New Year's Resolutions 2023

WorldAnvil's New Years Resolutions 2023 Challenge (Accepted)

This year, I want to try and do more on WorldAnvil. Last year I made some attempts to try and worldbuild and make a world, but I was lost on how to start and to have motivation, this year I wish to change that by using whatever guides and inspiration I can find. I've already amassed a wealth of good inspiration, from Artifexian's Artefexia Playlist where he creates a world from scratch (which I have been loyally following) to the newest Avatar movie which has given me alot of visual inspiration and alot to think about.

I've decided to participate in the challenges this year too, (which means the article you're looking at), hopefully with a built foundation and clear direction completing the challenges will be easier and more fun. I'm not usually one to stick to New Years Resolutions specifically, as I don't believe goal-setting should be stuck to a specific date on a calender year. I believe that there's a natural state of reinvention, restarting and working that should happen regardless of calender year, but alas for the fun of it and for the challenge itself, I shall play along.

For the New Year's Resolution challenge this year WorldAnvil has set the gauntlet on reading 10 Articles, then giving feedback on parts that the pariticpant feels are inspiring and motivating. I picked my articles from the WorldEmber leaderboard almost exclusively as was suggested on the announcement page, and this is what I came up with.

Behold! 10 Articles and my ramblings!

1.) Symbosis by nnie (Sol)

This article, created by nnie for WorldEmber, is a condition that's a part of her world 'Sol', it describes in a very clinical fashion, how a parasitic condition called symbosis can latch onto a host. It goes into detail about the risks and the benefits of the condition, but what I find most interesting and fascinating about it, is that it seems to have a bias in what I can only assume is a very in-universe matter. The patterns of speech and way it is presented give the ideas of a national health page or much darker, a coperate health page. This has shook up my understanding about how an article can present facts, and if an article itself could have narrative bias, much akin to the SCP Foundation.

2.) Crying Bulb Soup by Naelin (Symbols of Power)

I really enjoy how this is described. It's very clearly onion soup or an analog of it in our world, but the way it is described and the traditions that form around it remind me heavily of old cookbooks. I was half expecting there to be a recipie there to read! Alas, no. I do enjoy this in-universe exposition that's here too, it feels like the opposite to the previous entry. Where I was previously discussing an article that felt uncomfortably corperate and medical, this feels entirely natural and homemade. I would watch a cooking show by Chelf Alue in a heartbeat. Anyway, I think I want to somehow embody the heart of this article, and get a slither of the wholesome fireside feeling this gives me.

3.) The Family Tree of Frieda Jacobs by eccbooks (?)

As a hobbyist genealogist, my eyes saw the words 'Family Tree' and my heart went, "Oh let's do that." The layout of this article is pretty concise and easily readable. I like that it gives the main points (History/Public Reaction/Legacy) and doesn't seem to expose more than it needs to. It feels almost like the professional and pruned layout of a Wikipedia article and I find that rather inspiring. I think my main take-away from this would be to try and keep my articles both clean and concise whilst also providing exactly what's needed. Which isn't an easy feat to pull off, mind you but there we go.

4.) Kin by MHBiscup (Vazdimet)

Within this article, the first thing I'm drawn to is the use of the side-panel. Although not used too much I think that it shows a clear and distinct understanding of the worldanvil interface. I love how they've customised and laid out this article, with a very beautiful star background and an interesting mix of space-age and readable fonts. I find it a little long, and the size of the paragraphs can be a little hard to decipher, but I'm pretty sure that's a fault on me and how my brain works than a mark off them. It is a rather curious read, all-in-all and I think it shows a nice insight into how the Vardan think.

5.) Ravenspeech Language by Tonarus (Arcathia: The New Order)

Ravenspeech is a Language made for WorldEmber 2022 by Tonarus. Now making a language in the high-paced and time-crunched enviroment of WorldEmber is a feat in itself, and although this doesn't look like an entire Conlang, to be able to note the flow, sounds and history of a language in that type of pace is impressive. I adore the ties it has, and it's implementation. I think the key take-away here for me though is that you can explain and show a complex idea with very little information. I think it's very informative and expansive for what's actually on the page.

6.) Magic by Tjtrewin (Melior)

This article is a straight up mind-dump of words and ideas into an article (at point of writing) and dammit, that makes me love it even more. There's always something intristicly hypontising about watching another person's mind work, especially someone you look up to, and for TJ, I look up to him alot. Reading through this both inspired me and gave me a great deal of comfort. It's broken down into rough Who/What/Why questions which I really like, and it's just absolutley amazing to read through. This inspires me, that even if I have a brain day, when nothing seems to work, I can atleast dump everything I've got into a page and maybe, just maybe, it'll be half as good as this.

7.) The Great Library of Bridgeport by Tillerz (Alana)

There's about 3 or 4 things I'd like to take from this article, mostly it's about the formatting, for example the gold border accented by green background feels both ornate and elven at the same time. The way the text is indented by a orate letter 'T' and the heavy imagery of books gives a very warm and lovely feeling. Part of me wishes that there wasn't a use of AI Generated images as I feel they look jumbled and uncomfortable and ruin the readability of the page. The Map is a lovely addition to the side-bar though and it looks very beautiful with it's warm wood hues. If I was to take something from this I would like to take inspiration for the use of CSS and the formatting.

8.) Elevir Isles by Kefkejaco (Niorath)

This explaination of the Elevir Isles by Kefkejaco is quite inspirational for an ideal formatting for inbetween pages. The pages that aren't their own entire article, but mostly a go-between explanation for a group of articles. I like the table-view type of formatting he's using (and I've tried to emulate it with this article, but put my own twist on it). I find this a very nice efficient use of space, effective for picking options, the article is also sectioned with the overall history listed underneath aswell. As a whole, I really enjoy the use of this in-between article alot.

9.) Souls by Qurilion (Ithekshem)

Souls, by Qurilion is an article created for WorldEmber 2022 and describes the manifestations of Souls in their world Ithekshem. They've used an arrangment of tribal imagery, a black and grey CSS layout very gently accented with gold, and a very chilling description to create an article that moved me personally and allowed me to properly visualise it in my minds eye. Their explaination of Soulstuff especially was quite potent for me, and I found myself directly imagining what such a substance could look like. I aspire to have descriptions that illicit such a reaction, and to have the reading of my articles create an expericence that is likened to that of this article.

10.) Picture Book: The Tale of the Eldrich Horrors by AmélieIS (Divine Tyranny)

There's alot to love about this subversion of expectation picture book by AmélieIS, it seems to be a lovely in-universe explanation for a ritual sacrifice but explained and editied in a way that would be comfortable for that universe's children. I love the format, it inspires me alot to challenge what can be an article. It's also chilling with it's use and subervion of format, with it being a children's picture book explaining a very very dark theme. All around I love it alot, and I think I'll be using these ideas for formatting and explaining things for fluff articles in the future.