WorldEmber Prep 2025

WorldEmber is the largest worldbuilding event of the year... and it's almost here! In December we'll challenge you to write 10,000 words of original worldbuilding—so now's time to prepare. Pledge your goal, complete the Prep Bingo, and get the Homework Squad badge.

But wait... what's WorldEmber?

In December every year, we challenge you to write at least 10,000 words of original worldbuilding about any topic—doing so will earn you a virtual badge and a chance to win prizes in the raffle.

You can also aim higher for the 25k or even 50k wordcount badges. And of course, if you're feeling competitive, you can submit to special categories to be judged—if you win, you get a prize. However your year has gone, WorldEmber is a great way to end the year with a super achievement under your belt!

Check more information about WorldEmber.

Step 1: Pledge your goal!

If you start the event with a clear idea about your goal, it will be much easier to achieve it! So, here's what you have to do:

Choose your area of focus: choose a specific location of your world or a topic to focus on. This will help you produce much tighter worldbuilding rather than being all over the place!
Decide your writing goal: Are you going for 10k words or are you aiming for the 25k or 50k milestones? Will you compete in any of the special categories based on article templates?
Get your pledge document! Click the button below to download the pledge document. Fill it out and share it with the world to set your goal!

Make your pledge!

Collect all of this in a Generic Article and submit it to the challenge by November 29th to get the Homework Squad badge (learn how to submit).

Step 2: The Prep Bingo

Below you have a 5x5 grid with homework assignments! Here's how to use it:

Choose one row or column
Answer all the assignments you've chosen in the homework article you submitted.
If the row or column you mention includes the middle "free space" cell, create your own prep assignment!

Click on each item to see some tips and more details!

Review or collect your world inspirations What music, movies, games, and books inspired your worldbuilding? Or, if you're starting a new world, what inspired you to do so? Collect all of your inspirations in a single page now so you can quickly reference them during WorldEmber!	Refresh your author profile to prepare for an influx of new readers WorldEmber is a great moment to share your work with the community! Since you might get more readers than usual, make sure your user profile on World Anvil has everything you want other people to know about you (such as social links, a brief introduction, etc)	Create a moodboard for your area of focus A moodboard is a collection of images that together convey a specific mood or theme. If you often use visual references, create one for your area of focus so you can easily get into the right worldbuilding mood during WorldEmber!	Review or set up your world homepage When someone reads one of your WorldEmber articles, they might then go to your world homepage to find more of your worldbuilding. Make sure the homepage clearly introduces the world and has a clear reading path for your readers to follow! Check our tips for a great homepage.	Review your category tree and organize any uncategorized articles World Anvil is all about organization, and categories are the fundamental way to organize your articles! Having a solid structure will ensure your WorldEmber worldbuilding stays organized. Check our tips for a great category tree.
Tidy up your writing space Having a tidier space will let you focus on writing with less distractions. Tidy up your desk, but also your computer! If you keep visual references or other materials in local folders, make sure they're well-organized so you can find them quickly. Use World Anvil folders to organize your worldbuilding and images.	Define the scope of your worldbuilding for WorldEmber Defining a realistic scope is essential to avoid burn-out. Your area of focus should be well-defined and something you're excited to work on. Within that area, think about what you want to write about exactly, and how deep you want your worldbuilding to be.	Review or create your world primer article A world primer is an introduction article that explains everything anyone needs to know to get into your world. But it's also a very useful tool for you to write out the fundamentals of your world! Check how to create a primer.	Find an accountability buddy If you struggle staying consistent and achieving creative goals, get a friend's help! Choose one now and ask them to help you stay on track during WorldEmber.	Get some feedback from your readers or players Constructive feedback is the quickest way to improve your worldbuilding, so if you haven't gotten any feedback recently, ask for it now! If you already have some, review it and see what you can do different in WorldEmber.
Finish all articles you've started this month before December WorldEmber is about writing new articles, so make sure you don't start the challenge with a half-written article! If you have multiple work-in-progress articles, try to finish them now so you can focus on new worldbuilding next month.	Read a book Reading is a great way to both get inspired and learn from other storytellers. Read a book and write down your favorite parts and how they might inspire your worldbuilding in WorldEmber!	Free space Choose your own homework! To complete this space, do something that you know will help you stay on track for your WorldEmber goal.	Prepare visual elements for your articles Images are an important aspect of many articles, as they help create the atmosphere and mood you're going for, and also break up long text walls. Prepare your art or find royalty-free images before WorldEmber so you don't have to pause your writing during the challenge!	Make a list of stubs you'd like to expand Stubs are articles with 50 or fewer words, and you can expand them during WorldEmber! If you have any you'd like to expand, make a list and start thinking about how they fit in your world.
Plan your worldbuilding playlist Choose music that fits your world's mood and tone to get you in the mood! If you don't know how to find the proper music, think of a videogame or movie that has a similar tone to your worldbuilding, and find its soundtrack.	Make a list of articles you want to write What do you want to write about? Don't start writing yet, but make a list of new article titles and specific topics you want to write about! This is especially important if you need some time to come up with ideas, so you can focus on just writing during WorldEmber.	Plan your writing schedule We all have life responsibilities—work, school, family, friends...—, so look at your calendar now and decide when you'll focus on writing! Mark the space in your calendar, and if you live with other people, let them know they shouldn't bother you during your writing time.	What kind of people can you find in your worldbuilding area? Most of the time, characters make or break the story. You don't need to come up with full characters (or even a full list) here, but think about the kind of characters one might encounter in your area. Are they welcoming? Cold? Suspicious of strangers? This will help you create the proper mood when writing next month.	Do some research about the topics you'll write about You've made a list of articles you'd like to write about, so do some pre-writing research! If any of them touch on topics you're not an expert in, find out all you can about it before WorldEmber. Research can be a deep rabbit hole, and you should avoid all distractions for this challenge!
Re-read your core articles While you might assume you know everything about your world, it's easy to forget details if you've been worldbuilding for a while! Refresh your memory by reading the most important parts of your world (and beyond, if you have the time!), and you might rediscover new areas of your world you want to develop.	Join the community! Few things are as motivating as fellow worldbuilders cheering you on! Join the WorldEmber community on our Discord server and introduce yourself! Share your progress and see what others are writing about.	Review the visual appearance of your world The first thing a new reader sees is your world's visual style! Review your style settings, and tweak your CSS theme if you need to. Check the workflow for styling your world!	Go for a walk There's no better inspiration than the real world! Whether you live in a rural area or in a city, go for a walk and enjoy your surroundings. Even if you don't find a specific source of inspiration, going for walks can really get your creative juices flowing!	What adjectives would you describe your world with? The most important tool when writing about your world is... words! Make a list of words that describe the themes, tone, and mood of your world and make sure you're using them during WorldEmber!

Or get the prep bingo as a graphic to share it with your friends:

Grab your bingo card!

Get the print-friendly bingo card

How to submit your homework

Submit your homework by November 29th to claim your Homework Squad badge! Here's how:

Create a Generic Article and write your homework in there, including your pledge and the answers to the bingo.
Make sure the article is public AND published! Click the padlock icon next to the article title to set it up.
In the article edit toolbar, at the bottom, click on the button with the trophy icon. There, you'll be able to submit it.

Once your article is submitted, you will see it appear in the list below! The Homework Squad badge will be awarded after WorldEmber Prep ends, and will appear in your World Anvil user profile.

Need help?

If you need help using World Anvil, check the Learn section for up-to-date tutorials.

If you have questions about this challenge, email us at [email protected]

Finally, to share your work (and hype!) about WorldEmber with your fellow Anvilites, join our Discord server or post on socials and on our community widget using #WorldEmber!

WorldEmber Prep 2025

WorldEmber Prep 2025

But wait... what's WorldEmber?

Step 1: Pledge your goal!

Step 2: The Prep Bingo

How to submit your homework

Need help?

Challenge entries

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