Let the New Year In: WorldAnvil 2025

Aios, Waking Material god of light, flux, renewal and more.

Here comes the maiden with gold on her toe;
Open the West gate and let the Old Year go.
Here comes the maiden with gold on her shoe;
Open the South gate and let the New Year through.

Here comes the maiden with gold on her chin;
Open the East gate and let the New Year in.
Here comes the maiden with gold in her eye;
Open the North gate and let the Old Year by.

Ringing in the New Year is especially meaningful for me this year, as my life has recently been one of transition, renewal and reinvention. After a long period of hesitation, I am now devoting myself to my writing: I have a novel in the pipeline and hope to be published within the next couple of years. I am back in school to upgrade my education. I have cut connections, forged new ones, repaired fraying ones. While not everything in the newspaper fills me with optimism, I am forging ahead and feeling positive about my own decisions. I cannot stress enough the importance of WorldAnvil and all my new friends in this transition. It is an honour to know you all. Here is to another year of creativity and comraderie!

Fierce love and happy writing,

Alan

Resolutions

I'm happy to report I've been sticking to last year's resolutions! I'm reading at least an hour a day and spending at least another hour writing. I applied to school in GIS (Geographic Information Systems, I won't bore you with the details unless you want me to), was accepted, and got A grades in the first semester. I've been sticking to my exercise regimen and have been feeling great health-wise. That said there's always more to improve upon!

Keep Those Grades Up

Yes yes, "Cs get degrees", but screw that. I'm committed to this direction and want to get everything out of this program that I possibly can so I can really hit the ground running when I enter the profession and maintain good references. This will be a reminder, after a dull and unchallenging Covid period, that I can kick ass and take names no matter what task is put in front of me. Knowing that one can is not the same thing as being reminded one can. I think we need those reminders.

Finish My Novel (First Draft)

I'm well over half way done my first novel and hope to at least have a first draft done by the end of the year. I have no delusions about how arduous the publishing process is, so I won't make any promises I can't keep there. But at minimum I have a friend who is in the self-printing business so setting aside a bit of money for that would be a nice treat for myself.

Make Some Music

Music is an enormous part of my hobby life and I'm devoted to exploring new & rare genres, especially folk roots music from around the world. It's just such a pity I don't make any of it myself. I'm a decent campfire guitarist at best but that just doesn't do my passion justice. I'm going to try and learn some composition and, at bare minimum, put it into a minimal synth chassis, like Dungeon Synth, which is a genre I enjoy greatly. (Curious what it is? Check out this classic.)

Kick Even More Ass At WorldAnvil

Enjoyed what you've seen so far? Expect that and more this year. Across 2024, with the help of regular writing events and peer support, my writing improved drastically, far more drastically than simply writing my novel. And I have no intention of letting those improvements go to waste. So expect even more creative and engaging writing from me in the future, and possibly some cool new CSS. Here's to an exciting and imaginative 2025!

Inspiration: WorldEmber 2024

WorldEmber needs no further introduction from me, so let's dive right in, shall we? These are just a handful of the articles that shocked, delighted, inspired and energized me. These are in no particular order.

Shining as brightly as the building itself is Demongrey's Tähtitieteilijä Lighthouse, a rich and fantastical little story about a stargazer whose far-reaching wisdom was so abiding that it remained on the island of Hiidenmaa even after his death. Demongrey's elegant and understated approach to the apotheosis of gods is one I aim to achieve in my own writing. It is an article that leaves you with a true sense of wonderment. If you've not already familiarized yourself with the Million Islands I fiercely suggest you do so.

Much (much) older than my background as a fiction writer is my background as a biologist, and while I've been wearing new hats over the past few years, my love of the biological sciences will never go away. As such I love it when my fiction is sprinkled with some nice, hard taxonomy. And boy howdy does Mochimanoban deliver. Their article Animalia is an especially great example: it is a golden, shining triforce of passion, expertise and skilled writing. Here you'll find, sitting side-by-side, statements on mundane convergent evolution and magical taxonomy. Delightful!

ELAQITAN and Blue Fairy's articles are just such a treat: imaginative, vibrant, original, and richly sprinkled with her masterful artwork. If I threw a dart at a collage of Blue Fairy's works I would guaranteedly hit one worthy of this article, but I must as usual indulge my scientific side. The ecology of her Fire Continent is delightful, teeming with fantastic creatures and exciting natural phenomena. She explains them in a way that is scientifically robust but maintains your wrapt attention. This is particularly apparent with her Jiwa Water-Spitter Lakes. It's a pity I can't comment more on the culture and politics of the Fire Continent, which are also great. Go check it out! Right now!

It's been such a delight watching CoolG's growth since our first interactions earlier in the year. I'm repeatedly amazed not only at the many facets of her creativity, but the workmanlike attitude she applies to creating new content. Each article is made with passion, lovingly written and sprinkled with her signature pixel art. (And I mean art! It's brilliant.) Perhaps my favourite talent of hers is planets: it is a challenge to write a wholistic, complete-feeling article on an entire planet without it being a novella unto itself, but she meets the challenge adeptly. Ignitius, for example, is a splendid combination of geology, climatology, volcanology, geomorphology and sociology of tourism, all combined in a way that feels coherent and alive. I hunger for more CoolG planets!

Speaking of passion, you would be sorely pressed to find a writer & storyteller as passionate for the medium as Imagica. Her recent arrival was like a meteor landing of creativity. Her articles overflow with loving descriptions and rich imagery, causing the world of Kena'an to leap out of the screen at you. After some tortured decision-making I eventually settled on Oneiria to highlight as I am a sucker for the dreaming and the liminal in fantasy. There's so much to unpack here, from the realm's fascinating divine heirarchy (which includes The Boogeyman) to its surreal ecology of wandering souls and flitting spirits, all in a beautiful CSS package. Such a treat.

I'll never tire of singing Rin/Those2Nerds's praises, but it sure is turning into a familiar experience and it's testing my writing ability more and more to phrase it in different ways. They have just such a fantastic mind for diplomacy, plots, intrigue, with the writing skill to hint at the complexities with just the right balance of hard information and graceful suggestion. The Gemini Station article is a bit like a layered onion, ostensibly about a humble space station and the vibrant little towing agency that serves it, and yet the more you read the more you realize there is more to learn about this politically intricate setting. If you're in the slightest bit into scifi, it's pretty mandatory to follow wow that's a lot of stars.

While Theiket has obviously been around, WorldEmber was my first foray in to his writing in any depth and I deeply regret not doing so sooner. There is no compromise here between quality and quantity: Thei's WE page is a busy greenhouse of imagination, and yet each article is written masterfully, with prose that is floral yet succinct, loving yet mature. I eventually settled on his Dulkanen as a personal favourite: a charming hill people reminiscent of Nordic fairy tales. Here Thei lends his talents to writing about natural beauty, agriculture, cuisine, warfare, botany, fashion and more, all tied together so organically you could swear the Dulkanen are real.

If there were an award for "Lore I Would Read a Book (Or Trilogy) About" it would probably be Nincho & Nikoloz's NimrodialLibrary setting. Here is a very character-driven tapestry of dense short stories interwoven into an exciting, high-magic package, replete with shockingly original ideas and decorated with Nincho's amazing art skills. Like any worthwhile work it takes a bit of committment to start getting all the little interconnections, but once you do you become a fan. While he's not the most likeable character in this great quilt, I found Joaqim's article to be most representative of these strengths, rife with drama, character development and bizarre magicks. Check it out!

There are only a few folks here whose WorldAnvil collections I would call a true work of art, and Dhelian is one. If you doubt this you need only look to his Aiterean language article. Developed lovingly, drawn expertly and presented immaculately, this article represents what I would call the platonic ideal of a language article. It is clear Dhelian took this project seriously and it shows. I admit I'm not terribly drawn in by fictional languages, but if there's anything on this vast site that would inspire me to take it up, it is Aiterean. Completely inspiring.

Another recent arrival on my radar is the tremendously skilled Leijona, whose world, Mirintha, I've been following with great interest. It is a rich and wondrous place, and if you doubt my words then check out Moonshine Bay, which stands out as one of the WorldEmber locales I would most like to visit, taking in the glittering, tuqoise ocean while feasting on Borenalese takoyaki and kelp schapps. As you might now realize, the article is a feast for the eyes and the senses. To top it off there is even a note about one of my great passions: conservation. Wonderful!

And with that, it's time to sign off! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and found some worthwhile reads, and if you didn't, be sure to leave a message in my nonexistent complaints department. See you next time, and until then, happy 2025!