📚 WorldEmber: Things you can prepare in advance (without cheating)
Writing articles before the event is off-limits, so what CAN you prepare in advance? Quite a bit, actually!
If you're not sure what this is about, check the previous post!
TJ Trewin
Continuing in my not-sponsored-just-obsessed posts about WorldEmber, there's a lot of things you can prepare ahead of time before December comes around so that you won't be scrabbling around frantically for art at the last minute. 😅
But first, the rules:
Only new worldbuilding written in new articles created during December counts towards WorldEmber and it needs to be your own, original work.
Which means you're not allowed to write lots of lore and articles in advance! Pre-written, generated, copied, or plagiarised text is a big no-no. It's a time for exploring new ideas and expanding your world - editing old work can be done afterwards!
So if writing for articles is out of the question, what can you get ready?
🗺️ Maps & markers
Having a map ready in advance is a fantastic way of getting ideas ready to write about for December! You can add map pins and markers with titles and short descriptions to get a taster of what the full articles will be about!
As long as you're not writing full article-length lore in the descriptions and re-using them during WorldEmber, it's fair game!
Here's the map that I've prepared for my world, Journals of Yesteryear:
TJ Trewin
The pin descriptions are much shorter than a stub (50 words) and they help me to visualise where locations are in relation to one another.
⏳ Timelines & chronicles
Only words in new articles created during December count towards WorldEmber, so timelines and chronicles are another incredibly useful resource you can prepare in advance. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, it can just be a short list of historical events that have impacted your world in some way.
Having a timeline will help you to see what impacted and influenced your world. If you're not sure where to start, I wrote a comprehensive guide to it here (including a free template):
TJ Trewin
🌳 Family trees & bloodlines
Now, this one is a bit tricky on World Anvil because you need to have created lots of character articles and connected them together in order to make a family tree or a bloodline, so instead of creating it early you can still plan it out with a list of names and use a whiteboard or piece of paper to map out a list of characters, their relations, and their birth/death dates (if relevant).
🎨 Art & sketches
Another thing you can prepare in advance is art and visual assets to illustrate your lore! If you're an artist, prepare some sketches in advance (they don't have to be finished, you could add the final details once you've written about the subject later).
You can also find lots of imagery to use online, just make sure to check the usage rights in the licence (such as a creative commons licence) and follow its rules. If you're not sure if you can use it, ask the artist beforehand or choose something different!
I recommend getting a collection of header images ready, as these will draw the most attention to your articles 😍
📋 Article templates & BBCode layouts
Save time on fancy layouts by preparing them in advance! 👀
If you have a Grandmaster+ World Anvil account you can create your own article templates that show up with the other template buttons on the dashboard.
Alternatively, you can just make some test articles with blank layouts in to copy and paste (just make sure it doesn't contain any worldbuilding, or that'd be cheating!). I recommend making some placeholder images of different sizes to include in your layouts - just remember to swap them out when you get to your worldbuilding!
Bear in mind that the duplicated article will be the same template as the original!
🏷️ Names & rough ideas
Perhaps the most important thing you can get ready is a list of names and rough ideas to explore when the event begins in December.
Think of it as a bit like preparing to run a tabletop roleplaying game - you don't need to know every detail about each town in a region, but it's handy to have a list of names and a vague idea!
👀 How I plan my ideas
I generally have a good ol' look through my world and start jotting down things I've mentioned that haven't been expanded on.
Then when I'm preparing for WorldEmber I use my planner to jot down at least 1 idea per article template on World Anvil just to get the ball rolling. Sometimes I have no idea and I'll just write a vague prompt! It's usually a list that looks something like this:
- Nerina (character) - had a very expensive crown that was stolen a lot for some reason.
- Middle moons (item) - food (mentioned in introduction article).
- Blessing (myth) - a rumoured legendary figure who owned a blade.
- ??? (profession) - types of magic-based professions.
🏆 Ten steps ahead
Aside from a handful of unofficial challenges run by members of the community during WorldEmber, there are no prompts and you can write whatever you want! So, if you're interested, why not use this time to make some award-winning worldbuilding? 👀
World Anvil also runs the esteemed Worldbuilding Awards with physical trophies for numerous categories, including: maps, timelines, best world, and most beautiful world.
Categories change a little each year, but there are also awards for stand-alone articles too, with last year's awards having categories like: Hearts & Minds, Rise of Nations, Wondrous Nature, Strength & Honour, Pillars of Progress, and Myths & Legends.
I'll be covering how to increase your engagement during WorldEmber in an upcoming post below 😉
📰 Bonus WorldEmber posts
My newsletter subscribers got to read these SUPER-EARLY (in August!), but now these are all available to everyone right now:
- 🔥 Prepare for WorldEmber (how to set a goal you can actually achieve)
- 📜 How to boost your wordcount (also w/o cheating) to achieve your goal
- 💖 WorldEmber FTW: how to increase engagement without spamming
- 🧯 How to keep pace without burnout
What things are on your list this year?
