Summer Camp 2026

Week 01:

After multiple successfull challenges in world-building and writing marathons with friends in the past, I am excited to take on Summer Camp for the first time and turn my attention to the most intricate and most detailed world that I have ever attempted to build. This is not about “finishing” anything for me, it’s about using the momentum to push the world to meet milestones, to pin rough ideas onto paper and grab the abstract spark to hold onto it.

Create a world primer document: Welcome to Hera
Review maps and timeline: I need a new map of mortal and immortal lands on Hera and a rough timeline for the planetary history.
Update the world’s meta document.
Finish sorting and updating the old articles in the semi-sorted folder.
“Write a Settlement that's associated with love.” Sovez

Week 02:

Focus is something I struggle with with world-building and honestly, I am so scatter-brained that usually I am more comfortable jumping into various sections and not setting a focus that is too narrow. So this year I am working on anything related to the campaign Dornenkrone that I am writing. It is a long-term campaign that will span multiple years and continents, but keep it restrained to a very clear path moving through this world and force me to at least not get too distracted by different planes of existence or historical events thousands of years ago.

Why did I choose this focus?

There are many stories that take place and many campaigns that run in parallel, as well as lore stories that take place spanning centuries and millenniums in this world. But Dornenkrone is the first story I ever thought about in this world and that I wanted to tell, yet since then there have been many ideas and little structure happening. My goal for this summer is to change that, and to make decisions on how to play it out that will carry this forward from “loose collection of ideas” towards an actually writable story and a playable campaign.

Make a list of concepts I’d like to explore:

Now if I go into every research topic, we’ll be here in a hundred years. But there are three major concepts that I am eager to explore in an overlap with my current courses in history and philosophy.

1. The fragility of mortal structures and the flaw of projected ideology Foucault.
2. The resilience of nature sources.
3. Political intrigue and how to establish powerful empires and political units (and how to cause their downfall) France.

And added bonus: especially the sources I find for the third topic are relevant for essays due this summer and the sources for the first topic are relevant for my BA thesis and following academic work as I want to specialise in hermeneutics and projection of ideology. So uhm, if anyone reads this and knows interesting sources on any of this then please let me know!

How does my area of focus interact with the rest of the world?

Dornenkrone is a plot that impacts the political landscape of Hera significantly and that causes a significant shift in how human and non-human species interact with one another to the point where any future campaigns or stories take a vastly different setting if they’re set before or after this campaign without there being large shifts in technological and academic advances (though there are also campaigns planned in the future where those shifts will be relevant).

Create an article about my area of focus. Dornenkrone

Note: This article is not done, that will be part of Summer Camp 2026 to flesh it out properly, but it’s in existence at least.

Write a Geographical Location boasting different kinds of ecosystems. Hvarediz

Week 03:

Planning my writing time:

It's very difficult to find a consistent spot that I know I will be available but every day I am either at home (and have plenty of time to write) or I have at least 2 hours of commute total that I can use to write). So that is the plan, but which days are which depends on work and family.

What is my topical writing routine?

Open a note-taking tool of my choice – either Obsidian or WorldAnvil or Notes App on my phone – and write down in bullet points what the idea is that is ruminating in my head. Then I spin off from there either with flow charts or diagrams or text bullet points. And then that mess of bullet points gets resorted and formed into full sentences and paragraphs. And then that's it for the initial writing routine – then those drafts are shared with friends, their feedback worked in while editing a few days to months later (most of their feedback at least, no I am not turning every paragraph into a sex scene Thorsten!). Re-drafting and edits might happen again and again, depends on what exactly is done and how long it takes and what it is for, if it contradicts later changes and so on. And truth be told the last time I actually completed a story to be published (even online just dumping it on a self-hosted website) was ten years ago and I don't have those life circumstances anymore so that routine is one I can't write about.

Oh, I forgot research! So basically the bullet point process might – depending on the project and the topic – include various cited bullet points from various books and web journals for different results. Images, videos, linked topics, philosophical essays, all linked and summed up with academic citations in the research files on Obsidian. How I forgot that part when I am actually writing an academic essay this summer and in the process of researching at the moment, I don't know.

Go for a walk.
Spend time in your favourite fictional universe.

Do I get bonus points for also going for a walk in my favourite fictional universe? Because I did spend some time in Beauclair just walking and enjoying the atmosphere, no quests and all...

Read an article (or more) from other Avnilites.

Read a book to inspire you.

No, don't worry, dear fictional characters, I am not reading up on prison and the disciplinary state to put you through it, it's just a nice evening lecture...

A language lost in time.

There are two languages lost in time: Cewreg and Archaike once were the only languages spoken all over Hera but after the Freedom Wars both the giants and archai are no longer seen on the face of the world, their languages heard in fractions of other tongues spoken today or found in sources hidden deep in the ruins of their former fortresses.

Week 04:

Which articles do I need to complete my creative goal?

All of them. OK that is very vague but this world is built on the idea that a creative project can grow over years, decades, and be additive — meaning that it always leaves spaces to connect new ideas to. So there is no “if I have these 10, 100, 2'000, 30'000 articles, it will be done” but more a “this project will continue to grow and flourish until neither I nor anyone else keeps adding to it.”

Find a community or an accountability buddy.

I don't really have that at the moment but also I have not been actively on the look-out. I am someone who prefers to work by themselves and without added pressure, even well-intended as it may be, so I am hesitant to find accountability at the moment.

Take a break and re-energize.

Break, fine. Re-energizing? We're in the middle of a heat wave I am glad to be able to keep my head upright, I am not doing any energizing at the moment, unless you count prayers of gratitude to all gods and pantheons I am aware of for the existence of ice cubes.

Prepare your writing space.

Hm... I got a workable writing space at the moment but as I am renovating my home, it's a work in progress to be fair. Can I write here? Yes. Do I want to write here? Yes. But I do hope that by Summer Camp next year I actually have a workspace worth defining as a “writing space” and not just a “space where I can write.”

Write a Myth that reveals the "true" meaning of family. Asifan God-Bound Families