Course: Intro to World-building

Class Follows Upper Annual Schedule
Dates: 2026-08-11 to 2027-05-13
Tuition: $270 / Annual
Supplies: $10
Students are required to bring their device (laptop, Chromebook, or tablet—see Supplies section), completed assignments, a writing utensil, and their folder or binder to every class session. Students are responsible for keeping track of any handouts provided by the instructor. A Gmail account and access to Google Classroom are also required. Homework will involve a variety of lore-creation tasks such as character profiles, setting descriptions, map-making, flora and fauna design, government system outlines, and more. The form this work takes will depend on the track the student chooses for each assignment: the creative writing track, the visual arts track, or a combination of both. Most assignment deadlines will be soft deadlines. World-building is an ongoing, fluid process, and decisions made in one assignment may require revising earlier work to maintain consistency within the world’s lore. Although the creative process can take many forms—and may at times look like quiet thinking, reading, brainstorming sessions, collaborative discussions, or sketching—students are expected to remain on task and use class time productively. Students must also keep their documents and artifacts organized, whether in a physical portfolio or within the World-building Matrix provided for the course. Maintaining an organized collection will make it easier to present their work as a cohesive whole. In addition to regular assignments, students will create two physical artifacts from their world to display at the Cornerstone showcase events. These artifacts may take many forms, such as an authentic-looking document, a piece of artwork, a costume element, a significant physical object from their world, schematics of a technology or device, an excerpt of a written work, a 3-D model (physical or digital), or another instructor-approved creation. Students will need to be self-motivated, imaginative, and interested in creative writing or visual arts. Students will need to have internet access to complete assignments, a Google email account, be familiar with and have access to Google Classroom, Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets (which are all free). Students will need a laptop, Chromebook, or tablet - basically any device which students can easily type on and will have internet access to use the Google Suite (Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets). All this software is free and web-based, which means you have nothing to install. Students will also need writing utensils, a binder or folder to keep handouts and assignments in, notebook paper, and/or sketch paper or a sketchbook of some kind. Students who elect to take the artistic track will need to supply their own art supplies. While sketching and drawing in class are completely welcome, any painting will have to be done outside of class due to the lack of facilities in the classroom.