Summer Camp Prep '24

I pledge to achieve the DIAMOND badge during July 2024 to improve my worlds of Slumbering Gods and The Offenders Neighborhood

I make this promise to myself, my readers, the World Anvil community, and the world which is made better by my creative spirit

— Jacqueline Yang

Intro

I can barely believe it's already Summer Camp! This year has flown by so quickly for me, and it feels like I had just finished my first Summer Camp not too long ago. But I am really excited for everything that's going to happen this month and July. I'm so excited for the prompts and hopefully I'll be able to get that Diamond this year!

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Week 1/Assignment 1: Change

Change is something I'm not good at, especially when it comes to worldbuilding. I like my OG concepts and I don't like changing them, but sometimes changing it from the OG concept is necessary to make the world better.
Slumbering Gods -- Change is a giant thing that happens in Slumbering Gods, Myvera especially. The big changes in Myvera are 1) the world stops spinning, 2) the death of the gods, and 3) the rise of magic. The changes in Verinar are 1) the use of magic, 2) the birth of new gods, and 3) the growth of kingdoms. On a thematic level, particularly for Myvera change happens because even if the sun stops, time still moves on.
The Offenders Neighborhood -- Change is also kind of a big thing in this world too, but definitely more on a thematic level. The change in this world happens mainly because the characters change. They change and grow, causing the world to change and grow with them. Change can happen because you decide to make a different decision, to do something different.
During Summer Camp I want to focus on the changes that happen in both of these worlds on a thematic and world building level.

Assignment 2: Goals

So, last year I went for the Diamond and I probably could have done it if I had been more consistent in writing articles. However, there's a balance that I'm working on that involves publishing something quickly, while at the same time making sure that it's still a well written article.
My goal during Summer Camp will be to consistently write good articles, and get that Diamond!

Assignment 3: Organization

I'm actually pretty satisfied with how everything's organized in both of my worlds. (Thanks to a certain unofficial Spring Cleaning Challenge!) I like how my categories are set up, and I'm fairly satisfied with my tag system. There are probably still many articles that need to be tagged, but I will work on that as well.

Assignment 4: Meta

My meta for Slumbering Gods is pretty good. Although, I have not read the meta in a bit the concept has not strayed much from the OG one. In Offenders' I kind of need to finish the meta. So, I'll probably work on that during this week!

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Week 2/Assignment 1: Refuge

Refuge is an interesting idea for both of my worlds. Especially because refuge, like change, is on two different ends. For Slumbering Gods it's again more of a physical in-world thing than a thematic out-of-world thing.
Slumbering: There are varying degrees of refuge when it comes to this world, some places are geared more towards characters, for example The Prophetess finds refuge in The Prophets' Husian. While a more literal place of refuge would be Bozwei (with some minor downsides). During SC I will want to exand a bit on Bozwei and its people, as well as places of refuge for the other characters.

Offenders: This world on the other hand does not really have literal places of refuge. In this world there are probably none. The only physical place of refuge I can think of would be an orphanage, which isn't exactly comforting. On a non-physical level, refuge can be found in some of the characters. Some of the arcs of these characters is learning to open up and be vunerable. I think that is probably the only real place of refuge this story has. But I guess I should maybe start thinking of some actual places of refuge. (It could actually fit quite well into this story)

Assignment 2: Accountability

I have several people in mind for this. Some are people I know in real life, and others are the community on here. I love reading through other people's works, and although I don't typically comment or anything like that, whenever I do find something that was particularly inspiring for me I will! I do hope to comment and like more, because it really does help and is always encouraging to hear feedback of any kind.

Assignment 3: Styling

Uhhhhh, so I do my best. I'm pretty boring when it comes to styling in all honesty. I'm not super good at it, and I hope that my writing is what makes people stay and follow my worlds and like my articles. But I do understand why a good looking article can help. I like good looking articles too.
But I am doing my best, and I try to make my articles look as presentable as possible with my less than amazing BBCode skills.

Assignment 4: CSS Upgrades

Same thing with this one. As much as I would love to learn CSS, because I do think that it is a useful skill I do not have the time and very little patience to learn. (I did take a class that involved CSS and it was pretty rough).
But maybe in the far distant future I will learn. (Chances are very low though.)

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Week 3/Assignment 1: Belief

Belief I think is something that will be explored more in The Offenders, but wasn't really talked about too much in Slumbering Gods. However, belief is important for both worlds.
Slumbering: Belief and religion is actual really important in this world. In Myvera (the first world) gods played a rather large part. Many of them were directly involved in human relations. However, as time went on the gods slowly retreated into the heavens, eventually leaving mankind to their own devices. Because of this the gods became more and more of a myth. This lack of belief caused the gods to lose much of thier power, forcing them to go into a coma like slumber.
This backstory I haven't really written about anywhere, I don't think. But that's something that I do want to expand on. The beliefs of the people during that time, how the gods reacted to becoming living myths, and how belief affects the culture of the world.
Offenders: In the Offenders, there is really no "fake religion" due to it taking place in the real world. I have been playing with the idea that one of the characters does get involved in religion, and this causes debates and talks about religion amongst the group.
I do think this could be a really interesting look into religion and how people view it differently. Even though each of the characters came from a very similar place, they would each have a different POV of religion. And I think that could be something really interesting to play around with.

Assignment 2: Inspiration

I don't have anything specific for these worlds. They're all from a strange mish-mash of random things that I barely even remember. I do know that Slumbering Gods came from the thought of "What if the world stopped spinning?" Which I haven't even delved into.
Alot of Slumbering Gods, especially its story line is 100% improvised. I wrote the prose for Slumbering for my first NaNo. I did enjoy it, but alot of the worldbuilding aspects didn't really have a clear explanation or reason. Throughout these past few years I've been trying to go back and revise, trying to answer all the questions that popped while reading through the prose.
Offenders: This inspo for this actually came from a friend who's always been interested in the villian's POV than the hero's. So, the main concept and the names of the MC's as well as their parents and grandparents came from a short collab between me and her.
Everything else has been created by yours truly.

Assignment 3 and 4: Art and Maps/Review Inspo

So, I don't really have any art for any of the worlds. I do have a few rough drafts of maps that are definilty not ready to be revealed, but maybe one day soon.
As for reviewing inspo, there's really not much else to add.

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Week 4/Assignment 1: Decay

Well, there's a lot of decay in Slumbering (the world stops spinning after all). In the Offenders, I'm not sure what kind of decay there could be, maybe a relational kind of decay?
Slumbering: There are a few types of decay in Slumbering. First is the decay of the "real wordl." The world stops spinning causing much of the water to become an unhealthy source of food/resources. Second is the decay of the gods and along with that the people's belief in those gods. Third is the decay of the whole interconnected universe of Myvera. This decay leads to the birth of Verinar.
Offenders: Decay is much harder to place for this one. If anything this decay would have to be on a thematic level or on a very physical level, like the decaying of a building. This decay could possibly be seen through the lack/loss of relationship between them and their parents due to a change in morals and behaviors. Decay could also be seen between some of the main characters themselves.

Assignment 2: Environment

My writing environment is already pretty good. The only thing I'd really need to focus on is actually forcing myself to do the writing. If I just do it when I feel like it, I'd never get anything done.

Assignment 3: Homepage

Slumbering and Offenders: I also think my homepage is fine. Granted it's a little boring, but I don't really have much else to add. I'll probably go through it again, now that I have a much more solid grasp on the main concepts of this world.

Assignment 4: Intro/Author Page

I also think my Author Page is good. My likes haven't changed much, and my author page is fine. I might brush it up though. It seems a bit rambling. But I do that a lot already, so maybe it's fine.

I so excited for my second Summber Camp. I had a blast last year and, I'm gonna be honest, I did enjoy just a little bit more than World Ember. But I'm super excited for this one, and I'm curious to see what these prompts will be! I'm also trying to decide if I have time to do Camp NaNo. I would like to, since I didn't do the April one, and would like to get back to writing. It's just choosing a project and making sure that I know the major concepts, plot, and characters enough to write 50K words.
But with all that being said, I wish all of you the greatest Summer Camp and best wishes to you in world building!