WorldEmber 2025
This will be my challenge home page for WorldEmber 2025 containing both the "homework" preparation done in November and links to qualifying articles created in December as and when I write them. I'll add these in a table at the top of this article with the preparation below them.
This link is my official WorldEmber 2025 progress, which World Anvil makes for me automatically:-
WorldEmber 2025
Here on this page I will include exactly the same article links, but I am able to add my own notes.
Focus: My current focus remains, as it has been for almost two years, on the development of the history of the realm of Magicians' End. This has become a sizeable project and along the way it has led to significant creative writing endeavours in the form of two stories, Hella and the Widow and the Diary of Clarise Vabatan (still a work in progress) which sit within a framework of extensive world building. I'm still working my way forward in the history itself, having slowed down somewhat in recent months to concentrate on the fiction. Whilst I do not want to lose sight of my goal of finishing the Diary of Clarise Vabatan, Spooktober gave me an opportunity to return to pure world building and I'd like to use this year's WorldEmber to push forward with history again, so this will be my main focus for the challenge. However, I will allow myself to add articles about other realms in the Discontinuum if inspiration and themes seem relevant.
Writing Goal: I'm sticking to 10,000 words. Whilst I achieved 25K last year I'd rather have that as a private stretch goal. This is because any spare energy over and above World Ember qualifying articles, I want to put into the fiction and that won't qualify since it just develops existing (and currently private) articles. 10,000 words that align with my goals is plenty for one month!
Here is the preparation bingo card. I'm going to be targeting the second column and as I ring items I'll add a brief note below the card. I may possibly circle a cell or two in other columns, just because why not?
This link is my official WorldEmber 2025 progress, which World Anvil makes for me automatically:-
WorldEmber 2025
Here on this page I will include exactly the same article links, but I am able to add my own notes.
| Article | Category Competition? | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Title/Rank | Kicking off with an article in the realm of Magicians' End that will be one part of a little linked set. | |
| Settlement | Where they call their ruler a Factor, long after the title has vanished elsewhere. | |
| No | An important historical figure from the age of the Second Popular Ascendancy on Magicians' End | |
| Document | A foundational medical text book in the realm of Magicians' End. | |
| Organisation | The Healing Concord is the largest and best known medical charity in the modern world of Magicians' End and has a long and proud history. | |
| No | A mixed body of elected and unelected representatives which sets the policy of the Healing Concord. | |
| No | An honourable role in the governance of the Healing Concord | |
| No | The role of the leader of the Concord Committee and the Healing Concord. |
Preparation
Focus: My current focus remains, as it has been for almost two years, on the development of the history of the realm of Magicians' End. This has become a sizeable project and along the way it has led to significant creative writing endeavours in the form of two stories, Hella and the Widow and the Diary of Clarise Vabatan (still a work in progress) which sit within a framework of extensive world building. I'm still working my way forward in the history itself, having slowed down somewhat in recent months to concentrate on the fiction. Whilst I do not want to lose sight of my goal of finishing the Diary of Clarise Vabatan, Spooktober gave me an opportunity to return to pure world building and I'd like to use this year's WorldEmber to push forward with history again, so this will be my main focus for the challenge. However, I will allow myself to add articles about other realms in the Discontinuum if inspiration and themes seem relevant.
Writing Goal: I'm sticking to 10,000 words. Whilst I achieved 25K last year I'd rather have that as a private stretch goal. This is because any spare energy over and above World Ember qualifying articles, I want to put into the fiction and that won't qualify since it just develops existing (and currently private) articles. 10,000 words that align with my goals is plenty for one month!
Here is the preparation bingo card. I'm going to be targeting the second column and as I ring items I'll add a brief note below the card. I may possibly circle a cell or two in other columns, just because why not?
by World Anvil modified by DMFW
| Bingo Cell | Notes |
|---|---|
| Defining the scope. | I'm counting the introductory paragraphs so this feels like a free cell to me, but I'll just add that I'm not averse to submitting for competition categories but I won't overdo it and strive to enter too many. Really I'd rather enter just one or two if there are targets of opportunity that align well with my interests. I won't beat myself up if I don't submit anything. |
| Make a list of articles to write | This is now in progress as a private WA note and I'll add to it as ideas come to me. I'm not going to include any spoilers in this article, though, to save some mysteries for December. |
| Refresh your author page | I've revisited it and polished it a little bit here and there, just to bring it up to date. |
| Tidy up your writing space | With the introduction of the new folders for organising images and events I've spent a fair amount of time restructuring these elements to make them easier to manage. The process has also helped me to identify the largest image file sizes and I've been able to replace these with smaller ones without loss of quality to improve the loading time of long timelines and complex articles. This is ongoing. Maps, I think, will need some of the same attention, when I can get round to it. |
| Prepare visual elements | I've made some new character images for the short pieces of linked flash fiction I plan to write and uploaded them to WA, ready to be linked into the new articles. I'll do some more before December. |
| Finish all your unfinished articles | Kind of. I'm going to claim preparation in the spirit of this cell if not strictly the letter (hence the yellow circle). I completed a major 15,000 word article which I've been working on for about four months to clear the decks for World Ember. It doesn't complete the story it is part of, though, as there are more volumes in the pipeline (probably four more) but it does clear my mind for World Ember. I won't finish all unfinished articles until 2026 at the earliest as I always have ones cooking in Magicians' End, as part of the process of moving the history articles forward. This is not going to change until 1st quarter 2026 at the earliest. |
| Read a book | I'm reading quite a lot of fiction (and some non-fiction) at the moment, and whilst not all of it is directly related to fantasy, some of it is and I'm going to claim it might all have an indirect influence on my writing (however tenuous the claim!) The last book I finished in this month was "The House on the Strand" by Daphne Du Maurier, better known for "Rebecca" and "The Birds", amongst other things. "The House on the Strand" is one of her last novels and features a kind of time travel in Cornwall induced by drugs. The traveller witnesses an unfolding 14th century story of love, deceit and brutal murder over several episodes told in parallel with his 20th century frame story. |
| Join the Community | Popped in to say "hi", on Discord over lunch with some quick thoughts about writing "off line" so I have enough content ready to begin WorldEmber in December when the challenge officially begins. That concludes my bingo card and the prep notes I'm likely to be adding to this page, but prep is not finished. I'll continue to make images, and write notes and snippets for next month over the remaining days of this one. Have fun everyone! |
Best of luck with all your goals :) Have fun during worldember!
Thanks and good luck to you too!