It’s July—we’re already past the halfway point of the year! Like every year, July heralds our online Worldbuilding Summer Camp—the perfect challenge to explore a new area of your world! We also excited to share some World Anvil feature updates this month!
Here’s what’s new in the dev space this month!
🏆 Challenge submission improvements
Want to take part in a community challenge? Now you can submit your entries from the new editing modal! Just click the trophy button in the bottom toolbar to get started:
For more details on this, check how to submit an article to a challenge on Learn!
👀 NEW Image Manager — coming soon!
Check out the Changelog page on World Anvil for the full changelog.
🗓️ July events
Summer Camp is finally here! This is one of our yearly worldbuilding events; this month, we challenge you to answer between 8 and 32 prompts on your world—read more and take part here. Here are this month’s events!
- 🍨 Summer Camp: 1 month, 32 prompts… GO! This is our challenge this month, and the first 10 prompts are out already. Check the challenge page for details! Every prompt wave will be released on stream:
- Second prompt wave release: July 5th (6pm UK/10am Pacific)
- Third prompt wave release: July 12th (6pm UK/10am Pacific)
- Final prompt wave release: July 19th (6pm UK/10am Pacific)
- Stream of Last Chances: July 26th (6pm UK/10am Pacific)
- ✨ Community Day: this month’s World Anvil Community Day will be on July 19th! Here’s the programme:
- 🎓 Sage Seminar: World primers (5pm UK/9am Pacific): Primers introduce new readers to your world, which makes them one of the most important pages you can write! In this month’s seminar, you’ll learn how to craft the perfect primer for your world. Find the link in the Professional Portal (Sages only).
Follow us on Twitch to learn when we go live!
🍨 Summer Camp merch!
What’s better than doing Summer Camp? Doing Summer Camp while drinking from a Summer Camp mug! Get yours from our store today!
📹 YouTube video round-up
Need a little push to improve your worldbuilding? Or want some advice from a professional worldbuilder? Here are our latest YouTube videos:
- Worldbuilding a Fantasy Culture in 4 Questions: Janet shares a pro-worldbuilder template to quickly understand a culture’s values, beliefs, and behaviors in a way that makes everything fall into place!
- Worldbuilding Exposition Done Right: If people don’t care about your lore, the problem isn’t your worldbuilding—it’s how you’re delivering it! Here are two rules that transform your worldbuilding exposition from lore dump to dynamic storytelling.
- The Power of Sensory Detail in Worldbuilding: Watch this to learn practical techniques to create better immersion with evocative elements that use all 5 (and more!) senses!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay on top of all our latest videos.
🤔 Will sharing worldbuilding on World Anvil hurt my chance to traditionally publish my novel?
We get this question very often, and the answer is… no! In fact, according to the Publishing Director at Gollancz, using World Anvil may actually attract a traditional publisher, especially if you gain a following! If you’re interested in traditional publishing, check out the full response the question for details.
🌟 Community highlight
This month’s community highlight is one of the cutest, bubbliest settings on World Anvil: Ayun Sovos, by Strixxline. Embark on a brand new adventure in a bright fantasy world brimming with crafty creatures and resourceful adventurers! Here’s what Line had to say about it:
Ayun Sovos is one of my newer projects, lovingly crafted with heart in mind, and it’s been one of my most rewarding writing experiences in my years-long worldbuilding journey.
I mentioned it during the Worldbuilding Awards stream, but this is the world that brought my spark back as I recovered from all flavors of artistic burnout — and it keeps fighting that battle with me with every delightful little detail I get to write or draw. Earning awards for this world is such a beautiful affirmation that pursuing your bliss is always the best move forward!
Ayun Sovos is a much-needed pocket of brightness in these interesting times, and I’ll be turning to this cozy project regularly for a dose of whimsy and joy when I need it most. I hope all of its visitors get to take that same delight with them when they stop by!
Ayun Sovos won the Artist’s Most Beautiful World 2025 Awards. So gear up, stuff some snacks in your pack, and discover the world of Ayun Sovos!
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We’ve started the closed beta (also known as Alchemists Release) of the new image management system! The new system is more responsive and easier to use, and in line with the rest of the updated UI. Expect it in a few weeks, after our amazing Alchemists help us polish it up to a shine!