New Year's Worldbuilding Resolutions: 2024

It's the end of the year! For some of you, It's already 2024, and wow, the year has gone by so fast. Just this January, I had no idea what CSS was, I had sent one or two messages in the WorldAnvil discord server, and the old version of my world had 40-something-thousand words written. In these 12 months, I've written over 200 THOUSAND words across all of my worlds, both private and public, I've completely revamped the CSS themes for two of them, and I've become much more active on the server. I've met so many amazing people through here, and I don't think I would change even a second of everything that's happened this year, worldbuilding or otherwise - and that is amazing for me. Of course, the year has had its ups and downs, as all years do, but I feel so much closer to this lovely community and the people in it.

Inspiring Articles

OK, where do I even start with this? There have been so many amazing articles in just WorldEmber, let alone the entire year. This list is not an exhaustive list of every article I've enjoyed (unfortunately), but a few of my top picks from the recent WorldEmber. If you haven't already, give these articles a read! They deserve it.
So, in no particular order:

So, You're an Intern? Part One: A Guide to the Library.

By Leashea
Leashea has made so many creative plants this WorldEmber, and made beautiful art for a good chunk of them! I am beyond impressed. Her current project, Archibald Quibblewick's Curious Collection of Interesting Foliage, is a collection of these plants that I can't wait to see completed! But by far my favourite article of hers from this WorldEmber is this one. I love the quotes that she includes in all of her articles, and this one comes with a few from Nessie. This article serves as a great introduction to her world, and is entertaining in the process!

Time Flies

By Theiket
Similarly, Theiket has made a bunch of species articles throughout WorldEmber. I like his style of writing, and I also enjoy the quotes that he adds to the beginning of his articles. Theiket has been working on a bestiary project, where he is planning to get a book published filled with Pronathea's animals - an awesome project that I'm very excited for! But, of all of the articles that Theiket has written this WorldEmber, I think time flies takes the cake. They are creative little creatures, on top of being an amusing pun, and the article was a great read. And of course, I chuckled reading the title.

Monster Hunting

By Mochimanoban
The next article on this list is a tradition article made by the amazing Mochi. Mochi is a wonderful human being, who, on top of having absolutely stunning worldbuilding, is such a supportive and awesome person. Their worlds of Yonderverse and the A to Zoo have been huge inspirations to me. It also helps that they are a fellow connaiseur of species! But back onto the topic at hand - their article about monster hunting has been one of my favourites that I got the time to read during WorldEmber. It really takes you into their world, the trials and struggles of the people living within it.

Crkija

By Alishahr
Of course, I couldn't write this article without including at least one language article. Crkija is a language created by Alishahr, also known as Elizabread. In her article, she fleshed out not only the mechanical aspects of this language, but its regional dialects, societal implications, and controversies surrounding it. Written in the voice of an in-world character, this article is an interesting read, with some fun little features, tidbits, and facts. My favourite part, however, is probably the slang - of which Liz has created a handful for each of the different dialects!

Tower Vex

By PrincessESH
Aster, also known as PrincessESH, has created a few very interesting articles this WorldEmber. My favourite, by far, has been her article on tower vexes, a species of dragons making their homes in towers and terrorising local shepherds and farmers. I love the creative methods of deterring them from stealing livestock, the intersting byproducts, and their biology & abilities.

Burrowbugs

By Those2Nerds
Yet another species article on this list (I can't help it!) is Rin's burrowbugs article. A terrifying insect, especially when found in swarms or infestations (like they often are), this article was fun to read and had great formatting. It has also cemented in my mind that I would never want to live on the planets where these bugs are found - just based on the section about professional burrowbug exterminators.

Mercy

By Morgan Biscup
Morgan Biscup is one of WorldAnvil's authors, and is incredibly skilled at her trade. I've loved everything I've read from her, and the articles this WorldEmber are no exception. This prose article is a story between two immortals with her form of vampirism, and is such a tense and interesting read. It introduces some aspects of her worldbuilding in an engaging way, and as always with her work, the emotions of the characters really bleed through the page.

Influence of the Shards

By Hanhula
Hanhula is the leader of my chapter in the WorldAnvil discord, creater of Brigid, CSS wizard, and all around amazing person. Her world, Istralar, is a great inspiration for me. This article, influence of the shards, is a well-written article with engaging formatting about a wonderfully creepy condition - and the CSS theme for the shards really makes these ideas pop. Han does an impressive job of illustrating her concepts with her words, and this article is an incredible example of this.

Corralum Scales

By Barron
Onto another condition, Barron's article on Corralum Scales is a suitably terrifying article. It's very detailed, and really puts the gross in engrossing! (In a good way, of course). This article provides a vivid description of the condition Barron writes about, and the quotes and prose included add a nice personal touch to it all.

Cuisine of the Mercurian Nomads

By Annie Stein
I enjoy cuisine in worldbuilding with all of my heart, and nnie's article on Mercurian Nomad cuisine immediately piqued my interest. Complete with some of nnie's beautiful artwork, this article was fun to read. The intersection between food and culture is one of my favourite worldbuilding topics, and nnie did so well with that in this article.

My Resolutions

I've done a lot that I'm super happy with so far in Etharai, the Library, and Desolation so far, as well as on my two private worlds of the Dust Bowl and the Secret Lair. And I have a lot of big plans for each of them! Let's break this down a little bit more, though, into some more specific goals.

ALL THE CSS!!

As I've mentioned so many times before, I've only begun to get into CSS this year - and there are so many things that I want to do and learn. I've created a completely custom theme for Etharai and the Library, and I've modified a pre-existing theme for Desolation. But still, there is so much more that needs to be done.

Etharai

I had an idea during the middle of WorldEmber that I wanted to create separate sub-themes for each of the biomes of Etharai. I've begun to realise that vision already, but I've had to hold myself off a bit due to WorldEmber. Now, however, I can fully put my focus towards finishing these sub-themes. I only have nine more to go, and the rest to polish!

Clouds
Ice
Heart
Wastes

Fire
Ocean
Jungle
Caverns

Fog
Grass
Arid
Kelp

Abyss
Coral
Shroom
Stars

The Dust Bowl & The Secret Lair

These two projects are my two private projects, visible only to my players & co-authors. I'd like to make them both public someday, if possible, but even if not - I'd still love for the themes to fit the vibes of my story, more so than the pre-existing themes allow. So, I want to take some time and make custom themes for both of them.

by Catoblepon

Revamped Categories!

My category pages are a bit, well, messy. Most of them are not particularly organised, which is a bit of a problem in Etharai specifically as they are the main method of navigation through that world. Part of the problem is that I only started using and editing my category pages in November, when I was still busy with NaNoWriMo on top of everything. However, for this year I'd like to fully customise and create by category pages, both in Etharai and the Library, as well as potentially in my other worlds. I want the categories to function as an entire secondary way of navigating my world's contents, and I want to make them immersive. I have a lot of ideas for the Library, in particular.

Competitions!

I had fun with NaNoWriMo this year, but I had so much fun with WorldEmber. It was truly a blast, finishing off the year with so much worldbuilding - I feel like I may be overusing the word a bit by now, but I had such an amazing experience.
So, in the coming year, I want to participate in more of the WorldAnvil community events. Summercamp is of course a big one that I definitely want to try out - though I'm a but apprehensive about how well I'll do with the prompt format. I'll definitely try NaNoWriMo again, to get my writing juices in gear just in time for next WorldEmber! And, of course, some of the little events sprinkled in between.

Art!!

So, I made a placeholder image. Or two. And I used them in an article, or three, or seven, or... well, twenty-ish. Last month was full of more writing than art, and in 2024, I'd like to finish that art. For each of my articles where I've included a placeholder, I am planning on making my own art for that article before the year ends.

Qelk
Udarain
Lyathos Powder
Xsenda
Carnivorous Kelp

Fthast
Angels
Flamekin
Marblefish
Aura Mussels
Titansquid

Mother Daedara
Sweetbread
Abyssal Kuuyik
Coralglass

Zaldir
Jylar
Keeper
Iris Minnow
Daeni the Thoughtful

Agnes Placeholder by notahumanhand

Bonus Resolution!

Crochet!

So this isn't really related to worldbuilding at all, but I want to put it on here to remind myself of it. I love to crochet, but I haven't done any crochet in a while, and I want to pick it back up, as it was a nice and calming hobby for me. I plan on making a blanket for a friend, and I'm hoping to have it done by February.

Etharai's Species Project

Anyone who is following my other world may already know this by now, but I have a big project I've come up with for 2024! I came up with this a week or so back, when I was thinking about the number of unfinished species articles I have in Etharai (over one hundred, if you can believe it!). This project will (hopefully!) help me stick to a regular schedule of worldbuilding. I've always struggled with motivation, but I've found more recently that sharing my goals with others helps me to hold myself accountable for them. Of course, if this becomes too taxing for me, I will stop and take breaks - I don't want this to do the opposite of its intended affect. But I am so excited for this project, and for the coming year. I can't wait to see how my worlds will develop, and hopefully my own skills alongside them.