WorldEmber 2024

The most wonderful time of the year is nearly here. And no, I don’t mean the Winter holidays. Nope. They’re stressful and dark and, at least here in the U.S., bound to be full of uncomfortable conversations with relatives on the other side of the political spectrum—even more so this year, an election year. So when I say “the most wonderful time of the year,” I’m talking about the impending arrival of WorldEmber—a community event put on by the fine folks at World Anvil each December.

The goal of each WorldEmber is to write at least 10,000 words of original worldbuilding over the course of 31 days. And this page you’re reading right now—this one right here—is where I’ll be planning for the event and sharing what I make.

Preparation

Week 1 Homework: Goals and Focus

As you would expect, the first step in planning for an event of this size is to define your goals and your focus. I mentioned above that the minimum word count for WorldEmber is 10,000 words. That said, many folks write more than that—including me! I’ve written 25,000 or more words in each of the last three WorldEmbers, an achievement I’m very proud of. But just as I did last year, I’m setting my goal at 10,000 words—the minimum—to keep things manageable, and to be pleasantly surprised if I get to the bigger number.

Regarding an area of focus, I’ll be channeling all of my energy into building out the parts of Eden which will be showcased in the next few issues of The Blood of Seven Queens—the issues I’ll be writing and illustrating in 2025. These include the city of Watersmeet, its famous brothel—the birthplace of the Sisterhood of Sex Workers—and more.

Here’s a breakdown of where we’re going in issues 3 (January 2025), 4 (April 2025), 5 (July 2025), and 6 (October 2025):

• Covenant, to find Rumapa Stiltskín, to learn the secret history of Marnie Miller, and to gather support for Frieda Jacobs’ war against The Wizard of Oz
• Watersmeet, to learn more about Gretel der Jäger and her son Alexey II, to bring the Cheshire Cat into the action, and to witness a battle between the White Mages and the aforementioned Sisterhood
• Old Ludditon, to visit Yesterland Academy and recruit a professor into Frieda Jacobs’ fold, to learn more about the romance between Ella of the Ashes and Gwendolyn, and more.
• The mountain range between Yesterland and The Realm, where we will encounter a young Willem Shaxbeard—a bard who’s working as a dragon watcher to make ends meet.

Week 2 Homework: Prepare Your World

Review Your Homepage

I love my homepage. It begins with a clear call-to-action related to my most recent project, continues with an elevator pitch for the world, and includes plenty of visuals to let the prospective reader know what they’re in for.

The only time I doubt myself is when I remember that it wasn’t used as an example of a great homepage on the World Anvil blog. Then I remember that these things are highly subjective and that my clean and somewhat minimalist design might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Create or Review Your World Primer

I’ve got a pair of introductory articles that I’m also quite proud of, one for my Stains of Time novel series and one for the world of my comic book The Blood of Seven Queens. I just took a look at both of them and I think they’re in great shape. The paragraphs are short and punchy, the visuals establish tone and theme, and the links, if clicked, will take the reader to the best jumping-on points I have.

Set up your community tools

The recently unveiled BBCode for embedding Substack newsletter sign-ups has been a godsend. The footer section of every page on my site now includes a clear community-building call to action. And as I’m a bit of a minimalist, I don’t want to clutter up the page any more than it already is. I do like the suggestions on the WorldEmber homework page to add a Follow button and to consider self-assigned subscriber groups, but I feel like I’ve made my choice about where I want to direct folks’ attention vis-a-vis community and that I should stick with it.

CSS Wizardry

I appreciate that each year’s WorldEmber prep includes the caveat to mess with your CSS now rather than giving it the chance to distract you during December. That said, I’m pretty happy with where my CSS is at. The only thing that’s flustering me, and only because I just looked at it for the previous part of this week’s assignment, is the footer. I’m going to take a look at that now, in the 50 minutes or so before I have to drive my daughter to work, but that’s where I’m stopping. I’ve got too much else going on to fall down this particular rabbit hole.

Week 3 Homework: On the Hunt for Inspiration

Read a book or watch a movie

The plan was originally to watch Wonder Woman, for its blending of a society closed off from the world (like Eden), but I think I’m going to rewatch the recently available-at-home Deadpool & Wolverine—and maybe Loki, too. There are a lot of things about the setting of “The Void” that I think could help inspire future depictions of the wilderness between cities in The Blood of Seven Queens.

Check back later to see if I actually get this done. If I do, I’ll include notes here.

Moodboard

Well, to begin with, here are the images I created during Spooktober specifically for use during WorldEmber:

01 Breath.jpg

02 Depths.jpg

03 Lair.jpg

04 Teeth.jpg

05 Fur.jpg

06 Scales.jpg

07 Eye.jpg

08 Ancient.jpg

09 Horned.jpg

10 Mutated.jpg

11 Aberration.jpg

12 Tongue.jpg

13 Armored.jpg

14 Space.jpg

15 Predator.jpg

16 Deafening.jpg

17 Grotesque.jpg

18 Petrifying.jpg

19 Otherworldly.jpg

20 Winged.jpg

21 Drown.jpg

But that’s not quite a moodboard. And so, let’s highlight some other of my images that I hope will help establish the mood for this coming month’s activities.

Writing Playlist

I write almost exclusively to the sounds of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, composers of soundtracks to films such as The Social Network, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl. In recent years, they’ve added the scores of Challengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Disney/Pixar’s Soul to their repertoire, so there really is something for just about any mood I’m in or any vibe I’m trying to capture.

In a pinch, I’ll switch over to the soundtracks for Stranger Things and/or Westworld. And in the interest of expanding the list (also part of this assignment), I’ll add in the soundtracks for Game of Thrones, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica.

Week 4 Homework: Harness the Power of Friendship

Community

I have to be honest: this assignment bums me out. I feel hopelessly lonely as a creator so much of the time, especially compared with how I felt over the last few years. The reality of working an in-person job again has given me so much, but it did rob my daily Twitch stream from me—one of the only places I was able to connect with people in the World Anvil community on the regular.

I know that I’ll interact plenty with folks like Kitoypoy, Serukis, Strixxline, and Haly the Moonlight Bard (and probably others whose names are being fogged out of my brain by melancholy at the moment). I hope that counts as enough for this part of the assignment. I really don’t have the the social energy to ask for an invite into a Chapter on the WA Discord or anything. (I realize everyone is friendly, but I always end up feeling like a jerk trying to invite myself to a party.)

Writing Schedule

I plan to write during my lunch break over the first couple of weeks. Then, once we get some time off around Christmas, I’ll probably work longer daily sprints into my routine. I’m sure there will be other times too, but those lunch break hours will be my primary writing time.

Get Some Fresh Air

Do I have to?

Seriously though, as long as the weather allows, I will try to get outside for a little bit of time each day. That’s just how I roll. And if a no-cost road trip or hike comes up for my family to take/do, I won’t sneeze at it.

Bonus Homework: One of Everything, Year Four

For the past three WorldEmbers, I’ve embarked upon a little mini-quest of my own to write at least one article per article type available on World Anvil. Here’s the ever-evolving plan:

• Building  
  • Yellow Brick Road
  • The Watersmeet Brothel
• Character  
  • Medusa
  • Big Bad Wolf
• Country  
  • Empire of Oz
• God/Deity  
  • Triceratops Goddess
• Geography  
  • Cavern of Innuendo
• Item  
  • Phina’s Tongue
• Organization  
  • The False Kings
• Religion  
  • Elven elder gods religion
• Settlement  
  • Watersmeet (primary location of issue 4)
  • Covenant (using visual inspiration from issue 3)
  • Mab Bexkosh (using visual inspiration from issue 2)
• Species  
  • Jabberwock
• Vehicle  
  • spirit of punk train
• Condition  
  • a secret wars-style selective amnesia which affected refugees in the second age
• Conflict  
  • The Darling Débâcle
• Document  
  • Pinup magazine (maybe sold via scrolls, which might lead to slang: “I saw the whole scroll” or “That guy went whole scroll and streaked across the field.”)
• Ethnicity  
  • A group of artificial life who believe, like Cylons and Terminators and whatnot, that traditional life must be put in their place or possibly wiped out. Make it more nuanced than that, though.
• Language  
  • Elvish
• Material  
  • Draconic Saliva
• Military Formation  
  • Aerial Reconnaissance Patrol
• Myth/Legend  
  • The One About the Ducks and the Squirrels — recounting a version of the Bradford legend about the Necronomicon being buried at the bottom of Tupelo Pond
• Natural Law  
  • Sacrificial Magic
• Plot  
  • A Mad-Libs/Cards Against Humanity-style game ECC Bingo
• Profession  
  • Dance/Dream Therapist — someone who uses the Dance of Dreams to heal mental trauma in their patients
• Prose  
  • A story about Medusa and Athena, based on conversation with Lissa from September 2024
• Title  
  • King of Hearts
• Spell  
  • The Dance of Dreams
• Technology  
  • EEP Audiovisual Implants
• Tradition  
  • Wonderlandian Croquet