Reading Challenge: Summer Camp 2024

Summer Camp 2024 has come and gone and it’s time for a Reading Challenge—the traditional way to celebrate the conclusion of a World Anvil community event. This time around, the challenge is rather open-ended. All we’ve got to do is pick ten articles. Should be easy, right?

Maybe for some, but not for me. I need me some rules—some constraints.

Constraints are powerful. They help me create. I know this. And yet, when I’m tired—as I am now—I find it easier to have the constraints thrust upon me than to try and come up with them on my own.

At first, I didn’t have any idea how to narrow down my options. But after some consideration, I’ve decided to focus on articles written for the Character template. Characters are at the heart of everything I create, after all, so why not get inspired by what others are doing in that space?

10 Articles and What They Taught Me

I love him and I want to give him a hug. As a writer, I was inspired by the brilliant portrayal of dysphoria in the opening section. Emy’s deft use of pronouns in those paragraphs is something I aspire to.

They say that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Amélie’s strategic deployment of illustrations throughout the piece reminded me that I need to include more visual “breaks” in my work going forward. They really help with readability in longer articles.

For a little while, I was very involved in the Game of Tomes during April, July, and November of each year. After a stint playing the bad guy and realizing I couldn’t quite handle the pressure of me/my character being an object of in-game hatred, I dropped out of the community. And though I know they’d have me back, I haven’t quite known how to re-introduce myself and step back into it.

I’ve also been dealing with worsening social anxiety and trying very hard to avoid the dreaded forces of OVERWHELM.

All of that said, I enjoy checking in on the story of Game of Tomes as a fan. What reading this article about the Nite Qing taught me is that a character who’s been around for a long time can continue to evolve and needn’t ever feel static if you don’t want them to.

Kitoypoy is one of my favorite authors on World Anvil, one of my staunchest supporters, and a good friend. The way he begins most articles with contrasting quotes from the Instructor of Recruits and Sgt. Kill Flayer is something I enjoy as a reader and imagine must be an invaluable tool for breaking through writer’s block. If you’ve know that you’re going to need a quote from Sarge for each piece and you don’t know where to start, you can always start there.

Oh, and Yugangi’s tongue! Oh my god, the image of that cursed appendage is going to give me nightmares tonight!

Hanhula’s work is gorgeous and dense, but the beauty of the illustrations and the careful, considered use of headings help the text to just flow.

The idea of a sapient planet is one I wish I had room for in my world. From Unicron in The Transformers: The Movie to Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, I just love the concept. And Nimin has created a character who is just as memorable. From the physical description to the fact that Greatmother Klaxas has now attracted a couple of “moons”—this is just chef’s kiss.

Over the past few WA events, I’ve taken great pleasure in using my browser’s built-in Translate feature to read articles I wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy.

I love me a god of pleasure and I love that this one is gender-fluid. I also love that she/he/it is also the god of excesses. The section on Slaanesh’s followers was a particular favorite.

I love that Haly took this prompt as an opportunity to introduce herself to her readers. She’s been doing great work this summer.

I’m also inspired here to maybe do an article on an in-universe version of myself, since I’ve hinted I’m a presence already.

I liked Jennyfur already from another article I’d read before this one, but this piece made me love her. The story of her siblings taking care of each other really resonated with me, as my grandmother and her siblings had to do something similar in 1930s Boston after their parents both died young.

What this reminded me is that I still have plenty of stories from my own life and the lives I’ve researched during my genealogy work that I might eventually pull into my Edenian storytelling.

And last but not least, a shout-out to the co-creator of World Anvil itself: Dimitris Havlidis.

Both Dimi and Janet continually impress me with their ability to continue writing and worldbuilding at the same time as they develop this product I love so much. I could’ve picked any article by either one of them to mention here, but I wanted to highlight this article in particular because I remember Dimi mentioning it on a stream. He seemed particularly happy with the name Herbert George Verne, which I think is great.

Verne pays tribute to his namesakes, has a full life story full of ups and downs, and then ultimately ties into other work Dimi did this Summer Camp. In my humble opinion, the article is perfect.

10 Goals for the Back Half of 2024

So, what am I going to do with all of this inspiration? Here’s a list, in no particular order:

1. Complete and release issue 2 of The Blood of Seven Queens
2. Launch a Kickstarter for issues 1 & 2 to expand the potential readership
3. Create a banner for each of the seven kingdoms of Wonderland and flesh out the accompanying article for each
4. Scout through my Daz Studio library for sets I can use for each location I anticipate my heroes will travel through, then create World Anvil articles (or update existing ones) with simple art pieces to remind me what each place should look like
5. Write and illustrate an article on what the various body paint markings in Bekiskapan signify in their standing army
6. Create maps of the main locations my characters will travel through in Seven Queens first twelve issues
7. Write “one of everything” for the fourth WorldEmber in a row
8. Read a bunch of the things on my to-read shelf and get further inspired, both for the remainder of this year and for 2025
9. Continue working on my mental and physical health, so that I may participate in many years of World Anvil challenges to come
10. Find time to rest and relax