Follow along with my WorldEmber progress!

I promised you a look over my shoulder this month as I bring a vague and disjointed collection of ideas together into a cohesive piece of world-building. These resources will help you keep track of my progress through this month-long marathon challenge:

• Haly’s Official WE Progress Report — each participant gets a page that automatically collects their author information and all WE-eligible articles across all worlds into a single, shareable package.
• Haly’s WorldEmber on Argentii Index — an on-the-fly journal page and handy sidebar displaying only new Argentii WE-eligible articles.

Quick Six 12/14/24

I spent a lot of time today interacting with other writers. While this didn’t lead to a great deal of words-on-page, it did lead to a great deal of creative thought and planning.

One thing I accomplished today was assembling a list of special categories that I’ve already written. This is important so that I can plan what I still need to write. I won’t be entering every category for judging, but I do want to write on every template! I have found this one of the best ways to ensure that I’m building a complex and detailed world.

Otherwise, I’d only talk about places!

However, because I spent time with people with perspectives different from my own, I was able to get out of my recent creative rut (location-location-location!) and find a new topic of focus. Not only for my own world-building, but also for this week’s “Quick Six!”

Fashion, Makeup, and Aesthetic Style

This is a topic that I have explored only in passing. That is, I’ve not dedicated any focus to it beyond a vague assertion in my head that fashions vary wildly from island to island. The same, of course, goes for hair, nails, and cosmetic applications.

For instance, I know that on Smouge, it’s common to shave a number of vertical lines into your eyebrow. The number of lines indicates your gender, and whether its on the left or the right brow indicates if you’re open to exploring a relationship.

Fun fact: it’s easy to tell a new relationship, as both partners will have cuts in both of their eyebrows. Those who have recently exited a relationship will have only one eyebrow, and it’s considered rude to ask about the separation until the brow has completely grown back!

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Tip the Bard

Think about the places and peoples in your world, and the resources they have access to. Plants and animals for making fiber for fabric. Animals for hides and skins. Plants and minerals for dyeing and cosmetics. So many world-building opportunities across the board!

Somewhere in your world, describe…

Who:

…a person who is well-known for their sense of fashion.

This can be a case of impeccable taste, or it might be someone famous for always being sloppy despite their status. Who are they? What makes their style so unique and memorable? How are they viewed by the public?

What:

…an item of jewelry that is associated with a particular occasion or holiday.

Examples here would be a crown worn during a coronation, an engagement ring, or Mardi Gras beads. What is the item? Why is it significant? Are there traditional materials used in its construction?

When:

…an occasion that involves wearing makeup.

Think of things like Dia de los Muertos, Halloween, and theater performances lean heavily on makeup. Weddings, fashion shows, and carnivals are other popular occasions for wearing makeup. Who wears the makeup? What (if anything) does it symbolize? Are there traditional colors or patterns?

Where:

…a place renowned for its unusual or outlandish fashion.

A real example would be the Harajuku district of Tokyo, Japan, which is well-known for wild fashions. Paris, New York, Milan, and London also have reputations for being on the cutting edge (fair or foul) of fashion. How did it get this reputation? Why is the fashion so unusual? How do people view this place?

Why:

…a ritual or event that involves changing clothes.

It might be to go swimming or changing out of a wedding dress before leaving for the honeymoon. Maybe putting on pajamas for bed, slipping into something more comfortable, or sliding on overalls to protect from paint splatter. What are the specific garments involved? What is accomplished by changing? Is the change representative of anything, or simply practical?

How:

…a way in which people alter their natural appearance.

Examples from the world include shaving, filing/cutting nails, tattoos, piercings, dyeing hair, tanning, and much more. Why do people alter themselves in this way, is there a meaning, a purpose, or purely aesthetic? What is involved in the alteration? Is it painful, does it tickle, is there no real feeling? Is it difficult, time-consuming, or costly?

Wrapping the Day

As always, I hope that you find these prompts inspiring and helpful! Please, don’t forget to share your inspired creations with me. I always love seeing how y’all take these in such wonderful and unexpected directions!!

As I write this, I am sitting at 19,995 new words of world-building toward my 50,000-word goal.