A Year In Review And The Year Ahead

Hello everyone!

As 2019 draws to an end, I thought it would be a good idea to look back and see what has been going on - and what will happen next! It's been a very eventful year, both on WA and elsewhere. So much writing happened that it's hard to summarize it all, but we're going to give it a shot.
It's laid the groundwork for a really good 2020 and I'm excited to share some of the plans it. Before that, let's look at what we've got so far!
If you want to skip straight to the 2020 plots and plans, click here

Araea

Araea was the first world I made on World Anvil and was really one of the catalysts that made me start to write again. Since its humble beginnings with the first Summer Camp in 2018, it's a pretty vast and well-developed setting now, though it has a lot left before I would consider it complete. Even with all the other worlds I'm working on, I would say Araea is still my primary world-building project. Although it features heavily in the goals for 2020, I don't think I'll really stop working on it any time soon.
Araea is currently up to a word count of 241522, spread out across 180 articles.
If you want an overview of what's left for Araea until a first pass is done, check out this article:

The Other Worlds

In addition to Araea, I've made a bunch of different world by now. If you didn't know and you like what you see in Araea, check 'em out!

Necro-Industrial Complex

The Necro-Industrial Complex (or N.I.C) is an alternative earth type of setting where Necromancy has formed the basis for an industrial revolution. The undead aren't some dread scourge or barely controlled thing, but the cogs in a vast industrial machine that runs on rotting flesh and electricity. It asks the question: what we do if Necromancy actually worked? N.I.C was originally written for the TaleFoundry contest. Although it didn't win, I'm really happy with the setting and it is one of my most popular worlds.
I've written 35615 words across 26 articles for N.I.C.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-necro-industrial-complex-qurilion

Megacorpolis

The Megacorpolis is a light-hearted dystopia, an absurdist cyberpunk mega-city setting where capitalism is taken to its extremes. It has it all; coffee with military-grade stimulant, genetically modified spiders, yetis and megacorps with weird ideas on things. It was created on whim and has been an exercise in exploration writing. But it's real fun to write for, with a humorous bend to things.
I've written 29928 words across 28 articles for Megacorpolis.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/megacorpolis-qurilion

Quentriandal

In dreaming-world of Quentriandal, things as story theme narrative element has as much impact on the world as gravity, if not more. It's a world about stories, with the very world made from the essence of tales. Quentriandal is currently undergoing some major renovations that'll really kick in soon in 2020. There were two competing world ideas kind of clashing inside of it, so I've now split them in two. Quentriandal will become much more of a pure concept world - which will also make it a fair bit stranger. Stay tuned!
I've written 16214 words across 18 articles for Quentriandal.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/quentriandal-qurilion

The Scrunk

Less of a coherent world idea, the Scrunk's a bit of an idea dump with a meta-layer ontop. It is a demi-plane where all the abandoned and half-finished ideas in the multiverse go to hang out; a sort of intellectual afterlife.
I made it because sometimes I have ideas that don't f it anywhere and I want to write them down, or because I want to do some general writing to warm up. Check it out for fun things like elves who eat everyone and even weirder aboleth!
I've written 16358 words across 18 articles for Scrunk.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-scrunk-qurilion

Chronotopia

I haven't written much for it yet, save for the currency challenge article which was entirely inspired by wordplay. Chronotopia is a far-future city set in the titular city, in a world where time itself has broken into fragments. It's a city that is every-when, where time travel and time-harnessing technology is the order of the day. I don't know if I will keep working on it in 2020 but for now, it's sticking around!
I've written 990 words in 1 article in Chronotopia.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/chronotopia-qurilion

Tensei

Tensei is a dark fantasy world where reincarnation is real and the world itself is a seed that has blossomed from the well of all souls. It's another new world and one of the splits from Quentriandal in many ways. It draws its inspiration from Asia, its cultures and mythologies, with the high concept that centers around Reincarnation. How would that change things like inheritence? Child-rearing? Crime and punishment?
I've written 2384 words in 1 article in Tensei.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/tensei-qurilion

The Grand Grimoire

The Grand Grimoire is the place where I store all my world-building guides and advice for everyone. Ways to get inspired, ways to approach and think about world building, and ways to get it done. I also wrote a sort of cooperative world building game called Genesis, the rules which are also in the Grimoire.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-grand-grimoire-qurilion

In total...

And not counting the Grand Grimoire, there are currently a whooping 343011 words across 272 articles!

Other Stuff

Summer Camp and World Ember were both the big events of the year, with World Ember wrapping up just moments ago as I write this. Summer Camp was especially fun, as I used it to focus on a single region of Araea and really flesh it out.
More importantly, with the Kyanite Challenge, I have at long last returned to writing prose! It's a bit rough and I'm more than a little rusty, it was pretty fun! I learned a lot and I'm looking forward to

2020

2020 is going to be a great year, and here's how we're going to make sure it is. These are some plans I got cooking both for myself and for the WA community.

Writer Camp!

There's a lot of talented writers around on WA and one of the things I want to do in 2020 is to write more consistently and practice more. To that end, I'm organizing a sort of writer camp with the goal of supporting each other, providing feedback, guidance and generally encourage each other. My personal goal for 2020 is to reach a stage where I can write around 5000 words daily and consistently. I will invite my fellow writers and world-builders to take on similar challenges!
If you want to be part of that, then come on to the Discord below!
If you're not necessarily into writing, we're also looking for beta readers, editors and mentors!
https://discord.gg/Axrubyg

Finish Araea

This is the big one. This year, I plan on reaching a state with Araea where all the big pieces are in place. That'll mean all major regions, settlements and enough creepy crawly creatures to challenge adventurers and fill out stories. If you want to follow the journey, see where we are or tell me about what you might wanna see more of next, look in the link below!

Not sure how long it'll take or when we'll get there, but that will be the goal.

New Stories

Another plan for 2020 is to begin outlining my first novel. I have three ideas that I'm going to start with. In addition, I aiming to start a serial here on WA. Whether or not a Patreon will get involved at one point or another, we'll see.
Watch this space as that progresses!

What about you? What projects and challenges are you going to take on in 2020? Let us know in the comment!