As the scenes that make up the Marvel Studios logo played out, I realized something. I recognized both the scenes from the MCU and the comics they were based on. Marvel Studios is so successful, in part, because they have such a deep well of ideas and storylines to draw from. The comics have been pumping out stories for over 50 years, thousands of fully developed characters and settings from Earth 616 and the Nine Realms to the Negative Zone, to Xandar, to times and places too numerous to list.
My realization was, I’m on track to do something like that too. I’ve built a version of Earth for Fantastic America and linked it to many other worlds to explore in the Magic Unleashed series. My work on “Lari and the Pox” has opened a few more new worlds. And I have a backlog of Renegade Galaxy worlds and notebooks full of settings for stories I haven’t put any real effort into fleshing out in years.
I’ve already built a multiverse for stories I haven’t even outlined yet. My imagination has far exceeded my narratives, but that isn’t exactly a problem. I just have to keep my butt in the chair long enough for the stories to catch up to the ideas. What a terrible problem to have!