WorldEmber 2020

WorldEmber 2020 is a writing and worldbuilding challenge in The Real World. It’s sponsored by the fine folks at World Anvil, and friendly neighborhood author E. Christopher Clark is using this article right here—this one you’re reading right freaking now—to declare his intention to participate.

Long story short (too late!): Chris is committing to write at least 10,000 words of new material for his Clarkwoods Literary Universe between December 1 and 31.

What follows is a list of ideas Chris might to work on. You’ll note that “stop writing about myself in the third person” is not a challenge that Chris will be taking on at this time.

Characters

• Anthony Gold, the son of Dottie Silver
• Alasdair, the hot Scottish husband of Mellie Worthing
• Arthur Worthing, the father of twins Jenna and Mellie
• Billy Mills
• Carlene, the mother of the De Rosa sisters
• Caroline Silver
• Charity
• Chuck the dog
• Connie Collins, a minor character from the short story “Two Weirdoes, a Shovel, and Lots of Open Land”
• David Johnson
• Doris Brown, the woman who has long lived next door to The House Down the Cape
• Elizabeth Silver
• Ernest Henderson, the husband of Emily
• Hannah the dog
• Jade Green, a half-brother of the aforementioned Jenna and Mellie
• Jane Jones, the mother the aforementioned Jenna and Mellie Worthing
• Jesus of Nazareth, the guy who got nailed to a cross
• John Silver
• Joseph Smart, one of the aforementioned “Two Weirdoes”
• Judas, the supposed ancestor of The Silver Family who also happened to sell out the aforementioned Jesus
• Kamala
• Keaton Michaels, a half-brother of Jenna and Mellie Worthing
• Maggie
• Marla, a dog catcher from the short story “Dogs”
• Martin O’Rourke
• Maureen, the wife of someone whose name is escaping me right now
• Mary Silver
• Merama, one of the players in “House of Thrones, Game of Cards”
• Nasha, the protagonist of the story I just mentioned
• Nergard, another character from the story I just mentioned
• Old Lady Standish
• Patience
• Phil Gates, father of Robin and Adam Gates
• Queen Yona, the mother of the aforementioned Nasha
• Reliance Weeks, a Silver family ancestor
• Robert Short, the other of the two weirdoes
• Roway, a player in the House of Thrones story
• Santa Claus, a jolly old elf
• Srima, another House of Thrones player
• Stanley, a security guard at Kimball College
• Tammy, a student at Kimball College
• Tony Gold, the grandson of Dottie Silver
• The First Queen, a monarch of Onterey
• The Ghost, a key character on the concept album A Dream Is But a Shadow
• The Turbaned Man, a character from that Thrones story
• Tyon, also from that Thrones story
• Victor, a schmuck who goes to Kimball College
• Walter Mitchell, the founder of Mitchell Genetics
• Nightmare, the Michael Silver of Earth-668

Settings

• Boston, Massachusetts
• Cape Cod, a part of Massachusetts
• Kimball College
• The Real World, aka where you are reading this right now
• Route 3 Cinema, a now-destroyed multiplex in the town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts
• South Berwick, Maine
• Staircase to Nowhere, a landmark formerly found in Lowell, Massachusetts
• The Veil of the World, a breaking point in time and space

Groups

• ASSA, the Association for the Study of Sequential Art
• Ezekiel and the Harvesters, an Amish rock band
• Robin and the Redheads, the band Robin Gates formed after the breakup of Gideon’s Bible
• The Eli Five, a ’30s-’40s jazz band founded by Eli Silver
• The Seven Voices, the theoretical organization that will sing the the next version of reality into existence

Miscellany

• A Hand That Will Never Be a Fist, the final album by Robin and the Redheads
• Emerald Rebellion, a military conflict in Eden
• Ferryman, a job passed on unwittingly from person to person
• Precious Whore, the first album by Robin and the Redheads
• The 1997 Seven-Inch, the final musical release of Gideon’s Bible
• The American Civil War, a pivotal conflict in United States history—and the history of the Silver family
• The Children of Judas, a comic book series created by Michael and Matt Silver
• Three-Song Demo Tape, the first musical release by Gideon’s Bible
• Whatever’s Next, which will describe the way the afterlife works in the CLU, using the November flash challenge that Chris didn’t get a chance to do as a prompt
• An article or series of articles on A Dream Is But a Shadow, the album Chris released under the name Pop Bubblegum Trash which is actually where a lot of the ideas for what the CLU is becoming started. (BUT: since he’d want to include the lyrics, which have already been written, should this not get posted during WorldEmber, so that it doesn’t inflate word counts
• A name (and subsequent article) for the “time period following The Calamity,” which Chris has sometimes called “The Interregnum”

Species

• Human
• An extraterrestrial species humans would mistake for an Elf in Eden
• An extraterrestrial species humans would mistake for a Dwarf in Eden
• An extraterrestrial species humans would mistake for a Dragon in Eden
• An extraterrestrial species humans would mistake for Merfolk in Eden
• The Kindalla, the villainous extraterrestrial species of shapeshifters from Chris’ old unfinished comic book Nightmare; humans in Eden mistake them for demons
• The Rixtan, the extraterrestrial species of symbiotes from Chris’ old unfinished comic book Nightmare; humans in Eden mistake individuals bonded with Rixtahn for angels

Article Types to Give a Try

Chris tends to not branch out without prompting, which is why World Anvil’s 2020 Summer Camp and all its prompts were so helpful. Here is a list of some kinds of articles he might try writing to flesh out the world:

• Natural Laws, to explain some of the concepts that make the world unique (particularly Eden, the world between worlds
• Items, particularly those that’ve shown up a bunch in the existing books and stories
• Vehicles, particularly Michael’s 1987 Ford Tempo
• Species, particularly mermaids and other fantasy creatures Chris might want to work into his next series after The Stains of Time