Reading Challenge WE 2021
I chose all the authors and articles using a random number generator. I was feeling quite sad recently, that it is getting more and more impossible to read all submissions to the many different WA challenges, as the number of participants is continuosly growing. Which is awesome of course, but I am no longer able to catch up with hundreds upon hundreds of articles and anyone who still can has my utmost admiration.
But trying to choose articles as randomly as possible made it kinda fun and eased up the bad feeling of having to skip or overlook someone :) I might do this again in the future.
This was a very fun take on a species article that is not the usual wikipedia-style breakdown of a species that I am used to seeing and making. Despite the fact that it was inspired by a real insect, the article itself heavily focuses on the social aspects of said species and less on the biology of it. It was clear what role can these creatures play in the stories of the world, which is something I want to focus more on in worldbuilding as well.
The natural law template is the hardest one for me to use - whenever I come across it, my mind goes blank and I don't really know what to do with it. It's so nice to see such a short, concise article that uses it so well. (Plus it has mutations, those are always fun as well!)
This is a cool mix of sci-fi and mythology, which is something I don't really see around that often. It reminds me of my childhood and endless binging of Stargate. With my writing, I usually drift to either fantasy or action-packed space operas. I rarely mix those too. But now I am inclined to try...
This is a great example of not only pretty article with some sinister theme woven into it, but it is also a good reminder that not everything has to be shoved into its own little box just for the sake of shoving it in there. I really enjoyed this mix of species/condition article and it is a good reminder to myself, to not be afraid mixing up my approaches and sacrifice some organisation for my stories to flow better. This would be different if my focus was primarily on organising my campaigns on WA, but most of my worlds are for books, so I see myself more as a storyteller than someone who just wants to organise their creations. Sometimes having a nice interconnected article is better than 4 small ones related to the same thing.
This article has the most basic CSS, couple of paragraphs and yet it is so nice and sinister. Sometimes embracing simplicity is worth it. And all great stories usually start with a bunch of little simple notes. This is slightly creepier. WIth Pokémons as a bonus!
I mentioned how I love spaceoperas and honestly, generally, space things, but when it comes to coming up with the whole system of worlds and things my brain freezes in terror. In fantasy land I don't even need to come up with a landscape that makes sense. In sci-fi all of a sudden I have round planets... that fly around a star... they have rocks and some water and maybe trees or something... I just get overwhelmed. Coming across a simple sci-fi primer such as this is nice in a sense that ease the overhelm a little. I especially appreciate the focus of the mood of the world on the individuals - characters are what drives me to create. This article is a nice reminder that I can still make anything bloom from them no matter the scope of the overall world I am trying to make.
Every world should have some useless priceless things. This article is again pretty short, but an interesting work of contrasts - noble elves against the undead, knowledge versus forgetting, unique and precious yet not working at all. Mixing the unusual is always fun and that's the lesson. It's just weird enough and short enough to make you click on other things to read more.
I am a simple girl, I like pirate things. Again a title is a template I am not really using as often, quite the opposite. This was a good reminder that just because we call something a "name" it doesn't necessarily mean the same thing or that people holding this title will behave certain way. So while it is not really explored in this article to details, it made me think how much a character of a person can affect a title or an office and public perception of it. That might be a fun thing in worldbuilding to play around in the future.
This author has a great writing voice that I find very easy to read and follow even when it comes to longer articles without many pictures. And that saying something, because I really don't have much time or patience for these kinds of worlbuilding, lately. Not saying it is bad to do it differently, just saying I really enjoyed this one. Plus, not everyone can make a simple overview of a country fun to read, not even leaning too much into some kind of bloody and intrigue-filled history. I am sure there is more below the surface than the history books say about this place, but that is the point of good worlbuilding - to make you feel this way. I am really happy I discovered this world, might not seem very unique to others, but I had my fun exploring.
I also appreciate that a republic is not seen as a cure all in this setting. Sure it was chosen as a symbol of something to the inhabitants, but its flaws and their flaws are pointed out subtly during the article. It makes it seem more real, which I find that many other fantasy republics lack.
Profession is another article type I really don't like writing. I think the gods-of-random-generators are trying to tell me something... Anyways. I really found it refreshing reading some worlds that are just pure text and no fluff. Sure seeing jawdropping CSS will never get boring, but it is nice to be reminded that good worlbuilding and fun worldbuilding is not all about the visuals. This is one such article and I had fun reading it and I will be following the world for more. This offers yet another play on contrasts - a simple profession of flower pickers... that is not so very simple of a job at all. An interesting mix of gentle and ruthless nature.
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