Sandy's Thread (for writing, history, and other stuff)

Sandy-Dunes

Hello! I will put all the writing I do for Scratch Camp sessions, as well as other works, here.

Directory

Note: Some works belong to more than one category

Camps

SWC November 2021

Dailies
MC Daily 11/1
IC Daily 11/1
IC Daily 11/2
MC Daily 11/3
IC Daily 11/3
MC Daily 11/4
MC Daily 11/5
MC Daily 11/6
MC Daily 11/16
MC Daily 11/25

Weeklies
MC Weekly 2

Word Wars
With @SweetyBubbles
With @Elvin_Wonders
With @kimmie2711
With @mossflower29
With @Trixie_PixieM
With @-JadeFox-

Writing Comp Entries
Sandstorm (Fanfic)
Flight of Fire (Regular)

JWC 2022
Writing dare from @cs5066569
War's Brightest Flames (Comp entry)

SWC March 2022

Dailies
MC Daily 3/6
MC Daily 3/10
MC Daily 3/21
MC Daily 3/29

Weeklies
Weekly 1
Weekly 2
Weekly 3 (Unfinished)

Cabin Tasks
Task #1 for Adventurers
Task #4 for Fan-Fi
Task #1 for Fan-Fi
Task #6 for Fan-Fi

Writing Comp Entries
The Journey We Must Take (Fanfic)
Higher Up (Regular)

SWC July 2022

Dailies
MC Daily 7/24
MC Daily 7/25
MC Daily 7/28
MC Daily 7/29

Weeklies
Weekly 1
Weekly 4

Writing Comp Entries
Shadow Land (regular)
Sunglasses and Existence (fanfic)

Others
Critique for Brave

SWC November 2022

Dailies
MC Daily 11/4
MC Daily 11/5
MC Daily 11/8
MC Daily 11/19
MC Daily 11/20
MC Daily 11/24

Weeklies (for the first time, I did all of them, and I'm so proud hehe)
Weekly 1
Weekly 2
Weekly 3
Weekly 4

Word Wars
With @PhonyOOOPS

Critiques
For Twi
For Bookie
For Tilly
For Tilly #2
For Ayid

Writing Comp Entries
Ceasefire of Fifth Autumn (SGT Judge Cuts version here)
B-Day on D-Day (updated, original version here)

SWC March 2023

Dailies
MC Daily 2
MC Daily 3
MC Bidaily 8/9
MC Daily 16
MC Daily 19
MC Bidaily 20/21
MC Daily 28/29
MC Daily 30

Weeklies
Weekly 1
Weekly 2
Weekly 3
Weekly 4

Word wars
With @aloe-there

Critiques
For Alia

Writing Comp Entries
I didn't enter this session :P

SWC July 2023

Dailies
MC Daily 7/1
MC Daily 7/2
MC Daily 7/3
MC Daily 7/4
MC Daily 7/5
MC Bidaily 7/6-7/7
MC Daily 7/9
MC Daily 7/11
MC Daily 7/12
MC Daily 7/13
MC Daily 7/14
MC Daily 7/15
MC Daily 7/17
MC Bidaily 7/18-7/19
MC Daily 7/20
MC Daily 7/23
MC Daily 7/24
MC Bidaily 7/25-7/26
MC Daily 7/28
MC Daily 7/29

Weeklies
Weekly 1
Weekly 2
Weekly 3
Weekly 4

Word wars
none </3 it's because i hate proofs

Critiques
For Ceeslay
For Violet
For Vi
For Aliaaa
For Zaiii
For Syze
For Lark

Writing Comp Entries
Wayward Son (Fanfic)
(no regular entry, due to judging panel position)

Others
Character Swap Challenge w/Elfie
Character Swap Challenge w/Sun
Fifty-head Hydra Attempt (it is horrible sobbing)
Character Swap Challenge w/Ally
Gigantic Proof Post
Thank-You Notes <3

SWC November 2023

Dailies
MC Daily 11/10

Weeklies
Weekly 4 Story Swap

Word wars
what are word wars……..

Critiques
what are critiques……..

Writing Comp Entries
what are comp entries……..
(i was a judge lol)

Others
what are others……..

SWC March 2024

Dailies
MC Daily 3/1
MC Daily 3/2
MC Daily 3/3

Weeklies
Weekly 1

Word wars

Critiques

Writing Comp Entries
Crimaster!!
Bloody Sunday!!

Others
rawr

SWC July 2024

Dailies
MC Daily 7/1

Weeklies
Weekly 1

Word wars

Critiques

Writing Comp Entries
Crimaster!!
Bloody Sunday!!

Others
rawr

—

Fanfics

Parody/Spoof
End of SWC fanfic (November 2021)
Birthday gift for Misty
Desert Trio fanfic (Part 1)

Informal Fanfics
Epik Crossover Chapter 1
Heroes Fanfic
Old Fanfic with Laf and Rommel
Stottlemeyer meets Stauffenberg
Evil Lieutenant Douglas AU

Serious Fanfics
Sandstorm
The Journey We Must Take
B-Day on D-Day (updated, original version here)

TLLH Stuff
FAQ
Birthday gift fanfic
The Journey We Must Take
Otto fanfic (Evening)
Personality Types
Evil Lieutenant Douglas AU

Desert Trio Fanfics
Sandstorm
Hawaii fanfic (Part 1)
B-Day on D-Day (updated, original version here)

Saga of the Gooseberry Pie
Part 1: The Beginning

—

Formal Stuff

Academic/informational
My WWII history project
Rommel Essay
TLLH FAQ
ATLWCS Analysis

Creative Writing Class Spring 2022
Poem I wrote for school #1 lol
Poem I wrote for school #2 lol
I Cannot Hear A Nightingale (Poem I wrote for school #3 lol)
Joining Together At Last (Short story I wrote for school lol)
To the Soldiers of the Second War (Poem I wrote for school #4 lol)
My Dreams (Poem I wrote for school #5 lol)
Poem I wrote for school #6 lol
Poem I wrote for school #7 lol

—

Miscellaneous

Random stuff
Writing comp critique sheets November 2021
Historical figures RP Code of Conduct
29 Rommel AUS
Random Description
Rommel Introduction
Writing Snippets
Older version of TJWMT
Critique Sheets March 2022
Otto B)
Seas of Heaven
War's Brightest Flames (3rd version)
Dead Soldier's Waltz inspired snippet

Other threads
SWC March 2021
SWC July 2021

—

Edit: Note to self–from now on (after 11/11) don't put content that is too triggering (ex. things directly related to N@zi Germany and H!tIer). Less related content, like the Battle of Britain, the Charlie Brown & Franz Stigler incident, and the Pacific Theater is fine, provided that the content is friendly enough. Subjects on the borderline (ex. Battle of Berlin and Rommel) should be treated with caution. It is advised to not have writing comp entries in the first or third categories.
Edit 12/5/21: So much for “it is advised to not have writing comp entries in the first or third categories.”
Edit 12/15/21: I think I'll just put literally all my writing here. This topic will last me a lifetime

Edit 3/24/22: This is legit the second time I broke the “it is advised to not have writing comp entries in the first or third categories” rule
Edit 4/10/22: It's been a few days already, but I've set up a pretty expansive directory here, which I'm pretty proud of B)
Edit 12/1/22: Waow two years of SWC :star_struck:
Edit 6/20/23: I am slightly daunted by the number of views this thread has xD
Edit 3/3/24: rawr 10th session!! also i should purge this forum sometime i feel like too many people look at it as i mentioned in june :'>
Edit 12/5/24: woah this is more than three years old

—

I strongly advise you to put any comments/suggestions in this forum

it makes me happy when people interact with my thread, since it's just nice to see a blend of different stuff everywhere ^w^ though please keep everything in here related to my writing.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Dec. 5, 2024 20:34:01)

Sandy-Dunes

NOVEMBER 2021 SWC

MC Daily 11/1 (118 words, but it doesn't count towards my goal, as SWC haven't started yet)
Hi! I'm Sandy, she/her and INTP-T. I'm in Thriller, and this is my third SWC session! Some of my many hobbies are digital art, creative writing, history (mainly WWII and the American Revolution, and particularly Rommel and Lafayette, though I'm not necessarily the most knowledgable about them xD), reading, listening to random music, and food. (There's a lot more I can talk about myself, like my fandoms, but that would go way past the comment limit lol)
As for the authors, I don't particularly care as much about them as opposed to their books, but the ones whose writing left quite a bit of an impression on me are John Boyne, Maryrose Wood, Markus Zusak, and Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Dec. 4, 2021 17:38:42)

Sandy-Dunes

IC Daily 11/1 (259 words)
I've already introduced myself, but I'll make it more specific this time! So my nickname on Scratch is Sandy, I use she/her, and I am about 12 1/2 (or 12.5 if you prefer decimals) years old. I have a bunch of interests and hobbies, but I really enjoy conducting historical research. I'm open to learning about all kinds of history (I've been planning to learn about the Napoleonic Wars when I'm done with my current research project), but I'm most knowledgeable about WWII and the American Revolution
I would love to learn about or discuss these two wars with anyone who's interested, since even though I'm really interested in them I actually am not very knowledgeable about either of them, just a broad roadmap of how they progressed. In these two time periods, the figures I'm particularly interested in are the Marquis de Lafayette and Erwin Rommel! Particularly the latter; he's just really controversial and I've been trying to understand the different views on him.
Enough of the history ramble xD. The reason I joined SWC in my first session (March of this year) was that, well, I don't know… it just looked pretty interesting. And then when I actually got to try it out it was awesome! I've been coming back ever since. It really motivates me a lot to do my homework and work on my writing projects, so that's a bonus. And I get to meet so many people! Anyways, that's the end of my introduction, and I hope I get to know all of you soon!

Sandy-Dunes

Epik Crossover Chapter 1: American Eagle

The first chapter of a huge crossover fanfic I'm working on; this is not counted towards SWC. I only put it here so when I share the second chapter people would have context
This is poorly written; I'm sorry about that. (Especially the pacing, which is waaaaay too fast. And my description of America was horrible too.) I kinda did this in a rush, but I'll probably edit it sooner or later.

Fandoms included: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, Liberty's Kids, Countryhumans (aka NHHT, LK, and CH)

September 22nd, 1776.
It was a dreary day. The buildings of New York City were still smoldering from the recent fire. There was a desolate mood in the air; the Continental Army was in retreat.
James, Sarah, and Henri joined the crowd before the gallows. Overhead, a bald eagle landed on the tree and cawed smugly. A short, fat fellow dressed in black yelled at it, then turned towards the crowd.
“Welcome!” he called out, introducing himself as the Hangman. After he was finished a hubbub of noise immediately arose from the crowd.
“Are you here to hang the arsonist?” someone demanded.
“Huh? No, I don’t think so,” Hangman replied, startled.
The crowd steadily grew angrier at this.
“But we do have… a spy.” he continued.
“A spy?” another person huffed. “Spies are good for nothing, these cowards.”
The others muttered in assent.
James watched as the crowd dissipated. “Wait!” he called to them. But no one looked back. “Don’t they even care about Nathan?”
Sarah sighed. “I think not.”
Just then they saw the very person they were talking about, his hands tied behind his back. A pudgy redcoat followed him. Nathan Hale’s face brightened as he noticed the three kids, but then fell again. The redcoat stepped towards them.
“What are you three doing here? I’m the Provost, you know; I won’t bother with this silly nonsense. Don’t think you can get him out of this.” The redcoat who introduced himself as the Provost stared at the kids balefully. “He’ll be hanged whether you like it or not.”
As if we didn’t know that already
James instantly felt annoyed at the Provost and his fat ugly nose. But the officer was right.
Hangman glanced at the trio, almost apologetically.
“That’s right, kiddos. Your friend is going to be hung.”
“Hanged,” Nathan corrected quietly. Hangman shrugged.
“Exactly! Spying against the King is treason! Punishable by death!” Provost declared. “I have orders to…”
As the others watched, he reached inside his coat. “Where are the blasted orders? We can’t hang spies without orders! I must have left it at headquarters. I’ll be right back…”
He went off, whistling merrily. Apparently, he wasn’t new to this hanging thing.
Nathan stared somberly at Hangman. Henri started fidgeting.
“Well, this is awkward,” Hangman whispered. “Do you want to practice your last words, Mr…”
“Hale. Nathan Hale. And I haven’t thought of my last words,” he admitted.
A quiet realization came with the mention of last words. This was it. Nathan’s really going to die.
As Hangman and Nathan discussed last words, Henri nudged James and pointed to the eagle.
“I wonder what that’s doing there,” Sarah remarked.
“… or give me—what was it— a sandwich!”
“A sandwich?” Henri said excitedly.
“No, not a sandwich,” Nathan replied. “Death. Give me liberty or give me death.”
“Yeah, Patrick Henry said that last year.” James remembered how they went with Moses to Williamsburg to get the printing press. “They weren’t exactly last words”
Hangman continued brainstorming last words ideas.
“You really do want a sandwich,” Nathan commented.
“Yes, I do,” Hangman replied happily.
“Me too!” Henri exclaimed.
Hangman laughed. “Well, I have a sandwich waiting for me at home. You can have some too, when this whole thing is over.”
Everyone fell silent. Hangman realized what he had just said. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. Nathan nodded, and Hangman turned to him. “You seem like a nice fellow. I regret that I don’t have an extra life to give you.”
Nathan closed his eyes for a moment. The kids watched anxiously.
Then he opened them again.
“I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Hangman looked up eagerly. “Ooh, nice! Were these your last words? Somebody write that down!”
On impulse, James scribbled down the sentence, but looked up to see the bald eagle flapping around. Sarah shrieked as it flew at Nathan. Pandemonium broke out. Henri fell off the gallows, and Sarah jumped down to help him. James angrily jumped at the eagle and somehow grabbed it by its talons. They both fell down, next to Sarah and Henri. Suddenly, a massive book began to fold from the gallows. Hangman yelped and jumped down next to the trio, while the book sandwiched Nathan between its covers.
“Hey! That-” Hangman began, but then the book closed and fell silent.
“What the heck just happened?” Hangman said in wonder.
There was silence for a few moments. James was still holding the eagle loosely. Suddenly, Nathan fell out again, and his gaze landed on the eagle.
James looked down and squawked in an undignified way, then let go of the legs of the eagle—or rather, the ankles of a figure dressed in strange clothing. Scrambling away, James stared at the figure from a safe distance as it started to get up.
The figure had on short sleeves; very short sleeves that was only a few inches below his shoulders. The shirt seemed to be made out of very thin material, as were the breeches that the figure wore. He (James identified him as male, but it was difficult to figure out his age) also had on strange shoes.
But his face was unsettling. Flat, noseless, and hairless; it looked much more like a flag. A Betsy Ross flag, but with many more stars than just thirteen. His eyes were hidden between dark-lensed glasses.
As he stood up, the figure gave everyone a toothy grin, then slightly lowered his glasses so that they could see his bright blue eyes.
“‘Sup?”

Previous: N/A
Next: Chapter 2 (it'll probably never exist)

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Dec. 15, 2021 20:17:56)

Sandy-Dunes

IC Daily 11/2 (333 words)

Well, first off, my main goal for SWC is just to make some friends. I have a moderate amount of both social anxiety and social media anxiety, and since everything is still being held online for me (like my new school), I find it very hard to socialize. My few irl friends don’t often contact me, and I’m just somewhat… lonely. In the past two sessions I’ve felt a bit ostracized (or rejected, in a simpler term). This session, though, I’m making awesome progress! (At least in my opinion.) As I’m writing this, it’s still only the first day of SWC in my timezone (or 11/1, to be more exact), and yet I already had so much fun talking to people and even meeting some who share the same interest(s) as me! (Though I still haven’t seen a single soul in the main cabin who said explicitly that they liked history… ahh, well.)
One of my minor goals is to make a bit of progress on, or rather revive, some of my old projects; as well as start a few new ones. I’m the stereotypical INTP who always have a bunch of fanfiction ideas bouncing around my head, but practically all of them never come to life. Some are dying right before my eyes. So I hope that the SWC activities could help me bring them back to life, even if only for a short time.
My other minor goal is to get motivation for schoolwork and my own personal research project. Since it’s the middle of the semester, I’ve improved a shocking degree in dealing with procrastination. However, I still find it difficult to get started with several assignments (if only they were all as easy as this daily!), and the word-counting system also help me validate my achievements in homework. As for my research project, I get fueled by passion alone, but the prospect of having my words count for SWC does give me a huge nudge in the right direction!

Edit: Some parts of this were so redundant, I'm sorry.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 2, 2021 03:17:40)

Sandy-Dunes

IC Daily 11/3
Gloggles
plural noun

Glog·gles | \ ˈglä-gəlz \
Definition of gloggles
1: protective glasses similar to goggles that magnify one's eyes and make them seem as if they were staring at everything.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 3, 2021 02:08:58)

Sandy-Dunes

MC Daily 11/3
My character is Neutral/Lawful Good (very slightly leaning towards Neutral), +200 points for Thriller!

Sandy-Dunes

MC daily 11/4 584 words

Based off the quote “You’re probably wondering, ‘Professor (redacted), do we have to memorize these formulas?’”
Because this afternoon I didn't talk much with anyone, that's the most recent thing that someone said that I can remember word-for-word (since my teacher was acting weird and I wrote down some funny quotes in my diary).
Some parts of the first half of the story is similar to what happened irl, and the second half of the story is completely made up xDDD
Also, Turing is named after Alan Turing, but bears little resemblance to him.

“You’re probably wondering, ‘Professor Turing, do we have to memorize these formulas?’”
Professor Turing’s eyes swept around the classroom. Many of the students fidgeted uneasily, hoping that the answer would be no.
“Well, the good news is that I’ll provide them for you on the midterm.” he continued brightly. Many of Alex’s classmates sighed in relief. But Alex frowned.
“Is it really that hard to remember seven trig formulas?” he asked. “Wait, you don’t even need to remember it! Just build up from the previous-level ones, and you’ll get there!”
Professor Turing sighed, put out of his unusually peppy mood. “Look, Alex, I can’t blame you for wanting a challenge.” He eyed the supervisor sitting at the corner of the classroom. “But it would be… ahh, more simple if the formulas were referenceable.”
Alex fumed. It wasn’t wanting a challenge! It was logic! Then, again, he didn’t really want to spend his free time reviewing all of the previous formulas and trying to figure out for himself whether the product of sines needed to be multiplied by two at the beginning…
“Alright.”
Professor Turing nodded to himself. “Alright,” he agreed, sounding slightly more cheerful. Turing had always been one for a certain degree of friendliness, but today his degree of excitement seemed almost like a five-year-old’s. “Now! Where were we?”
The supervisor’s eyes settled on Alex. Alex glared defiantly back, then turned to his notes, where he was doodling a fox.
After 30 more minutes of lecturing, doodling, and a staring supervisor, class finally ended. As Alex headed for his next class, he heard Professor Turing calling for him.
“What is it?” he asked as he stepped inside Turing’s office. Good thing the building for his next class was close enough, and political science was still 30 minutes away. Hopefully this wouldn’t take long. Then he stopped as he saw the supervisor holding a clipboard.
“Oh, Alex, you’re here!” Turing exclaimed. Still frozen in his tracks, Alex glanced at him in concern. What has happened to make him so jovial? It must be pressure from the supervisor. Maybe Turing would get kicked out if he was too unenthusiastic, or something along that line. But Turing had always seemed enthusiastic enough to Alex; this is taking it too far.
“Are you alright, professor…?”
The supervisor interjected. “I’m Mr. Kent, and I was here to evaluate how your professor teaches your class,” he drawled in a monotone voice. “I have seen your exceptional skill in this subject. Tell me, can you recite the Product-To-Sum and Sum-To-Product formulas?”
Alex wracked his brains. It was difficult enough to remember the Post-Traumatic Stress formulas (as Turing jokingly called them), but the Sum-To-Product ones were even harder. Though he did understand how they came from the level-two formulas. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage.
Alex recited the seven formulas to Turing and Kent. They both stared at him as he finished.
“Well, that is exceptional mathematical skills. And at only eleven!” Kent muttered to himself.
Turing nodded. “Do you think he would be a good candidate for…”
“Wait, wh-”
Kent cut Alex off. “Absolutely. Alex Coffrey, you are officially accepted for candidacy in the SMASH organization. Everything you need to know is in this envelope.”
Alex took the black envelope that Kent handed him.
“I’ll see you soon.”
With that, Kent left the office. Turing gave Alex a knowing glance, before following suit.
Alex stood alone in the office, clutching the envelope in his hand.
What just happened?

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 4, 2021 00:52:10)

Sandy-Dunes

MC 11/5: 933 words

These are five dreams of mine combined into an adventure for Simon and Silena, two characters I made up on the spot. But I might use these kiddos later!
Anyways, the dreams featured here are (in order of appearance) Erwin Rommel drowning in a swimming pool, the Liberty’s Kids trio running away and then turning into birds (actually two dreams combined together), going to a shabby exhibit featuring Lafayette, and a train ride to Chateau Lafayette.
TW: This contains a brief description of Erwin Rommel drowning in a swimming pool, as aforementioned

One day, a perfectly nice little kid named Simon woke up. At his own house, naturally. His twin sister, Silena, was already up. So he followed her downstairs.
Their mother was in the bathroom, and their father was preparing for their field trip to the park today. Simon took a look out of the window and saw a weird guy staring at the swimming pool in the backyard. He had on a trench coat, a cap, and neat goggles.
“Dad! Who is that?” Silena yelled, more out of excitement than anything. The children's father, while trying to make a tuna-and-pineapple sandwich, set down everything (almost spilling mustard on his biography manuscript) and came over.
“What is it, honey? Oh my-”
He stared at the guy outside.
“Er-er-win-”
The two’s poor father clutched the back of a chair to steady himself. Just then, the guy stepped into the swimming pool, his eyes strangely blank.
“Hey!” Simon cried. “Is he going to steal our pool noodles?”
His father didn’t reply, just stared as the guy waded deeper into the pool.
After a few seconds, he bolted out of the door and jumped into the pool too.
Simon and Silena stared, perplexed.
“You’renotgoingtodiewithoutmeinterviewingyou!” their father screeched.
Silena shrugged. “Whatever. Breakfast!”
As they ate their buttered toast, their mother came into the living room. “Where’s your father?” she asked the kids.
“Outside, in the swimming pool with a weird guy.” Simon replied promptly.
“Haha, very funny, Simon. Very-”
She stopped dead as she saw her husband desperately trying to pump water out of the goggle guy’s lungs.
“Someone call 911!” she yelped. The kids blinked at her. Just reaching the conclusion that 6-year-olds couldn’t call the ambulance, the mother pulled out her phone and started doing it herself.
20 minutes later, the ambulance was here and reporters were grilling the kids’ parents.
“I need to take my children to school. They have a field trip that I’ll hate for them to miss.” Silena and Simon’s mom told the reporters, excusing herself.
On the way to school, the two kids peppered her with questions, but she didn’t reply to any.
“Do you think we can talk to that guy when we get back from school?” Silena asked as they walked to class.
“Hopefully. He had cool goggles,” Simon said wistfully.
Their teacher, Mrs. Bonns, turned to the class.
“Alright, children. Today our original field trip to the park has been cancelled.”
The students gasped in dismay, Silena and Simon included.
“But we’re going to go somewhere else! A museum!”
The kids all cheered. Remember, they are only 6 years old, and they don’t completely understand what a museum is. Regardless, they thought it sounded really exciting.
On the way, the bus rode over a steep hill. The twins laughed as they saw three older children sliding down, then their giggles turned into delighted gasping as the three turned into birds and flew over the ocean.
Finally, after three hours and a lot of napping, the class finally arrived at the museum, which was in the middle of a Californian national park (for some inexplicable reason). A tour guide promptly came over and started to take them around the museum.
“So, children, here is the Marquis de Lafayette exhibit.”
The class promptly started to wreck havoc, because they were restless after such a long ride. A shoe ended up hitting a portrait of the marquis, who looked as gracious as ever.
Simon and Silena joined in for the fun of it. But then, someone put an arm on their shoulders.
“Bonjour”
A man had appeared out of nowhere. A quick note: he looked exactly like Lafayette, and he indeed was Lafayette. But the children had no way of knowing that, since they actually didn’t pay close attention to the figure whose exhibit was ruined by them. Nor did they know that the “weird guy” from earlier that day was Erwin Rommel, the very man whom their father had been writing a book about since two years ago. Spoiler alerts: he was dead from the Siren swimming pool that had, for some reasons, summoned him and drowned him in. Life (or shall I say dreams?) is weird like that sometimes.
Anyways, back to the story.
“Hi!” Silena squeaked. Lafayette smiled.
“Well, hello there.”
Suddenly they were no longer at the exhibit. Instead, dark green grass stretched for miles around them, and snow-capped mountains rose up in the horizon. The sky was a clear, blazing blue; darked by the bright sun. There was a faint smell of mint in the air.
“It’s time for me to return to my homeland,” the marquis said quietly, his voice being carried farther away by the breeze.
“That sounds fun!” the twins cheered in unison.
Lafayette broke into a smile. “I’m glad you think so.”
They appeared at a subway station, as suddenly as they arrived at the scenery. The three went onto a blue train.
“This is just like a roller coaster!” Silena observed.
Indeed it was. Suspiciously so. But no one said anything about it.
An elderly British gentleman was sitting next to the three.
“Good day, sir,” he said to Lafayette, who responded in kind. The two began a lively discussion on the subject of education. Soon, the roller-coaster train started moving in the dark tunnel. With the clattering of wheels and chattering of voices around them, the kids began to doze off.
After what seemed like eternity, but also no time at all, Simon could hear a distant voice.
“Kids, get up! You don’t want to be late for your field trip!”

Turns out it's all a dream xD. I mean, it'll be hard for their father to explain why Rommel drowned in the family's swimming pool, so that's that.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 10, 2021 16:46:39)

Sandy-Dunes

MC Daily 11/6 875 words

Words are sea, mysterious, cool, and darkness from @puppycutest.
The lovely Simon and Silena from the previous daily are back! They are now 7-year-old little kiddos :> And since they might actually stick around longer, I’ll give them a last name and name their parents too. I’ll also keep the feeble attempt at humor (aka casually bombard the fourth wall once in a while) and the speed-of-light pacing from the previous daily.

After a long and rambunctious school year, first grade was over. Simon and Silena handed in their progress reports to their parents. As they were only in first grade, they didn’t have much of a report card system, which is just as well. Their father (aka Bernard Myres) crowed with delight at his children’s “Excellent”s for the different aspects of their behavior, while their mother (aka Tiffany Myres) was fussing over all the food they’ve brought back from school.
“Hey, I have an idea,” Bernard announced to his family during lunch. (On the last day of school, schools have minimum days, meaning that children get to go home at noon. Which is awesome.)
Tiffany glanced questioningly at him. By the way he tried to keep his voice casual, she could tell that this “idea” was something he had been planning since January.
“What is it?” Simon asked, leaning over the table.
Bernard set down his chicken. “Well, how about we take a vacation to Europe during the summer?”
“Of course,” Tiffany sighed. “For your research.”
By this she meant the study her husband did on Erwin Rommel, the famous German field marshal in World War Two. It was rather ironic that Bernard was doing this, since Rommel’s longtime opponent in the North African desert was in fact another Bernard, namely Bernard Montgomery.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I was thinking we can go to England first, then make our way west. France, Germany-”
“So we’re not only in this for the research.” Tiffany cut him off.
“I mean, even when we do have to go somewhere for that, there’s going to be other things you can do…”
By this time the children had already grown tired of the conversation and turned to poking each other. Their parents conferred for a few more minutes, then turned to the children.
“Alright, kids, listen up.” Bernard spoke up cheerfully. “Next week, we’ll set off to Europe, and eventually make a trip to North Africa too. I really want to experience more primary sources on Rommel…”
He went on for ten minutes about the specifics of the plans, unaware that the only person listening was himself, as Tiffany had gone into the kitchen, and the kids were dozing off.
“Alright, are we agreed on this?”
The children turned up listlessly from what they were doing.
“Sure,” Simon replied boredly. His sister nodded.
Bernard seemed unbothered by their lack of enthusiasm. “Great, then it’s settled!”
The next few days were filled with packing and planning for their trip. Bernard packed a bunch of dubious equipment. He was about to take a seismometer (for reasons unknown to the rest of the family) before Tiffany stopped him.
Finally, the day arrived. The Myres family dumped their suitcases on their car and drove off to the airport. It would be an 12-hour airplane ride to Normandy, which became their first stop due to the urging of Bernhard.
“Rommel set up the defenses for Normandy,” he told the family. Like he needed to. They’ve heard him ramble so much about Rommel that they could write a 6-page-long term paper on the field marshal. Or rather, Tiffany could; the children were not nearly old enough, and they still thought that their father was talking about waffles, hence why they liked eating that for breakfast so much.
Soon, their plane took off. 10 hours later, sooner than expected, they landed at a French airport and drove 15 miles to Normandy beach. Bernard was able to find a decent hotel nearby and booked them in for a week. Though it was almost dark out, the children were still feeling energetic, and Bernhard persuaded Tiffany to let them all go out to the beach.
“The tide’s so low, and you can really get a sense of the beauty of it all, the history!” he exclaimed, waving his arm eagerly at the beach for emphasis.
Their hotel was quite close to the beach, and so the family was able to walk there. The moon, nearly full, glowed brightly in the darkness. The stars twinkled above them as they stepped onto the sand. A cool breeze blew past them towards the sea.
“It is really beautiful,” Tiffany commented, earning a grin from Bernard.
As the two stood there, Simon and Silena wandered back to the car. But then Simon caught a glimpse of a mysterious figure farther along the beach, silhouetted by the moonlight.
“Who is that?” he squeaked. Silena peered towards the direction he was pointing at and gasped. Their parents heard the commotion and came, but then the figure was already gone.
“What happened?” Bernard asked them in concern.
“I saw someone walking there!” Simon piped up.
Silena bobbed her head. “I saw it too!”
Tiffany’s eyes twinkled. “Maybe a ghost of the invasion,” she teased, glancing sideways at Bernard.
But his expression was completely serious. “Maybe so. Maybe so,” he murmured thoughfully. Then he turned back to the children. “Well, it’s been a long day. We should probably head back.”
Simon and Silena groaned in dismay, but hopped into the car nonetheless. Their energy from a few hours ago was gone as jet lag caught up with them, and then (for the second time in this story) they dozed off again.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 8, 2021 02:59:09)

Sandy-Dunes

Word war with @SweetyBubbles 11/6 (or 11/7, if it's in UTC)

I just continued my homework (very messily, may I add; I was having trouble continuing it and thought that a word war + random brainstorming should do the trick) and made a plan for myself lol

-it could be difficult to sample good samples, with statistical methods this could be done properly (a double-blind randomized experiment should work well) despite several problems with choosing people, such as not getting a proper range of stuff and possibly using a bad method of interview. And if it is indeed done properly, then I daresay that it is enough for good representation in a democracy. Polls can come online, or they could be in person. Some polls are push polls and they are very bad for getting opinions, because they don’t actually get any reliable information but rather to push the person interviewed to a particular opinion. So yeah, that’s all
And for my other homework, aka the persuasive speech, I’ll just recycle the idea of little activities from the Campus Exploration project. It’s technically not plagiarism if I only use the same idea and sources. Plus it’ll save loads of time. For my five sources, two are obviously going to come from our presentation. In my argument I’ll just say that mental health is important and the ususal stuff. Also, I’ll mention how such activities build a sense of community. At least in EEP. I’ll have to look into the more specific details of the thing to see exactly how it works. Mental health, community.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 7, 2021 01:48:23)

Sandy-Dunes

Word war with @Elvin_Wonders, 11/8 (or 11/9 in UTC)

I kinda broke off at the end; it was going to say “continue” or something like that, I guess

They referred to the Civil Rights movement and compared the struggle protesters faced to the struggle those advocating for equal rights are facing today. They used figurative and descriptive language to leave an impression. This is different from an informative speech, which only contains facts for the audience.
Alright, so I guess I have no more questions to answer for my homework. I shall now brainstorm for the weekly! For the non-fiction part I will be writing about German collective guilt (during WWII, ofc) and the Wehrmacht. These two topics actually go together pretty well. As for the fiction, the adventures of the Myres family will-

Sandy-Dunes

MC Weekly 2

TW: Some of the following contains mentions of violence of war. In future activities I'll really try to avoid these topics, and I might edit this post later. But just for this time, proceed with caution.

(purged by sandy 5/22/24 nom nomsies)

Warmups
Start writing poems, and don’t stop until you’ve written at least 100 words! You could write 1 poem or 10, it doesn’t matter!

This poem might be continued and edited for the writing comp. But as I have discovered, I am a mediocre poet ^^ The genre I am most capable of is probably non-fiction.
So the way the organization works is that this short excerpt is the first of three sections, all named after Churchill speech quotes. I haven’t done the last two sections yet; perhaps you might see them when I ask for critique in the main cabin!
When you had to repeat a line because you can't think of anything else to write-
101 words

We Shall Fight on the Beaches– July & August, 1940
A bright morning of the summer
Reflected in the shimmering sea
But there was no calm to be found
The enemy was drawing near

Small skirmishes and raids as a start
Anti-aircraft guns fend them off
Heavier bombings on the land
Growing fear

Shipping lanes attacked
Airfields bombarded
Our pilots countercharge
Smoldering skies

As the summer draws to an end–
What will this come to?

✠ ✠ ✠

Far away from my home and family
Growing brutality
What will this come to?

I am a soldier of honor–
Not a butcher of innocence
They must understand that

Pick a topic (e.g. frogs) and write 100 words all about that topic. You only have 100 words, so think about what the most important things to say are! You can include information about the topic, your opinions on it, or a mix.

I apologize for any unclear information in this paragraph; the 100-word rule made writing it very difficult. This is only Rommel’s life *cough cough* more like military campaigns in a nutshell; if you want to do more research, go for it!
Exactly 150 words

Erwin Rommel was born in Heidenheim, Germany, on November 15th, 1891. In WWI, he fought in the infantry as a lieutenant. During WWII, Rommel commanded the 7th Panzer Division in Europe until 1941, and later the Afrika Korps in North Africa. Flashy and iconic, he was a popular general in Germany. The Allies respected and even admired him (albeit grudgingly) for his tactical victories, giving him the nickname “Desert Fox”. However, he was eventually defeated and pushed out of Africa by Generals Montgomery and Eisenhower. Back in Europe, Rommel was tasked with securing Atlantic defenses, but was unable to stop the Normandy landings. {removed} His extent of involvement in war crimes and the assassination attempt is still widely debated by historians.

Exploring Fiction
Write a 300 word memoir / reflection piece from the POV of one of your characters. Think about their style of speaking/writing, what they would find it important to mention and the tone/mood that they’d use (how do they feel about the course of events?)

From the journal of Bernard Myres, 350 words.

The kids said they saw someone walking on the beach. No one walks out on the beach so late at night. Though a ghost isn’t the most logical solution. Well, what can I say? Keep an open mind; isn’t that what Professor always told us to do?
It may have been a mistake to come to Normandy. Rommel never set foot here; he only made the Atlantic Wall defense sketches. Which were really well-done. You would’ve never thought a military commander would be so good at art. Maybe it came from his days as a mathematician. Or perhaps studying maps and such have to do with it. And it’s possible it’s impressive to me because I have no art skills.
To reiterate what I found today… well, nothing. Though this hands-on experience was quite useful, especially since I’ve been doing nothing but hunting down archives for the past year. Those secondary sources I’ve waded through gave me vast knowledge, but a few are not the most credible one would find.
I suppose the kids could stay a little longer at the beach. It’s not a very impressive place, but I could feel the past just by standing there. And it’s certainly an appealing little place; quite beautiful, too. Perhaps we can eventually head to North Africa; I heard that they have a museum about Rommel there. And heading to the memorial near Stuttgart wouldn’t be a bad idea. I think my German and Arabic might need some polishing, but I could definitely communicate well enough.
There’s a question that I never thought to ask: Am I named after Monty? It’s certainly possible, but then it’s a common name. Father and Mother were both American.
That’s it! Didn’t my great-granduncle fight in the war? I couldn’t have possibly forget that studying genealogy may be another manner of approach to this. I’ll be sure to drop by at Boston; wasn’t that where the Myres have lived for two centuries? Perhaps we could find answers there. Though it’ll be best not to leave our vacation too suddenly. The kids will definitely be upset.

Pick three genres (remember that you are not limited to genres that have SWC cabins - romance, drama, and humour, just to name a few, are all valid genres too despite not having cabins!) and write a 300 word scene blending the three genres together. Maybe you write about some sci-fi detectives investigating a creepy mystery or fan-fiction about your favourite fantasy series presented through poetry - go wild!

Genres are mystery, fanfiction, and historical fiction
Hehe, a Myres ancestor. I kinda used a creative license here, since the name Gwendolen wasn’t widely used until the mid-1800s.
I’m not sure if they had barns or chickens back then. Oh well.
Also, the concept of this story is somewhat based off the plot of The Redcoat Chase
I had to change the genres and end this somewhat abruptly since I was spending too much time on building context xDD
633 words

It was a warm morning in the Massachusetts countryside, which was unusual, given that it was the middle of winter. The sunlight glinted on the blinding snow. Gwendolen went out to feed the chickens, but saw her parents standing in the barn. How strange.
She peeked inside. Her parents were quarreling about something.
“… this has gotten too far,” her mother was saying.
Father’s face was grave. “After what had happened, I’m not sure whether we should do this anymore.”
“But the Patriots will succeed with time, I’m sure of it,” Mother said fiercely. “The victory at Saratoga was impressive. And now France is allied with us; surely that marks progress. Besides, I’m sure our branch will sort this out.”
He nodded. “That’s true,” he said slowly. “But our sons are dying out there on the battlefield,” he continued in a darker tone.
Ahh, so they were talking about the war. What else would it be? Gwen knew that her parents strongly supported freedom for the colonies. But one of her older brothers, James, had already fallen in combat. Surely her parents can’t support the war after that? Maybe freedom is important, but it was only a bit of taxing that caused the Patriots to fight. It certainly didn’t wasn’t worth her brother’s death, and her other brother’s possible one.
Gwen shivered. Simon was only 16, 4 years older than her, and yet he just rushed off to fight like he wasn’t afraid of losing everything. She got frequent letters from him, which somewhat compensated for his absence. But it was still nothing compared to actually having him here. Besides, now that he was gone, more work has gone to her. She didn’t mind, of course, but it was still tiring.
She got so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that her parents had finished their conversation and were coming out of the barn.
“Good morning, Gwen,” Father said in his usual deep, pleasant voice, as he folded up a piece of paper and put it back inside a dark emerald envelope. He seemed to have hid his worry well. It was the same case for Mother, who spoke up, “Did you want something?”
“Err… I was going to ask about the chickens,” she said quickly, improvising something up on the spot. “I saw that one of their eggs looked… somewhat smaller than usual.”
Lying wasn’t something she was good at. Her father sighed.
“You want updates on the war and Simon, don’t you?”
Gwen nodded sheepishly. “But I’ve heard most of what you said in the barn.”
Father exchanged a glance with Mother, who gave the slightest nod.
“Very well. If you want to see your brother-”
He broke off, looking away.
“General Knox asked for our assistance,” Mother finished for him.
“Who is he? And what is it?” Gwen wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Henry Knox is from Massachusetts, like us. He’s a brigadier general in the Continental Army’s artillery regiment.” Father seems to have regained his voice, though it sounded tired and defeated.
“Knox wants us to deliver a message to his artillery armory at Springfield. He needs supplies for the army,” Mother continued
“Why couldn’t he just get his supplies himself? And how were you able to contact him?”
“He’s an old friend,” Father replied vaguely. “Technically, he could get the supplies himself.”
“Then why doesn’t he?” To Gwen, it seemed like her parent’s story seemed to get fuller with loopholes with every question.
The two exchanged a glance. “I can’t tell you the specifics,” Father confessed apologetically. “But I do want to give you this.”
He handed Gwen the emerald envelope. Inside, there was a single printed page, with a crest of a wolf head on the heading.
The subject line read:
Dear prospective agent…

Exploring Nonfiction

This is just my opinion, but I think writing non-fiction is bearable if it’s about a boring topic and pure awesomesauce when it’s about a fascinating topic. Same thing for fiction ^^ but more so in non-fi. From what I’ve seen, this is not a popular genre among SWCers, which is a shame.

Write a 600 word piece (an information report, if you will) all about something! You can pick any topic (e.g. frogs). Include facts and lots of information, but keep your opinion out of it!

I apologize for the rather cold tone in this; I tried really hard to keep opinions out, and only failed to do so in the last sentence (I hope). It’s hard to be impartial in a topic such as this, I admit.
Also, sorry for the clunky transitions between the sections; I actually wrote about the Wehrmacht, Heer, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine separately, and then combined them into one piece. And I think my writing’s kinda repetitive; just do Control + F and see how many times I wrote the word “Wehrmacht.”
RIP the tiny Heer section lol. I ran out of inspo for what to write, because there wasn’t much new info or anything that sets it apart from the rest of the Wehrmacht.
1148 words :0

The Wehrmacht
Overview
{removed}

The Heer
The Heer (“Army” in German) was the land force of the Wehrmacht and its largest branch; 13 million served in the Heer, compared to the total 18 million who served with the Wehrmacht. The branch was established in 1935, like the rest of the Wehrmacht. In the six years of war, the Heer served all over Europe and fought fiercely. By the end of the war, over 1.6 million of its soldiers were killed in combat, and 4.1 million were injured. 65% of the total receivers of the Knight’s Cross, Germany’s most prestigious military award during WWII, were from the Heer.

The Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe (“Air Force” in German) was the Wehrmacht’s aerial force. Though the Treaty of Versailles had banned Germany from having an air force, the Luftwaffe was built up in secret, and its existence was announced in 1935. Soon, it became a powerful and experienced force. When World War Two broke out, the Luftwaffe was vital in the advances on the Western Front. However, in the Battle of Britain, it failed to defeat the Royal Air Force and was weakened by the experience. As the war went on, the Luftwaffe’s might continued to decline. At the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe was crippled and became of no military significance. After the war, it was disbanded in 1946.
{removed}
During the Luftwaffe’s existence, more than 100 thousand planes were built, and over 3 million pilots served with its force. 24% of all Knight’s Cross holders served in the Luftwaffe. After the Cold War and reunification of Germany, the Luftwaffe was re-erected and is now serving for NATO and the EU.

The Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine (“War Navy” in German) was the naval branch of the Wehrmacht. It was primarily commanded by Erich Raeder and his successor, Karl Dönitz. Like the other branches of the Wehrmacht, it was quickly built up from the former navies of the German Empire and Weimar Republic. In early 1939, a massive ship-building project known as Plan Z was started, but was soon abandoned for the mass construction of German submarines, known as Unterseeboots (U-boats). The main purpose of these U-boats (as well as surface ships, most notably the Bismarck) were to attack trading lines, but they were also employed against battleships.
{removed}
After the end of the war, in 1945, the Kriegsmarine was disbanded. Its remaining ships were given to the Allied powers, who then destroyed some of them. Some former Kriegsmarine officers served in West Germany’s navy, which came to be known as the Bundsmarine (“Federal Navy”). After the reunification of Germany, its navy was named the Deutsche Marine (“German Navy”).

After the war & Myth of the clean Wehrmacht
{removed} {wow this was a lot of yapping that young sandy did :zany:}

What’s your hottest take? Justify and explain it in the form of a 600 word opinion piece. (note: it should be a silly hot take!!! like “pencils are evil” or “__ is a bad character”, not anything political <3)

It seems fitting that I am arguing in favor of nonfiction in the Exploring Nonfiction section of the weekly, don’t you think?
717 words

I certainly wouldn’t say this is my hottest take, but it is indeed something important to me, and I believe that people would benefit from this mindset as well. My claim is that nonfiction is an important genre, both to read and write in. Nonfiction is a foundation for the writing of fiction, and important in life as well.
Throughout SWC, you may have seen people commenting that they don’t particularly like the nonfiction genre. Now, that is nothing to be ashamed of. I believe that in this case, you are all entitled to your opinion. But I do think that nonfiction is important; you don’t necessarily have to like it if you acknowledge this. Anyways, what is nonfiction? Nonfiction is simply the genre of writing that is not fiction; basically, writing based on facts and reality. This genre encompasses topics like science, history, modern events, and more. In academic settings, nonfiction is done far more than fiction; school teachers often require students to write about a subject they are learning. Many people thus may prefer writing fiction to nonfiction and tend to view writing the latter with hostility. Some may not even believe that writing nonfiction is important
However, nonfiction plays a larger role in fiction than we might think. Some fiction genres–such as historical fiction and science fiction–are heavily based off of existing academic knowledge. Writing in other genres may require nonfiction research, too. You may research types of poison for a mystery work, or the history of fairies in literature for a fantasy work. If you read carefully, many books–no matter the genre–manage to teach a reader about some topic that nonfiction includes.
Not only is nonfiction important in writing fiction, it plays a key role in our lives, too. Practically speaking, nonfiction is far more important for us than fiction. Only a few actually become full-time writers, and even then there is no guarantee that you’ll be successful. No, for a professional academic career (that I suppose many of you would hope to pursue), penning a scientific journal article or understanding the history of the world would be far more helpful than writing a poem.
Maybe I’ve got you convinced on why nonfiction is important. But you still don’t have much of a liking for it. I would not force you to enjoy it, but I do want to point out the pleasurable parts of writing nonfiction as well.
Writing nonfiction also allows you to share what you know with a wider audience. Pretty much everyone has something they are very passionate and/or knowledgeable about, whether it be a game, animal, branch of science, historical era, sport, or anything else that fits inside the wide spectrum of specialization. I would take myself for an example; in my broad range of interests, the things I know the most about (and have the most interest in) would be the subjects of the two “informational reports” I’ve written for this weekly, as well as the Revolutionary War. Even if you aren’t very knowledgeable about or have a strong interest in anything, just look up something that slightly intrigues you, and then get to know about that topic. Being an expert on a topic that few others know much about could feel rewarding. And, though this part don’t have much to do with writing non-fiction, you can seek out other experts in your field and have discussions with them.
You can also get a sense of accomplishment from finishing a non-fiction work. Just imagine how it would feel if you have finished a presentation or essay on a favorite select topic of your choice.
Another thing that’s important: nonfiction doesn’t have to be boringly written. There is a subgenre of nonfiction, which is creative nonfiction. This is basically using literary devices to write nonfiction, and it works particularly well for narrative nonfiction, which describes a series of events in a format similar to those of memoirs (as a matter of fact, memoirs would fit into the category of creative nonfiction). It is practically the same as telling any story.
To reiterate: nonfiction is quite important in writing fiction and real life. That isn’t to say that you can’t prefer fiction or continue to write it, but it is important to view nonfiction with its true value.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (May 22, 2024 18:27:42)

Sandy-Dunes

Word war with @kimmie2711, 11/14 (or 11/15 in UTC)

I attempted to work on my political science essay, and then did a Warriors fanfic based on the Africa campaign of WWII

Tea Party. These parties are also known as third parties. The two-party system has its advantages and disadvantages, and it can certainly be improved.
—

Rom being a leader of fox rogues working for Hailstar of EagleClan. Pattergorge and Iceflight of TurkeyClan and Tawnyfur of LionClan

.
Tawnyfur waited patiently for the TurkeyClan representatives to arrive. There they were, padding over with their warriors in tow.
“About time,” he snapped. “Hillstar has been waiting for you.”
Pattergorge flicked his tail, while Iceflight nodded. “I do understand. Now, we’ve heard of the trouble EagleClan has caused–”
“Trouble? More like havoc!” Tawnyfur exclaimed in shock. “They’ve massacred our warriors! Not to mention the queens and elders. And that’s not counting what they’ve done to other Clans. Now we had to leave our

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 15, 2021 03:59:12)

Sandy-Dunes

Sandstorm
«────── « ⋆ ✠ ⋆ » ──────»
A SWC Writing Competition Fanfiction Entry
TW: Slightly graphic description of deaths
1997 words

note 5/22/24: i'll leave this story up, but i would like to state that 1) this is an silly warrior cats au (written by yours truly at the age of 12), not a serious alternate history extrapolation; 2) this fic glorifies erwin rommel. like. quite a bit!! note that he was a very complicated figure who did some bad things; fernwind does not represent him accurately, and he is by no means a “good person” in history.
with that being said!! i hope you take this fic lightly and enjoy reading <3

⠀⠀⠀⠀A breeze swept over the stretches of desert, causing clouds of sand to rise. Anticipating another desert storm, A cat stared off into the horizon, fluffy tail curled neatly over his paws. He was the Desert Fox.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The Fox found the desert to be alluring, with its wild storms and searing heat. It was so much unlike the meadows back home, in EagleClan territory.
⠀⠀⠀⠀He sighed, uneasiness settling inside him. The Fox was sent to fight LightClan, IsleClan, and EmuClan–EagleClan’s enemies–in the desert days away. The reason was to take the war out of the home territories. At least EagleClan had WolfClan to back them up, but their enemies were making great progress in the desert, even if LightClan’s first battle was a failure.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The Fox knew the top Allied warriors in the desert well enough. Tawnyfur of IsleClan, and Salmongorge and Icyflower of LightClan. They weren’t brutal; far from it, in fact. He rather respected them.
⠀⠀⠀⠀But what would happen if the EagleClan warriors ended up surrendering? Hailstar wouldn’t be pleased.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ah, Hailstar. The mere mention of the leader’s name awoke a mixture of feelings inside the Fox, the most prominent reminisce and fear. He remembered how they grew up together seasons ago. He had always looked up to Hailstar and was delighted when he became leader. But the Fox dreaded the day when he would fail and be rebuked by Hailstar. Regardless of their relationship, he was still a warrior under him and could be punished whenever Hailstar pleased.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Turning back to the camp that the EagleClan and WolfClan warriors shared, he noticed a dark-furred tom approaching him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Spidersight,” he greeted. Spidersight was quiet and cunning, but the Fox had found him to be a wise and reliable friend.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Spidersight nodded back, fixing the Desert Fox with piercing dark blue eyes. Behind him was a white tom. It was Cloudbird, a fellow EagleClan warrior. He had been under the Fox’s command for quite a while, ever since the start of the fight in the desert. The Fox still didn’t know what to make of this bold young warrior.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“What do you think about how Hailstar’s managing the war?” Spidersight asked the Fox mildly.
⠀⠀⠀⠀He didn’t know what they were playing at. “He’s doing it well enough?” he answered cautiously. But a whirlwind of doubts settled in him. Before he had left EagleClan territory, Hailstar had already been making faulty mistakes. He didn’t really know whether he trusted him anymore.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Of course, it wasn’t his place to tell Spidersight and Cloudbird.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“I’ll see you around,” the Fox said quickly, excusing himself.
⠀⠀⠀⠀He could still feel two pairs of eyes burning into him as he left.

★ ★ ★

⠀⠀⠀⠀After LightClan’s defeat in their first battle in the desert, Icyflower had organized a new setup for patrols. Salmongorge could finally appreciate her coolheadedness and insight at such a time.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“What do you think about the Desert Fox?” he asked her one day, while they were sharing a sparrow.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Icyflower tilted her head at him. “Why do you ask?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“I don’t know. It’s just that I still don’t know what to think about him,” he shrugged. “We know so little about him.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“I suppose you can say he’s honorable enough,” she replied. “At least he’s better than others in EagleClan,” she added darkly.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“True. Though I don’t know whether he’s affiliated with Hailstar.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Oh, Salmongorge, every EagleClan commander is affiliated with Hailstar to some extent,” Tawnyfur said as he joined them. “Take my word for it.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“The Fox is certainly remarkable, though,” Icyflower countered.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“That much is true,” Tawnyfur conceded. “Anyways, what do you think will happen to Hailstar after we win the war?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“I suppose Hillstar and Moosestar could figure something out,” Salmongorge suggested, referring to IsleClan’s and LightClan’s leaders.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Indeed they will,” Icyflower agreed. “Hailstar could finally get what he deserves.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Eternity in the Dark Forest and piles of crowfood there,” Salmongorge sneered, prompting the other two cats to break into amused purrs.

★ ★ ★

⠀⠀⠀⠀Stretching, the Desert Fox stood up and looked around the camp. The twilight clouds drifted idly past, over the sky. The sandstorm hadn’t formed and hit yet, but it was only a matter of time.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The Fox blinked. For the second time that day, he saw two cats approach him, one black and one white.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Spidersight? Cloudbird?” the Fox asked wearily.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“We need to talk to you. Here,” Spidersight drew him aside, behind the boulder.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Can you just tell me what it is?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀The two exchanged a glance.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Well?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Are you interested in being leader after Hailstar dies?” Cloudbird blurted out. Spidersight shot an annoyed glance at him, but it was too late.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The Fox stared at him. “W-what?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀Spidersight opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the three heard a flurry of activity at the camp entrance.
⠀⠀⠀⠀From they sat, they could see a mottled gray tom entering, flanked by his patrol. The few spectators in the camp were mostly cheering, but a few others greeted the tom with stony silence.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Hailstar?!” The Fox whispered, astonished.
⠀⠀⠀⠀He whipped his head around to face Cloudbird. “Does this have to do with anything?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀The fluffy white tom’s face was impassive as he stood up and dashed to the clearing. Growling, the Fox lept up to follow him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Fernwind, no!”
⠀⠀⠀⠀Spidersight bowled him over and held him against the boulder.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“You can’t stop him! Think of everything Hailstar did!”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“What do you mean?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“You know what I mean,” Spidersight said quietly, staring into his eyes.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The Fox went limp, as he was seized by a storm of memories, memories that he had casted deep inside his mind.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Hailstar, with a smug smirk on his face, whispering words of praise to Fernwind as cats stared in terror at the EagleClan warriors.
⠀⠀⠀⠀A whole entire Clan slaughtered, while Hailstar watched in his typical sadistic delight.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Waking up to find outspoken EagleClan cats gone, only bloody paw prints where they had been before.
⠀⠀⠀⠀His title, his success, his place in the starkly obvious order of power–all from his blind obedience. How could he keep going on like this, if the only thing fueling him was a mass murderer’s approval?
⠀⠀⠀⠀He felt his former identity peeled away from him, revealing the real cat underneath–Fernwind, the dedicated warrior, the loving mate and father, and the cat who had fallen prey to Hailstar’s manipulation, like so many around him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Through the raging battle of thoughts and wave of despair, he realized one thing:
⠀⠀⠀⠀His mistakes will haunt him forever, but at least he could prevent more from happening again.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Before Spidersight could stop him again, Fernwind dashed to the clearing.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The scene that greeted him was macabre. Several cats lay dead, their eyes still glinting with fury and fear. Everyone else had fled, except for one cat.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Blue eyes flashing maniacally, Hailstar snarled at Cloudbird and the circle of rebels.
⠀⠀⠀⠀But Fernwind noticed that the EagleClan leader suddenly tensed, and he knew what was coming next. Without thinking, he jumped at Hailstar just as the leader headed towards Cloudbird. Fernwind knocked him off course, and with some effort he was able to pin the shocked leader to the ground.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“What is this?” Hailstar gasped, fixing his eyes on him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Fernwind could see genuine pain on Hailstar’s face, but it quickly hardened to anger again.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Let me go!”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“I… I c-can’t. You’ve done too much.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Fernwind, what are you waiting for?” Cloudbird hissed at him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Fernwind fixed his gaze on the struggling tom below him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀We used to be friends.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Did he really have it in him to kill Hailstar?
⠀⠀⠀⠀Sensing Fernwind’s hesitation, Hailstar twisted away. The rebels rushed towards him, but it was too late. With claws outstretched, he lept towards ⠀⠀⠀⠀Fernwind.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Fernwind met him head-on. The two were now locked in a vicious whirlwind, impossible for the rebels to come to Fernwind’s aid, but it was clear Fernwind’s heart wasn’t in the fight. Soon the dust settled, this time with Hailstar’s claws over his throat.
⠀⠀⠀⠀But before either of them could move, a shadow fell upon them.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Spidersight landed on Hailstar and knocked him over. This time the fight didn’t last long, either.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Fernwind watched in horror as the black tom fell back, his blood splattering the desert sand.

★ ★ ★

⠀⠀⠀⠀An EagleClan warrior had summoned Salmongorge, Icyflower, and Tawnyfur, saying that it was something urgent. Icyflower was quite doubtful at first. But when the three patrols finally arrived, after taking shelter from a storm on the way, she understood.
⠀⠀⠀⠀She took in everything before her eyes: the dead EagleClan warrior on the ground, Hailstar lying in front of the Desert Fox’s bloodstained paws, terrified EagleClan and WolfClan warriors, and the sandstorm retreating on the horizon.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“We’ll end hostilities immediately,” Cloudbird dipped his head towards the three LightClan and IsleClan warriors as they came in. Icyflower gave him a brief nod, then headed towards the Desert Fox. Or at least, it was what she and her colleagues called him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Greetings, uh…”
⠀⠀⠀⠀His hollow eyes turned on her. “Fernwind. It’s Fernwind.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀Not knowing what to say, Icyflower dipped her head.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Fernwind stared wordlessly at her, then sighed. “He was my friend.” he said in a cracked voice, gesturing at Hailstar.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Icyflower glanced curiously at him. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“No need to be,” he replied bitterly. “Spidersight would be what you’ll call a real friend. I wished I could’ve saved him…”
⠀⠀⠀⠀Icyflower took a glance at the dead EagleClan warrior, dark fur still matted with blood. She turned back to the grief-stricken Fernwind.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Look up.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀He stared numbly at her, then obeyed.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Dazzling stars stretched above them in the darkening twilight. A certain one twinkled brighter than the others, its light cold and warm at the same time. Fernwind gasped, and his eyes lit up in understanding.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Thank you.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀“Start digging,” Icylower replied, nodding at Spidersight. “I’m afraid that we can’t get him all the way home.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀The two warriors started digging silently as the sandstorm died down.

★ ★ ★

⠀⠀⠀⠀The moon was high in the sky when Fernwind and Icyflower finally finished. Tawnyfur watched as a trembling Fernwind pushed the last few pawfuls of sand over the graves. Though they were all exhausted, quite a few warriors from all Clans sat down at Spidersight’s vigil. After all, in their knowledge, Spidersight was the one who ended Hailstar’s reign of terror. Fernwind found that he agreed wholeheartedly. Though he was the one who killed Hailstar, he didn’t give his life to do so, like Spidersight did.
⠀⠀⠀⠀A few days of busy preparation passed. The interaction between the Clans was friendly; Fernwind had witnessed an EagleClan warrior and LightClan warrior exchanging pleasant conversation. He wished it could always be this way, but it wasn’t to be so. The Clans will always have their conflicts.
⠀⠀⠀⠀“What are you going to do after this?” Icyflower asked Fernwind one day, as they sat together watching the horizon.
Fernwind knew what she meant. “Retire,” he said simply. “Everything has been too much for me… I’m getting too old for leadership.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀She nodded in understanding. “I wish you the best.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀Finally, it was time to go home.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Before the sun was up, Fernwind stood on a ledge in the camp, gazing back at the desert.
⠀⠀⠀⠀He recalled its previous appeal to him, but his heart wasn’t with it. It was with his family and everyone he held dear.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Spidersight had died for Fernwind and the future of EagleClan. Fernwind knew he would always remember that. And as for Hailstar, he wasn’t to be mourned. So many innocent cats had already paid the price of their lives for his fanatical reign, but things could be fixed again. Fernwind knew it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The swirling storm in his mind ground to a halt. Finally, he was at peace with everything. Fernwind would always keep the past in mind, but it is time to move on.
⠀⠀⠀⠀To a new future.

~end~

Notes and Credits

⠀⠀⠀⠀Hello! Thank you for reading my writing comp fanfic entry, Sandstorm. I would like to give you some information and insight on this story if you’re curious.

⠀⠀⠀⠀First of all, huge thanks to Pika (@-Pika-Cat-). Even though I couldn’t do much based on your critique because of the huge word count for this piece (I’m really sorry for that), I’m very grateful for your insight on my work.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Also, I would like to say a few words of appreciation to Sabaton, more specifically for their song Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Even though my story is about another soldier in another war fighting for the other side in another desert, the plot is still somewhat similar, and the song is one of my favorites from the band. Some of their other songs have given me a lot of inspiration for this fanfic, like Great War and Christmas Truce.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Believe it or not, this fanfic is actually based on the African Campaign of WWII. Some details stay true to history, while huge parts of the story is built on wishful thinking and changes. This is not written to make fun of or dismiss history; nor was it written to glorify figures who don’t deserve it. Rather, I wanted to explore vastly different possibilities and to experience history in a new way, namely through a Warriors fanfic.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Once again, thank you for reading!

Post-results edit

⠀⠀⠀⠀Hello, Sandy here. So, the results are out! I didn’t really expect to win, but… I did. Woah. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get a placement–you put your time and effort into your entry, and that’s what counts <3
⠀⠀⠀⠀Anyways, I want to say some things about this piece. First of all, this fanfic is a combination of the North African Campaign and Operation Valkyrie. I don’t know why I said that it was only based on the former. Hmm, that's weird. Also, now that I realized the parallels between my username/nickname (*cough cough Sand*) and this piece, I found it hilarious.
⠀⠀⠀⠀So, here’s a list of the Clans and cats featured, and their historical counterparts:

Clans
LightClan- America
IsleClan- Great Britain
EmuClan (I apologize for this lame name)- Australia
WolfClan- Italy
EagleClan-Germany

Cats
Tawnyfur- Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal
Icyflower- Dwight D. Eisenhower, United States general (genderflipped mostly to suit the name)
Salmongorge- George S. Patton, United States general
Hillstar- Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (only mentioned)
Moosestar- Franklin D. Roosevelt, United States President (only mentioned)
—
The Desert Fox, aka Fernwind- Erwin Rommel, German field marshal
Spidersight- Hans Speidel, Rommel's last Chief-of-Staff
Cloudbird- Claus von Stauffenberg, German Colonel
Hailstar- (I think you know who this is; if not, who's the notorious chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945?)

⠀⠀⠀⠀In the two weeks after writing this fanfic, I learned a lot about all of these historical figures, most specifically Stauffenberg and Speidel.
⠀⠀⠀⠀To start off: when I wrote this, I did not know that Stauffenberg lost an eye, arm, and three more fingers. As a matter of fact, I only found out earlier this week while I was reading a Harry Potter fanfic (don't ask why Stauffenberg is in a Harry Potter fanfic… actually, check out the A/N of the SWC historical figures fanfic). Now, that would’ve worked wonderfully if I incorporated it somehow, but missing this opportunity really isn't a big deal. Speidel also struck me as even more interesting when I researched him more, and his glasses were the reason I made his character's suffix to be “sight” in the first place, haha. I do wonder how he must have felt when he gave Rommel's name away while being tried for the plot… poor guy. Anyways, he wrote a book about the Normandy invasion, titled Invasion 1944. I have yet to read it, but I’m really looking forward to doing so!
⠀⠀⠀⠀Now, this is of course an alternate universe, and some things in history are massively different. First of all… the Normandy invasion mentioned earlier just flew out the window. I mixed North Africa and Valkyrie, because I wanted to focus on Rommel’s trademark desert persona, if that makes any sense. But in doing so, I disregarded Normandy. As a result, Rommel’s car getting strafed was not incorporated in this fanfic. It would’ve been really admirable for a severely Fernwind to fight Hailstar. But then, how do you have cats strafing a car? :0 Same thing with Valkyrie; I have no idea how cats would make a bomb, so I made a group of rebels ambush a certain leader instead.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Other small things:
The character of Albert Kesselring (as “Kestrelwing”) and the Battle of Kasserine Pass were initially included, but they were cut out due to the word limit and because I wanted to focus more on Rommel himself.
I also never clearly stated that the Allied Clans were winning in the war, which I probably should have.
In real life, Rommel never “reformed” or cooperated wholeheartedly with the assassination attempt, which was a shame; he certainly never completed the assassination personally. At least he realized the fate of Germany in the end and died devoid of ignorance for the most part.
Finally, Stauffenberg and Rommel were both killed as a result of their involvement in the assassination attempt (technically Rommel killed himself, but he didn't have much of a choice), whereas Speidel survived and went on to have an illustrious career with NATO. This was reversed in the fanfic; Spidersight was the one who died, but the two other EagleClan warriors survived.
I kinda wanted to somehow add Patton's iconic quote? But I'd probably have to edit it quite a bit, haha. Now that I think of it, the Allied generals didn't have too much personality expressed… I wish I could have had Monty bickering with Ol' Blood and Guts. But the interaction between Icyflower and Fernwind at the end was so cool :0 Patton and Montgomery are usually the ones that are cited as Rommel's enemies, but of course Eisenhower did exist.

⠀⠀⠀⠀So, I hope you enjoyed reading the fanfic, and I also hope you weren’t too confused by this message due to the lack of historical context (sorry about that, hehe– I recommend you do your own research, as I may be somewhat biased). If you want to ask me about anything in this fanfic, please don't hesitate to do so! I would love to discuss anything here with you

⠀⠀⠀⠀Note: I don't know why I chose to say this at the very end, but I assure you that I am not a supporter of a certain socialist party or its leader, which I won't mention by name. Pretty much everyone who is interested in the era will agree with me that it's actually the contrary; learning about the atrocities that the part has committed led me to despise the regime even more and appreciate all of those who fought to remove them from power. It was a long and bloody process, but I think it's safe to say that the Allies and all resistance to the regime made the world a better place than it would have been otherwise, and that's something we should be grateful for.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (May 22, 2024 18:31:57)

Sandy-Dunes

《 Flight of Fire 》
A SWC Writing Competition Entry

Pᴀʀᴛ Oɴᴇ: Fɪɢʜᴛ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ Bᴇᴀᴄʜᴇs
Jᴜʟʏ-Sᴇᴘᴛᴇᴍʙᴇʀ 1940

A serene summer morning
Reflected in the peaceful sea
Sunlight turning the Strait of Dover
Silvery and shimmering clear

Yet fighter pilots take off from shore
Defenders flood the beaches
There was no calm to be found
The enemy was drawing near

Anti-aircraft guns clatter away
At masses of enemy planes
Small skirmishes and raids start
But something larger is here

Heavier bombings on the land
Shipping lanes attacked
Airfields bombarded, smoldering skies
Still our pilots persevere

The summer draws to an end
The Battle of Britain has commenced
As the Blitz looms closer–
What will this come to?

✠ ✠ ✠

Sent a letter to Mother
Gathered equipment
Commandant orders us to prepare
For the outrageous attack

Despite our enemies
I am a pilot of honor
Not a butcher of innocence
They must understand

Pᴀʀᴛ Tᴡᴏ: Tʜᴇɪʀ Fɪɴᴇsᴛ Hᴏᴜʀ
Oᴄᴛᴏʙᴇʀ 1940

As we ride to London, the heart of the country
We approach the former bustling city
Memories formed here in the days of yesteryear
But all that is gone now

Haunted shadows roam the streets
Through the rubble of buildings
Hope was shattered, civilians somber
The Luftwaffe is at hand.

Setting up our anti-aircraft equipment
Scanning the skies above for squadrons of planes
There, tiny black dots against the blue
Wisps of white weaving through the clouds

✠ ✠ ✠

Soaring above the clouds
Dipping beneath the white
As our bomber squadron dives
The city is in sight

Keeping in tight formation
We dive and approach
From above I could feel London’s sorrow
The fear of what will come tomorrow

Still, pointing guns up at the sky
From the rooftops
The British defend their city
Citizens gaining morale

✠ ✠ ✠

Resolve seizes me
For my family and all the lives lost
Leaping towards the AA gun, aiming up
Perfect shots mark warbirds’ destruction

Then I hear the sounds of
Death, fire, or damnation?
Looking up to see
All three approaching

✠ ✠ ✠

No one engages us in the air
But anti-aircraft guns bristle with their might
Then they suddenly scatter us
I let the bombs fall

What have I done? What have I become?
Civilians lost, to a future with no closure
This is war, war so brutal,
As my own death draws closer

✠ ✠ ✠

The bomb seems to slow
A turbulent storm rocks the plane
Before it hit the ground
Engines lit by fire

Pᴀʀᴛ Tʜʀᴇᴇ: Oᴡᴇᴅ Bʏ Sᴏ Mᴀɴʏ Tᴏ Sᴏ Fᴇᴡ
Aғᴛᴇʀᴍᴀᴛʜ

A blazing explosion lights up the sky
A rumble shakes the ground
Horrified protests flash through their minds
But it was far too late

The ruins of plane and pilot drifting on the wind
The anti-aircraft manner in his grave.
By their lasting actions that day
They had sealed their fate

Who was in the wrong?
Who was in the right?
Who was to be blamed for this madness
That has taken so many lives?

Sacrifice bitter, promises empty
A cycle of death and pain
So many young soldiers try to understand
Rivers of blood on their conscience leave a stain

As they set out to make their mark
Two paid the price with their lives that day
The war carries on without them
And yet they could never be replaced

Bid farewell to their loved ones
To their comrades, to their homes
Bid farewell to this frightful world
High above their spirits soar

fin.

Notes and Credits

Hello! In this author’s note, I have several things that I would like to mention.

First of all, I would like to thank those who reviewed this poem. Like she did with my fanfiction entry, Pika gave me fantastic advice, and I tried my best to implement them.

Once again, a huge word of appreciation to Sabaton, and not just for being awesome. Their songs really provide me insight into war through an artistic perspective, and just help me make sense of war in general. The songs Great War and In Flanders Fields were particularly helpful for Part Three: although these two songs were about death and suffering in the previous world war, their message stays true (and perhaps grow even more so) to its successor.

Also, while writing this poem I watched a few clips from the 1969 Battle of Britain movie. They were immensely helpful for envisioning the battle, and now I really want to watch the whole thing, haha.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

After France’s capitulation in June 1940, Great Britain was the only Allied country still standing against the Axis. That summer, the Luftwaffe (Germany’s airforce; Ctrl + F it in my writing thread if you want to read more) started a series of bombings on Britain that eventually targeted civilians as well; their goal was to gain air superiority over the English Channel to prepare for an amphibious German invasion of Great Britain. However, under Prime Minister Churchill, the British were able to persevere and eventually defeat the Germans in the battle.

British civilian casualties were much higher than those of military personnel on both sides combined; 23 thousand civilians were killed, and another 32 thousand were injured. However, had the British given in, the German invasion may very well be the end of British resistance and freedom from the Third Reich in Europe. The Battle of Britain was key to the eventual Allied victory. Today, the battle and the defenders of Britain are annually commemorated on September 15 in the United Kingdom.

In the poem, I also wanted to explore soldiers’ view of war in general (no pun intended). As someone who has been avidly studying history (and thus its conflicts) for three years, I’ve been trying to make sense of all the aspects of war and soldiers’ thoughts on it. Starting with the 19th century, many realize that there is no glory to be found in war; only senseless death and killing. Fellow soldiers and friends fall around them, and no one knows what the next day will bring.

I realized that I haven’t touched much upon the myth of the clean Wehrmacht in this poem, which actually might be a good thing. There is really some basic similarity between all soldiers, no matter who and what they were fighting for, which is what I wanted to express here.

Once again, thank you for reading!

Post-results edit

I don't have much to say here, since most of it is in the post-results edit in my fanfic entry. But the process of exploring war and what goes inside the mind of soldiers in this poem was interesting. Like I mentioned earlier, it was probably a good idea to disregard whether the Luftwaffe pilot was a believer in the socialist party's ideals or not. From his honor, you can infer that he wasn't; complete loyalty to the party and basic human goodness happening simultaneously isn't really possible. That being said, soldiers are still the same at their core, if you know what I mean.

Edit 1/26: I just shared a newer version of this poem, which you can see here!

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Jan. 27, 2022 00:56:00)

Sandy-Dunes

Message for whoever’s going to read the two comp entries when I’m done

Hello! Thanks for taking the time to be a beta reader and critique my writing comp entries. It would be great if you answered these questions for the two pieces above. I know it's quite a bit of work to do, and I'm sorry if this takes up too much of your time! But I would love to have some feedback ^^

The Battle of Britain poem (haven’t come up with a name yet TwT)
Any title ideas?
I keep calling it the “BoB” poem, which is pretty hilarious. But it would be great if I had a better title xD Suggestions are appreciated!

Can you tell who the narrator(s) are? If so, who? A brief explanation of their nationality and occupation would be enough
This is pretty important to me, since I want to make sure that the reader knows what’s happening.

Do you get the general idea of what’s going on in the story?
Also an important question, for the same reason as the question above.

Can you see the central theme of the story?
It isn't really that obvious, but I hope that it's recognizable!

Can you see opportunities to include descriptive language?
This is arguably the most important problem I’m facing; I’m not really skilled in descriptive language, which is going to be a huge setback. It would be great if you can give some specific examples from the poem to improve on.

Do you think there is consistency in style, grammar, format, etc.?
Pretty much self-explanatory :>

Any feedback on the aesthetical format that you can give?
I just don't want to overload it, haha.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to add?
You really don't have to write much for this one; most of what I need is already listed in the previous questions ^^

Sandstorm
Can you see what the real story is, under the guise of a Warriors fanfic?
(please don't read the Notes and Credits prior to answering this question)

This is probably the most important thing for this piece, even more than descriptive language. I really want to make sure that readers know what I’m hinting at before having to tell them in the A/N. Maybe the most obvious clue is the naming of the “Desert Fox.” Also, pay attention to the name of Hailstar (this is a play of dark humor on my part; I apologize for that). Try saying Icyflower's and Fernwind's names out loud. The “Clans” and their actions may provide clues as well. If you can’t tell what this piece is really supposed to be about, please be honest about that. It really helps me and I could adjust my fanfic as needed

Can you identify a theme?
I do want to see your personal interpretation!

Any space for improvement in descriptive language?
I think I might have done better in this, as opposed to the BoB poem. (I pretty much never write poems, so I’m a pretty mediocre poet.) But I would still love feedback!

Feedback on aesthetical format?
Basically, did I use too much aesthetical symbols and such?

General critique?
Self-explanatory

And that’s all! Once again, thanks for taking the time to read and critique the pieces

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 22, 2021 17:25:13)

Sandy-Dunes

MC 11/16

DF is actually a cat in this :> (some of this is probably going to be part of my writing comp fanfic entry above). By the way, he’s occasionally referred to as “Fox” since I feel like “the Desert Fox” is a bit repetitive xD
If you read about Tawnyfur’s thoughts about the desert, you’ll see that the two’s opinions are very different ;>
And this was very hard to write, not gonna lie. I'm quite horrible at descriptive writing.

The Desert Fox basked in the desert sand, soaking up the warmth of the blazing sun. His pale golden fur blended in perfectly with the sand. Perhaps that was why the warriors gave him a wide berth. Or it was because they didn’t want to disturb the senior EagleClan warrior. Whatever the reason, it suited him just fine. It was nice to have some time to relax without cats asking him about the next battle, or worrying about how Hailstar would judge him. It was still early in the morning, and it wasn’t so hot yet, as it would be at noon.
Purring, the Desert Fox opened his sapphire-blue eyes and glanced up at the sky. It was a blazing blue, stretching from one end of the horizon to the other–not unlike how it would be back home, in the meadows. Fox quickly looked back down, blinking quickly as his pupils dilated again. The sun was awfully bright.
Turning his gaze towards the horizon, he took in the sight before him–wide stretches of sand, occasionally disturbed by the soft breeze and then settling back down back down. The warriors’ trails through the sand could still be seen.
The Desert Fox flicked his bushy white-tipped tail absentmindedly along the sand, and a small sandstorm arose. Noticing the small cloud, he whipped his tail harder, and the cloud of sand turned into a small sandstorm, leaving dust between his fur. But Fox didn’t mind; he hadn’t had this much fun in ages.
Certainly, the desert was a nice place to be. Of course he missed his home and EagleClan territory, but he also wanted to stay a little longer, perhaps with his mate and kits. But his Clan would never allow it.
He gazed back to the camp, a few fox-lengths away in the hollow they’ve stumbled upon. Bushes lined the edges of the hollow, serving the purpose of dens. They certainly weren’t comfortable, as the Desert Fox had learned from first-hand experience, but they were conveniently placed and provided shelter during the night. A small fresh-kill pile, filled with mostly lizards and small rodents they’ve seen in the desert, sat in the middle of the camp. Many of his warriors that had already woken up were milling around, not doing anything in particular. Some of them talked pleasantly to one another, happy about the fact that they had managed to escape the IsleClan and EmuClan warriors. A few other warriors were making their way out in the sunny clearing, like he was.

Sandy-Dunes

Word war with @mossflower29, 11/16 (or 11/17 in UTC)

Part of my writing comp fanfic entry

Icyflower had settled down with her warriors at the bustling camp that IsleClan shared with its allies. So far they had chased EagleClan quite far away, but all of the top warriors expected the Fox to retaliate soon.
While she wasn’t overseeing the training of the warriors and hunting, she had wondered about the Desert Fox. Who was he? What was he like? Was he really a fox, as his name suggested? In his rush to talk about the enemy and what was at stake, Tawnyfur hasn’t told LightClan much about the warrior. Icyflower didn’t get much of an opportunity to ask him, either, since Tawnyfur was just as busy as she was.
“Hello, Icyflower,” Salmongorge approached her one day. “Tawnyfur called for you.”
Icyflower gave him a brief nod as she went towards Tawnyfur’s den, passing a few curious

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 23, 2021 23:05:27)

Sandy-Dunes

Code of Conduct
Due to a conflict between me (Sandy), General George Patton, and Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, I have decided to present a list of rules that we must follow. This is divided into two sections; the first is mostly for the historical figures, but the second is for everyone that wishes to dabble in the roleplay, even for something as trivial as wishing the Prime Minister a good day.

I. Realism
⠀⠀1. Have your roleplay figure's personality and relationships with others match the real historical figure's, to the best of your ability.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ex. Churchill and Patton respected Rommel; Roosevelt and Churchill had an amicable relationship. These should be kept in the roleplay.

⠀⠀2. Do not use anything else than slightly old-fashioned dialogue and occasional action indications in asterisks (an exception would be *____ noises*; these are prohibited)
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ex. “Greetings, President Roosevelt. I trust that you have been well?”

⠀⠀3. Do not role-break (say things out of character) unless absolutely needed. When it is, put it in double parentheses. It is preferred that you do use proper grammar and put out-of-character comments separate from normal roleplay comments, but this is not required.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ex. ((Churchill's speech was actually given to the House of Commons ^^))

Unfortunately, just as liberty and order sometimes come at the cost of each other, we have to balance realism with Scratch-appropriateness.

II. Scratch-Appropriateness
⠀⠀1. Do not intentionally cause violence, debates, or anything that is not Scratch-appropriate.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ex. In real life, Patton was quite a brash individual, and there have been cases of him actually slapping some of his soldiers. Please do not carry that into the roleplay.

⠀⠀2. Refrain from mentioning a certain evil party or create roleplay accounts for figures from there, except maybe someone like Oskar Schindler or the likes. I do realize that I'm being hypocritical; but in my defense, I had the advantage of hindsight. And I promise you that Rommel shall not break the first part of this rule.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ex. (N/A, this should be self-explanatory)

⠀⠀3. Refrain from more than briefly mentioning the book and ideology that Marx supported.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Ex. “Your book was quite famous, as I recall… now, about the mango situation.”

That was all that I wanted to mention. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to comment on my profile. Also do so if you are interested in joining the roleplay.

Last edited by Sandy-Dunes (Nov. 23, 2021 23:44:45)

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