To launch the New Worlds Patreon into its next year, my loyal patrons have voted for a topic I’m very fond of: dance! Comment over there . . .

It’s the end of the eighth year of the New Worlds Patreon! To close that out, we’re gonna be super classy — nah, just kidding. We’re going to talk about lying, boasting, and insulting people for fun. Comment over there!

Since this month’s New Worlds Patreon theme is (this is genuinely how I listed it in the poll) “A Verbal Miscellany,” we’re segueing from mottoes and proverbs to the serious business of oaths and vows. Comment over there . . .

Hey, remember how I had a book out just a couple of days ago, about the proverbial wisdom that gets passed around among authors? Now the New Worlds Patreon is taking its own look at such adages, for use in writing rather than about writing: comment over there!

The motto of the New Worlds Patreon is . . . okay, you got me; I don’t really have one. But other people and organizations do! Comment over there.

Back in November, the New Worlds Patreon theory post broached the topic of how to record your worldbuilding. Now it’s time to loop around and talk about specific tools and techniques for that — comment over there!

Sometimes it’s fun for the New Worlds Patreon to take a look at pseudoscience. But the ideas behind physiognomy and phrenology are pretty ugly . . . comment over there.

Pivoting slightly from where this month’s New Worlds Patreon theme started (clothing) to other aspects of appearance: it’s time to take a look at the bodies underneath the clothes, and what we want them to look like. Comment over there . . .

Continuing with the clothing theme, the New Worlds Patreon is asking: what makes fashion change? Who drives that change? Comment over there!

Six years after starting the topic, the New Worlds Patreon returns to other aspects of how clothing can communicate something about the person who wears it! Comment over there.

For the last essay of December, 2024, and this particular sub-topic, the New Worlds Patreon turns to the top brass of a military force — and more specifically, what a good general does. (Hint: very little of the nonsensical “genius” moves TV and movies love.) Comment over there!

This week’s New Worlds Patreon essay blends a bit into the previous, split apart mostly by the semi-arbitrary standard of having each piece be about a thousand words long, give or take. Having acquired our officers, how do we organize the authority they hold? Comment over there . . .

The New Worlds Patreon continues its military tour with a look at officers: how many of them there might be, how they’re chosen, and how they’re promoted. Comment over there!

It’s not exactly tailored to the holiday season, but the New Worlds Patreon is looking at military matters this month. We start with “how big should that army really be?” — comment over there!

As my patrons know, I made a last-minute swap of the theory essay this past Friday. And I remembered to update the notification sent to them! . . . but I didn’t update my post here. So 1) y’all know what a future theory essay will be about, and 2) the correct link is to “The Setting Bible, Part 1.” (The swap happened because what was supposed to be an upcoming essay turned out to span two, and I moved the first part up so as to get both into the same annual collection, rather than splitting them across volumes.)

Five Fridays in this November, so you know what that means: a theory post from the New Worlds Patreon! This time I venture a bit further out of my own sphere and talk about taking inspiration from biology; comment over there.

The New Worlds Patreon‘s final clothing post (for now) takes a look at that most Sisyphean of domestic labors, the doing of laundry — comment over there!

Hats last week; shoes this week, as the New Worlds Patreon continues its tour of our accessories — or are they necessities? Comment over there . . .

From our underthings, the New Worlds Patreon proceeds onward to what we have on our heads. Did you ever notice how weird hats are? Comment on them over there . . .

For a month of clothing, the New Worlds Patreon is starting off right next to the skin. That’s right, it’s time to talk underwear! Comment over there . . .