Summer Camp Pledge 2022
UPDATE: The following pledge was... not honored. Unfortunately, my own Summer Camp goals thwarted me yet again. I can only hope that next year will be different...
Greetings, fellow travelers of worlds unseen. It is I, A.Merriweather, back for another Summer Camp. This year is my second ever to participate in, and I'm hoping it goes a little better than the first. We'll see.
My tendency is to make big, ambitious goals, run after them for about two days, then burn out and complete maybe 1/3 of what I'd intended. Last year, I aimed for a Gold rank (24 prompts), but got so caught up in the tiny details that I didn't even finish the eight required for Copper. This year, I plan to aim low but exceed my own expectations. It's worth a shot. Yay, reverse psychology!
In order to do this, there's a strategy I need to implement that I always shy away from: avoiding getting unnecessarily detailed (and avoiding spending hours falling into rabbit holes like the classification of flora and fauna, which was honestly super interesting, but not a good way to spend my precious little article-writing time). I need to remind myself that sometimes, it's okay not to be perfect and get all the tiny notes right in the first draft. Summer Camp for me is more a source of inspiration than a chance for perfection, and I need to help myself not lose track of that. Also, I didn't do a full pledge last year, which was poor planning on my part and only harmed my progress. This year, I'll have a set purpose for my articles, which will guide my progress. What is that purpose, you ask? Read on!
Creative Goal and Motivation
This Summer Camp, I will be building my setting for the Prismverse, with an emphasis on the landscapes and cultures of Nhaie and Obriin, my two main planets. This will allow me to have more robust places for my characters to explore (when I do get around to writing that book I've always wanted to write...). I plan on writing the most about cities and other such locations on these planets. Not only will this give me a better setting, but it'll be lots of fun!
I read through my world meta and one recurring theme was that life on Nhaie is hard and things are dark. I need to build more of the darker elements of the world (which makes the monstrous theme really helpful). To be honest, three of the four prompt themes (not "discovery") are things that I haven't really worked on much, so I'm glad to be having some inspiration in those areas. For expanse, I'll be working on the rocky plains of Obriin, along with Nhaie's vast jungles, underwater oceans, and deserts. I'll focus less on cities and more on the "natural" areas. For leadership, I plan on working on Nhaie's The Table, along with Obriin's government (which I haven't made yet) (oops), and maybe I'll develop a police force or other law enforcement group. I'm not sure what I'll write about for the discovery option, as I've already written a lot about technology in the Prismverse, but there is one thing I need to develop better: the Prism Stone itself, the cause of everything that has happened to humanity in the last 2,000 years. I'll start with that as my focus, but I'll probably come up with some other grand idea and work on it instead - which is fine. I love technology! :D And finally, monstrous. I literally have no idea what I'm doing for this theme. I'm hoping the individual prompts spark some more inspiration (they probably will). Maybe I'll write about a black market or band of thieves. Maybe I'll create a bar where pieces stolen off the public transport are sold by fugitives. Or maybe I'll write about what exactly Nhaie's magic does to harm the human body. We'll find out.
Overall, I'm very excited for these themes.
Here's a collection of some artwork that I find very inspiring. It's entirely settings, but it's the best of the best that I found. I hope you enjoy feasting your eyes on these pieces as much as I do. <3
(With updates)
My tendency is to make big, ambitious goals, run after them for about two days, then burn out and complete maybe 1/3 of what I'd intended. Last year, I aimed for a Gold rank (24 prompts), but got so caught up in the tiny details that I didn't even finish the eight required for Copper. This year, I plan to aim low but exceed my own expectations. It's worth a shot. Yay, reverse psychology!
In order to do this, there's a strategy I need to implement that I always shy away from: avoiding getting unnecessarily detailed (and avoiding spending hours falling into rabbit holes like the classification of flora and fauna, which was honestly super interesting, but not a good way to spend my precious little article-writing time). I need to remind myself that sometimes, it's okay not to be perfect and get all the tiny notes right in the first draft. Summer Camp for me is more a source of inspiration than a chance for perfection, and I need to help myself not lose track of that. Also, I didn't do a full pledge last year, which was poor planning on my part and only harmed my progress. This year, I'll have a set purpose for my articles, which will guide my progress. What is that purpose, you ask? Read on!
Creative Goal and Motivation
This Summer Camp, I will be building my setting for the Prismverse, with an emphasis on the landscapes and cultures of Nhaie and Obriin, my two main planets. This will allow me to have more robust places for my characters to explore (when I do get around to writing that book I've always wanted to write...). I plan on writing the most about cities and other such locations on these planets. Not only will this give me a better setting, but it'll be lots of fun!
Themes
I read through my world meta and one recurring theme was that life on Nhaie is hard and things are dark. I need to build more of the darker elements of the world (which makes the monstrous theme really helpful). To be honest, three of the four prompt themes (not "discovery") are things that I haven't really worked on much, so I'm glad to be having some inspiration in those areas. For expanse, I'll be working on the rocky plains of Obriin, along with Nhaie's vast jungles, underwater oceans, and deserts. I'll focus less on cities and more on the "natural" areas. For leadership, I plan on working on Nhaie's The Table, along with Obriin's government (which I haven't made yet) (oops), and maybe I'll develop a police force or other law enforcement group. I'm not sure what I'll write about for the discovery option, as I've already written a lot about technology in the Prismverse, but there is one thing I need to develop better: the Prism Stone itself, the cause of everything that has happened to humanity in the last 2,000 years. I'll start with that as my focus, but I'll probably come up with some other grand idea and work on it instead - which is fine. I love technology! :D And finally, monstrous. I literally have no idea what I'm doing for this theme. I'm hoping the individual prompts spark some more inspiration (they probably will). Maybe I'll write about a black market or band of thieves. Maybe I'll create a bar where pieces stolen off the public transport are sold by fugitives. Or maybe I'll write about what exactly Nhaie's magic does to harm the human body. We'll find out.
Overall, I'm very excited for these themes.
Inspiration Materials
Here's a collection of some artwork that I find very inspiring. It's entirely settings, but it's the best of the best that I found. I hope you enjoy feasting your eyes on these pieces as much as I do. <3
- I love this clip on Shutterstock (by Art Furnace)- it really gives the gist of Nhaie's cities
- I also love this city by Robby Burke on ArtStation
- Here's an underground cavern (by blazef on DeviantArt)
- And here's another, simply gorgeous cavern (by JoshEiten on DeviantArt)
- I love this jungle bar thing - it totally has the vibe that I want Nhaie's jungle cities to have (by TheLandsquid on DeviantArt)
- I love this render of a city with a canal - I like the idea of incorporating a mode of transportation that involves water (by Unlim3d on POND5)
- Similarly, I think this water/boats one is cool as well
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | THURSDAY | SATURDAY | THE... OTHER DAYS |
| Every Monday, I will sit down with the released prompts and devise a plan for what I'm going to write that week. I'll pick two prompts that I know for sure I'll write, then record that, along with what I'll write about to respond to them (was that confusing?). I'll also specify if these are going to be developed stub articles or all-together new ones. | Ah, Tuesday - the magical day! This is the first day of the week that I'll have a planned writing session. Right after lunch, I'll sit down and WRITE, completing one of the prompts that I'd committed to on Monday. | Thursday is similar to Tuesday - it's the other sit-down-and-write-a-bunch session. I'll sit down with a laptop (right after lunch, of course) and power through the other prompt I'd committed to. Yay! Two prompts down. | Saturday is editing day. I am obsessed with editing and reread everything I write far too many times. This is the day for that! This'll be an editing session (likely in the afternoon) that includes the reading and nitpicking of the two articles I wrote on Tuesday and Thursday. Then, BOOM! Two published articles. wow | The other days, I probably won't do anything, to be honest. But in the case that more than two prompts catch my fancy, or I just want to write more, I might write another article. Why not? And of course, I'll probably do it right after lunch. (Why then? Because obviously, that's the BEST time. Duh.) |
Weekly Plan
(With updates)
| PROMPT I | PLAN I | PROMPT II | PLAN II | OTHER PLANS | |
| WEEK I | Location: An ocean, desert, plain, pocket dimension, or other large expanse | I will write about Obriin's asteroid fields. Time for desolate landscapes! Yayyy (I'll find a way to make things interesting, don't worry.) | Species: Α species that survives in an unlikely place | Now is the time to explore the creatures that live in the dreaded GCH!!! It's lava eel time, bayBEE | Settlement: Α settlement beside or in a great expanse - For this one, I would probably write about a village in Nhaie's mountains (I should start making maps...) |
| WEEK II | Building: A building associated with governance, leadership or change | I need to establish Nhaie's government building - the place The Table makes its decisions. Now's my chance! | Organization: An organization associated with governance, leadership or change | For this article, I'll be working on one of the stubs that I need to develop: The Table. This is Nhaie's governing body, making many decisions for the current and future state of the planet. | I really like this prompt: "Profession: A profession associated with leaders in your world". I have no idea what I'd do for it, but it seems like a really valuable thing to know about your world. |
| WEEK III | |||||
| WEEK IV |
SC Articles
"I, A.Merriweather, hereby formally pledge to complete eight articles for Summer Camp 2022, two from each category. At least one of these will have been a stub article that I developed.
AHHHHH! Here we go!"
A.Merriweather
The Plan
Week 4's homework made a good point: I should have a plan. A plan that will set me up for undoubted success. A plan that will enable me to reach my goals! I have no doubt that this will help a lot. Last year, my plan was this: "WRITE. A LOT. AND FAST." As I've already established, that did not go so well. This time, I have a much better idea of when I'm going to write, and where. Yay!
When? I've devised a little calendar for myself. It's not too restricting and I think it'll be really helpful in motivating myself to sit down and write. I learned the hard way that "when the time feels right" is not a good plan. The calendar is at the bottom of this article's main section. <<<
Where? Hm... I dunno. Wherever strikes my fancy, I suppose! (Probably my dining room table, in all honesty, but maybe my living room floor.)
Accountability buddies? I'm not much of a social media gal, so I don't think I'll share anything on the World Anvil community pages. I know, I know - I'm a party pooper. I have no good defense. Instead, though, I'll be having one of my good friends (who shall be referenced here as L.) keep me accountable. Let's hope they don't forget...
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