Summer Camp 2024
In past years, I have fought hard to not only complete the diamond badge, but respond to every prompt during Summer Camp. And inevitably, I end up with 30-40 partially finished articles that I tell myself I'll go back and edit later. But the truth is, as much as I am trying to be more regularly active on WA, July is the big month for me, meaning I still have articles from Summer Camp '18 that haven't been touched. This year, as much as it pained me to not shoot for the whole kaboodle, I vowed to make less, not more work for myself. Therefore, I made two unofficial rules for myself:
- If possible, write an article from an existing stub
- If possible, finish out an article before submitting it.
In the end, I still made diamond! (Honestly, this surprised me, and is way better than the modest silver I told myself to aim for.) Furthermore, I think somewhere between 28-30 of my articles were made from stubs and 30-31 of my articles are finished. Which means that instead of 30-40 articles I need to edit, I have about 25 articles that I really like, 5 that are satisfactory, and only 2 that need more work, other than the possible tweak here or there.
I really enjoyed making the challenge to use stubs. Sometimes a prompt was obvious (the landscape of the Great Magic War was literally changing, as the people who fought moved from planet to planet), but more often than not, these were things I had created in my world that I had very few notes on until I applied a prompt to it. (I knew Homeworlder was an important document, but I didn't know why it was important, or even what it was about until I had to decide how it changed the course of history.) In the end, a lot of what I wrote really did feel like it was growing organically out of my world and many of the articles ended up surprising even me. I am so proud of what I did this year, and I think it was the best summer camp I've ever had. As such it's really hard to pick favorites, but I think I'll settle on these two:
I thought this article would be hard to write, until I decided the mechanics, in the long run, weren't that important, and I should focus on why it offers comfort. It's something that's really important to me, and chances are, really important to you too.
The last article I submitted. It's got a hefty word count, but most of the words and phrases are explained in a couple of sentences. I realize it's also maybe a good first read in my world because it introduces you to so many different types of people and has plenty of links so you can go and read more. (Though I realize as of writing this that I forgot to include a link for Tilli herself!) I only regret that I didn't have time to make a map out of it.
You can find the whole collection below. I'd love it if you stopped by during the reading challenge and told me which are your favorites. If you do, I'll try my best to return the favor. Thanks so much for a great Summer Camp!
Progress
Copper Change
Silver Refuge
Gold Belief
Diamond Decay
All Articles
Prompts
Copper Change
Prompt 1
Geography/Location
Prompt 2
Natural Law
Prompt 3
Character
Prompt 4
Condition
Prompt 5
Document
Prompt 6
Ethnicity
Prompt 7
Military Conflict
Prompt 8
Vehicle
Wild Card
Prompt 9
Myth/Legend
Wild Card
Prompt 10
Building
Silver Refuge
Prompt 1
Settlement
Prompt 2
Technology
Prompt 3
Geography/Location
Prompt 4
Building
Prompt 6
Item
Prompt 7
Tradition/Ritual
Prompt 8
Species
Wild Card
Prompt 9
Ethnicity
Gold Belief
Prompt 1
Organization
Prompt 2
Myth/Legend
Prompt 3
Character
Prompt 4
Document
Prompt 5
Item
Prompt 6
Language
Prompt 8
Tradition/Ritual
Wild Card
Prompt 9
Settlement
Diamond Decay
Prompt 1
Myth/Legend
Prompt 4
Organization
Prompt 6
Species
Prompt 8
Technology
Wild Card
Prompt 9
Character
Wild Card
Prompt 12
Building
Tracking Statblock by Graylion
I love watching these get filled out! :D
Me too!! I like the little progress bar at the top. I didn't realize I had already written half the copper wave until it told me so.