WorldEmber 2024

Week 1

Goal

I'll be aiming for the basic goal of 10,000 words. During this year's Summer Camp, I wrote about 5,300 words so it's already quite an intense goal for me. At that time I barely had anything in the world beyond a map and a vague species concept however, so I'm really hoping that having a bit more world to spark ideas from will help me.

Current Stubs:

• Chaem (Settlement - Tyldamin)
• Kamyn (Species)
• Fályn (Person)
• Keminsáf (Ethnicity - Byrfenna)
• Lomyn (Species)
• Medloth (Settlement - Tyldamin)
• IMP (organisation - Tyldamin)
• Imps (myth)
• Byrfenna (Organisation - nation)
• Branch (Landmark - Tyldamin & IMP)
• Tyldamin (Organisation - nation)
• Kynfesan mountains (geography)
• Lán (Person)
• Naelasáf (Ethnicity - western seas)

Focus Areas

My main area of focus is going to be the western side of Dlynaeth, possibly including some of the Kynfesan mountain range. I already have stubs for many of the articles that I would like to focus on. The species - Lomyn and Kamyn, for a start; some basics about the nation of Tyldamin and its capital, Medloth; The Institute of Magical Phenomena (IMP) as the overarching organisation, its origins. I think I should also write about the huge lake in western Dlynaeth and the towns surrounding it - my main characters will probably start their planned journey in that direction.
Just getting these stubs up to 300 words would add between 3,500 and 4,200 words, and I expect the IMP article will become considerably longer. Maybe I will also start a map of Tyldamin and the surrounding area as prep, even if it's just a sketch.

Update Your Meta

I only created this world in april and wrote most of the meta shortly after, so it's still pretty recent. I've read it through again to remember what I'd like to focus on thematically and what conflicts might be the most relevant. Now that I know more about Dlynaeth, I was able to expand the meta a little on the points of people and current tensions.

Week 2

Review Your Homepage

Since my world is pretty young I didn't have any introduction on the homepage yet. To be honest, it was one of those things that scared me - you need to keep it short, but you also want to convey a lot of information. I got a draft written with the WA tips though, asked some feedback in the Discord and now my homepage is (hopefully) beautifully adorned with a short introduction.

Set up community tools

I don't have any use for subscriber groups at present and I don't post about my world anywhere else at the moment, so I could skip most of this. I did add a follow button to a global content field so I could be sure there would be one on every page (I'm pretty sure there's already a button next the like/read later buttons, but being the world author I'm not 100% sure).

Create your world primer

If I thought writing a homepage introduction was scary, writing the primer is an idea that sends chills down my spine. It doesn't mean I don't want one, because WA worlds are pretty difficult to navigate when you have no idea where to start, but it's a daunting task. For that reason, I've decided to put it off until WorldEmber itself. But also because some of the articles I will likely want to include, haven't been written yet and I hope to write them during WorldEmber. It seemed a bit silly to write a primer with links to unpublished stubs for now.

CSS wizardry

I'm still quite happy with the theme of my world overall. I've added some little details; trying to get all the buttons consistent, making sure the text colour contrasts sufficiently, trying out some border for images (currently not published yet, but hopefully soon).

Week 3

Read a book or watch a movie

The injuction to do this was apparently just what I needed. I spent the weekend after the homework announcement stream reading two books: How Do We Look: The Eye of Faith by Mary Beard and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. The first is a non-fiction about our perception of art, especially in the context of religion. The second was a reread of a favourite and made me realise that it deserves a place in the inspirations section alongside Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I've also been continuing to watch Critical Role which, although none of my worlds are meant for TTRPG or anything like it, does tend to put me in the mood to worldbuild.

Create a moodboard

I used to find moodboards very helpful and I do have a Dlynaeth moodboard but it hasn't been working for me recently so I'm skipping this.

Expand your writing playlist

Listening to music is almost essential for me when writing/drawing/worldbuilding. It keeps me in the flow somehow and also I'm pretty sure I've just succesfully created an association in my brain over the last year. My playlist isn't anything curated to my world itself, it's really just a mix of many of my favourite songs, but that's what works best for me. I think playlist embedding is still broken currently, so here's an oldfashioned link. Yes, it's literally called my mix. Just for the nostalgia vibes.

Week 4

Find a community

I spend a fair amount of time in the WA discord and the lovely folks there are my community. Together they've created such an encouraging, energetic atmosphere; it's been a huge factor in getting me actively worldbuilding again and in continuing to do so. Some people in there have also been sharing words that inspire them and I think that fits this piece of prep perfectly. So I've listed some of my favourite worlds in the sidebar, go check them out!
Aside from them I also have two close friends to whom I can always blather about my worlds and with whom I can trade ideas and enthusiasm. So I feel very well supported and loved!

Plan your writing schedule

Meh, honestly planning writing time hasn't worked out too well for me in the last few years. Following spontaneous urges seems the way to go - the main thing for me is to have some momentum from earlier worldbuilding, which is why I've been drawing Dlynaeth stuff (including a map) last month.

Get some fresh air!

I own a horse so, honestly, getting some quiet time indoors to write is more of a challenge than getting fresh air. But to take this portion more in spirit than in letter, I'm actually spending the Saturday before WE with my best friends. Not sure how restful it will be, but playing some Candela Obscura with my best friends will be a great way to unwind.

A Little Rant

Make art. Write words, draw pictures, build a world that gives to what you care about or gives you the horrors, whatever it is that you are looking for from your world. There are for sure people out there who don't want you to be yourself or to give that joy to others, so please, for yourself first and hopefully for the rest of us, light up that forge as brightly as you can and hammer or smelt or blow or whatever that beautiful piece inside of you so that it has shape and exists and proclaims that you live and exist. Because fuck em that don't want it.

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WorldEmber Camps

Cozy Cottage Enclave badge by Rin Garnett

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Worlds that inspire me!