Mochi's WorldEmber Prep 2025!
Woah, writing in the A to Zoo for a WorldEmber Prep?!
This year I'm hoping to whip up something super special. The A to Zoo was created in February 2023, and it's undergone a ton of changes since. My original concept was a world with a focus on a selection of characters, following the lives of various zookeepers.
I quickly diverged from that and just wrote about the silliest concepts as and when I thought of them. I fell out of love with it quickly, and I stopped working on the A to Zoo.
I picked it back up again several times after then, but it never clicked like I wanted it to. The world's concept would change ever so slightly each time, and my focus would shift.
Now, I feel like I've landed on what I want. I want to create a zoo. I know that sounds rather stupid... of course I want to write about a zoo! But what I mean is, I want this world to look like a zoo's website, a real one. I'll have to take some creative liberties here and there, and there will always be things I want to change about this world, but I'm dead set on the vision I have now.
This year I'm hoping to whip up something super special. The A to Zoo was created in February 2023, and it's undergone a ton of changes since. My original concept was a world with a focus on a selection of characters, following the lives of various zookeepers.
I quickly diverged from that and just wrote about the silliest concepts as and when I thought of them. I fell out of love with it quickly, and I stopped working on the A to Zoo.
I picked it back up again several times after then, but it never clicked like I wanted it to. The world's concept would change ever so slightly each time, and my focus would shift.
Now, I feel like I've landed on what I want. I want to create a zoo. I know that sounds rather stupid... of course I want to write about a zoo! But what I mean is, I want this world to look like a zoo's website, a real one. I'll have to take some creative liberties here and there, and there will always be things I want to change about this world, but I'm dead set on the vision I have now.
Pledging my Goal
I am aiming for 10,000 words... in my first article. Is this a silly goal? Yes. Do I always give myself silly goals, fail to achieve them, wonder why I struggle with challenges? Yeah...But I'm doing it anyways! My first article will require 26 drawings, and I plan on getting those done during November. That leaves the easy part of writing 10,000 words to do in December.
When I'm tired of the A to Zoo, the Yonderverse is there as a backup. If anyone's unfamiliar with the Yonderverse, it's my main world. Over a million words, nearly two thousand articles, it's an absolute beast that's always growing. Last WorldEmber I really popped off with coming up with awesome articles, I really enjoyed myself. I don't want to lose that entirely this year, so I'll definitely be writing something in the Yonderverse, but it won't be my priority.
Accountability Buddies
My accountability buddies this year will be Strixxline and Nulcheck!Such a talented, award-winning worldbuilder, Strixxline and I are good friends and I can trust them with anything. We're always excitedly giggling about our projects together, and I really want that energy this WorldEmber.
Nulcheck is another beloved friend of mine. I'm in love with the way his worlds are formatted, and Nul's energy is infectious. I love Legends of the Dragonguard, I'm really excited to see more of it this WorldEmber!
I've already talked about the wonderful Strixxline, so I'll take the time to mention the WA Community as a whole. I've made some incredible friends through this site. I made a ton of friends in WorldEmber 2022 and I've stuck by most of them ever since. I love them like family, and they've done so much for me.
The Storyteller's Circle will also keep me accountable in WorldEmber. I learn so much from them, and their support means the world to me.
I look forward to watching the leaderboard with stat-hungry friends, and cheering on those that chart! WorldEmber isn't about the leaderboard for me, but I love statistics so much I cannot help but keep a close eye on it. I love celebrating my friends when they appear on the most liked articles lists!
Prep Bingo!
I originally chose to just do five parts of the bingo board, but after a few days I chose to answer them all. All of my bingo answers are near the bottom of the article, you literally can't miss it!I'll take this time to thank the WA team for doing something different this time round, with the prep. For people like me who answer the prep every single time for both SC and WE, it becomes more of a chore when each prep challenge is near identical. This mix-up is a refreshing change of pace and I've really enjoyed the bingo format!
My Worlds and my Plans
Yonderverse
The Yonderverse is my biggest world, and it will always be my main project. It is currently going through a complete overhaul, which I started back in January 2025.My plan for the Yonderverse this WorldEmber is to go back to the planets I have already overhauled and flesh them out a bit more. Perhaps I make stubs, perhaps I re-write old articles, perhaps I make brand new articles! Whatever I feel like doing in the moment, I will do.
A to Zoo
If you don't know what the A to Zoo is, you're looking at it! It is taking priority this WorldEmber. After its overhaul, I want to write about a bunch of cool creatures, create interesting visual articles with exciting interactive features, and just have a good time.Any article in the A to Zoo will take lots of time to plan, to write, draw, and put together. I won't get as many articles done as a result, but that's okay, because I hope the quality will make up for that.
Here are some artworks I've been preparing for WorldEmber in advance :)
Sunlit Tomato by Mochi
Scorching Aphadalia by Mochi
Reef Kale by Mochi
Red Finger by Mochi
Blueback Boar by Mochi
Review or collect your world inspirations
A lot of my inspiration comes from music. I am a fan of k-pop, it bring me an absolute ton of inspiration and energy. I love the music videos, choreographies, fashion, the songs themselves, it's all electric and energising and I can't get enough of it.The World Anvil Embers of Inspiration album is another favourite of mine, I love playing it to get myself in the mood for writing. I have a number of worldbuilding playlists, primarily instrumentals, to get in the mood for some worldbuilding.
Aside from music, I love admiring human-made art. Part of worldbuilding for me is obviously drawing. I love scrolling my social media feeds and seeing breathtaking art that someone has poured hours and hours into. The process, knowing a person has worked on this from the initial idea and sketch to completion, or what makes art impactful.
Refresh your author profile
I've made some minor edits to my author's profile! Ultimately there wasn't a lot I wanted to do.I added a little Yonderverse follow button, in case anyone stumbles across my author's profile and felt like following from there.
I've also updated my favourite TV series and favourite games, so now those sections are a little more up to date. After listing them I realise I am a big fan of sitcoms, haha.
Create a moodboard
After making a new Pinterest account (my old one got banned... apparently it's my fault for saving pins, not the people who upload them), I've begun rebuilding moodboards for different areas in my world. I like making moodboards for individual planets, regions in space, or just interesting things like quirky alleyways. I love my quirky alleyways board.I've not utilised Pinterest as much as I used to because I'm still upset after losing thousands upon thousands of pins, all neatly organised. I tried to appeal the ban but that didn't work. Pro tip, don't save too many pins of shirtless men. It was just an art reference, I swear!
Review your world homepage(s)
Been there, done that! This whole world has been overhauled just for WorldEmber. Well, not just. I plan on submitting the A to Zoo to the Worldbuilding Awards next year, but I really want this overhaul finished in time for WorldEmber. And that includes a fresh new homepage!While I'm at it, I've been tinkering with the Yonderverse's homepage! It's already gotten a new cover image, which I am incredibly pleased with. I've made a few additional tweaks to the homepage, but there's even more to come later this month.
Review your category tree
For the A to Zoo I've chosen to hide the category tree from my homepage. It is still accessible in this article, though! I love the table of contents, so I still want to access it myself.I'm using articles as fake category pages to navigate the zoo, with stylised article blocks. They are actively being worked on and I'm not 100% settled with the design, so if anyone takes a look and has suggestions, I'm all ears!
As for the Yonderverse, I reworked all of my categories in January and I am satisfied with them. Plus, I've so many articles at this point I do not fancy reworking them again in the slightest. I've been slowly expanding on all of the uncategorised drafts I have lying around, publishing them and slotting them into place. Hopefully by the time WorldEmber rolls around, they'll all be sorted!
Tidy up your writing space
Normally I'd completely ignore this, lie and say I did it, but this time I actually have. My brother moved in with me a few months ago so we've both been adjusting (it's going well!), but that also meant I lost my precious little office room, which has now become storage.As a fix I stole the dining room table (we never use it) and I plopped it in my bedroom, and I've now set up my monitor at this table, so I've got a bigger screen and plenty of arm space. It's turned into quite a nice little settlement, and I've got a couple other small tables dotted around, to stick all the random crap I have on.
Define the scope of your worldbuilding for WE
HOW ABOUT NOOOOkay but seriously no thank you. For the A to Zoo the scope is my whole world, and for the Yonderverse my scope is... my whole world. Limiting myself to a specific area, like I've done in past events, never ends well for me. Once I've set those boundaries it's difficult for me to break free from it, even if I'm really struggling. I had that issue with Summer Camp 2025, and because of that it's my least favourite Summer Camp I've participated in.
Defining a scope for some people might work, and I'm happy for them! But I've been doing this long enough now that I know it's not how I work, and that's okay.
Review or create your world's primer
Nyehehe, done that! I've completely re-written the Yonderverse's primer/introduction article, and I think it's wonderful now.The problem I was having with this introduction is that I was just doing too much. It was flashy, but there was nothing to it. My old introductions didn't introduce you to anything, not like how my current intro does. It took me several years, but I finally realised that a straight forward introduction that just summarises key concepts is all you need.
Get some feedback
This is kind of generic, but I do regularly ask friends for feedback on my work. I like to know if people feel I'm heading in the right direction, because sometimes I lose sight of my goals. I got some great feedback on my new Yonderverse introduction and cover, so I think I can tick this off as done.I'd say I'm always looking for feedback, but I'm really sensitive with feedback if it's not worded nicely. It's something I really want to get better at, taking in feedback. Because my writing is such a personal thing to me, I take it to heart quite easily.
Finish all the articles you've started this month
...Once again this really isn't my style. I don't like to "finish" articles, that's not how my writing works, really. The Yonderverse is built upon tons and tons of articles that will consistently receive updates whenever I have new things to say about them.
That being said, I do have a bunch of articles I plan on writing out as much as I can before WorldEmber starts. They weren't made this month, but I think it fits this bingo box as much as possible.
Read a book
Okay this is really embarrassing but I just... don't really read books. I just don't have the attention span, I don't like libraries, I don't want to order books online, so really the only reading I do are WA articles.That being said I have a neat book a work friend lent me, that I plan on reading. She lent it to me like a month ago and I still haven't read it, but I swear I will!
Free Space
Stream Blue Valentine by NMIXXPrepare visual elements for your articles
Make a list of stubs you'd like to expand
I would make a list of stubs, but all the stubs I want to expand on are in the Yonderverse, and grabbing links of every single one of those articles would take far too long. Instead here is a link to my Stub Index over in the Yonderverse, which lists all of my stubs!Plan your worldbuilding playlist
No need! I've already got all the music I could ever need. I have a handful of special worldbuilding playlists, each with different vibes.And then I have my kpop, which has every genre of music I could ever want. I've really been enjoying the band NMIXX, which have gained a ton of popularity with their first full album, Blue Valentine. They experiment with their music a lot, blending different genres into the same song.
I really like their vocal improvements after every single release, it's something I really admire about them. Despite only debuting in 2022, they've got my favourite discography of any artist, and they have a song for any mood I am in.
Make a list of articles to write
I love writing lists!A to Zoo Articles:
A to Z of Colourful Critters
A to Z of Dangerous Critters
Handful of species articles
Possible zookeeper articles?
Yonderverse Articles:
Apulu (planet)
Coleos (planet)
Eger Snail (species)
Eger Snail Trails (landmarks)
Guards of Hothiri (primordial beings)
Ieheudeue (planet)
Ksianeiasa (planet)
Milk Bamboo Spider (species)
Questing With Conqua (docu-series)
Razhea Mini (moon)
Sawspine Seal (species)
Sodden Teeth (location)
Tenasi (planet)
Theria (planet)
Titanwing Butterfly (species)
Xibronoe (planet)
With the Yonderverse, my goal this WE is to browse through my articles, find random mentions of new concepts that I can make articles for, and expand on existing areas of my world. Above are just a couple of things I could find by scrolling through a few articles.
Plan your writing schedule
I never have much of a schedule beyond writing when I feel like it. Problem is I feel perpetually tired, and if I don't force myself to write something, I won't. It's been a bit easier lately and getting myself to write has become easier, but I'm still conscious WorldEmber will be more of a struggle this year because of this perpetual tiredness.Maybe setting myself some time each day to write could help. Problem is my work schedule - 4 days work, 4 days off. 6am til 6pm, so getting up at 5am and getting home at half 6. I'm usually pretty tired after that and don't fancy doing much, but with WorldEmber energy maybe I can get short articles written those evenings. During my 4 days off, 2 of those days are spent working at zoos and animal sanctuaries, because I want to work in animal industry full time and gathering as much experience as possible is vital.
So, I'm planning on dedicating literally all of my spare time to WorldEmber!
People in your world
Well, it's a zoo, so most likely you'll see either a zookeeper or a visitor. You see people of all walks of life, all of them. From giant people, fifty feet tall, that really struggle to wander the zoo, to tiny fairies that sneak into enclosures before being apprehended and kicked out.People are just as diverse in the Yonderverse because well, the A to Zoo is in the Yonderverse. So you'll see the exact same types of people in both worlds, for obvious reasons! But the A to Zoo will appear more diverse than the Yonderverse, because in the latter I choose to focus on fleshing out certain species.
Do some research
I do hands on research. What I mean by that is the work I do in sanctuaries and zoos prepares me for what to write about in the A to Zoo. I know how a zoo functions, I know how a zookeeper works and everything they get up to in a single day. I want to incoporate what I know into the Zoo this WorldEmber, in a way that is fun and engaging!As for the Yonderverse, I always end up doing a ton of research while writing about topics unfamiliar to me. I know enough about animals that I can write a species article with no research and still make it realistic, but I often like to fact-check, or even just learn new things about real animals so I can draw inspiration from that. There is always something new to learn!
Review your core articles
I always read through my core articles to check if they still make sense. Most articles in the A to Zoo either got wiped (intentionally) or are just sat private, waiting for an overhaul. I plan on creating some core articles for the A to Zoo this month, so I'm all prepared for WorldEmber. No offense to WorldEmber, but I don't want the challenge page button visible on my core articles </3For the Yonderverse, I re-wrote its introduction article in preparation for WorldEmber, so I think I can tick this off as done. The introduction is the core-iest of core articles! I have some more I'd like to review, but I don't think I'll be doing those as WE prep, more as a general part of the Yonderverse Overhaul.
Join the Community
I've certainly done this! I've been an active member of the community since I first joined WA, back in March 2021. Since then I've actively engaged with the community throughout every single eevnt, thriving in the bigger events like Summer Camp and of course WorldEmber.I've even been blessed with a handful of community awards during those two events. I was awarded Most Improved Worldbuilder in Summer Camp 2023, and Human of the Match during WolrdEmber 2022 and Summer Camp 2024! I love this community so, so much.
Review the visual appearance of your world
I'm pretty satisfied with how my worlds look, at least for now. I have no plans to overhaul the A to Zoo's CSS, but I definitely have some big things in store for the Yonderverse down the line.I believe there is a presentation interface coming at some point in WA's future, so I'm kind of waiting to see if that comes before or after I complete Phase 2 of the Yonderverse Overhaul, which could take years. Either way, I'm not going to be doing a whole lot in terms of CSS or formatting, because I'm very happy with how many articles and worlds look.
Go for a walk
Maybe I ought to. Problem is there's nowhere nice to walk round my area. I've got to go pretty far til I stumble upon a nice place to walk, and I don't drive. I could close my eyes and envision me walking round some pretty forest, maybe?I wrote that a few days ago, and since then I actually did go for a walk! There's a tiny nature reserve a few minutes away from where I live, it's not very pretty but it's out in nature which is what I love. I had a nice little stroll down the river, maybe ten, fifteen minutes before I got to the reserve. The reserve itself is tiny, tucked away and you have to know about it, you can't just stumble across it.
I'll try and go for a few more walks before WorldEmber, because they're really good for clearing the mind.
Adjectives to describe worlds
Expect things like bright, colourful, vibrant, diverse, joyful, with undertones of dark, mysterious, horrifying, edgy.It really depends on what part of the world you look at, what adjectives you could use to describe it. I have many bright and colourful planets, and a handful of darker, more edgy planets with a more serious tone to it.
YOOO!! New A to Zoo AND exciting stuff for WorldEmber!!
I really hope you'll enjoy! <3