Mochi's New Year 2024

Happy New Year everyone! Wow, it's been a wonderful 2023. So many exciting things have happened. Enjoy a not-so-quick recap of the year for little ol Mochi. This article will be split up into three major sections: Mochi's Top Picks, Mochi's Resolutions, and 2023 in the Yonderverse! Apologies in advance, as this article will be a chonky one.

Mochi's Top Picks!

You lot really did not make this easy. There were countless incredible articles from WorldEmber, and over the month I had been compiling a list of candidates for the New Year's Challenge, as we knew it was coming up.

The World-Traveller's Cookbook: Recipes of Etharai

Author: spleen

Where in the hell do I begin with this article? An 8000 word article on FOOD! With spleen's own drawing in there too! This article is so detailed and it really brings to life their world. Superb work, made me hungry.

Spleen has truly killed it this year. With over 150,000 words in WorldEmber this year, they've written more in a month than in the last 4 years of their WA account's lifespan. That's truly breathtaking. And that was with zero planning beforehand. Y'all, give Spleen a round of applause.

Goldbrook Annual Guild Fair

Author: TJ Trewin

This article fills me with JOY. Hehe. This is a wonderful introduction to TJ's new bright, colourful, fantasy world. The Goldbrook Annual Guild Fair is a wonderfully unique intro; you truly feel as if you're walking around this Guild Fair, all of your senses activated as you venture into this new magical world.

I really appreciate the pixel art, too. That and the CSS really gives JOY its own identity, and I am super excited to see more from it in 2024.

Glowcore

Author: Rin Garnett

Glowcore is an article about an aesthetic, and that is something I have never seen on World Anvil before. For that reason alone, Rin's article is incredibly inspiring. Aesthetics are a huge part of the Yonderverse, and because I've never known how to go about describing them I just never have.

As with everything, glowcore has its issues. The ideologies are contradictory, and not everybody who applies to the aesthetic believe in certain ideologies, such as the right to say no. This is a really interesting article that makes me want to learn more about the people of Nisora, other aesthetics, and it is a lovely piece of worldbuilding.

Sgt. Yahn Sunder

Author: Chris L

I love this article, and not just because there's a reference to the Yonderverse in there. This is a powerful man who knows how to fight. He can take on goliath squids he's so powerful. This man is stubborn, refusing any promotion to remain in his position on the Pit-Wall, fighting against invading forces.

Kitoypoy is an expert at character articles. His world feels rich, it feels alive, with all of his characters running about the World of Wizard's Peak. I hope to learn lots from Kitoypoy and his worldbuilding in 2024, and I look forward to seeing what articles he conjures up.

Leylines

Author: Polina "Line" Arteev

Strixxline's magic-focused WorldEmber has been hugely inspiring for me. Her gorgeous art adds a touch of extra colour to this lovely article that summarises the leylines of Malkora (which just hit 200 followers!!). Each of the five Physical Domains have two contrasing Leylines. My favourites are the Leylines of Genesis and Atrophy, which carry the magics of life and death respectively.

A splendid introduction article to a major aspect of Malkora, with easy to digest formatting and great imagery.

Rutas Surge

Author: Barron

You can only expect amazing articles from Barron. This WE in particular, Barron has written some incredible stuff. My personal favourite is the Rutas Surge, which is a disastrous event where Rutas over-populate and attempt to expand their territories. The article goes in depth on the risks of these Surges, and my favourite part of the article is the artwork which showcases one of the threat levels of a Surge.

This is a great bit of worldbuilding that touches on something I feel is missing in much of my world: what happens when dangerous animals come into contact with people.

Year-Ender Festival

Author: Myth Cross

Fitting for this challenge, the Year-Ender is an absolutely beautiful tradition. It is a thorough article, and as you learn about each day of the week-long event, you follow a short story through multiple quotes about a couple, Casi and Brenn. Let me tell you, I was INVESTED. By the end of the article I was gobsmacked.

Just before WE started, Myth-X assembled a small writing circle for everyone to get extra feedback and support. They have been a massive help and I would not have written as much as I did without them. Thank you, Myth <3

Duck Sum Upping

Author: ninne124

A tradition where people count ducks?! YES PLEASE. It makes me so happy that duck disturbers get fines and locked away for the night. This is a fun article with some lovely art and some amazing worldbuilding. A Duck Ministry? Endangered ducks? Duck counting groups? Duck everythings in this article. You don't see stuff like this very often.

While it makes me sad that these ducks are endangered, the efforts of these duck counters spoke to me. I am passionate about conservation and while I know this is just worldbuilding, it feels real and I feel passionate for the people in this world.

History of Processors

Author: Sh4d0wPh03n1x

I've not read this article fully yet, because Shadow managed to complete WorldEmber with this article alone. This is truly a breathtaking article, that really showcases the passion Shadow has for being a nerd computers and technology. I know nothing about technology, but I've learnt so much from this world.

Bit, Byte, and Bug are there to help throughout this article too, offering even more snippets of information, often spoken in binary code. This is a giant article done right. The formatting and layout keep me interested, and paragraphs are broken up so nothing is too overwhelming.

Serukis

Author: Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

This entry is more for Emy's articles as a whole this WorldEmber. She has been working hard to add tidbits of information in the countless stubs that swarm Etrea, tackling over a hundred of them this WorldEmber. I've read each and every one and they're perfect. Truly.

Enhanced stubs are something I want to populate my worlds with. I have some in the Yonderverse already, but most of my stubs remain private or drafts, with no information in them at all. Having these stubs published with 100-200 words of information mean that world-surfers can follow links and not have to run into barriers with no access. Great work, Emy <3

Extra Articles I Loved

Han outdid herself this year with her articles. Influence of the Shards was my favourite of the four articles she completed WorldEmber with.

Isekai is another world I just cannot get enough of. And something about greenwood honey really soothes my brain itches.

Culinarypunk is yet another world I adore to death. I just can't get enough of the incredible worldbuilding, and the puns of course.

I'm a huge fan of articles laid out with little snippets of information like this. skairunner has made some amazing vehicles this WE, but I wanted to bring attention to this :)

TREEEEEES! All worlds need more trees, and it makes me so happy to see such funky little trees for Solaris.

Talos is one of my favourite worlds, easily. Galendra is a fantastic settlement with lots of smaller articles about the different Districts, which I quite like.

Colour magic??? I love the idea of this and the name scratches those brain itches. The idea that you can alter colours is so freaky and I love it.

NimrodialLibrary is exceptional at smaller articles, telling you everything you need to know. The accompanying art is amazing, as always.

Everything about this article is just cool. I love the different layers of the Pit and I love to imagine what kind of creatures you would find in each one.

This article is wonderful but it made me sad. All those poor animals having to migrate :(

I've loved Blue Fairy 74's work this WE, as always. Plus, I love mushrooms (almost as much as Emy) and mushroom related conditions are epic.

ninne124's entire duck-themed article collection gets a gold sticker from me. I want to eat a hundred of these duck buns.

Any article that makes more than one species is amazing, and Cato's collection of thirty birds is amazing.

I know for a fact SANT has a little cult following on World Anvil. I would love to meet SANT, although if he breaks my windows I'm making him pay for it.

Yeia is such a vivid world, Callyxtus's articles always leave a lasting impression on me, and I know how much time he spends on each article which makes them all the more wonderful.

Amélie writes my favourite technologies. They are always so realistic, so fantastic, just incredibly written and packed full of detail that leaves me wanting to make my own technologies.

I was trying to just have one article per author, but I let that rule slide for Morgan Biscup. This overarching article is so incredibly detailed and well made, and it's been wonderful reading all of the other accompanying magic articles alongside this.

Please please pleaaaaaase more mushrooooms!! I love these and I really want to eat them.

ndsjdmsadniandiandianajdsa is the one thing I can say to describe this article. I spent like 5 hours finding all the trinkets for this article, it is so incredible and was a great way to get to know Cathedris on another level.

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Mochi's Resolutions!

Firstly, let's review the resolutions I made last year.
Sit out NaNoWriMo
Well.... sorta did this! I wrestled with the decision all year, and when November started I thought I'd give it a go. I stopped a couple days in because I was not enjoying myself. I picked it back up half-way through the month, and wrote 10,000 words in one evening somehow. I then sat out the rest of the event, because even after that, I didn't really enjoy it? So, I think I'll sit out next year too, in favour of my mental health.
Write 200,000+ words of worldbuilding
Now, was there any doubt? Smashed this goal! Ended up writing 293,240 words in all of my worlds this year, as of 6 hours ago. So, this excludes however many words this pledge is. I am so proud of this word count, as it equates to 803 words per day.
Write at least 6 ADITL short stories
Hahaha, didn't even do one! I have a series of short stories in the Yonderverse called ADITL (A Day In The Life). These stories detail one day in the life of different species in the Yonderverse, and they're quite fun to write! Only issue is, I'm not confident at all in writing prose, so I just didn't.
Revamp all of my articles, in all of my worlds
Well this was a bit of a silly goal, wasn't it? I now have over a thousand articles in the Yonderverse, so even if I wanted to attempt it this year, I just couldn't.

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Well that wasn't too bad! Was expecting to fail a few more than that. What I have learnt: I cannot revamp everything in all of my worlds in a year. Soooo, time for some sensible resolutions!
Avoid burnout
I managed it in 2023, I can do it this year. I just need to pace myself, know my limits (I know them now... *glares at SC22*), and know when to stop.
Practice prose-writing
The only way to improve writing prose is to do it, right? I'm not setting myself a number limit because that will never happen, but I'd like to publish a couple of prose pieces this year and start getting more comfortable writing and sharing them.
Work more on my master cladogram
My absolute pride and joy is this. It is a cladogram of the Animal Kingdom, but in the Yonderverse! It might look humongous, but it doesn't actually contain many of my own species. I've simply added my own species onto the real world's Animal Kingdom and said "yep, that works". I want to work on this more in 2024.
Develop the Magic of the Yonderverse
Magic has always been a part of my world, but it's never had centre stage. It's always been neglected, undeveloped, but no more! I want magic to be important in my world, so 2024 is going to be the year for that.

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Here's a map of all of the articles I wrote for WorldEmber, and their connections to one-another!

WorldEmber 2023 Article Connections

Open full size

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2023 in the Yonderverse

January

I was recovering from an incredible WorldEmber in January. This month saw the first ever New Year's Resolution's Challenge, where we chose 10 articles from WE22 (or from outside the event), wrote what we enjoyed about it, and spoke about our resolutions and plans for the year. I was lucky to be featured in eighteen New Year's Resolutions articles that I know of,

I love all of the articles I've read in Mochi's Yonderverse. Playful and often terrifying, they'll make you laugh and give you nightmares.

— Deleyna Marr

That wasn't all, though. The WorldEmber Award's Ceremony happened in late January, and I was lucky to claim one of the big Community Awards. The World Anvil team chose me as Human of the Match!

February

Still ecstatic after being called Human of the Match, February was very species-centric with Bestiary February. I hit 690 articles in the Yonderverse on the 7th February - I'm looking back on images I've sent in discord throughout the year, but I thought it was funny so I am sharing it here.

I love this page. It is organized so well and I love the little Fun Facts that you have. Your species are always so interesting, and each one of them is familiar, but different from the creatures that we all know.

— Jacqueline Yang

I hit 100,000 page views on my author page, which was an amazing accomplishment.

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A to Zoo

February also saw the debut of the A to Zoo, my second most popular world to date. This cheery, light-hearted world introduces you to some of the creatures found in the Yonderverse, while simultaneously teaching you about biology, conservation, and why animals are so awesome.

For its age, the A to Zoo has done phenomenally. I have poured my heart and soul into this world, and I even learned CSS in like, 5 hours, with almost zero prior experience.

March

During March I was ass-deep in stubs. I decided it was finally time to tackle the rising epidemic that was, the mighty stub. I started making my first stubs in Summer Camp 2022 after banning them ever since I found out what they were. By World Anvil's definitions, a stub is an article under 50 words. Given that one link equates to about ten words, it's too easy to tower over that word count, so my stubs are generally between 50 to 150 words. I managed to write out many stubs, but unfortunately I think I ended up spawning just as many.

April

April was a pretty quiet month. I attempted Adventure April but that crashed and burned quicker than an orbit kitty. Besides that, I of course wrote tons of articles, one of my favourite being Glacivita, an abandoned human settlement.

¨Checks calendar* OH NO

— JRR Jara

Well... I guess it's encased in ice now so it was... successful?

— Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

May

World Anvil Worldbuilding Awards (WAWA)

WAWA! These awards are the biggest things on World Anvil. You may have seen some people carrying these epic badges on their profile, like "Best Species", "Best Homepage", or "Most Beautiful Map" (Stormbril took these awards and more home in 2021. Check out his work if you haven't (you probably have), it is INCREDIBLE.). This was the first time submitting something, and while I did not win or get nominated, a lot of my close friends did and that's even better.

Of my friends, Stormbril took home the Best World and Hearts & Minds Award. Gabrielle Decker won the Best Article Award. Catoblepon won the Most Groundbreaking New World Premise (with the world Shattered, bahahah), Polina "Line" Arteev won both Most Beautiful World and the Cartography Awards, and TJ Trewin won the Time & Space and the History Award. These close friends of mine are all extraordinary worldbuilders who put so much time and effort into their works, and I could not be prouder of them.

June

Another decently quiet month, we were prepping for Summer Camp in June. I poured a lot of time and effort into my pledge, and it shot up to become my most liked article at the time, even getting a like from Janet Forbes!

I published the Burning Sea War in June, my best military conflict article to date, and the only one I've ever enjoyed writing.

July

SUMMER CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMP!! Oh yes, I love Summer Camp. This year I had the entire month off, and it was *amazing*. I wrote, not more than I could manage, and I wrote some articles I'm truly proud of. I made six shortlists, which is six more than last year! I was awarded with the Most Improved Worldbuilder badge, too. I struggle quite a bit with confidence in my worldbuilding, and I desperately want to improve my writing. To have it recognised means the WORLD to me.

My fav Summer Camp article

August

The Yonderverse hit 150 followers in August!! To celebrate, I launched my own discord server. It's just a small place for people to chat, have fun discussions on why fish are the best, or share articles they wrote and rave about their latest writings. If you'd like to join, follow the link below!

Summer Camp 2023 was the first time I judged something. I learned lots! I learned how much I do not enjoy it. But it wasn't all bad. I read loads of amazing species articles, I just don't enjoy reading because I have to. Check out the SC23 Extinct Species Shortlist!

September

During September the community got to write about a Treasured Companion in our worlds. I decided to write in the A to Zoo rather than the Yonderverse, to bring it back to life as my new world had been pushed to the side in favour of fleshing out an already well-established world. I wrote about Angel, a tenacious, devilish golden fox, a master escape artist and loyal to Ekirin, a zookeeper at the A to Zoo.

I didn't know it in September, but the article wound up in 5th place for the Standard League, which is the best I've ever done! To be fair, I think this was the first time the WA Team has released a shortlist, but the fact I made it was incredible.

Angel is actually my first article to hit 50 likes, if you don't include pledges!

Ko-Fi

September also saw the debut of my Ko-Fi account. I had one for a decent amount of time before, but it intimidated me so I didn't make it public or do anything with it. But something changed and I thought it would be fun to turn it into something! And whaddya know, I've already made a couple quid from it.

Link Here!

October

It seems that every October, I get a new sense of comfort when writing my world, and writing becomes so much easier. In October 2022 I discovered how to use containers, and I changed my article layouts to make them easier to write. This October I realised the power of stubs, and how despite their size, they can enhance your world. This is thanks to Han and Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull, who have both been publishing enhanced stubs.

I wrote more articles than I needed to for Spooktober 2023, simply because I was having so much fun. We got 27 prompts, and I took each one and twisted them to create some truly interesting things. I wrote many fish articles because I had a small phase where it was all I wanted to write and draw. I also started working on Inanimalia, a kingdom of magical organisms that I fleshed out in WorldEmber 2023.

November

We prep for Summer Camp and we also prep for WorldEmber. Something possessed me and my pledge ended up at 6666 words, which is ridiculous, even for a pledge. I really enjoyed picking out worlds that inspire me. November was a very slow month for worldbuilding; I only published a handful of articles, but those were some of my best. I completely rewrote the two articles below, deleting whatever content I previously had and started from scratch.

December

And now we have December! This was an amazing month. WorldEmber was a raging success, and I walked away with over fifty articles I am super proud of. They range from 2000+ monsters to under 100 word babies, and each one is special in their own right. I developed many planets from the Cheem System, a solar system who's planets are inspired by a special group of Anvilites who have been there for me throughout 2023, and that I've grown close to.

See my 2023 New Year's Resolution's Article!
New Year's Resolution's Challenge
Statistics
Some people do not want to see statistics, so I have censored them. Hover over to see!

1/1/2023

Likes: 2230
Comments: 298
Followers: 101
Articles: 664

31/12/2023

Likes: 5643
Comments: 876
Followers: 191
Articles: 1214

Word Counts

1 Jan 2023

Yonderverse: 411,332
Jerna's Diary: 41,351
Ocearia: 11,687
Late Jurassic Earth: 4,701
L.A.M.P.: 1,425
Writer's Dimension: 1,799

30 June 2023

Yonderverse: 529,155 (+117,823)
Jerna's Diary: 44,329 (+2,978)
Ocearia: Cancelled
Late Jurassic Earth: 4,622 (-39)
L.A.M.P.: 2,053 (+628)
Writer's Dimension: 3,281 (+1,482)
A to Zoo: 28,624 (+28,624)
Terra Ava: 1,157 (+1,157)

31 Dec 2023

Yonderverse: 656,823 (+127,668)
Jerna's Diary: 44,461 (+132)
Late Jurassic Earth: 4,662 (-)
L.A.M.P.: 2,020 (-33)
Writer's Dimension: 3,352 (+71)
A to Zoo: 46,660 (+18,036)
Terra Ava: 1,138 (-19)