SC 2024 Reading Challenge
Summer Camp Wrap-Up
My first Summer Camp is done, and I'm happy to say that I achieved my goal of getting the copper badge without stressing myself out or, more importantly, writing any articles that I think won't really be relevant to my story. July was a pretty busy month for me, what with travelling and moving houses, so I only really started writing in the last week of SC and only barely managed to get 8 articles done, which was kind of disappointing but I'm still satisfied that I reached my initial goal! I've also gotten a lot of ideas after reading everyone's work, so I'm looking forward to writing more in the coming months! I managed to almost completely finish my outline for the plot this month, as well, so that should make it easier to get started with writing it all out properly.
Reading Challenge
The works I've read by other authors during the past week have all been incredible so far, and I'm excited to read more. For the reading challenge, I've tried to include some authors whose works I haven't read before, as well as some worlds I think are underrated. Without further ado, here are some of the articles from SC that most caught my attention!
A material made from corrupted silkworms. I absolutely love the level of detail in this article about the worms and the production process. I don't usually enjoy reading about materials, but this one was really interesting!
Author: World Smithy
A chilling catastrophe that destroyed millions of lives. I got really emotional reading this one. The mirror cloud paths also reminded me of the paths between the Elvish Eluvians in Dragon Age, which was a really cool concept! Actually, everything Blue put out for SC (and all their other articles, basically) was really, really cool, and I highly recommend checking them out!
Author: Blue Fairy 74
A disaster caused by human hubris with horrifying consequences, and I mean really horrifying. From people turning into quartz and remaining trapped inside the crystals forever, to time bubbles from which powerful and terrifying ancient beings may emerge at any moment. Probably one of my favourite articles from SC!
Author: Chrispy_0
I have to admit I clicked on this article so fast when I saw its name, because I thought it was... a cove filled with molasses? And that got me really excited for some reason. Sadly, the cove didn't end up actually having any molasses, but the article still didn't disappoint. I really love the prose at the beginning, and the author's style is so engaging. I'm still incredibly curious about that one guy who was fishing at the cove, though.
Author: Travakh
A festival where people basically cosplay as mages and are nasty to each other, because that's just what mages are like, obviously. I found the concept kind of hilarious, especially the part where people all have to return the things they stole and apologise to each other the day after.
Author: SocialCat
Okay, this one is really... strange? I have no idea what to say, and I also don't know what use the fae could possibly get out of the bed wetters, uh, doing what they do, but it's so funny and I love it. The author's other submissions are great too, but I wanted to share this one with the world.
Author: Harpesichorde
A myth about a dessert that can heal any illness. You can earn this magical cure, but only if you help a dragon open its lunchbox, which is just so cute. Just the image of a giant dragon struggling to open a tiny lunchbox is incredibly cute to me, and I loved the creativity of the idea. This author's world also has a really interesting concept in general, and I recommend reading all the rest of their work.
Author: Escritora Novata
This article was not what I expected it to be when I clicked on it, but I gotta say it was much, much better. I recently discovered this author, and I really love their writing style. I enjoyed all the articles I read from their world, but I picked this one to show here just because the pun with the title cracked me up.
Author: Tris
A group of guards of mysterious origins, guarding a mysterious temple for mysterious reasons while waiting for a mysterious master to return. It's an interesting bit of worldbuilding, especially considering that they appear to be completely normal people, unarmored and unadorned, which is jarring considering their... mysterious... everything. I also found the relationship that the people living near the temple have with the guards cute, with the way they've studied them and started giving each guard their own title. Would 100% read a slice of life story about them.
Author: LittleRaider
I loved everything about this article, from the excerpts of the manifesto and subsequent copycats to the speculations about the real authors and the truly unexpected consequences. It's just so good. Also, now I really want to read the full manifesto.
Author: tarkinlarson
Worldbuilding goals for the rest of the year
I've made a lot of progress on my plot so far this year, although I didn't do as much worldbuilding as I would've liked. A lot of what I have done, though, remains unpublished, because my toxic trait is that I finish writing articles almost entirely, then move on to something else before I've finished the last part. So I currently have a lot of articles that are pretty much complete aside from a couple words, or they just need formatting, so I plan on polishing those and finally publishing them soon. Aside from that, I plan on writing about the last couple Hurani noble houses, just to get that bit done with so I can get started on the actual characters. I've already written about one of the major characters, the Hurani Empress, this month, but I also want to work on the background of some of the characters that are more involved in the murder mystery. I'd also like to keep up the pace I've had during Summer Camp, which has been far more consistent but without cutting into the time I need for work. I'm going to have a lot of work piling up soon, so setting up a writing schedule for the next few months might become necessary if I want to get anything done. Which I will! Hopefully! Finally, now that I've got most of the plot figured out, I'd like to get started on writing the actual story. That will have to come after I get the characters down, of course, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to work on them soon. So keep an eye out for that in the next half year!
My shiny copper certificate!
Thank you very much for choosing my disaster article, which touched you, and for your kind words for the rest of my articles during SC and my world. I find your connection of the Mirror Cloud Paths to Dragon Age interesting, which I really don't know. When I developed the concept, I was reminded of the scary dark paths in the Wheel of Time and I wanted to create something colorful and tender, but which could also be dangerous. Good luck with your further goals and the development of your story ;).
Thank you! I'm not familiar with the Wheel of Time, but the mirror paths definitely gave that vibe of being very beautiful and enchanting but also deadly at the same time. They mostly reminded me of the paths between Dragon Age's Eluvians because they were also once fully functional and ordinary, before a terrible cataclysm happened and turned them into what they are now. You did a really great job showing exactly how devastating the event was; I was getting chills while reading it!
Aww thank you.