ocular rewritten

hello, welcome to epistolary's planning forum! on a kind note, if you're not a part of the leadership team (aka yume, nat, silky) this session, it would be nice if you could leave, just so you don't spoil anything we're planning for the session. after all, things are best kept a surprise <3 we honor the swc honor system, and it means a lot to all of us if you could respect it too. thank you! <33

alright, with all formalities aside… WELCOME TO (the first-ever!?) EPISTOLARY (in swc)!!! calm down, yume, calm down… AAHHH BUT I CAN’T-

first things first! basic cabin setup has to be in the studio by feb 1st, so we’ve got to decide on the theme and everything else included <3 we want potential campers to get an idea of what our cabin would be like ^^

oh, and here’s our studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/34522027

here's a list of what we can think about for now!

- external communication: canva? disc? maybe others? this is so that in the case of forums going down, we have somewhere else that can serve as backup. i will also be screenshotting all our posts and put them onto a canva doc just so we can review them when forums are down.

- overall theme and storyline: i had the idea of a feather-mail system that delivers stories, written as letters, to every corner of the universe, where our cabin is is the “central terminal”. this storyline branches into the idea of the in-cabin activities, which involve writing these story letters <3 of course, this is just a really basic summary that could be expanded on in multiple directions, and it's open to change based on our collective ideas.

- word counts: projects or studios? i'll assume this depends on if we want messages whenever someone adds words and also if we'd like word count groups- let me know what you think about that ^^

- cabin aesthetics: thumbnails, banners, signatures, etc! i think for these we should all collab on canva, i'll get a bunch of links up once i have them hehe

- cabin colors: these will most likely be colors used in the aesthetics so we'll choose some from there afterwards. i feel like a water and/or air inspired theme would look great, maybe some light browns and greyer tones as well?

- cabin relationships: i've accepted a few requests that i think work out really well, i'll put the list on the post below this one. from now on though, we could all give inputs on incoming requests, as well as request for other cabins. (update: cabin relationship list below)

cabin relationships

siblings:
- poetry
(trio maybe?)

allies:

neutrals:

enemies:
- tragedy
- thriller

hi there!
so excited for this session aaaaaa

-for the theme, i really like the idea of a feather-mail system. it's quite unique, and i think it could motivate the campers! maybe in the beginning of the session, the campers gets to vote on the theme of the story, then write from there?
-i'll prefer studios for the word count, but if you or nat likes projects better, then its fine as well <3
-i could use disc in case forums go down

and i'll add more later <3

ookay perhaps this isn't clear enough ahaha- i was at school when i typed that soo i was in a bit of a rush
basically, how the feather mail system this works is that anyone can write their stories, in form of letters, and send them by bird (hence the feather <3) for the in-cabin activities, i was thinking maybe bi-daily just so there's a higher chance everyone can get to it instead of updating daily (and it saves us half the work too ehehe), we could use your idea and have a theme vote for a certain day, and i did have some ideas while making my app, for instance writing letters to your original characters (and have them write back?) or diary entries in their perspective.

starryy-silk wrote:

-i could use disc in case forums go down

sure thing, i'll make a group ^^ i'm yumeverse_, what about you?

eek haii! hi silky :eyes:

going to put my thoughts on everything here when i get some time heh <33

I have disco too heh, i'm natoriouslyyy ^^

my user is cheriimoya. (with a period hehe)

wonderhoy indeed hehe <3
feathers work with me, though perhaps we could call it quills if you want to?

edit: also, i was wondering if we'll be doing forum signatures, sets, and a cabin guide <3

currency
the feathers aren't showing up for me? it just shows a box <//3

signatures and banners
the banners are incredible! i love our colours aaa <33 i'll try to set it as my banner for the session month, since i have to put the leader apps as my featured project for february heheheh ^^

storyline
should we get started writing/planning this?

pfps
how do we want these, should the main character in them be our personas, or birds? should it be a customizer, or just requests? i'll sketch something up once we decide the basics!!

RoseReef wrote:

currency
the feathers aren't showing up for me? it just shows a box <//3 !

it does that when i'm on mobile as well

for the pfp, i prefer it to be birds because of our storyline, but whatever is easier for you works for me <3

- currency
some symbols don't like showing up on every device unfortunately </3 quills sound good too, i mean it /is/ a writing tool hehe. actually that gives me the slightest idea for the cabin intro story

- storyline
i was planning on drafting one today, maybe i'll send it when i finish <33

- cabin aesthetics
does anyone want to make forum signatures and/or sets? i'm open to do any of it, but i figured since i've sent canva links here we all have access to the graphics, colors and fonts used. one thing is that image hosting sites are blocked for me so one of you will have to do forum signatures <3 i can make the set if that's okay with both of you ^^

- cabin relationships
we have about three cabins left that don't have relationships, and we still don't have any just neutral neutrals, so maybe i'll ask for that?

- cabin guide
ooo yes- that would be amazing hehe, i'll make a canva project so we can all write and design it
(here it is <3 link)

relationships: i think the remaining 3 could be one peaceful, one neutral, and one hostile <3

signature: i never made one before </3 i could try though! if i'm right, the size should be 690 by 155 right?

guide: if it would be possible, i would like to share this <3

- relationships
how's this?
friendly - fan-fi
neutral - fantasy
hostile - hi-fi
(didn't put much thought into it honestly, lmk if you want anything changed

- cabin guide
if nat's okay with that, i'm completely fine with that <3

oh yes, that sounds good <3 though could fantasy be friendly and fan=fi be neutral instead? /genq

also here's my wcg: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/34571190

CAMPER SIGNUPS EEE <3

my blurb: hello there <3 i'm silky, a little individual who enjoys drawing and writing in my free time. books are my besties, they are and will always be a portal to a new world. with that being said, i'm excited for this session and to meet all of you! #epistolaryftw!!!

yup, sent the reqs ^^ going to bed now cause it's 11 pm lol (we're all est here hehe)

i'll add the blurb and everything tomorrow <33

fantastic hehe! <3

ookay i clearly did not expect to be forced out for almost the entirety of the weekend- so sorry about that </33

i am working towards the intro story, but clearly i wasnt able to settle on an idea (scrapped like three drafts of it cause i just wasnt happy about it), hopefully i'll finish by the end of tomorrow if possible and you can take a look + edit <3

cabin currency

our cabin currency is quills! here’s how you can earn some for yourself.
➷ reaching your initial word goal - 10
➷ sleeping before 11 p.m. - 1
➷ completing a daily - 5
➷ winning a word war - 3
➷ completing a weekly - 10
➷ doing an in-cabin activity - 3
➷ participating in cabin wars - 5 for each warring day
➷ doing a critique in the critiquitaire - 5
➷ entering the writing comp - 20

you can spend your quills in the stamp shop (name to be confirmed) in exchange for matching pfp's and other epistolary aesthetics <3
➷ profile picture - ?
➷ forum signature - ?
➷ matching banners - ?

how does this look? for the aesthetics, probably not too high but enough to get them motivated, do any of you have suggestions? ^^ and in the past some cabins chose to give some of these as prizes for finishing the weekly, and i was thinking maybe since our theme is a letter terminal, the exchange place could be the stamp shop (shop? counter? something else maybe?) and we could all make stamps as weekly prizes.

if i find i forgot anything i'll just make a new post hehe trying to get it to 100+ by the start of the session

sobbing i really have to be more active on this

its fine yume <3 life > swc!

i really like the cabin currency! in the past, i noticed most people spend their currency on pfp, so maybe that could be a bit high, like 20-25 quills and 1 weekly/stamp?
for signatures and banners, perhaps 15 could be fine? along with one daily of course <3
exchange shop sounds good to me!

cabin aesthetics

➷ profile picture - 40
➷ forum signature - 25
➷ matching banners - 25

this looks like a lot but trust me it's not, getting a total 90 quills is not hard, since every day you can get at least 9 quills so if you're really dedicated it'll take only 10 days to get everything.

cabin guide
the link is on post #24, we'll each need a more detailed intro to put in there <3 i'm in the process of trying to write this and the blurb hehe

locations + names

currency exchange: stamp exchange / stamp shop
yume's wcg:
silky's wcg:
nat's wcg:
swc main cabin:

i think the campers might freak out a bit when they see the prices, but i think they are pretty reasonable ^^

since the cabin is the “central terminal” maybe our wcg could just be regular terminals (does that make sense?) around the galaxy.

edit: perhaps the main cabin could be earth?

im actually not efficient adfghjkl i saw your message much much earlier than this but never got to responding

storyline thing (wip)

the central terminal of all letters, delivered by the one and only feather-mail system. unorganised letters were spilling out of every shelf, and you gasp in awe at the sight of birds flying in and out the huge open windows, carrying letters in their beaks.

(insert part where we talk)

locations
i updated the studio descriptions to add in some reminders, links and renaming some links as well. i get your idea, but my only concern is that our main cabin is the terminal so the locations would most likely be inside of that <3 so there's a stamp exchange, and i was thinking since it's the terminal, people can come to get their letters sent, which would mean there will be a reception, and probably a storage room, and where the birds responsible for the deliveries live- cage sounds too cruel, maybe enclosure? does it sound off :,)

cabin guide (also wip)

hello there, welcome to the epistolary letter terminal! whether or not you’re one of our official campers, do read up because it will help make our session run as smoothly as possible, so we can get to all the fun activities planned and get the most out of camp. we’re looking forward to camping with you this session! with that being said, let’s first introduce ourselves <3

how word adding works
we’re assuming you might already know this, either from previously participating, stalking sessions, or from camper signups, but here’s a refresher anyways ^^

you will be placed in one of three word count groups for the session- silky’s, nat’s, or mine.

silky um nat isnt responding sobbing i know she said she'll be busy but i sent her a message through her profile the other day and still no response
edit: nat, if you're here, please don't feel pressured to do everything, i know you have a lot going on so take your time, we respect your decisions <3

yumetopia wrote:

reception, and probably a storage room, and where the birds responsible for the deliveries live- cage sounds too cruel, maybe enclosure? does it sound off :,)

oh wait that sounds great! and yes, i have to agree, cage does sound sort of cruel

storyline and cabin guide sound great so far! i'll send my extended blurb tomorrow!

aaahhh this popped up in my head while trying to sleep last night- the mb theme is biomes, (not too familiar with it myself) but we need a subtheme ^^

yumetopia wrote:

aaahhh this popped up in my head while trying to sleep last night- the mb theme is biomes, (not too familiar with it myself) but we need a subtheme ^^

ahhhhh i'm also not that familiar with biomes as well :sob: here's a wonderful list that i copied and pasted from Wikipedia

Tropical rainforest
Tropical seasonal rainforest
deciduous
semideciduous
Temperate giant rainforest
Montane rainforest
Temperate deciduous forest
Temperate evergreen forest
needleleaf
sclerophyll
Subarctic-subalpine needle-leaved forests (taiga)
Elfin woodland
Thorn forests and woodlands
Thorn scrub
Temperate woodland
Temperate shrublands
deciduous
heath
sclerophyll
subalpine-needleleaf
subalpine-broadleaf
Savanna
Temperate grassland
Alpine grasslands
Tundra
Tropical desert
Warm-temperate desert
Cool temperate desert scrub
Arctic-alpine desert
Bog
Tropical fresh-water swamp forest
Temperate fresh-water swamp forest
Mangrove swamp
Salt marsh
Wetland

poppywriter wrote:

(from hobbit hole) I haven't looked into what's been taken yet, but I think either the ocean or a type of forest might work? When I think of the epistolary genre, I tend to think of someone writing letters to a loved one from a ship, but I think a coniferous forest could also work with some of the little details with your thumb and theme?? It's definitely a tricky one to place…

aaah subthemes are due in like seven hours imma go ask for an extension- we need to decide on one real quick :00

ahhh asdjhkj would “Temperate evergreen forest” work?

edit: Tropical fresh-water swamp forest combines both of poppy's ideas

edit2: Elfin woodland looks cool as well

HIYAA <3 going to catch up on everything tomorrow! the elfin woodland sounds quite nice for our biome <3 thank you all for giving me this time aaa ^^

real life can be hard on us sometimes, and i'm sure that break was very well needed <3
with that being said… WELCOME BACK NAT!!!

i'll go notify alana about the subtheme in a second <3

welcome back nat! <3 take as much time as you need, life > scratch

for the wcg, maybe the storage room could be renamed to letter sorting room because storage room sounds a bit what's the word weirdish(?)

extended blurb: hello there <3 i'm silky, a little individual in the lands of est. i enjoy writing unrealistic-realistic stories, and reading a book over and over again in my free time! books are my besties, they are and will always be a portal to a new world. although i enjoy writing in the genre of epistolary, i can never spell the word right on my first try. i can guarantee that you'll have a wonderful time this month in our cabin <3 #epistolaryfrw!

sure thing <3 here are our wcg options:

reception desk
located at the front of the terminal, where people can come to get their letters sent. of course, there will be a reception desk, and beside it, a drop box so that they can still drop off letters while the terminal is closed for the night

letter sorting room
pretty obvious- where the letters get sorted, then sent off to separate ‘gates’ to be delivered by the birds. shelves and floors are lined with piles and piles of letters

bird enclosure
where the birds rest for the night when all the letters for the day have been delivered. (it's not a cage >:00) why is this desc so much shorter asdklkjhg

intro story progress update!

(adding on to the previous paragraph)

it wasn’t that long ago you came to drop off the letter to your future self, but even though you’ve only been here once before, the vague scent of the letter paper, the gentle flapping of feathered wings, the sunlight shining through the open windows, just makes you feel like you’ve been here forever. wait- was that a mango you just saw?

“hi!” you hear someone calling from behind you. you turn around and see three people smiling at you.
(to be continued)

bidaily activities
i can't believe i almost forgot about these ^^" we'll also need to come up with the in-cabin activities, preferably surrounding the epistolary genre.

1-2 - write a diary entry in 200 words describing your first day in the letter terminal
3-4 - write a letter to one of your original characters in 200 words
5-6 - campers vote on a theme, and write the beginning of a story in 300 words
7-8 - collab story, one person writes 50 words, then someone else continues. you can't write two consecutive parts though <3 (we'll use a comment thread since 50 words isnt a lot, and if it does fill up we'll just make a new thread)
9-10 - letter rush #1
11-12 - from the letter that you wrote to your oc, write back in their perspective, keeping in mind their character voice and how they'd write it
13-14 - make an oc write a love letter to another oc
15-16 - from the theme voting, continue your story in 400 words, include potential climactic element(?)
17-18 -
19-20 -
21-22 -
23-24 - letter rush #2 (+ mc roleplay day)
25-26 - end your story
27-28 -
29-30 -
31 -

i was thinking we could make letter rushes a thing on days that overlap cabin wars, so basically /because/ it's cabin wars people are crazy sending out letters and we have to sort them all on time ^^ a project could be shared containing a list of writing prompts to provide motivation for warring <3 i would like to share one of these, but since there would most likely be two, do any of you also want to? we could brainstorm on those prompts all together <3

oh also, if you have any ideas for these activities, just post them here and i'll add it to the list <3 we'll need to finish these by the 31st but there's still time

letter rushes is such a creative idea! i love it <3

storyline sounds amazing i'm so excited ee

also yipee bi-daily idea <3 : make an oc write a love letter to another oc

i'm fine creating a prompt project, but if nat wants to, she can <33

yumetopia wrote:

sure thing <3 here are our wcg options: (#43)

do any of you have a preference for the wcg? i don't mind either, so it's up to you <3 (if you have an idea on how to split them also share that hehe)

could i have the letter sorting room? if nat wants it, then its fine though <3 i could have the receptionist instead

we'll see what nat thinks then <3

also, i wanted to ask this the other day but it didn't come to mind :,) do we want to include a camper expectation (or in less pressured words, monthly challenge)? it would help to motivate campers to do more activities and write more, but would it be a bit too much? a few other cabins are doing this so i feel like we should include it to a certain extent to stay in the competition hehe <33

yes, i think it might encourage the campers a bit hehe <3

does two weeklies and 15 dailies sound a bit too much?
we can discuss more when nat gets back on ^^ for now, probably finish the intro story first ahaha- i do need to get that done sobbing

do you want to help writing the cabin guide? it's a little much lol

maybe 10 dailies and 1 weekly instead?

yes of course! i'll add on to it tomorrow <3

here's how the current cabin guide looks like for now, i feel like writing it all out then pasting onto canva would be easier to edit <3

hello there, welcome to the epistolary letter terminal! whether or not you’re one of our official campers, do read up because it will help make our session run as smoothly as possible, so we can get to all the fun activities planned and get the most out of camp. we’re looking forward to camping with you this session! with that being said, let’s first introduce ourselves <3

(yume intro)

hello there <3 i'm silky, a little individual in the lands of est. i enjoy writing unrealistic-realistic stories, and reading a book over and over again in my free time! books are my besties, they are and will always be a portal to a new world. although i enjoy writing in the genre of epistolary, i can never spell the word right on my first try. i can guarantee that you'll have a wonderful time this month in our cabin <3 #epistolaryftw!

(nat intro)

how word adding works
we’re assuming you might already know this, either from previously participating, stalking sessions, or from camper signups, but here’s a refresher anyways ^^

you will be placed in one of three word count groups for the session- silky’s, nat’s, or mine.

insert more categories here

i think the daily amounts sound good <3 we should also probably throw in some word wars and a critiquaire (is that how you spell it? ^^"), and ofc the in-cabin bidailies hehe

ooh yes critiquarie hehe <3 (i don't know how to sob it either :sob:
perhaps 1 critiquarie, and participate in 3 cabin wars, and 2 word wars? along with 5 bi-dailies?

that sounds pretty good to me <3

also one question, i know nat is quite busy and i don't want to rush or anything asdfghjkl but we do need to make pfps perhaps soon :,)
natatat are you still open to making these? <33

and signatures as well sobbing we have a lot to catch up on dont we

skadhk i could do the signatures <3 just give me a few minutes (unless you or nat wants to)

would these work?
link

starryy-silk wrote:

would these work?]

aahh that looks amazing <3 definitely!!
hope this isn't too much to ask, but can you get those over to a scratch approved image hosting site and send us the links? ^^ that would be really helpful <33

also- i'll make a draft for the pfps in case nat hasn't done so yet. to nat: take your time, you know what's right for yourself and we won't force you to do anything until you decide to <33

we can do this! #epistolaryftw!!

https://u.cubeupload.com/akane/signatures1.gif (yume)
https://u.cubeupload.com/akane/signatures2.gif (silky)
https://u.cubeupload.com/akane/signatures3.gif (nat)

i just chose a random user hehe

edit: why is the y cut off :(

hello

page count groups:
i'm fine with whatever pcg!! you both can pick whichever you'd like and i'll take the leftover one <33

pfps:
these things ) do we all want to be a specific bird, a dove maybe? or we can all be different birds (ravens, owls, hawks, eagles, swifts, etc) <33 pretty sure i can still make them, i just need refs now hehe. going to use our cabin colours for the background too, i'll share the wip soon!

signatures:
set mine! they look incredible, silky :0

intro:
hello!! I'm nat, one of your co-leaders this session <3 I adore anything reading, art, & writing related, and I have a huge love for my hobbies - volleyball, baking, trying smoothies, and scratch camping! more than excited to sidekick along with silky and yume, i can't wait to camp swc with you all this session. scratch on ;]

starryy-silk wrote:

edit: why is the y cut off :(

ah i think it's the animation issue eee setting mine now they're so pretty :00
edit: oof my y is cut off too aah- is there another animation that could perhaps work better?

rosereef wrote:

do we all want to be a specific bird, a dove maybe? or we can all be different birds (ravens, owls, hawks, eagles, swifts, etc) <33 pretty sure i can still make them, i just need refs now hehe. going to use our cabin colours for the background too, i'll share the wip soon!

that would be amazing, thank you so much <33 i'll get back to you on the birds, but just keep them within our color scheme and it'll be all good

yumetopia wrote:

ah i think it's the animation issue eee setting mine now they're so pretty :00

:sob: i changed the animation and it still cuts of the y

rosereef wrote:

these things ) do we all want to be a specific bird, a dove maybe? or we can all be different birds (ravens, owls, hawks, eagles, swifts, etc) <33

i personally like different birds, but yume could decide hehe <3

for the y problem, maybe it's because of the layering on the papers? i don't really know how it works but that could be something to look into…

for the pfps, got it!!


edit;; hmm, the signature problem, it seems so cut off the tops of all of the text, even the “epistolary” part on the right… it's just not cutting the “t” off in nat for some reason? maybe we could try different font, or download the font as an upload and see if it still cuts it off..

i feel like a different animation, maybe one that doesn't involve vertical sliding, would work out <3

also, for the pfps, different birds work for me <3 maybe instead of a specific species we could just describe it, that might be a little more personalised (?)

i downloaded it as a png and none of the letters cut off, will that work?

edit: i changed the transition into something else (breathe) but then the size was too big

signatures
let me check the canva and see if i can find one that works ^^ i'll update on that if i do

cabin guide
i've started working on the cabin guide (we need to hurry raahhh i promised a promo proj), pretty sure i put a link somewhere in this forum sobb i'll go find it- if any of you have some time to work on it, that'd be amazing <3

letter rushes
and letter rush projects (more info on this post)- we can all contribute a few, about like 6 or more writing prompts (the more the merrier!). these are meant to be motivational cause it's to provide inspiration for cabin wars writing, so do include a variety <3 p.s. would it be okay if i shared these?

wcgs (info on this post)
silky mentioned an interest in the letter sorting room a little while ago, and nat, since you're making the bird profile pictures, i feel like it would make sense for yours to be the bird enclosure, and i'll have the reception. is that okay?

oh also- i'll try finishing up the rest of the intro story today, no more procrastination >:00 (motivational mangoes for everyone <33)