Poem: "An Inkling of Things to Come"
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This poem is spillover from the August 5, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt fromfuzzyred. It also fills the "someone from the past" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics fest. This poem belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.
This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.50/line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.
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"An Inkling of Things to Come"
[Monday, August 22, 2016]
Shiv caught a bus from Blues Moon
to the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
He walked through the campus,
trying not to think too hard about
why he was there, so that he
wouldn't panic and run away.
He felt out of place and antsy,
but sort of curious, until some
of the real kids started staring
at him. Then he just felt anxious.
Shiv pulled out his tin and put
a bit of patch candy in his mouth,
hoping that the ginger and chamomile
would settle his stomach and nerves.
Eventually he made his way over
to the Arts and Sciences Hall
and up to the second floor.
Arthur caught him in the hall
and gently bumped shoulders.
"Glad you made it," said Arthur.
"Just remember that this is all
your dumb idea, and if it blows up
in our faces, it is your fault," said Shiv.
"Totally worth the risk," Arthur said
with a wild grin. "We're brothers."
Like that was going to help Shiv
calm down any. Family was scary.
So was school, and college scared
him worse than gradeschool ever had.
Nada and Erwin came out of an elevator
together, talking about their other classes
as well as various ideas for this one.
Luci bounded around a corner
to meet them. "Hi, Shiv-ya, sorry
I'm late," she said, draping herself
around his shoulders. "Dance class
ran a little longer than I expected it to."
"Tell the professor," Shiv said absently.
"He'll give extra time if you need it."
Luci grabbed the door to open it,
and Nada started to head in, but
Shiv held an arm in front of her.
"Let Erwin have first pick of
the seating," he said. "We
can take whatever's left."
"Thanks," Erwin murmured as
he rolled past them. He looked
around the Worldbuilding classroom.
It had a bunch of tables pushed together
to make one giant table down the middle,
with mismatched office chairs around it.
There were two chalkboards toward
the front, a clear idea board on a stand,
and a quietly ticking clock on the wall. In
the back, the teacher's desk held a computer.
Erwin rolled all the way to the back where
the far wall held a double window, and
pulled away the chairs at the end of
the table. That way he could see
most of the other stuff in the room.
Arthur and Luci got Shiv between them
and claimed seats closer to the door.
Restless, Shiv clicked his candy against
his teeth. It was okay for him to bring
food into the Worldbuilding class:
Professor Dexter had said so.
Nada sat across from them,
nibbling on her fingernails.
"You okay?" Shiv said.
"I'm just nervous,"
said Nada. "College
is new and ... scary."
"Patch candy?" Shiv said,
offering the tin. "It's got
ginger and chamomile,
so it's good for nerves,
bellyaches, headaches,
and what-all else."
"Thanks," Nada said,
popping one in her mouth.
"I love herbal candy. We used
to get lavender candy ... before."
She was a Croatian refugee, and
missed a lot of things from there.
"I'll ask if anyone has a recipe
for lavender candy," Shiv said.
"Heron probably knows one."
More students trickled in,
and Shiv knew most of them.
He had met Kathan Vilt and
Roisin Finnegan in workshops
he'd attended at Hanson Hall.
Maiara Jandira lived in the cottage
next to Arthur's, and he had invited her
to join the Worldbuilding class. Shiv
had encountered her while visiting
Arthur earlier in the summer.
The black guy looked unfamiliar,
but that was okay. Professor Dexter
had mentioned working with a list
of students interested in the class.
Shiv pulled out his college planner
so he wouldn't forget to write down
any important schedule things, and
the binder of lined and blank paper
dedicated to notes for this class.
Professor Dexter came in and took
a seat at the head of the table rather
than standing by the teacher's desk at
the far end of the room by the windows.
"Good morning, everyone," he said.
"I'm delighted to see you all here. Let's
go around with introductions. Give us
your name, your role in worldbuilding,
and any other tidbits you'd like to share.
I'm Professor Dexter and I'll be guiding
you through the fun of worldbuilding."
"I'm Shiv," he said. "I do art and stuff.
I'm just here 'cause of Arthur." He
jerked a thumb at his foster brother.
He ignored most of the rest, since he
already knew all but one of them.
Arthur, Kathan, and Maiara were
writers. Roisin and Nada were
artists like Shiv. So the rest of
them must be whatever else.
"My name is J'aeson Deyo and I'm
a senior at Creighton," he said. "I
am studying Exercise Science and
Pre-Health Professions along with
African American and Diaspora. After
I finish that, I plan to transfer here and
work toward becoming a sport nurse.
In worldbuilding, I'm miscellaneous."
Yeah, that ought to make for
some interesting contributions.
Professor Dexter handed out
a stack of thick folders, each
with a thumb drive taped to it.
"These are your class materials,"
he said. "You'll find paper and
electronic copies of them. On top
is a list of due dates, and under that
are sample assignment parameters."
"Sample assignments?" said Erwin.
"You're not giving us specifics?"
"You have much freedom in what
you choose to create, as long as
everyone puts in similar effort,"
said Professor Dexter. "There are
worksheets and questionnaires for
inspiration if you wish to use them."
Arthur opened his packet and
leafed through a few pages.
Shiv glanced at his, then
swallowed hard. It was
all just a bunch of words
that he mostly didn't know.
"As you can see, there are
some guest lectures scheduled
that will cover different aspects of
worldbuilding," said Professor Dexter.
"I'm here to guide you, and if you get
stuck, you can ask for help. However,
you'll make most of the decisions
yourselves, working as a team."
"Can we start on stuff today, or
is it all introduction?" said Arthur.
"You may begin working out
the broad strokes if you wish,"
Professor Dexter confirmed.
"Maybe we should compare
our schedules first, since this
is a flex class," said Maiara.
"Good thinking," Luci said.
"I've got dance performances
as well as my classes and ...
some other considerations."
Like catching bad guys as
the superhera Silk, which
neither of them would tell.
"My schedule is, uh, kind of
unpredictable," Shiv hedged.
"Just write down times that
you know will be free or are
already full," said Arthur.
"Yeah, okay," Shiv said,
and pulled out his daybook.
There were too many variables.
"Want a hint?" Luci asked,
and when Shiv nodded, then
she said, "Put different things
in different colors, like projects
in green and due dates in red.
Pencil in possible activities,
then erase or ink them later."
"That helps," Shiv said as
he took out his colored pens.
"How far do we have to go?"
Nada said, nibbling her lip.
"Let's just work through
September, so that we
don't get too far ahead
of ourselves," said Roisin.
Arthur glanced at what others
were writing. "How about folks
in Nebraska en Plein Air attempt
to catch some sessions together, so
we can do worldbuilding art then?"
"Oh, that's a good idea," said Roisin.
"Then it can count for both classes."
Yeah, because the plein air class
didn't care what you did, as long
as you did something creative.
"I'm in," Shiv said, and copied
his notes about session times.
There were four people sharing
that class: him, Arthur, Nada, and
Roisin. That should be interesting.
"One of my minors is in Nebraska
and Great Plains Studies. Several of
us are taking Nebraska en Plein Air,"
said Arthur. "How about we plan
to include grasslands in our setting?
That would give us familiar habitat, and
we could use local stuff for inspiration."
"Oh, that's a good idea," said Kathan.
"I can brush up on that biome."
"I can take notes on what we
decide, then send copies to
everyone after each session,"
said Maiara. "That way, we
can keep track of everything."
"Yeah, that'll help," Arthur said,
flipping through the handouts.
"I think we're getting ahead of
ourselves, though. It might be
easier if we follow an outline."
"You lead, and I'll take notes,"
said Maiara. "Otherwise we'll
scramble all over the place."
"Okay," said Arthur. "What
genre do we want to choose?
Everyone write down at least
your top three favorites."
Shiv stiffened. "The fuck's
a genre?" he hissed at Arthur.
"A general kind of story, like
Tolkien wrote fantasy and
Asimov wrote science fiction,"
said Arthur. "Whatever you like."
"I don't fuckin' read," Shiv said.
"You watch movies," said Luci.
"Anime, fantasy, action, and
the occasional horror from
what you've mentioned to me."
Shiv didn't know how to spell
any of those damn things.
Luci must have guessed
as much, because she
wrote them down for him.
Shiv added jazz and blues
to his list, because those
he actually could spell.
Once everyone had listed
their favorite genres, Maiara
collected them and tallied up
things with more than one vote.
"Fantasy wins by a landslide with
eight votes," she said. "Historical
has three, and so do indigenous or
refugee and jazz or blues. Action,
science fiction, and the cluster of
folk-myth stuff each have two votes."
Erwin sighed. "I'm not into fantasy,
and I wouldn't have much to do there,"
he said. "I was hoping for science fiction
so I could do the astronomy or engineering."
"I don't like science fiction," said Roisin.
"It just feels cold and mechanical to me."
"Yeah, I tried Afrofuturism, but it's
weird and confusing," said J'aeson.
"Erwin, what else have you got
on your list?" asked Kathan.
"Shonen manga, seinen manga,
and steampunk," said Erwin.
"It doesn't overlap much."
"Well, steampunk is
a historical subgenre,"
Maiara pointed out.
"Two of mine could be
counted that way then --
shānghén wénxué or
scar literature and wuxia
or martial art chivalry,"
said Luci. "Maybe we
could combine things."
Professor Dexter spoke up.
"Most world-sized settings
can accommodate a variety
of storytelling and art styles,"
he said. "The main thing that
you need to settle is whether
it's a planet or something else."
"You can't have astronomy
without a planet," said Erwin.
"Why not?" said Shiv. He leaned
on Arthur. "Help me out here,
what was the one that had
the dancing people stars?"
"Narnia," said Arthur. "There
the stars are shining silver people
who dance in the night skies."
"Okay, yeah, so fantasy worlds
can have stars too," Shiv said.
"Like maybe, um, what was
the metal thing with stars on it?"
"Orrery? Astrolabe?" Erwin asked.
"Armillary sphere?" said Arthur.
"There's one here on campus
in one of the hidden gardens."
"I dunno which is which,"
Shiv said with a frown.
Arthur used his smartphone
to bring up images of them.
"I dunno which of these would
work better, but like ... imagine
stars as shiny people dancing
around the sky above the world,"
Shiv said, waving his hands.
"That ... might work," Erwin said,
beginning to look interested again.
"But let's not mess it up like C.S. Lewis
did when he forgot that Narnia was
supposed to be a plane," said Arthur.
"Does a fantasy world have to be flat, or
can it be some other shape?" said Rosin.
"It can be whatever you choose, as long
as you can describe your storyworld so
it makes sense," said Professor Dexter.
"Mine in college looked like a seashell.
What shape were you thinking about?"
"Domed, like a brooch," said Roisin.
"That would be closer to a planet,
or rather, a slice from a planet."
"That could work," Erwin said. "I
could probably design something."
"This is sounding like science fantasy,
only instead of putting fantasy bits into
a science setting, we're putting science
into a fantasy setting," Kathan mused.
"Does anyone object to science fantasy
along those lines?" said Professor Dexter,
and nobody did. "Erwin, would you be
happy working with these parameters?"
"Yeah, as long as I have something to do
with my actual skills, I'm good," said Erwin.
"That's going to make the geography
of the world complicated," said Kathan.
"Shiv, could you make a model of it?"
Arthur asked, turning toward him.
"Sure, if somebody can give me
a good enough diagram of how
it's supposed to look," Shiv said.
"Maybe the artists could talk
with Erwin and then sketch out
a few different possibilities for us
to choose from," said Arthur.
"I like that idea," Roisin said.
"It'll be fun to play around with."
"What about magic and science,
how do those work?" asked Kathan.
J'aeson shrugged. "I say leave it all
the same as here, except for things
we really need to change," he said.
"Magical weather!" Roisin exclaimed.
"I want magical weather, it'd be so cool."
"What, like glowing rain?" said Kathan.
"How would that kind of thing even work?"
"No, I mean changes in magic, the way
air pressure and temperature change,"
said Roisin. "It would affect what kinds
of magic people could do when and where."
Maiara nodded. "Some places are colder,
others warmer. Some get lots of rain,
while others get very little," she said.
"That affects plants, animals, and all."
"Why would that happen, though?"
Kathan asked. "What drives it?"
"It's all energy, isn't it?" Shiv said.
"The sun puts energy in the air and
water, that's why they move. So,
magic comes from somewhere and
it moves around, like the weather."
"Maybe there's magical geography,
too," said Nada. "Like mountains
blocking clouds, only invisible."
"Invisible magical mountains,"
Shiv said, laughing. "Sure, why not."
"We're just noodling around ideas
today, we can't work out all of that
immediately," Arthur reminded them.
"How about everyone writes down
different ideas for the magic and
science in our storyworld, then we
can discuss them the next time
we get together," Luci suggested.
"We're gonna need a name for this,"
said J'aeson. "We can't just keep
calling it 'storyworld' forever."
"The name of the world should
give an inkling of things to come,"
said Arthur. "That's one reason
why Tolkien and Lewis called
their writing group the Inklings."
"That's wild," said Kathan.
"Maybe we can build on that."
Inklings ... inkle, ink, incredible,
wilding, wilderness, wild ...
"InkleWylde," Shiv blurted.
"That's the name of the world."
"I like it," Arthur said, grinning.
"That's a great name idea.
How did you come up with it?"
"Just words sloshing around
inside my head," Shiv said.
"Does anyone else have ideas
for it?" said Professor Dexter.
Nobody did, though; they all
loved Shiv's suggestion.
"Plants and animals,"
Arthur said, looking at
one of the worksheets.
"Any takers for those?"
"I love nature," said Kathan,
and Nada added, "Me too."
"We'll need keystone species
to distinguish environments,"
said Arthur. "Come up with
some options besides plains
and we can discuss them."
"What about history?" said Roisin.
"Do we need a timeline, or what?"
"Eventually, yeah, but so far we
don't have places or people
developed yet," said Arthur.
"Do we need to?" said J'aeson.
"Maybe we could just jot down
a few bits of history that relate
to our various fields or interests."
"Yes please," Nada said firmly.
"History isn't all about wars."
"So noted," said Maiara. "Let's do
at least three historical bits each."
Shiv already had a few ideas
floating around in his head, since
he'd read about people fighting
over pigments, the discovery
of new dyes, and of course
the history of metallurgy.
That reminded him...
"Where do metals come
from in InkleWylde?"
he wondered. "Do
they come from mines
like here, or do people
make them from magic,
or do nuggets and jewels
fall from the sky like rain?"
"I'm loving a rain of jewels,"
said Roisin. "Let's do that."
Erwin, who had been scribbling
in his notebook for some time,
looked up and said, "The stars
in their changing positions could
influence not only magic but
what resources fall when."
"I like it," Shiv said. "So
some things would fall more
in one place than another,
or more often, and whatever."
"That would screw the economy,"
said Maiara. "What if diamonds were
rare, and used in trade, but suddenly
it rained diamonds for a week? That
would wreck the exchange rate."
"History tidbit!" Nada said.
"Write that down, it's great."
"A better world," Arthur said,
switching to another worksheet.
"Let's explore some ways in which
InkleWylde is better than our world,
and ways that it is worse than ours."
"Oh, like the lists of top-ten and
bottom-ten countries for soups,"
Shiv said. "Even if it's not for
the same reasons, when we
make countries or whatever,
then we should think about
which are good or bad ones."
"Definitely," said Nada. "People
will fight over things, but not
everyone is that aggressive."
"We're finding some good ideas,"
said Arthur. "Let's go around
and make sure that each of us
gets to put one or a few things
into the world that we want."
"I like the suggestions for stars,"
said Erwin. "I look forward to them."
"A storyworld benefits from a calendar,
and you're the logical person to build one,
if that appeals to you," said the professor.
"Yeah, I could do that," said Erwin. "Maybe
add a bit from steampunk, if there's a city
or somewhere else that has developed
more technology than other places?"
"Sure, look at Earth's history, it had
patchy development," said Roisin.
"I'd like to add some sort of knotwork
or other threaded design. I might
come up with some new forms
of poetry for the cultures."
"I love Celtic knotwork, it's
so pretty," Shiv said. "Do it!"
"I think the cultures should have
their own myths and legends,"
said Arthur. "Also, I love how
everyone in Middle Earth could
make up songs and poems
on the spot, even the goblins."
"I'm with you on that," said Roisin.
"Nada, what would you add?"
"Refugees," Nada said quietly.
"Every world has some, even if
nobody talks about them. It's what
I remember most from Tolkien --
all the lost cities and homelands,
the people cast out to wander."
"I'll help with that," said Maiara.
"I wanted to include something
about indigenous people. Maybe
I could photograph some refugees as
artistic references, if anyone's willing."
"Earlier I offered to work on nature,
the plants and animals," said Kathan.
"I think I'd like to have shapeshifters
or gendershifters in there somewhere."
"I'm on board with that," said Shiv.
"It's good for folks to have options."
"What would you include?" said Arthur.
"What things sound like fun to you?"
Shiv thought about that. "Metal and
glass, smithcraft," he said. "As much
as I love painting, I'd like to include
more different kinds of artwork."
"That won't fit in the worldbook,
though," said J'aeson. "A book is
more suited to drawing or painting."
"I can photograph anything that's
three-dimensional," said Maiara.
"Then just print the photos."
"Yeah, that should work,"
said J'aeson. "I would like
to explore sports and games.
I'm also interested in figuring out
what level of medicine societies have."
"I would like to feature dance, maybe
a different style for each culture,"
said Luci. "I think that martial arts
and scar literature could fit too."
"Do the scar thing," Shiv said.
"That'll work great in art, so that
the characters look more different."
The professor's vidwatch chimed.
"All right, that's a ten-minute warning,"
he said. "Please start wrapping up."
"I need everyone's contact information
that they want to use for class notes,
so I can send you copies," said Maiara.
Shiv gave her his vdress. He liked not
having to worry about doing it all himself,
though he had a binder for this class
plus a page for it in his college binder
so that he could keep track of stuff.
"I've got schedule notes for
Nebraska en Plein Air,"
said Arthur. "We can try
to team up for that later."
"Does this Monday slot
work for everyone here?"
said Shiv. "My schedule
is iffy, but I've blocked out
this bit so I can catch it."
Everyone else had done
the same, even though it
was encouraged rather
than required to catch
the professor sessions.
"I'm glad that you all plan
on attending this class time,"
said Professor Dexter. "I have
some good guest lectures set up,
and of course I enjoy teaching too."
Before long, they were done,
and most of the students left.
Arthur and Luci stuck with Shiv.
"So, did you have any fun at all
today?" Professor Dexter asked.
Shiv thought about it. "Yeah, I did,"
he said. "This was surprisingly cool."
"I'm so happy to hear that. I really
hoped you would," said the professor.
"I was afraid that you might hate it
and want to drop the class, despite
all our efforts to make it appealing."
"It's good," said Shiv. "Not sayin' I'll
never freak out, but it doesn't suck."
Arthur and Luci looked at each other,
then back at him, grinning widely.
"I'm glad nothing blew up in
our faces," said Arthur. "I'm
looking forward to the rest."
Shiv took a look around
the room, which gave him
an inkling of things to come.
That made him smile.
"Yeah, so am I," he said.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, location, and content notes will appear separately.
This poem is spillover from the August 5, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from
fuzzyred. It also fills the "someone from the past" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics fest. This poem belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.So far sponsors include:
fuzzyred, janetmiles.FULLY FUNDED
Amount donated = $263
Verses posted = 155 of 187
Amount remaining to fund fully = $52
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.50
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $3
"An Inkling of Things to Come"
[Monday, August 22, 2016]
Shiv caught a bus from Blues Moon
to the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
He walked through the campus,
trying not to think too hard about
why he was there, so that he
wouldn't panic and run away.
He felt out of place and antsy,
but sort of curious, until some
of the real kids started staring
at him. Then he just felt anxious.
Shiv pulled out his tin and put
a bit of patch candy in his mouth,
hoping that the ginger and chamomile
would settle his stomach and nerves.
Eventually he made his way over
to the Arts and Sciences Hall
and up to the second floor.
Arthur caught him in the hall
and gently bumped shoulders.
"Glad you made it," said Arthur.
"Just remember that this is all
your dumb idea, and if it blows up
in our faces, it is your fault," said Shiv.
"Totally worth the risk," Arthur said
with a wild grin. "We're brothers."
Like that was going to help Shiv
calm down any. Family was scary.
So was school, and college scared
him worse than gradeschool ever had.
Nada and Erwin came out of an elevator
together, talking about their other classes
as well as various ideas for this one.
Luci bounded around a corner
to meet them. "Hi, Shiv-ya, sorry
I'm late," she said, draping herself
around his shoulders. "Dance class
ran a little longer than I expected it to."
"Tell the professor," Shiv said absently.
"He'll give extra time if you need it."
Luci grabbed the door to open it,
and Nada started to head in, but
Shiv held an arm in front of her.
"Let Erwin have first pick of
the seating," he said. "We
can take whatever's left."
"Thanks," Erwin murmured as
he rolled past them. He looked
around the Worldbuilding classroom.
It had a bunch of tables pushed together
to make one giant table down the middle,
with mismatched office chairs around it.
There were two chalkboards toward
the front, a clear idea board on a stand,
and a quietly ticking clock on the wall. In
the back, the teacher's desk held a computer.
Erwin rolled all the way to the back where
the far wall held a double window, and
pulled away the chairs at the end of
the table. That way he could see
most of the other stuff in the room.
Arthur and Luci got Shiv between them
and claimed seats closer to the door.
Restless, Shiv clicked his candy against
his teeth. It was okay for him to bring
food into the Worldbuilding class:
Professor Dexter had said so.
Nada sat across from them,
nibbling on her fingernails.
"You okay?" Shiv said.
"I'm just nervous,"
said Nada. "College
is new and ... scary."
"Patch candy?" Shiv said,
offering the tin. "It's got
ginger and chamomile,
so it's good for nerves,
bellyaches, headaches,
and what-all else."
"Thanks," Nada said,
popping one in her mouth.
"I love herbal candy. We used
to get lavender candy ... before."
She was a Croatian refugee, and
missed a lot of things from there.
"I'll ask if anyone has a recipe
for lavender candy," Shiv said.
"Heron probably knows one."
More students trickled in,
and Shiv knew most of them.
He had met Kathan Vilt and
Roisin Finnegan in workshops
he'd attended at Hanson Hall.
Maiara Jandira lived in the cottage
next to Arthur's, and he had invited her
to join the Worldbuilding class. Shiv
had encountered her while visiting
Arthur earlier in the summer.
The black guy looked unfamiliar,
but that was okay. Professor Dexter
had mentioned working with a list
of students interested in the class.
Shiv pulled out his college planner
so he wouldn't forget to write down
any important schedule things, and
the binder of lined and blank paper
dedicated to notes for this class.
Professor Dexter came in and took
a seat at the head of the table rather
than standing by the teacher's desk at
the far end of the room by the windows.
"Good morning, everyone," he said.
"I'm delighted to see you all here. Let's
go around with introductions. Give us
your name, your role in worldbuilding,
and any other tidbits you'd like to share.
I'm Professor Dexter and I'll be guiding
you through the fun of worldbuilding."
"I'm Shiv," he said. "I do art and stuff.
I'm just here 'cause of Arthur." He
jerked a thumb at his foster brother.
He ignored most of the rest, since he
already knew all but one of them.
Arthur, Kathan, and Maiara were
writers. Roisin and Nada were
artists like Shiv. So the rest of
them must be whatever else.
"My name is J'aeson Deyo and I'm
a senior at Creighton," he said. "I
am studying Exercise Science and
Pre-Health Professions along with
African American and Diaspora. After
I finish that, I plan to transfer here and
work toward becoming a sport nurse.
In worldbuilding, I'm miscellaneous."
Yeah, that ought to make for
some interesting contributions.
Professor Dexter handed out
a stack of thick folders, each
with a thumb drive taped to it.
"These are your class materials,"
he said. "You'll find paper and
electronic copies of them. On top
is a list of due dates, and under that
are sample assignment parameters."
"Sample assignments?" said Erwin.
"You're not giving us specifics?"
"You have much freedom in what
you choose to create, as long as
everyone puts in similar effort,"
said Professor Dexter. "There are
worksheets and questionnaires for
inspiration if you wish to use them."
Arthur opened his packet and
leafed through a few pages.
Shiv glanced at his, then
swallowed hard. It was
all just a bunch of words
that he mostly didn't know.
"As you can see, there are
some guest lectures scheduled
that will cover different aspects of
worldbuilding," said Professor Dexter.
"I'm here to guide you, and if you get
stuck, you can ask for help. However,
you'll make most of the decisions
yourselves, working as a team."
"Can we start on stuff today, or
is it all introduction?" said Arthur.
"You may begin working out
the broad strokes if you wish,"
Professor Dexter confirmed.
"Maybe we should compare
our schedules first, since this
is a flex class," said Maiara.
"Good thinking," Luci said.
"I've got dance performances
as well as my classes and ...
some other considerations."
Like catching bad guys as
the superhera Silk, which
neither of them would tell.
"My schedule is, uh, kind of
unpredictable," Shiv hedged.
"Just write down times that
you know will be free or are
already full," said Arthur.
"Yeah, okay," Shiv said,
and pulled out his daybook.
There were too many variables.
"Want a hint?" Luci asked,
and when Shiv nodded, then
she said, "Put different things
in different colors, like projects
in green and due dates in red.
Pencil in possible activities,
then erase or ink them later."
"That helps," Shiv said as
he took out his colored pens.
"How far do we have to go?"
Nada said, nibbling her lip.
"Let's just work through
September, so that we
don't get too far ahead
of ourselves," said Roisin.
Arthur glanced at what others
were writing. "How about folks
in Nebraska en Plein Air attempt
to catch some sessions together, so
we can do worldbuilding art then?"
"Oh, that's a good idea," said Roisin.
"Then it can count for both classes."
Yeah, because the plein air class
didn't care what you did, as long
as you did something creative.
"I'm in," Shiv said, and copied
his notes about session times.
There were four people sharing
that class: him, Arthur, Nada, and
Roisin. That should be interesting.
"One of my minors is in Nebraska
and Great Plains Studies. Several of
us are taking Nebraska en Plein Air,"
said Arthur. "How about we plan
to include grasslands in our setting?
That would give us familiar habitat, and
we could use local stuff for inspiration."
"Oh, that's a good idea," said Kathan.
"I can brush up on that biome."
"I can take notes on what we
decide, then send copies to
everyone after each session,"
said Maiara. "That way, we
can keep track of everything."
"Yeah, that'll help," Arthur said,
flipping through the handouts.
"I think we're getting ahead of
ourselves, though. It might be
easier if we follow an outline."
"You lead, and I'll take notes,"
said Maiara. "Otherwise we'll
scramble all over the place."
"Okay," said Arthur. "What
genre do we want to choose?
Everyone write down at least
your top three favorites."
Shiv stiffened. "The fuck's
a genre?" he hissed at Arthur.
"A general kind of story, like
Tolkien wrote fantasy and
Asimov wrote science fiction,"
said Arthur. "Whatever you like."
"I don't fuckin' read," Shiv said.
"You watch movies," said Luci.
"Anime, fantasy, action, and
the occasional horror from
what you've mentioned to me."
Shiv didn't know how to spell
any of those damn things.
Luci must have guessed
as much, because she
wrote them down for him.
Shiv added jazz and blues
to his list, because those
he actually could spell.
Once everyone had listed
their favorite genres, Maiara
collected them and tallied up
things with more than one vote.
"Fantasy wins by a landslide with
eight votes," she said. "Historical
has three, and so do indigenous or
refugee and jazz or blues. Action,
science fiction, and the cluster of
folk-myth stuff each have two votes."
Erwin sighed. "I'm not into fantasy,
and I wouldn't have much to do there,"
he said. "I was hoping for science fiction
so I could do the astronomy or engineering."
"I don't like science fiction," said Roisin.
"It just feels cold and mechanical to me."
"Yeah, I tried Afrofuturism, but it's
weird and confusing," said J'aeson.
"Erwin, what else have you got
on your list?" asked Kathan.
"Shonen manga, seinen manga,
and steampunk," said Erwin.
"It doesn't overlap much."
"Well, steampunk is
a historical subgenre,"
Maiara pointed out.
"Two of mine could be
counted that way then --
shānghén wénxué or
scar literature and wuxia
or martial art chivalry,"
said Luci. "Maybe we
could combine things."
Professor Dexter spoke up.
"Most world-sized settings
can accommodate a variety
of storytelling and art styles,"
he said. "The main thing that
you need to settle is whether
it's a planet or something else."
"You can't have astronomy
without a planet," said Erwin.
"Why not?" said Shiv. He leaned
on Arthur. "Help me out here,
what was the one that had
the dancing people stars?"
"Narnia," said Arthur. "There
the stars are shining silver people
who dance in the night skies."
"Okay, yeah, so fantasy worlds
can have stars too," Shiv said.
"Like maybe, um, what was
the metal thing with stars on it?"
"Orrery? Astrolabe?" Erwin asked.
"Armillary sphere?" said Arthur.
"There's one here on campus
in one of the hidden gardens."
"I dunno which is which,"
Shiv said with a frown.
Arthur used his smartphone
to bring up images of them.
"I dunno which of these would
work better, but like ... imagine
stars as shiny people dancing
around the sky above the world,"
Shiv said, waving his hands.
"That ... might work," Erwin said,
beginning to look interested again.
"But let's not mess it up like C.S. Lewis
did when he forgot that Narnia was
supposed to be a plane," said Arthur.
"Does a fantasy world have to be flat, or
can it be some other shape?" said Rosin.
"It can be whatever you choose, as long
as you can describe your storyworld so
it makes sense," said Professor Dexter.
"Mine in college looked like a seashell.
What shape were you thinking about?"
"Domed, like a brooch," said Roisin.
"That would be closer to a planet,
or rather, a slice from a planet."
"That could work," Erwin said. "I
could probably design something."
"This is sounding like science fantasy,
only instead of putting fantasy bits into
a science setting, we're putting science
into a fantasy setting," Kathan mused.
"Does anyone object to science fantasy
along those lines?" said Professor Dexter,
and nobody did. "Erwin, would you be
happy working with these parameters?"
"Yeah, as long as I have something to do
with my actual skills, I'm good," said Erwin.
"That's going to make the geography
of the world complicated," said Kathan.
"Shiv, could you make a model of it?"
Arthur asked, turning toward him.
"Sure, if somebody can give me
a good enough diagram of how
it's supposed to look," Shiv said.
"Maybe the artists could talk
with Erwin and then sketch out
a few different possibilities for us
to choose from," said Arthur.
"I like that idea," Roisin said.
"It'll be fun to play around with."
"What about magic and science,
how do those work?" asked Kathan.
J'aeson shrugged. "I say leave it all
the same as here, except for things
we really need to change," he said.
"Magical weather!" Roisin exclaimed.
"I want magical weather, it'd be so cool."
"What, like glowing rain?" said Kathan.
"How would that kind of thing even work?"
"No, I mean changes in magic, the way
air pressure and temperature change,"
said Roisin. "It would affect what kinds
of magic people could do when and where."
Maiara nodded. "Some places are colder,
others warmer. Some get lots of rain,
while others get very little," she said.
"That affects plants, animals, and all."
"Why would that happen, though?"
Kathan asked. "What drives it?"
"It's all energy, isn't it?" Shiv said.
"The sun puts energy in the air and
water, that's why they move. So,
magic comes from somewhere and
it moves around, like the weather."
"Maybe there's magical geography,
too," said Nada. "Like mountains
blocking clouds, only invisible."
"Invisible magical mountains,"
Shiv said, laughing. "Sure, why not."
"We're just noodling around ideas
today, we can't work out all of that
immediately," Arthur reminded them.
"How about everyone writes down
different ideas for the magic and
science in our storyworld, then we
can discuss them the next time
we get together," Luci suggested.
"We're gonna need a name for this,"
said J'aeson. "We can't just keep
calling it 'storyworld' forever."
"The name of the world should
give an inkling of things to come,"
said Arthur. "That's one reason
why Tolkien and Lewis called
their writing group the Inklings."
"That's wild," said Kathan.
"Maybe we can build on that."
Inklings ... inkle, ink, incredible,
wilding, wilderness, wild ...
"InkleWylde," Shiv blurted.
"That's the name of the world."
"I like it," Arthur said, grinning.
"That's a great name idea.
How did you come up with it?"
"Just words sloshing around
inside my head," Shiv said.
"Does anyone else have ideas
for it?" said Professor Dexter.
Nobody did, though; they all
loved Shiv's suggestion.
"Plants and animals,"
Arthur said, looking at
one of the worksheets.
"Any takers for those?"
"I love nature," said Kathan,
and Nada added, "Me too."
"We'll need keystone species
to distinguish environments,"
said Arthur. "Come up with
some options besides plains
and we can discuss them."
"What about history?" said Roisin.
"Do we need a timeline, or what?"
"Eventually, yeah, but so far we
don't have places or people
developed yet," said Arthur.
"Do we need to?" said J'aeson.
"Maybe we could just jot down
a few bits of history that relate
to our various fields or interests."
"Yes please," Nada said firmly.
"History isn't all about wars."
"So noted," said Maiara. "Let's do
at least three historical bits each."
Shiv already had a few ideas
floating around in his head, since
he'd read about people fighting
over pigments, the discovery
of new dyes, and of course
the history of metallurgy.
That reminded him...
"Where do metals come
from in InkleWylde?"
he wondered. "Do
they come from mines
like here, or do people
make them from magic,
or do nuggets and jewels
fall from the sky like rain?"
"I'm loving a rain of jewels,"
said Roisin. "Let's do that."
Erwin, who had been scribbling
in his notebook for some time,
looked up and said, "The stars
in their changing positions could
influence not only magic but
what resources fall when."
"I like it," Shiv said. "So
some things would fall more
in one place than another,
or more often, and whatever."
"That would screw the economy,"
said Maiara. "What if diamonds were
rare, and used in trade, but suddenly
it rained diamonds for a week? That
would wreck the exchange rate."
"History tidbit!" Nada said.
"Write that down, it's great."
"A better world," Arthur said,
switching to another worksheet.
"Let's explore some ways in which
InkleWylde is better than our world,
and ways that it is worse than ours."
"Oh, like the lists of top-ten and
bottom-ten countries for soups,"
Shiv said. "Even if it's not for
the same reasons, when we
make countries or whatever,
then we should think about
which are good or bad ones."
"Definitely," said Nada. "People
will fight over things, but not
everyone is that aggressive."
"We're finding some good ideas,"
said Arthur. "Let's go around
and make sure that each of us
gets to put one or a few things
into the world that we want."
"I like the suggestions for stars,"
said Erwin. "I look forward to them."
"A storyworld benefits from a calendar,
and you're the logical person to build one,
if that appeals to you," said the professor.
"Yeah, I could do that," said Erwin. "Maybe
add a bit from steampunk, if there's a city
or somewhere else that has developed
more technology than other places?"
"Sure, look at Earth's history, it had
patchy development," said Roisin.
"I'd like to add some sort of knotwork
or other threaded design. I might
come up with some new forms
of poetry for the cultures."
"I love Celtic knotwork, it's
so pretty," Shiv said. "Do it!"
"I think the cultures should have
their own myths and legends,"
said Arthur. "Also, I love how
everyone in Middle Earth could
make up songs and poems
on the spot, even the goblins."
"I'm with you on that," said Roisin.
"Nada, what would you add?"
"Refugees," Nada said quietly.
"Every world has some, even if
nobody talks about them. It's what
I remember most from Tolkien --
all the lost cities and homelands,
the people cast out to wander."
"I'll help with that," said Maiara.
"I wanted to include something
about indigenous people. Maybe
I could photograph some refugees as
artistic references, if anyone's willing."
"Earlier I offered to work on nature,
the plants and animals," said Kathan.
"I think I'd like to have shapeshifters
or gendershifters in there somewhere."
"I'm on board with that," said Shiv.
"It's good for folks to have options."
"What would you include?" said Arthur.
"What things sound like fun to you?"
Shiv thought about that. "Metal and
glass, smithcraft," he said. "As much
as I love painting, I'd like to include
more different kinds of artwork."
"That won't fit in the worldbook,
though," said J'aeson. "A book is
more suited to drawing or painting."
"I can photograph anything that's
three-dimensional," said Maiara.
"Then just print the photos."
"Yeah, that should work,"
said J'aeson. "I would like
to explore sports and games.
I'm also interested in figuring out
what level of medicine societies have."
"I would like to feature dance, maybe
a different style for each culture,"
said Luci. "I think that martial arts
and scar literature could fit too."
"Do the scar thing," Shiv said.
"That'll work great in art, so that
the characters look more different."
The professor's vidwatch chimed.
"All right, that's a ten-minute warning,"
he said. "Please start wrapping up."
"I need everyone's contact information
that they want to use for class notes,
so I can send you copies," said Maiara.
Shiv gave her his vdress. He liked not
having to worry about doing it all himself,
though he had a binder for this class
plus a page for it in his college binder
so that he could keep track of stuff.
"I've got schedule notes for
Nebraska en Plein Air,"
said Arthur. "We can try
to team up for that later."
"Does this Monday slot
work for everyone here?"
said Shiv. "My schedule
is iffy, but I've blocked out
this bit so I can catch it."
Everyone else had done
the same, even though it
was encouraged rather
than required to catch
the professor sessions.
"I'm glad that you all plan
on attending this class time,"
said Professor Dexter. "I have
some good guest lectures set up,
and of course I enjoy teaching too."
Before long, they were done,
and most of the students left.
Arthur and Luci stuck with Shiv.
"So, did you have any fun at all
today?" Professor Dexter asked.
Shiv thought about it. "Yeah, I did,"
he said. "This was surprisingly cool."
"I'm so happy to hear that. I really
hoped you would," said the professor.
"I was afraid that you might hate it
and want to drop the class, despite
all our efforts to make it appealing."
"It's good," said Shiv. "Not sayin' I'll
never freak out, but it doesn't suck."
Arthur and Luci looked at each other,
then back at him, grinning widely.
"I'm glad nothing blew up in
our faces," said Arthur. "I'm
looking forward to the rest."
Shiv took a look around
the room, which gave him
an inkling of things to come.
That made him smile.
"Yeah, so am I," he said.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, location, and content notes will appear separately.
YAY!
Date: 2026-02-13 10:55 pm (UTC)Shiv has come so far from that fight that landed him in jail.
Re: YAY!
Date: 2026-02-13 11:06 pm (UTC)Re: YAY!
Date: 2026-02-13 11:08 pm (UTC)Re: YAY!
Date: 2026-02-13 11:16 pm (UTC)That's true -- Shiv is still prickly, rude, selfish, and lazy.
>> He's refined himself, educated himself, and gone from being a thug with potential to a principled criminal and supervillain with even MORE potential.<<
Also true. He has learned a ton of new skills and also focused more of his ire on the genuinely deserving. Less collateral damage is a good improvement.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-02-13 11:36 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2026-02-13 11:54 pm (UTC)Yay! :D
>> I am going to enjoy seeing more of this class and thier world. <<
By all means, ask for more of it in any relevant prompt call. Next up will be the February 14-15 Creative Jam on "Not Giving Up." Here are the upcoming fishbowl themes. Jot down the dates and your ideas.
>> Magical weather is such a neat concept. <<
I agree. So many settings nowadays are all logical. But magic doesn't have to be -- it can be anything "because it's magic." Besides, a purely magical setting allows for things that wouldn't happen on a habitable planet, like raining diamonds or flowers, and the fluctuations in magical energy make for interesting plot opportunities.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-02-14 01:15 am (UTC)I see what you did there! 😅
Thoughts
Date: 2026-02-14 01:49 am (UTC)