, what I am saying is that this fits into what I am working on already. The old way of doing things, of making things work, both at the character level and the world level will be challenged or be decaying. This will allow room for change and new beliefs to catch hold, for good or ill. Assignment 2: Prepare I could use more chocolate but payday isn't for a week, so I've added it to my grocery list. Other than that, the thing I need most is to develop better work habits when I am not working for others. As a part of my NYR, I bought a planner just for writing related goals and the like. Sometimes I am good at using it, sometimes I am not. I am reviewing my habits to find ways to improve. However, if I haven't figured it out in 50 years, I probably won't figure it out in a few days. So, my goal is to find baby steps to take to get closer to getting those work habits in place for getting the stuff I want to get done, done. Assignment 3: Homepage As mentioned before, I can be super fussy about the way things look but I lack the knowledge to do more with my homepage; so, I am going to leave it be for the most part. I have updated my world description to a jacket copy-like description of my novel. Right now, my world is in service to my novel, and I felt it was appropriate that the description matched.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.Assignment 4: Author Profile I'm not sure what pillar articles are and I don't want to worry about figuring them out just now. That said, I've only been on WA for a bit longer than a year and I keep my author profile updated. I literally went last week and updated my socials, and a few other bobs and bits on my profile already. You could say I am ahead of the game. I look forward to seeing the challenges next week. I'll see you there!
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