Summer Camp 2022 Pledge
Creative Goal
There are several areas I'd like to use summer camp to expand on in Beourjen. The two main places are the Protectorate/Reservation lands/western Avar, as well as the city of Beourjen. I'm going to try and focus on building the politics and history—politics because it's becoming a heavier focus in my book, and history mostly because I'm not very practiced at designing histories in general. That being said, this is my first summer camp and I still have a lot of room to expand on in general in this world, so I'm not holding myself too rigidly to those particular areas.Challenge Goal
My goal right now is to get silver at least. I'm getting shoulder surgery soon, so that'll be interesting; on the plus, I'll have plenty of free time to write from being on medical leave/off from school, but on the negative side, I'll have to type with one arm for a bit and I really have no idea how difficult that'll be. Silver seems doable. I'd like to read a fair amount of others' articles as well though I'm not putting a distinct goal on that right now.Themes
So, I just had surgery this morning and I wrote this part with one hand. My other one is completely numb still, but I'm excited for summer camp and anyway, I haven't yet decided on a show to binge. Thus, there might be some grammatical errors. I can't use em-dashes because my hand is so tiny it doesn't reach all three keys, and that in itself is driving me crazy. But I will actually edit it. . . later. When I can move my arm again.
Expanse
While traditional, geographical expanses aren't usually as exciting for me to delve into, this also means that there are a lot of aspects within the world fitting this theme that I have yet to cover. There are a number of oceans, deserts, mountains, forests that are incredibly expansive that I haven't spent a lot of time on that I honestly really need to for the sake of having a widespread continent. Creatively, I expect this week to be the hardest theme for me, but I think that'll be a good way to really wake up those deeper creative muscles for the three themes following.That being said, I've also been thinking about how I might stretch this theme to include more non-geographical expansive aspects. There are some articles (stubs) relating to past wars and warfare that could be considered 'expansive', as well as plagues and epidemics, famines, explorations, trade networks. I'm not going to try and bend the definition of this theme for all the prompts, because I really do need more geography, but I also prefer building on the history and I want to keep my morale steady.
Leadership
This is where I'm going to have to start being more purposeful about what prompts to delineate for each category. Because there's definitely some overlap between leadership and monstrous. I've developed a fantasy world where a lot of the evil and monstrosity comes from leadership (among other things), and there are some articles I'm wicked excited to write that could easily fit into either theme.I think for this category I'd like to focus on both the various leaders and forms of leadership within the Confederacy, as there are a lot of interconnecting players, as well as other groups throughout the world. The Armistace Guilds need to be more heavily structured, and the Cravven Imperium is still only in its more conceptual stage, so those will be two places to starts. And the gods, because I've only really done decent work on one, and I consider them as leaders of a sort in the scope of the world.
Discovery
This theme is where I really want to explore the science and arcana-related issues throughout the world. Again, it's difficult because the science pertaining to the plot in my book is monstrous; the science itself isn't inherently monstrous, but the way in which certain individuals or organizations go about discovering things certainly is. However for this theme I'll probably be looking at it with a more historical lense, thinking about how past discoveries were made and also different, non-scientific investigations throughout history.This might include more on the extinct species within the world, the scientific endeavors of the previous ruling empires, as well as the academic systems within both Beourjen City and Ethaeras. The Beourjen legal system, in conjunction with those of Armistace and Ethana, also has a lot to unpack so I may look there for ideas too.
Monstrous
This is the theme I'm most excited for, and for which I have the most ideas puttering around in my brain. So much of the world, and Beourjen culture specifically, revolves around what is believed to be 'wrong' or immoral, and as this is so integral to my book, obviously I want to continue breaking down and honing in on all the different monstrous and perverted mechanisms incorporated into the society.And I probably won't focus on just Beourjen here either. The Reservations have some deeply-rooted traditions to contend with, as does the Cravven Imperium, and both of these cultures need more foundation in terms of progressing fallibility. I'm not as worried about brainstorming ideas ahead of time for this one mainly because so much of the world can in some way be tied to this theme. Not everything is intrinsically dark or evil, as I'm not trying to write straight nihilistic grimdark, but this is a generally harsh world and in digging deep enough, a majority of motives and conflicts reflect that.
Writing Time
I'm currently still recovering from surgery and on unemployment so I'll have plenty of time to write. I think I'm going to take the rest of the summer off before school to try and *maybe* finish the first draft of the book I'm writing. My plan is to either write the prompts before working on the book if I have an idea for the prompt or, if I don't have a concrete idea to begin with for the day, try to get the book writing done first and then worry about the worldanvil prompt.Motivation
My main motivation is first and foremost to build a stronger foundation for my writing, both in terms of the specific book I'm working on as well as practicing techniques in general. I enjoy the actual process of writing and creating so that in itself is motivation, regardless of whatever comes of it. And badges are always nice too.
Inspiration
My inspiration is highly sporadic and dependent on what I'm currently reading and playing and—occasionally—watching, so it's hard to predict any concrete sources for what I'll use during summer camp, however the world of Beourjen in general pulls from a few core sources. I hesitate to divulge too much information because some themes throughout are built on the dramatic irony of Beourjen, and the people living within it, not knowing the sources they're derived from (hopefully that makes sense; I'm not sure it does).
Beourjen, both the confederacy and the world in general, are heavily based off the Victorian era, while the First Aveaan Empire pulls heavily from ancient Greece and classical antiquity. This is more loosely based, as I don't know as much about the time period, and for both periods in reality there are dozens of other sources threaded through the worldbuilding.
For recent sources of inspiration, I just recently read Carmilla, The Blacktongue Thief, and Dorian Gray so I'll probably inadvertently use those for inspiration, and I'm currently reading Assassin's Apprentice and then either Piers Plowman or Bitter Twins so those will probably be sitting in my subconscious too.
Aside from that, I listen to music on Youtube when working/writing, so that's a constant source of inspiration. A lot of my environmental/nature inspiration comes from New England, where I live and spend my summer free time hiking, relaxing, and backpacking.
Support
My boyfriend and my college D&D peeps are my biggest supports, even though none of them are on worldanvil themselves. I'm fairly introverted so I haven't been on the discord or anything a lot but it would be nice to be more involved in the community here; maybe I'll conjure up the courage to put myself out there a bit more at some point.
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