• Welcome back to Pokécharms! We've recently launched a new site and upgraded forums, so there may be a few teething issues as everything settles in. Please see our Relaunch FAQs for more information.

Pokécharms Writing Summer Camp!

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Calling all writers! It's summer, which means it's the perfect time to get together and put pen to paper. Maybe you've got an idea you haven't managed to write yet, or maybe you're looking for some extra inspiration. Either way, for the next five weeks we'll be running the Pokécharms Writing Summer Camp - part contest, part support group, part horde of crazy people with pens and keyboards. (And we're proud of it.)

The object of the game here is to plan and write a long-form writing project - that is, writing a lot of words in the time given. This can either be one long work, or a series of related works. Also, this year there are fabulous prizes just for participating. (Don't worry, there are better ones for winning...)

Interested? Hit "Continue Reading" for more![prebreak][/prebreak]

Your Challenge

The overall objective is to write 20,000 words between the start of the challenge - 18th July - and the end - 22nd August. These words should be all in the same project - whether that be one piece of writing (potentially separated into chapters or separate works), or multiple pieces of writing with the same theme.

For example, a short story collection about a trainer's gym trials would count, but several unrelated stories would not.

The Goals and Prizes

The summer camp consists of several goals, each with their own prize. You can go for as many or as few as you want, but the aim is to try and get them all! The goals are as follows:

Starting Out: Write and submit 1,000 words to the Summer Camp.
Literary Apprentice: Write and submit 5,000 words to the Summer Camp.
Half-Way Hero: Write and submit 10,000 words to the Summer Camp.
Wordsmith: Write and submit 15,000 words to the Summer Camp.
For each of the above, you'll get a trophy on your profile! These trophies are worth quite a lot of points, and can only be gotten during this challenge...

Word Master: This goal will be achieved once you're written and submitted the full 20,000 words or more. For achieving this final, sacred goal, you get a custom title, which h displays below your username in several places around the site, as well as the "Summer Camp 2015: Word Master" trophy - a super-rare trophy that can only be gotten from this contest!

How To Enter

The Summer Camp is held on the Pokécharms Creative Corner, and so all submissions should be put there. Entering is quite simple - just post your work as a written work on the Corner, and include "#summercamp15" somewhere in the summary.

Edit (9th August):

Alternatively, please submit your work tagged as "summer camp 2015" - this will be the preferred way of entering future contests now the tagging system is active.

If you're posting more than one part to your work - for example, you're posting each chapter as its completed - it is generally a sensible idea to include all your Summer Camp entries in the same series too, so they can be read in order.

Please don't panic if you submit an entry and don't get the respective trophy - they'll be handed out after the contest closes. :)

Terms

  • You must have an active Pokécharms account to enter. "Active" means an account that is not restricted by read-only status, and has not been banned.
  • You have to write all 20,000 words during the timeframe of the challenge - works (or parts of works) created before the 18th July will not be accepted.
  • All works that are submitted for the challenge should be in the same series.
  • Entries do not necessarily have to feature Pokémon characters or locations, or be set in a Pokémon universe. We observe that most works here do feature one or more of these, however.
  • Pokécharms staff are permitted to participate and earn the trophies, but cannot earn the custom title prize.
  • The rules for the Creative Corner must be observed when taking this challenge.
  • Trophies will be handed out after the challenge completes.
  • The challenge will commence on 18th July and end on the 22nd August.
 
Last edited:

Shiny Motley

2016 Singles Football
yessss this is very exciting *u* I haven't written stuff in forever so this will probably help propel me to do some actual writing (outside of RP posts) for once :D
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Wait...can I submit a work that I have already done? On another website?
Unfortunately not, these are supposed to be new words to get you writing :) To quote:
You have to write all 20,000 words during the timeframe of the challenge - works (or parts of works) created before the 18th July will not be accepted.
 

AzureEdge

✧luzrov rulay✧
Ooo, I have a couple questions about this!
I've already posted a series, and I'm continuing it from further on, so would I have to write a new series, or could I just start off writing from there?(It's currently up to chapter 3 as of now, so I could just put the tag on future chapters.)
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Ooo, I have a couple questions about this!
I've already posted a series, and I'm continuing it from further on, so would I have to write a new series, or could I just start off writing from there?(It's currently up to chapter 3 as of now, so I could just put the tag on future chapters.)
I'd say you can continue the series, but only future words count towards the total for the purposes of the challenge - so chapters posted today onwards :)
 
This looks interesting... Might try to participate... If I don't, then I'll at least try to read some of the works posted. There are so many great writers in this community, I'm bound to love some of the work posted at least! :)
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Mine isn't done yet, but it has several parts, its a series. Will that make any problems?
I mentioned this in the post itself, but no - no issues at all. I wouldn't expect anyone to write 20.000 words without being able to split it down. :)
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
would i be posting in my work all in the same thread?
Nope :) Generally, you'd post each "chapter" or "part" of the work as a separate Creative Corner work, and link them together by adding them to the same series. That way you get a full story, which people can navigate properly and in order, but you can update it as you go and not have to put the entire work on at the same time.
 

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
Cu…cu..custom title..?
I’ve always wanted one of those... Shame I’m such a horrible writer, otherwise I’d totally participate ;_;

This activity was actually inspired by NaNoWriMo, where the aim is to encourage people to get writing in general moreso than to write masterpieces. Output is key. Anyone can participate no matter what their writing skill level is, so you should give it a try if you're interested! ^^
 

pokeman266

2015 Singles Champion
I think this is an amazing idea! It pushes all the great writers on this site to upload more content as well as people who normally dont write anything.
 

Psycho Monkey

Member of the Literary Elite Four
Well looks like I'll be getting back to my Let's Play Journal of Alpha Sapphire real soon. Regrettably this week is already shot, so I'll only have from July 27-Aug 22 to write my 20,000 words. Either way, challenge accepted! :arr:
 
Ooh. I guess this was the motivation I needed to continue my Dear Pokediary series. January, your time will shine once again!

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!

How many parts does it have, 2, 3? I really liked them, you should continue that :)

Oh and only the winner gets the custom title or do more people get that?

The callenge seems fun, and I'd like to participate, so how do I submit the work? Like how do you know if it's for the Summer Camp, do I have to tag it...?
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Oh and only the winner gets the custom title or do more people get that?
Everyone who gets to the 20,000 limit gets a custom title. :)

The callenge seems fun, and I'd like to participate, so how do I submit the work? Like how do you know if it's for the Summer Camp, do I have to tag it...?
I do explain this in the first post! :) Here it is again for reference:

The Summer Camp is held on the Pokécharms Creative Corner, and so all submissions should be put there. Entering is quite simple - just post your work as a written work on the Corner, and include "#summercamp15" somewhere in the summary.

If you're posting more than one part to your work - for example, you're posting each chapter as its completed - it is generally a sensible idea to include all your Summer Camp entries in the same series too, so they can be read in order.
 
Top