WE23 / Prep & Pledge
It's not good to embark upon a challenge like this leading with negativity, but it's important to face reality when building fantasy worlds: I am burnt out. My NaNoWriMo 2023 project had a world building focus and with just a few days left in the month, I can say I am really proud of the producitivty I had during the month, but it's abundantly clear I pushed a little too hard. I am my own toughest critic, especially when it comes to output, and the past few days have been hell trying to keep myself motivated.
Despite that, the allure of WorldEmber — and pushing myself past my comfort zone in terms of public work — has been nagging at me for most of the month. I deliberately slowed down, took more breaks, tried to stave off the feeling of helplessness that comes from being too creative without taking care of yourself, and while I don't feel like I'm back to 100%, I feel confident that I can pick myself back up in December. My brain has been so motivated, with more ideas and creations than I can keep track of. It's just putting those ideas to paper that feels like a Herculean task. The hard part is taken care of, I just have to get over the hurdle.
My pledge is simple, and two-fold:
Finding Focus — Part of my struggle in the latter half of November came from going too broad-strokes with what I needed written. I lost sight of the fact that while this is a wiki resource for my players, it is primarily for my own sake. I didn't need to write articles that were not relevant to either them or me just because it felt like an important first step to getting all this set up.
So for WorldEmber, I'm relieving myself of responsibility of making this a comprehensive, entirely finished, down-to-the-detail guide. My focus is on building out relevant setting, faction, and character information for both actively-running campaigns. This means main campaign canon for as well as anything major that comes up in the prep, planning, and early sessions of A Crown Unbroken. Specifically anything currently listed as a Stub, so as to start filling in the gaps now that the bulk of the groundwork has been laid.
A Symphony of Steel (Micro Meta) — A high-fantasy campaign setting created to house the bulk of my current and future tabletop campaigns. It is intended to be a living, breathing world: point to any location on the map, and there is some kind of storyline, quest hook, or relevant NPC to be fleshed out. This can further be divided into 3 distinct mini-metas to focus on throughout the month of December:
- Wither & Bloom: Primary Focus. As the party delves deeper into the mystery surrounding the Alderwood and the stray, unpredictable, dangerous magics within, they have established a network of allies, explored nearly one-third of the continent, and have found themselves embroiled in a plot that might end in the corruption of one of their own. Though the plot may delve into themes of death, corruption, and decay, the people of Frostide are vibrant and remain strong in the face of adversity. Shine a light on them, ensuring that the continent feels more alive than it may actually be.
- A Crown Unbroken: Secondary Focus. As the plans for this West Marches-style campaign come to fruition, follow the threads set through character creation to develop this strange pocket of the world. Distinct in its existence, Baradin and the surrounding islands exist in a pocket of the Manastorm: in a realm caught between fantasy and reality. Explore the storybook themes, the weight of mythos and fairy tales, and the strange interplay of this segment of the world, caught in this isolated segment of an already isolated, segmented world. Lean into the Fire Emblem inspiration of it all, play with nobility and duty, honour and loss, and a more good vs evil story with less room for shades of grey.
- Short Fiction Pieces: Lowest Focus. Strive for a monthly short fiction goal: one story, one focus, each month. For December, find a thread you are drawn to and unravel it to the core. Provide context and characterization to someone who may otherwise be relegated to the background, or flesh out an event that may have otherwise been lost to history. These pieces exist in a meta all their own: cultivating an aspect of the world, of my campaigns, that don't quite fit into the initial narrative flow, but nevertheless add a considerable amount to the worldbuilding process.
Updated the homepage to ensure "Recent Articles" are more or less up to date, and that the "Featured Article" segment is putting my best foot forward. Edited the trivia section, and ensured relevant links are up to date. Need to make the full world meta, as well as the new player guide and link those — but as I'm getting into this prep stage much, much later than I otherwise would have, that can't be a focus right now. Hopefully, during the month, I can find some time to finally get that done.
Prep is almost always my undoing: for NaNoWriMo, I made a checklist of what I wanted to write, prepped the spreadsheets, set up a battle plan... and that all falls apart within a day or two. One bad day, one unproductive evening, and even the most barebones preparation gets thrown out the window.
Ultimately, for this challenge I'm relying heavily on my Stub Articles list. I'll try to take a look at that every day, find something that I want to write, and simply write it. If I set a hard goal beyond that, after how intense my November writing goals were, I'm worried I won't quite hit the finish line. What matters is I'm excited, moreso than being properly ready, to get back into it.
Sounds like you have some good goals for worldember. Wish you all the best to achieve your plans - but don't forget to take the occassional break if it gets too hectic. You definitely got this.