TempestClan's Beginning

Firstly: if you want to do it, just do it! You don't have to commit to it forever, or even long, unless you really want to practice your professional ability to push through art slumps/lack of motivation. Especially in the clangen space, it's not taboo to just close/abandon a run you're no longer into.

Now, for more specific answers I guess...

What I recommend:

Keep notes starting from moon 0 if you have any inkling you want to make a blog. This means you may have runs you write several moons of before deciding it's not interesting/connecting/etc that are now useless, but it's better to have those and delete them than to not and have to backtrack ideas.

Pick a main character, or a couple, and stick with them. Trying to focus on all the cats quickly becomes an impossible task, and people won't connect as well as with a rotating cast as they will with a few set characters.

If the main character(s) dies, pick another to take over that role and slowly introduce them into the spotlight well before the other's death. Helps people swap over lol

Actually set up a world for the clan. Where is it set? What're the seasons like? How do they live? How are they different from the other clans, if there are any? It helps you with setting up practices, what characters value, and people like learning about it!

Keep posts focused on the blog. You can post about other things now and then, like life and other projects, but people follow you for a clangen blog in the end and may drift away if you post other things too often. I'd also say avoid venting, personal issues, etc as it can make folks uncomfortable and the blog isn't a diary.

UNDERSTAND YOU MAY GET PUSHBACK/CRITICISM/HATE. This is especially true if you handle sensitive subject matter like abuse, sa, transphobia & gender related issues, etc. If you want to limit this, you will need to turn off anon asks. I also suggest not even replying to them, as attention just brings more messages. It can suck, but blocking and moving on is key <3

What I wish I had done:

Kept the main character design simpler. I love Root, and I can handle drawing her again and again, but if I could have gone back I would have made her design/markings more simple. Find other ways to make cats look different than complex pelts, like weight and fur styles. You'll see me take this into account with later designs.

Cared less about interaction. For a lot of my starting posts, I was watching the number of notes very often and really tied my enjoyment of my comic to that. Truth is, some stuff works and others don't, and now that I am less concerned about that I find it easier to work on it.

Interacted with other blogs more from the start. I didn't realize just how much getting a comment or ask or reblog made me feel seen and happy- and while it's not everything it's nice. So I started doing that for other blogs, and it has led to me making some lovely friends.

Set up a solid genre. I started my blog heavy on horror but did not carry that into later moons because, well, it didn't fit. However that still impacts expectations to new readers- and has left me finding ways to weave it into the story as things go. So if I could have, I would have kept to a genre for the story from the start, but I'm still happy with where I'm at.

AND THAT'S WHAT I HAVE!!! I'm not expert and I have no say on what you want to do, so these are just my personal tips.

Now for the thing some people might be interested in... my personal Clangen Template! Here are previews of it empty and filled!

(Yes those are early notes of Hymnclan)

If you want to use it for yourself, HERE YOU GO! Please please please credit me if you do just by @ ing this account in your pinned or smthn, I worked hard on it! Just go to file -> make a copy.

For this contest, you will be able to design TWO cats in TidalClan's world! You do not have to do both of course, all up to you! The information provided to you will be their names, their in-game sprite and some very basic personality. If you would like to add anything extra that's in line with their provided personality, go right ahead! I love seeing other's ideas! First up is: Condorstar! Yes! A leader! Condorstar is a long-furred, white tom with brown rosette markings splotched on his flank, and a spot of brown on his right cheek, and yellow eyes. Secondly we have: Puddlesand! Puddlesand is an elderly gray point calico tabby she-cat with deep blue eyes. (She's actually described as "gray/ginger point calico tabby", though her sprite has no ginger! Buuuuuuuuuut if you want to add ginger to her design, go for it!).

Rules: - Submissions must be your own original works. Any suspicion of AI usage will result in an immediate disqualification. No base recolors, no sources outside drawing software. - By submitting, you agree that the design, if chosen, belongs to me and will be used in the comic. - As such, anything that happens to the character is a result of the ClanGen RNG or plot relevance. If they die, they are gone with no questions. - Colored, Fullbody sketches are the most preferred. - You do not need to be a follower to enter! Everyone will have equal chance of winning, as every submission will be placed into a wheel. - That said, ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON. While you may draw both, I will not be choosing both designs for Condor and Puddle from the same person. There *should* be two winners, unless the wheel decides otherwise. - Please use the tag #TidalClanContest and @ me in your submission :3

This would happen around the very beginning of TempestClan. Whalekit sneaks out of camp one day and finds Rootkit and he decides to bring her back. With no real connection with the other Clans or where she may have come from, TempestClan takes her in.

I don't think she'd be closer with one of the kits over the other, nor would she have official adoptive parents/siblings. Whale is happy to have a playmate around his age, and Tern is happy to have a cat who shares his interest in healing and StarClan.

Meanwhile, Puffinquill and Wildfirestar are more hesitant. They already have their paws full with Whale and Tern, so another kit just adds to the monumental responsibilities that these teenagers/young adults are taking on. As time passes, Puffin would spend more time with Root as Wildfire takes on the responsibilities of leadership and trying to keep TempestClan afloat. This would lead to Puffin influencing her to be more hesitant, lacking the fiery determination of Wildfirestar.

Rootpaw becomes a medic apprentice and a diviner alongside Ternpaw, who is a medic apprentice and a botanist. They're a great balance for TempestClan—a healer who can focus on StarClan and spirituality, and another who can focus on cultivating plants and herbs. (I always thought that med cats in canon have way too many responsibilities, especially when there's only one, like how do they get all that done 😭!?) They would become good friends across the course of their apprenticeship and end up getting their full names at the same time. I can see hwr being named Rootwing (due to my the Clans' obsession with birds).

I don't want to spoil anything, but I could definitely see her being very involved with a future plotline that I'm still working on since she is both the most religious and the earliest outsider to join.

She's save by Tempestclan, and raised communally, but often feels alone. She's not like them, she thinks, as Starclan plagues her night after night. But there are joys, like her friend Tern and her chance to become a medic, though her obvious connection to the stars makes her their main connection to them. Root wants to prove herself, she wants to belong. If she isn't enough, then what was the point of being there? This is Root though, so she does just fine, if not more out there and perhaps struggling to determine what is real and what are her prophetic visions.