WorldEmber 2023 Homework

WorldEmber is around the corner, an exciting time in the worldbuilding year. In a month like December, which traditionally is on of the most stressful months of the year for me, writing 10.000 words of worldbuilding can be quite the challenge. Still, I will try my best to reach 10.000 words this year, as I did last year. I'm not going to aim higher than that, because I know that I will be pressed for time as it is. After all, I think challenges like WorldEmber are supposed to be fun rather than stressful.

Week One

Area of focus

If you're going to write this many words of worldbuilding in a relatively short time, it is immensely helpful to think about which area of your world you are going to focus on. Last year, I mainly focused on the characters in my world and the places and organizations concerning them. This year, I will try to find out more about the kingdom of Eleonis.

Eleonis is the kingdom in which much of my story takes place. The capital, the royal family and their associates are quite well established at this piont, but the rest of the kingdom still is only a vague idea. I hope to flesh out the history and culture of Eleonis, the geography, the people who live there, why they are the way they are. This will be less related to the story I write, but it will hopefully provide a better understanding of its backgroud.

Week two

Preparing the area of focus

In the second week of homework, we were asked to prepare a mini-meta concerning our chosen area of focus. The kingdom of Eleonis was the reference point for the entire world of Leanor, so this mini-meta would be basically identical to the proper meta of Leanor. That, aside from the fact that the meta doesn't actually help me that much personally, is why I chose not to create a seperate mini-meta in this case.


The other assignment was to set up or review the categorization of articles within the world. Upon closer inspection, I think that my system of categories is pretty solid and good to go. If the need for a new category should arise, I will have to figure that out on the fly. For inspiration, I like to look at the real world's history as well as fantasy worlds using it as a base. Given that the world of Leanor is very solidly rooted in late medieval and rennaissance europe, this is really helpful.

Week three

Reviewing the homepage

The world homepage is a reader's first impression of a world. As such, it should allow a visitor to get drawn into the world they just entered. My own world homepage could certainly be more welcoming and immersive, but I unfortunately couldn't find the time and energy to do a dive into re-doing it.

Week four

Last-minute preparations

This week is all about getting into the right headspace for WorldEmber. I'm currently working on the most detailed draft of my story named "The War of the Lions" yet, most of which is set in the Kingdom of Eleonis. This means that I already have a lot of ideas about the place that just need to be put into articles. In terms of content, I think this is a good base to start from.

As for other preparation, I feel that I'm in a good space. I have lots of tea and cookies, an appropriately messy-in-a-good-way desk and a long playlist of epic slow-burn rock ballads ready to go, everything I need for a good, productive WorldEmber. All that's left now is to wish everyone a good WorldEmber season and good luck with whatever you set out to do. Happy worldbuilding to all!