Tlcassis's World Ember 2023 Central

Or in other words, welcome to my homework...

So...
Last Year I was new to WA and November and December were very hard months for me - irl family situations made my leisure time a premium and most of it was spent with my ailing parents. So I didn't write anything for WE though I totally enjoyed reading and judging articles - something I expect I will do this year too.

Week 1 Homework: Focus for WE 2023

This year, I am doing NaNoWriMo with a 25K promise for a first draft novel that I seem to be mostly on track for. The new novel is the origin story of my major antagonist (Ligeoa) for my first two novels. The BBEG is pretty evil by the time my novels come to pass, but she didn't start out that way, and I thought it deserved some time and attention to tell the story about how she got there. I discovered the novel writing and manuscript abilities of WA through the new webinars that Moro is streaming, and I'm trying them out.
WE 2023 is going to be the worldbuilding around that new novel. I'm already writing, and I've started buying art for the worldbuilding articles to accompany it. I also plan to do Wordigirl's Unofficial Mapvember Challenge if I can find time (probably Saturday morning) to get the palace of Lameravis laid out in all it's glorious splendor - after all, we can't have the god of the elves living in a hovel now can we? I've linked her challenge article to the right - so if you're interested in starting WE early with some cool maps - you can earn some fun badges as you go.
Anyway, there's my Week One homework - all my glorious hopes laid out for your viewing pleasure. We'll see how I do with them :-)...

Week 2 Homework: Meta for WE 2023 Development

So a Meta helps you stay focused, and I NEED focus, so here goes. I'm going to lay out what I'm thinking for Scope, Themes Mood, Goals, Inspiration and Drama! Here goes...

Scope:

This WE is going to be pretty limited in terms of the number of articles I do. I will be adding 7 new characters to the World who are all elves, and revising 3 other character articles. I will add a place article for The Heartland, located in Fellalond, City of Elves and possibly one for the Ampitheater of Song. I will make a minor update to the The Basics of Magic, and adding a new article expanding the mechanics associated with divinity magic. I have other possible revisions (like one to the Temple of the Great Dwarf).

The Myth in Front of the Story

WordiGirl's Unofficial Mapvember Challenge!

Themes:

This book I am working on is about two primary ideas - first:

There are real and catastrophic consequences on others when we are self centered and fail in character and leadership.

and second,

Even justified anger, if left unresolved, will fester into a destructive hate and bitterness that will destroy everything and everyone you value.

Sounds like fun, huh? I don't think anyone is ever going to read this book. But I have to write it anyway.

Mood:

Ok - I KNOW this sounds weird, but this is not a gloomy novel. It's about the rotten stuff that lives in all of us under the veneer of sunshine and beauty. We'll see if I can pull that off.

Inspiration:

There's an article block on top to the right - The Dawn of the Gods. (or click the link).
Because the elves are a total mess in my world, Larisa wouldn't leave me alone, and well, I can't stop putting stories behind the stories.

Drama:

Blessed by the gods with both beauty and the voices of angels, Larisa and her twin brother Naanam have lived serene but pampered lives until they are plucked from their parent's home at the whim of the breathtakingly handsome god Lameravis. Lameravis is one of the most ancient Voices, the greatest singer, lover of beauty and caller of the elves. In him, Larisa believes she has found true love and everything her heart desires. Honored to share his bed, Larisa's head spins with the beautiful, sensual world they have entered and the heady attentions of a being of immense power who seems to crave her. All who meet her fall captive to her innocent delight, even the handsome and independent warrior chief Vero Iraenox. Only her brother's suspicion that all is not as it seems in the halls of Fellalond has any power to dampen her joy in this glittering throng of beautiful hedonists.
Larisa becomes pregnant, and her world is complete. The Oracle has spoken, she will bear the god's only child. Nothing could be better until one day, the resonant chambers around her send her an echo of a song, not of the loveliness and beauty that she is accustomed to, but of jealousy and hate and murder. Suddenly her world turns upside down, as Naanam's warnings of danger in the glittering throng take on a terrifying reality for her and her unborn child.
Larissa and Namman must uncover their enemy and thwart their plans to remove the troublesome twins, but how, in this beautiful world filled with surface smiles and meaningless touch will they find the keeper of an insidious secret that threatens their very lives?

Week 3 Homework: Other Worldly Inspiration

So I had fun this week with looking over worlds in WA. The trending hashtag pages were interesting and new to me. I know, I'm probably ancient seeming to you, but I rarely have time for social media. It's usually consuming the very limited time I have with people I care about to spend with people I really mostly don't care about. And some of them are wrong, and everyone knows that when someone on the internet is wrong you have to fix it!
Ok - joking aside, I did enjoy actually taking the time to look at some of the worlds that WA has to offer.
I also spent some time with the dark side of the real world which is much harder to do. My world building for WE is going to scratch that nasty underbelly of our human souls, so I spent some time with deliberate, malevolent evil. I watched some October 7th footage, and 9/11 footage and remembered how I felt when I watched it happen live. I researched the Cambodian killing fields of Pol Pot, and the Cultural Revolution and Great Famine of China. I paged through a book of photos of Nazi medical experimentation and listened to my husband tell me the stories his father told him of the concentration camp he liberated as a young soldier fighting the Nazis in WW2. I re-read our family history book that my son's great aunt put together with its grainy photos of people I knew and telling the stories of their family's flight from Russia and the Bolsheviks - the murder of their men, the burning of their homes and fields, the rape of their women. I read Margaret Sanger, and Charles Manson.
I spent time with evil.
Sometimes research sucks.

Week 4 Homework: Getting Organized

In all honesty, my workspace is pretty tidy right now. Getting ready to write WE is more a function of getting my extended life organized. We celebrated Thanksiving with three new family members, decorated my parent's home for Christmas, and came home and put up our Christmas tree. I'm trying to get all the major Christmas gifts bought and sent before the weekend and the start of WE. Oh - and I bought art for the new articles I plan!

World Ember Sponsorship

SO I am sworn to secrecy on the topic of my sponsorship, but not "the fact that" I am going to sponsor a category again this year for WE. I am hoping that the number of competitive articles will be fewer, so I can focus on giving solid feedback and enjoying the work of people who are trying hard to put out a great article.
I'm a big believer in art in world building, so I have an art based prize for the winner of my category. As always, if you can't use the prize I've offered, we will exchange it for a gift more useful to you.
Hope you have a great World Ember -
Now let's grab our keyboards, and GO WORLD BUILD!