inklings-challenge

[inklings-challenge]

@cuppatealove Sorry I forgot to come back and respond to this, but if it's not clear by now, I decided that it'd just be cleaner if I waited to post the announcement and start sign-ups on September 1st.

However, for anyone who wants a sneak peak at this year's theme:

Get ready for the Beatitudes!

Usually sign-ups for the Inklings Challenge don't start until September 1st, and teams are assigned October 1st. However, since the theme has been chosen and the announcement post prepared, I'm not sure if there's a good reason to wait to post it. It could give people more time to sign up and brainstorm story options, but it could also give too much time, so people forget about it or lose enthusiasm by the time the Challenge starts.

What do you guys think?

[inklings-challenge]

Usually sign-ups for the Inklings Challenge don't start until September 1st, and teams are assigned October 1st. However, since the theme has been chosen and the announcement post prepared, I'm not sure if there's a good reason to wait to post it. It could give people more time to sign up and brainstorm story options, but it could also give too much time, so people forget about it or lose enthusiasm by the time the Challenge starts.

What do you guys think?

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Final Day

Welcome back to Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

At Camp Tolkien, Saturday is Free Day! Today, we bring back all the activities from the past week, and you can join in whichever one you wish. This is your opportunity to try an activity that you didn’t have a chance to try earlier in the week, try an activity from a day you missed, or to repeat a favorite activity. Try one or try them all–it’s your free day, so do what you like.

The activities will be listed under the cut. They will be listed in the same order they were provided during the week.

An optional additional activity for this last day of Camp is

Farewells: Tell us how your Camp experience went. Which activities did you most enjoy? How much progress did you make? What is your favorite thing that you created during this camp experience?

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

Have fun, go forth, and create!

Monday

Letter Writing: Share a letter written by a character from your project. If you want to make it a postcard, include a picture that relates to some element of your story.

Singalong: Listen to some music and use a lyric to inspire some element of your project.

Swimming: Set a timer for ten minutes and write. Come up for air, take at least a five minute break, then write another ten minutes.

Sandcastles: Describe a building in the setting of your project.

Tuesday

Shadow Puppets: Describe at least three characters in your project, using only 1-2 sentences for each.

Foraging: Find a piece of paper that is not writing paper–it could be a napkin, an envelope, a piece of newsprint, etc.–and use it to hand-write something related to your project.

Cookout: Write a short scene and make sure to describe it using all five senses.

Canoeing: Write for five minutes. Open a new document and try to write the same scene from memory. Compare the two versions and keep your favorite.

Wednesday

Truth or Dare: Talk about a secret from a character’s past OR tell us about something they’re terrified to do.

Knot-tying: Write down two things that happen in your story, then make a list of at least five intermediate steps that happen between those scenes.

Tree Climbing: Complete three ten-minute writing sprints, aiming for a higher wordcount each time.

Stargazing: Work on your project in the dark, using only candlelight or flashlight (or screen light) for illumination.

Thursday

Dodgeball: Write down five terrible ideas of things that you would never want to happen in your story. Then take one of those terrible ideas and figure out how the story could change to make that terrible idea make sense.

Charades: Describe your project via emojis or memes.

Water Balloon Toss: Write for ten minutes. Write for eight minutes and try to reach as close to the same word count as possible. Repeat this exercise three more times, decreasing the time by two minutes each time.

Tie-dying: Work on your project using at least three different font or pen colors. (Black and blue are not allowed).

Friday

Talent Show: Show us at least three characters from your project, and tell what their most impressive talent or trait is.

Field Trip: Work on your project in a location outside your place of residence--cafe, library, park, etc.

Marching Band: Listen to a favorite song. Start writing when the song starts and see how many words you can write before the song ends.

Tug-of-War: Write or summarize an important scene of your project from one character's point-of-view, then write or summarize the same scene from a different character's point-of-view.

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 11

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Talent Show: Show us at least three characters from your project, and tell what their most impressive talent or trait is.

Field Trip: Work on your project in a location outside your place of residence--cafe, library, park, etc.

Marching Band: Listen to a favorite song. Start writing when the song starts and see how many words you can write before the song ends.

Tug-of-War: Write or summarize an important scene of your project from one character's point-of-view, then write or summarize the same scene from a different character's point-of-view.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 10

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Dodgeball: Write down five terrible ideas of things that you would never want to happen in your story. Then take one of those terrible ideas and figure out how the story could change to make that terrible idea make sense.

Charades: Describe your project via emojis or memes.

Water Balloon Toss: Write for ten minutes. Write for eight minutes and try to reach as close to the same word count as possible. Repeat this exercise three more times, decreasing the time by two minutes each time.

Tie-dying: Work on your project using at least three different font or pen colors. (Black and blue are not allowed).

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 9

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Truth or Dare: Talk about a secret from a character's past OR tell us about something they're terrified to do.

Knot-tying: Write down two things that happen in your story, then make a list of at least five intermediate steps that happen between those scenes.

Tree Climbing: Complete three ten-minute writing sprints, aiming for a higher wordcount each time.

Stargazing: Work on your project in the dark, using only candlelight or flashlight (or screen light) for illumination.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 8

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Shadow Puppets: Describe at least three characters in your project, using only 1-2 sentences for each.

Foraging: Find a piece of paper that is not writing paper--it could be a napkin, an envelope, a piece of newsprint, etc.--and use it to hand-write something related to your project.

Cookout: Write a short scene and make sure to describe it using all five senses.

Canoeing: Write for five minutes. Open a new document and try to write the same scene from memory. Compare the two versions and keep your favorite.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 7

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Letter Writing: Share a letter written by a character from your project. If you want to make it a postcard, include a picture that relates to some element of your story.

Singalong: Listen to some music and use a lyric to inspire some element of your project.

Swimming: Set a timer for ten minutes and write. Come up for air, take at least a five minute break, then write another ten minutes.

Sandcastles: Describe a building in the setting of your project.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Free Day

Welcome back to Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

At Camp Tolkien, Saturday is Free Day! Today, we bring back all the activities from the past week, and you can join in whichever one you wish. This is your opportunity to try an activity that you didn't have a chance to try earlier in the week, try an activity from a day you missed, or to repeat a favorite activity. Try one or try them all--it's your free day, so do what you like.

The activities will be listed under the cut. They will be listed in the same order they were provided during the week.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

Have fun, go forth, and create!

Monday

Icebreakers: Tell the other campers about the project you’ve brought to camp by writing a one-paragraph summary.

Photography: Find or create at least five reference pictures that visualize settings and/or characters in your project.

Archery: Set a timer for two minutes. Write as many words as you can in that time. Repeat this four more times, for a total of five mini writing sessions. Keep track of your word count for each, and let us know your high score.

Nature Walk: Work on your project while you’re outdoors.

Tuesday

Orienteering: Draw a map of a location in your project–a building, a neighborhood, a town, a world, whatever you wish. Note that does not have to be an accurate map–it could be a certain character’s perception of their surroundings, it could be biased, it could be more about artistry than facts, it could just be a napkin scribble if you want.

Painting: Write a detailed description of at least one character in your project.

Scavenger hunt: Incorporate the following five words in whatever you write for your project: friend, tree, march, red, finish. Alternately, find as many of those words as you can in what you already have written for your project, and share each sentence.

Rock climbing: Set a timer for thirty minutes and try to finish as much of a draft of a scene as you can in that time.

Wednesday

Alphabet Game: Make a list of twenty-six things that could happen in your story–each one starting with a different letter of the alphabet.

Dioramas: Write a detailed description of one room in one setting in your project.

Hiking: Go on a walk outside and use something about the experience (a sensory detail, something you saw) as inspiration for your project.

Zipline: Write as fast as you can for ten minutes. You are not allowed to backspace, cross out, or delete anything during that time.

Thursday

Friendship Bracelets: Tell us about two characters who are currently friends, or talk about a childhood/former friend of one of your characters.

Skits: Write a short dialogue scene in script format.

Relay Race: Start a stopwatch. Write 100 words. See how long it took you. Set a timer for the same amount of time, then see how many words you can write in that time.

Tumbling: Switch up the format of how you work on your project. If you usually type, write by hand (or vice versa). If you must type, type in a different program, or use a different-colored font.

Friday

Woodcarving: Take a previously-written portion of your project and try to reduce its wordcount by 25%.

S'mores: Set a timer for five minutes and write as many words as you can. Then do a ten-minute writing session. Then a fifteen-minute one. Then treat yourself to a snack.

Storytelling: Tell us about a story from within the world of your project. It could be a folktale, a bit of history, family lore, something from a character's backstory, whatever you like.

Movie Night: Listen to a favorite movie soundtrack while you work on your project.

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 5

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Woodcarving: Take a previously-written portion of your project and try to reduce its wordcount by 25%.

S'mores: Set a timer for five minutes and write as many words as you can. Then do a ten-minute writing session. Then a fifteen-minute one. Then treat yourself to a snack.

Storytelling: Tell us about a story from within the world of your project. It could be a folktale, a bit of history, family lore, something from a character's backstory, whatever you like.

Movie Night: Listen to a favorite movie soundtrack while you work on your project.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 4

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Friendship Bracelets: Tell us about two characters who are currently friends, or talk about a childhood/former friend of one of your characters.

Skits: Write a short dialogue scene in script format.

Relay Race: Start a stopwatch. Write 100 words. See how long it took you. Set a timer for the same amount of time, then see how many words you can write in that time.

Tumbling: Switch up the format of how you work on your project. If you usually type, write by hand (or vice versa). If you must type, type in a different program, or use a different-colored font.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 3

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you're in--brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising--Camp Tolkien's activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today's four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish--choose more than one if you want to.

Alphabet Game: Make a list of twenty-six things that could happen in your story--each one starting with a different letter of the alphabet.

Dioramas: Write a detailed description of one room in one setting in your project.

Hiking: Go on a walk outside and use something about the experience (a sensory detail, something you saw) as inspiration for your project.

Zipline: Write as fast as you can for ten minutes. You are not allowed to backspace, cross out, or delete anything during that time.

When you're finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 2

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you're in--brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising--Camp Tolkien's activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today's four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish--choose more than one if you want to.

Orienteering: Draw a map of a location in your project--a building, a neighborhood, a town, a world, whatever you wish. Note that does not have to be an accurate map--it could be a certain character's perception of their surroundings, it could be biased, it could be more about artistry than facts, it could just be a napkin scribble if you want.

Painting: Write a detailed description of at least one character in your project.

Scavenger hunt: Incorporate the following five words in whatever you write for your project: friend, tree, march, red, finish. Alternately, find as many of those words as you can in what you already have written for your project, and share each sentence.

Rock climbing: Set a timer for thirty minutes and try to finish as much of a draft of a scene as you can in that time.

When you're finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Welcome to Round 2 of Camp Tolkien. For the benefit of everyone who didn't get to come to camp last time, we'll be reblogging all the posts again each day for the next two weeks. Anyone who wants to play along is welcome to join in!

Camp Tolkien: Day 1

Welcome to Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you're in--brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising--Camp Tolkien's activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today's four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish--choose more than one if you want to.

Icebreakers: Tell the other campers about the project you've brought to camp by writing a one-paragraph summary.

Photography: Find or create at least five reference pictures that visualize settings and/or characters in your project.

Archery: Set a timer for two minutes. Write as many words as you can in that time. Repeat this four more times, for a total of five mini writing sessions. Keep track of your word count for each, and let us know your high score.

Nature Walk: Work on your project while you're outdoors.

When you're finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Final Day

Welcome back to Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

At Camp Tolkien, Saturday is Free Day! Today, we bring back all the activities from the past week, and you can join in whichever one you wish. This is your opportunity to try an activity that you didn’t have a chance to try earlier in the week, try an activity from a day you missed, or to repeat a favorite activity. Try one or try them all–it’s your free day, so do what you like.

The activities will be listed under the cut. They will be listed in the same order they were provided during the week.

An optional additional activity for this last day of Camp is

Farewells: Tell us how your Camp experience went. Which activities did you most enjoy? How much progress did you make? What is your favorite thing that you created during this camp experience?

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

Have fun, go forth, and create!

Monday

Letter Writing: Share a letter written by a character from your project. If you want to make it a postcard, include a picture that relates to some element of your story.

Singalong: Listen to some music and use a lyric to inspire some element of your project.

Swimming: Set a timer for ten minutes and write. Come up for air, take at least a five minute break, then write another ten minutes.

Sandcastles: Describe a building in the setting of your project.

Tuesday

Shadow Puppets: Describe at least three characters in your project, using only 1-2 sentences for each.

Foraging: Find a piece of paper that is not writing paper–it could be a napkin, an envelope, a piece of newsprint, etc.–and use it to hand-write something related to your project.

Cookout: Write a short scene and make sure to describe it using all five senses.

Canoeing: Write for five minutes. Open a new document and try to write the same scene from memory. Compare the two versions and keep your favorite.

Wednesday

Truth or Dare: Talk about a secret from a character’s past OR tell us about something they’re terrified to do.

Knot-tying: Write down two things that happen in your story, then make a list of at least five intermediate steps that happen between those scenes.

Tree Climbing: Complete three ten-minute writing sprints, aiming for a higher wordcount each time.

Stargazing: Work on your project in the dark, using only candlelight or flashlight (or screen light) for illumination.

Thursday

Dodgeball: Write down five terrible ideas of things that you would never want to happen in your story. Then take one of those terrible ideas and figure out how the story could change to make that terrible idea make sense.

Charades: Describe your project via emojis or memes.

Water Balloon Toss: Write for ten minutes. Write for eight minutes and try to reach as close to the same word count as possible. Repeat this exercise three more times, decreasing the time by two minutes each time.

Tie-dying: Work on your project using at least three different font or pen colors. (Black and blue are not allowed).

Friday

Talent Show: Show us at least three characters from your project, and tell what their most impressive talent or trait is.

Field Trip: Work on your project in a location outside your place of residence--cafe, library, park, etc.

Marching Band: Listen to a favorite song. Start writing when the song starts and see how many words you can write before the song ends.

Tug-of-War: Write or summarize an important scene of your project from one character's point-of-view, then write or summarize the same scene from a different character's point-of-view.

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 11

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Talent Show: Show us at least three characters from your project, and tell what their most impressive talent or trait is.

Field Trip: Work on your project in a location outside your place of residence--cafe, library, park, etc.

Marching Band: Listen to a favorite song. Start writing when the song starts and see how many words you can write before the song ends.

Tug-of-War: Write or summarize an important scene of your project from one character's point-of-view, then write or summarize the same scene from a different character's point-of-view.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Day 10

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Dodgeball: Write down five terrible ideas of things that you would never want to happen in your story. Then take one of those terrible ideas and figure out how the story could change to make that terrible idea make sense.

Charades: Describe your project via emojis or memes.

Water Balloon Toss: Write for ten minutes. Write for eight minutes and try to reach as close to the same word count as possible. Repeat this exercise three more times, decreasing the time by two minutes each time.

Tie-dying: Work on your project using at least three different font or pen colors. (Black and blue are not allowed).

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!