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Summer Camp is now officially over.
I started with such high expectations. Like every year, the excitement and anticipation of creating new material for my world holds my attention. Characters, places, magic and conflict between them all, for the good of novel writing, pulses through my veins.
Then, like thousands of other people, I make my pledge to achieve the highest rank possibleโฆdiamond. Thatโs completing 32 separate prompts crafted by WorldAnvil. From Species and Locations, to Military Conflicts and unknown Materials, we dig deep as writers. We stood together, waiting for the starting gun with our pledges in hand.
โOn your mark,โฆget setโฆโ
Wait.
The entire community took off like bullets, while I face planted.
Hard.
Life, my growing nemesis, sticks out its grotesque, hairy, varicose-veined leg and trips me. Sending me tumbling to the ground for a solid face-plant.
Ow!
This is nothing new.
Thereโs always something in my way that I have to wade through or navigate around, so thatโs exactly what I doโฆand start churning out the Summer Camp Prompts.
The Law of Dominion, Beakers โOne-Cheek-Sneakโ, Bagminโs Festival of Laughter and Freedom, but as I pick up speed, Life throw bananaโs onto the track. I face-plant again, and againโฆto the point I canโt help but think, โMaybe Iโm not supposed to do Summer Camp this year.โ
The Value of Your Word
I donโt know what kind of person you are, but for me, someoneโs word means something. We are all fallible, but that doesnโt mean we shouldnโt do everything we can to keep our word when we give it.
At the beginning of Summer Camp, I had made a pledge to achieve the Diamond badge.
All month long Iโd struggled to string ten coherent sentences together to form another article. Now here I was, less than 72 hours away from the finish line, and only eight prompts into the challenge. There was no way for me to fulfill this pledge and still keep my previous commitments to you, my readers. After all, Life of Fiction is the โmost importantโ writing task I have on my plate.
*sigh*
So I did what any decent writer would do.
โฆI did it anyway.
In roughly 24 hours, I completed 25 more prompts, allowing me to slide across the finish line with 33 completed promptsโฆand a Diamond Badge for the win.
[insert victory dance here]
All Iโm going to say is that itโs important to keep your wordโฆespecially in this world. Not for other people, though that is importantโฆbut for yourself. To trust yourself. To know and understand what you will do โ and what you are not willing to do โ when you are both alone and when something is hard.
Iโm a staunch believer in writing through the first time. Don't worry about editing, just get all your thoughts down on paper and then evaluate, edit and massage them to life. So thatโs kinda what I did. I created each article as fast as I could, not working on mechanics, or even details.
Those I would add to later.
Consider the prompts as 300+ word markers. Thatโs what I told myself every hour I plugged away. They were to give me the general ideas so I could come back later and make them exceptionalโฆthen add artwork and formatting.
It did the job.
What I discovered along the way, however, is what Iโd like to share with you.
Because I found some worlds that I will recommend at the top of my lungs.
I Want To Give You The World (or Four)
One of the best arts of Summer Camp is making friends. The WorldAnvil Discord community is second to none, IMO. Itโs where you can sit as you write and receive all the encouragement a human being can handle.
Itโs awesome.
Itโs also where we all share the work that weโre doing. You have linkโs pop into the chat of vast new creations of fantasy and science fiction you never would have thought of. While taking breaks from your own writing, many of us click these links. We venture over into other creations, both for inspiration and to give our kudos.
There are a few of these worlds that held me.
The wiring that tickles your curiosity bone, and you canโt help but jump deeper into the rabbit hole. Thatโs what I want to leave with you: some worlds (and articles) you might visit.
If you like Horror, or youโre a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, I would suggest Baeleris: Victorian Age Gothic Horror.
The second recommendation is one I donโt know how to categorize, though horror might be one of them. Itโs called Eivrall (Zenith Athenaeum). The writing is brilliant, the storyline chilling, yet fascinating
The third, and this is most likely my favorite world ever to be discovered through Summer Camp. As in Ever, Ever, EVVVVERRRRR. Itโs called MEGACORPOLIS.
Iโd say it was sci-fi humor, but that wouldnโt be accurate. Iโd say it was funny as hell, but thatโs a gross understatement. Iโll just say that IF you enjoy laughing, you can thank me later. Itโs written by โQurilionโ and he has become one of my favorite writers, right up there with Douglas Adams and Hitchhikerโs Guide to the Galaxy.
Last and certainly NOT least, I started following the winner of the 2022 โMost Beautiful New Worldโ award: Shadowfire, written by Ononomad.
Justโฆwell, youโll see. Take your time and enjoy.
Whatโs Coming Next?
August is a new event with WorldAnvil, and though I might touch on that โ we have some goodies being released, specifically artwork. Looking forward to sharing that next week!
Tell me in the comments what you think of the worlds I linked for you above!
Paid subscribers can comment, access the archive of this site, along with other stories, art, and any article Iโve ever written. If you arenโt a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial OR earn a paid membership by joining the referral program!
I love Megacorpolis! That was a good chunk of my distraction during Summer Camp. Great worlds to explore! And... YOU MADE IT!
So inspiring!