One thing I always do when I start writing is to make a "to do" list of things that need to be done, in the order they should be finished. I do the same thing when I start building a new world, no matter how in-depth I want it to be at the end.
What I've found that helps with organization is making a list somewhere that you can keep adding to if it becomes necessary. The first things I list are always going to be the broadest or largest, like the location of the galaxy my world is in. If I'm going to choose a specific real galaxy I make sure to do my research- where have they found extra-solar planets so far? What kinds of stars are they around? If, however, I just want to pick a type of galaxy that's what my research is done on. In general you don't have to be this detailed but I like to be because it gives me a place to start. I also try to figure out where this galaxy is located, or where the star that serves as a planet's sun is located in the galaxy and what sorts of things might be in the vicinity.
After that I figure out what the planetary/star system looks like. What does the star look like? What type of star is it? This will affect how far away planets need to be to support life. How many planets are in the system? Take a look to see how planets in our solar system formed to get an idea of why the planets are organized the way they are. Why are there rocky terrestrial planets closer to the sun and big gassy giants further away? This will affect how your planetary system is set up as well. Is your planet a double planet? Does it have more than one moon? More than one moon should affect it differently than one moon.
What kind of properties does your planet have? Take a look at the composition of planets in our solar system again. How do different types of cores (size, thickness of crust, etc.) change the way they are at the surface? How does their location in relationship to the sun change them? Which ones have a magnetic field and why? All of these are important questions to ask if you want to create a realistic or believable world. Especially take a look into plate tectonic theory and know at least the basic mechanics of how and why certain features show up on Earth's surface. There are very good reasons they show up the way they do, and it can help plot such features on your own planet if you create your own plates for it.
Make several small sketches of your planet in a sphere, flat or however you want to create it. Work on it until you're satisfied with the result. I like to make a series where I can see how things came to be on the surface when I'm writing stories. Sometimes I'll go out and buy spherical objects like rubber balls or big round bouncy balls white or blue paint and a permanent marker or acid free pen. If I paint the ball I will use the acid free pen. If I don't, I'll use the permanent marker. What this does is create a mock up of the planet without distorting the features as they will be if laid out flat like you normally see on maps.
This can take awhile, but it's worth it if you want a solid start to your world building. Tomorrow I'll have a post up about making maps of individual continents and/or countries.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Welcome to an adventure in world building!
Hello, I am a student and a writer although I have not pursued publication with anything that I have written so far. I feel most of it is incomplete and I would not feel comfortable submitting incomplete works to a publishing house or agent. For me, writing is a hobby and not necessarily something I want to make a living from- it's something I can use to get past hard times and it helps me get all of my 'extra' thoughts out so I can focus on schoolwork as well.
This blog is going to chronicle my work and development of the world, universe and societies in which many of my original works take place. I would like to have a more solid idea of the history, culture, language and environment my characters and creatures live in and interact with, because it will make fleshing out everything else later a lot easier.
Most of it won't be specific- I like to keep specifics to myself until I know how everything works and fits together- so it will be about the processes and research that goes into building a detailed world instead. I find that being a world-builder requires at least a little bit of knowledge about a lot of things; how and why planets form in various ways, how and why certain elements are present in an environment but not in others, how things adapt to different environments and what those adaptations look like in the present and the past on Earth.
I find that being studious and doing good research makes mistakes like something like a pegasus (which would have had to have six legs at some point, in addition to a third bone girdle to support them) less likely to happen in my worlds, although I am sure inaccuracies still exist. What this means is that the development of the world this blog is following will be a vast amount of information when I finish (if it is ever finished- worlds and stories tend to evolve over time).
I will post samples of my world-building techniques at times- mock-ups of field journals or art, pieces of written works, important sculptures or paintings of various landscapes and cities. At times I do employ a bit of a backwards process- starting out with character sheets and figuring out where things fit in from there, but I already have quite a bit of these things put together and I have noticed things that have begun to be contradictory in my stories or settings. I may also sometimes post completed maps, diagrams or family trees because I use those quite a bit as well, especially when focusing in on a character or two.
This blog is going to chronicle my work and development of the world, universe and societies in which many of my original works take place. I would like to have a more solid idea of the history, culture, language and environment my characters and creatures live in and interact with, because it will make fleshing out everything else later a lot easier.
Most of it won't be specific- I like to keep specifics to myself until I know how everything works and fits together- so it will be about the processes and research that goes into building a detailed world instead. I find that being a world-builder requires at least a little bit of knowledge about a lot of things; how and why planets form in various ways, how and why certain elements are present in an environment but not in others, how things adapt to different environments and what those adaptations look like in the present and the past on Earth.
I find that being studious and doing good research makes mistakes like something like a pegasus (which would have had to have six legs at some point, in addition to a third bone girdle to support them) less likely to happen in my worlds, although I am sure inaccuracies still exist. What this means is that the development of the world this blog is following will be a vast amount of information when I finish (if it is ever finished- worlds and stories tend to evolve over time).
I will post samples of my world-building techniques at times- mock-ups of field journals or art, pieces of written works, important sculptures or paintings of various landscapes and cities. At times I do employ a bit of a backwards process- starting out with character sheets and figuring out where things fit in from there, but I already have quite a bit of these things put together and I have noticed things that have begun to be contradictory in my stories or settings. I may also sometimes post completed maps, diagrams or family trees because I use those quite a bit as well, especially when focusing in on a character or two.
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