2023 New Year's Resolutions

Goals for the New Year

Here are a selection of articles written by others that I'm using as inspiration for my learning and growth this next year.

Drawing People Deeper into the World

I read through all of the manuscript submissions for World Anvil. There were some great articles in there! These three not only embodied the playful nature I want, but they got a bit meta (writing about writing) - where the reader really is being drawn in. They include references that connect with the reader and make them want to look around the world seeking more fun.

Mirescosmo plays with writing a bit of a pirate adventure here, or rather telling the story of someone who lived a pirate adventure and then wrote about it. It feels a bit like Gulliver's Travels. The sample on the article is a bit of purple prose, which is delightful and sets the tone for the work the author is talking about. The writing elsewhere on this world is excellent, showing that this author has a powerful control of tone and style. This one trapped me into reading more of the available world. If I'd had more time, I would have kept reading. As an intro to the website, it definitely pulled me and made me a world follower!

Eldknighterrant sets out to share a confusing document in this article. The document contains fascinating graphics to break up the long form content and start you wondering about what these things could be. In addition, there's this little tidbit: "But who in the ashes of burning Andaen would design an entire star chart for a fictional world?" This cracked me up because my World Ember involved working on a star chart from my fictional world. Meta funny!

Additionally, this reminded me of the type of document you'd find in a Myst game, with the symbols almost making sense, calling you back time and again to see if you could sort out the pattern. It feels like if I explored this world more deeply, there would be treasures of discovery. What a great reward for readers.

DMFW has used this article to pull together many different aspects of the world, while creating a table of plays that show the bredth of this character's imagination, and by extension DMFW's creativity.

Reminiscent of a list of Shakespear's plays, you'll see references to historical figures, and cultural events spread throughout the list which includes love stories, tragedies, and comedies.

Part fantasy, part science fiction, this overview turned me into a follower of the world and I look forward to seeing what other surprises await.

Learning how to welcome people to my world

One of my challenges this month has been learning how to write a world primer, an article that helps people learn how to read the world, and gives them ideas of where to go next.

This guide article is carefully crafted to provide a lot of information with few words. Beautiful graphics and a clever layout help you bounce from space to space and keep reading.

I particularly like the chart of planets that you can hover over and that has pop-ups of bite sized information to give you just a teaser of what is to come. Technologically it feels very rewarding to interact with the graphic this way.

As in Eldknighterrant's work in the last section, this feels like a reward for readers.

I'll be talking more about George's world in a moment, but this world home page functions the same way a world primer would, giving me an easy link to the map to explore the world and then directing me to the official primer.

The home page has the same feel as the rest of the world: this is a story.

Cathedris was one of the first worlds I discovered in World Anvil. As a master of layout, Stormbril shows how to make the best use of the space on a page while making it easy to read.

Art, music, web design, and prose combine to entertain and draw the reader deeper into the world. Stormbril uses CSS to give the reader the reward of having uncovered more information, making this feel more game-like than some of the other worlds.

I've bought the code, and I want to start customizing it and working it into my articles for that sense of reader engagement and reward.

Building fascination

I struggle to have time to read long articles, but this one is a great example of one that builds fascination so that I went back and read it several times.

The "disease" or "addiction" is devious and builds upon a temptation that would make it hard for anyone to resist. Because surely, it'll be safe to just try a little bit. This illustrates an understanding of the dangers of addiction and combines reality with fiction, creating a universally accepted reality, easing the reader into the story world, making it feel more alive.

Laurabones has a way of writing that draws me in and makes me want to turn the page to the next article and keep reading. In this article she introduces her familiar, and I had to read on to see what other sort of adventures the two would have. I was not disappointed.

Laura uses a very comfortable font in her work that helps to set the mood.

Her stories have the comfort of a cup of tea and a warm fire. When I'm exploring her world, I want to curl up with the cat and stay for a while, reading and enjoying the twists and adventures she blends with her magical style.

Each of George Sander's articles that I've read is a piece of a story, complete in itself, but tying together into the greater story of the world. I find myself drawn in each time I read one, and always wind up reading a few others at the same time, letting the pieces flow together into a mosaic of beauty, emotion, and intrigue.

What I love about these stories is that they can be read in any order, and yet the story begins to take shape. The template articles (places, for example) aren't dry or didactic, but rather they introduce us to the people and events happening in that space. I want to bring this storytelling ability into my world!

Playfulness

Spaceport is a playful world. I want to explore ways to bring that sense of play and adventure into articles.

From the color scheme to the design, this world screams playful. This is Emily Armstrong flexing her considerable writing skill while just having a great time.

The topic and the content play together with the colors and style to set the mood of the piece.

Read the document to get a sense of the experience and to read the very real recipe. I could see this world being turned into a real cookbook.

I love all of the articles I've read in Mochi's Yonderverse. Playful and often terrifying, they'll make you laugh and give you nightmares.

The playfulness of naming a sun Pamela and the planets Bob, Dave, and Steve is just one example of the humor that flits throughout this universe.

Any discussion of playfulness would be incomplete without a reference to Wanted Hero! Tongue in cheek and yet with many ties to the real world, so that there's a sense of laughing both with the author and at what he is treating with satire.

As an artist, Jaime's art and style make every article come to life. Excellent use of fonts to capture the mood as well.