New Year's Resolutions, 2024

Happy New Year!

Just before WorldEmber, I became one of the founding members of a new chapter, Articles Anonymous. I've decided to focus my WorldEmber reading on the articles written by my chapter-mates this year - they've published some really wonderful stuff!

Chapter Member WorldEmber Articles

I've selected one article from the WorldEmber competition page for each chapter member to list here, and it was hard to narrow it all down!

Crkija by Alishahr

I love all the detail in this article. It brings the language to life!

The Covenant by Dragonquillca

Great article. I am fascinated by the Välimaa, and would love to know more about what it is like for those inside it.

Fool's Goal Maneuver by JoellaKay

This article is brilliantly written, and really draws the reader in!

World League of Blood Sports by Myth-X

This is the kind of article that really give you a window into the world it is written in. Fantastic job!

A Curse Over Desçov - Primer by OK_Diamond

This is a wonderful overview of the setting, and leaves me wanting to read more!

Rampant Forms by Tankium

Very creative, and a lot of potential for different stories and adventures.

Kingdom of America by Tynen_TM

The amount of thought that went into this really shows - it is a fascinating alternate history!

Other Exceptional WorldEmber Articles

Here are some other articles that I loved reading from WorldEmber.

Runic Magic by Catoblepon

I'm a sucker for well-described and defined magic systems, and this one is a gem.

Ghost by Mochimanoban

This uses one of the best tricks for horror; giving you just enough description to let your imagination scare you. It's masterfully done.

The World-Traveller's Cookbook by Notahumanhand (spleen)

I was astounded when I started into this article. It's incredibly detailed and deep. I believe foodways are one the best ways to know a culture, and this article amazed at every turn.

My Plans in the New Year

I don't believe in resolutions - I have always failed at them. But I do believe in making plans and sticking to them (at least until the circumstances change - then the plan changes). It's a quibble, but it's a distinction that makes me happier, so I'm sticking to it.

For the next year, I'm planning to keep working on The Million Islands. I want to go through my regions, building out the Atlas and defining enough of the geography to have a real feel for each region. Of course, doing nothing by geography will get old after a while, so I'll also be jumping in on as many of the challenges and competitions as I can, especially those where we are writing to prompts. I found that Summer Camp and Spooktober last year really helped me stretch my imagination, and I'm happy with the articles that came out of them; hopefully, I can repeat that in 2024!

One last plan: I'm going to try and make sure that none of my articles are more than about six months since their last review. I've been evolving the idea of setting a lot as I write, and I know that my oldest articles reflect an earlier vision for the world that is only somewhat consistent with the newer components. I want to go back to those and reread them. Some of what was in there will get scrapped, while other ideas will be updated and refreshed. And I may even find a cool idea I had forgotten about that I'll want to incorporate more fully in the other articles.

That's all for now - thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!