WorldEmber Prep 2024

Baby's first World Anvil competition

Week 1: Pledging my Goal

3rd November 2024

It has just occurred to me that the last time I wrote 10k words was for my university dissertation just under 10 years ago. I can't say I've done much writing since then. It's sad to think of that. Between the ages of 6 and 13, my biggest goal was to become an author. I remember when we first got a desktop computer, and I wrote a story about a warren of rabbits who gained special powers from magic crystals. That story is probably still saved on a floppy disk somewhere in my parents’ attic—a fact that almost certainly dates me! So going back even further than my dissertation, I probably haven't written for pleasure in around 20 years. Crazy.

Recently, though, I’ve been reminiscing about that time in my life when all I wanted to do was write stories. My new love of worldbuilding, which grew out of running D&D games, has reignited my desire to start writing again. Still, I truly believe that my 13-year-old self could easily out-write my 31-year-old self. Writing feels a little intimidating now—like trying something completely new where you just have to be bad at it for a while. It would be easy to avoid writing altogether, but I want to push myself, and that brings me to WorldEmber.

I’ve always loved the idea of a NaNoWriMo or Novelember challenge, but WorldEmber feels like a better fit. Who knows? Maybe by this time next year, I’ll be ready to tackle a full 50,000-word project. But for now, I’ll go with this -

1. Set a word goal

10,000 words over at least 20 articles. That's the goal. This is my first ever WorldEmber, so I don't feel the need to stretch past 10k, and my spreading it out over multiple articles I hope that I'll find it easier!

2. Choose my area of focus

I'm currently working on a World Primer to have as an introduction to my world. My aim for WorldEmber is to have that Introductory page to be full of links to articles. Expanding on the basics, essentially. I also want to have details from my current campaign written out - articles for major NPCs and player characters, session reports and some worldbuilding specifically about Kresalor itself.

3. Update your meta

I'll be sporadically adding things to my meta. You can check it out here - Caelwhyn Meta . It's currently at 18%, so I'll aim to get it to between 90 and 100% by the end of November.

Week 2: Preparing My World for New Readers

9th November 2024

I was delighted to see that the homework for this week was all stuff that I was planning to do anyway!

1. Review my homepage

This is what my homepage looks like on the 9th November 2024 - pretty bare!

This will certainly improve over time as more and more articles get written. However I do feel that there are plenty of things I could do to improve it in the mean time. A map or two on the right hand side would look nice. I have a map of Kresalor finished that I could upload, but I'd love to have a rough map of Caelwhyn, just to give people an idea of what it looks like too. Some book covers would look great above the World Codex. My ultimate dream is to have a "trailer" made for Caelwhyn. As a filmmaker, I tend to think very visually, and I think a quick one minute overview of the world would be amazing to have on the homepage.

2. Create my world primer

This is the big one - the article I'm working on at the moment. Why is writing an overview of things so much more difficult than writing something detailed and specific? I've got it mapped out and planned out, it's just getting the ideas in my head to form the words on the page that's causing me difficulty.

3. Set up some community tools

I've set up a follow button that I've added in the footer. I've been thinking of setting up an Instagram for Caelwhyn, just as a way to share some fun things, but it might be too early to set that up. Maybe soon though!

4. CSS wizardry

I'm fairly happy with how my world is looking at the moment, but there are some things I'd like to tidy up. I'll check them off here as I do them.

Adjust Header fonts and colours
"Aloud" sections
Quote sections
World Codex pop out

Hi friend! Are you following Caelwhyn on World Anvil yet?

Help keep me accountable for this project by pressing the follow button here -

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Cozy Cottage Enclave

Cozy Cottage Enclave badge by Rin Garnett

Cozy Cottage Oath:

• I will stop to stoke the fire when it dwindles. Rest when you are tired and for as long as you need.
• I won't force the fire to fit a different stove. Let your plans inspire you, not control you.
• I will follow sparks of joy, not chase dying embers. Write and read what you enjoy, not what's forced.
• My flame is beautiful and undying. Believe in yourself and your ability to create, including when it's a struggle.
• I will tend to all flames under my care. Working toward non-WorldEmber goals adds to your successes.

(Cozy Cottage oath is inspired by the Camp Chill guidelines from Annie Stein. Insert this badge into your own pledge with [img:5035416], or include the oath with [imgblock:5035416].)

PROGRESS REPORT:

Homework: 4/4
Word Count: 02869/10000
Articles: 03/20

Week 3: On the Hunt for Inspiration

16th November 2024

1. Read a book or watch a movie

Any excuse to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, or the Avatar (The Last Airbender / Legend of Korra) series again. What I definitely need to get back into is reading. I had started reading Black Tide Son, (the sequel to Dark Water Daughter, which has been a big inspiration for Caelwhyn) but ended up putting it down for a while when work got too busy. Time to pick it up again!

2. Create a moodboard

This one has been... frustrating. I thought it would be great to go on Pinterest to create a moodboard but as soon as I typed in "fantasy art" or anything similar, I was just bombarded by AI images. Pinterest is officially a no-go for me. I'll instead browse some sites like ArtStation to find stuff I can be assured is real art. This is an AI free zone, people.

3. Expand my writing playlist

"The Blue Planet II" theme by Hans Zimmer will forever be my inspiration song for Caelwhyn. A few years ago I went to see the BBC Orchestra perform the suite from the Blue Planet II live, while footage from the series played on a huge screen. When they opened with this song, playing the footage of the sea creatures, I was immediately overwhelmed with wonder and emotion. This song forever will be associated to me with that sense of being awestruck. I want exploring Caelwhyn to feel similarly - that deep sense of mystery and awe should be forefront.

My Caelwhyn playlist is still a little light, so I'm open to suggestions on similar music, feel free to drop a comment below the article to suggest other works!

Week 4: Harness the Power of Friendship!

1. Find a community

I am already a part of the World Anvil community on Discord and Reddit, though I don't particularly like Discord so I don't use it unless I need to. However I do want to try and involve my real life community a bit with this. My husband and I currently run a 1 on 1 D&D game in Caelwhyn, so he'll get to be a big influence on what's written here. I haven't shared much with my other D&D friends, but that's perhaps something to do soon.

2. Plan my writing schedule

Oh who knows. I have so much work to do this month! I'll probably dedicate an hour each night to writing until I get off for my Christmas holidays (21st December onwards), then I can get cosy and spend long bouts at the computer with a mug of mulled wine and some festive treats. Dreamy.

3. Get some fresh air!

Yep, that's homework pretty much done. I'll leave things at that and ignore it for a while so that I can come back to it excited in December. See you soon!