World Building 101 - The Solar System

Last time we decided a couple of main facts about our planet:

• The world is warm
• It is roughly Earth sized
• It is based on silicon
• It has the necessary atmosphere to support itself
• It is closer to the sun

and from that we extrapolated:

• There is life
• There is less need for fur or other heat retaining constructs; lizards and other cold-blooded animals may be more common
• There is gravity about equal to ours, meaning the animal and plant size is limited
• Alien life forms can exist and be very outlandish in appearance
• The year is shorter and has longer harvesting times

Today on World Building 101 we look to the skies. Namely, what surrounds our little planet? We already know it is closer to the sun than Earth, but how much closer? Is it the only planet or are there several? Is there one sun? Two? More? How many moons? What are the other planets?

We'll wipe up these questions quickly:

• There are six planets in our solar system
• Our planet is the third from the sun
• Our planet is approximately 100 million kilometers from the sun, about 50 million closer than earth.
• The sixth planet is a gas giant, 
• There is one moon and one sun
• There is a satellite entity in addition to the moon 

In order, this tells us that:

• We are in a midsized system
• We're blocked from some solar radiation
• We're warmer than Earth
• There is something wiping up asteroids for us
• The day/night cycle is similar to Earth
• The tides can be a little wonky

That's all for this week, a very short post. But next week we are going to take a jump to our planet's surface and hash out the really interesting things, such as flora and fauna!

Until then, ekobor out!

World Building 101 - Getting Started

Last time on World Building 101 we took a look at a large list of resources. This week we're going to get down and dirty and start slinging some mud to create our line in the dirt.

But where to start?

While the hardest question to consider it is truly the easiest question to answer. Anywhere and everywhere. You can start by designing a single race and their language and culture, then slowly filling in the blanks from there, or you can make some varied plant life and what eats it. You can pick and choose where you work, and let the decisions cascade downward until everything important is built. Make a few broad decisions or a couple of small ones and extrapolate from there.

So the first thing for us is going to be deciding one thing about our world. If you're here you probably already have an imaginary world somewhere in your brain, just waiting to pool to the surface. Whether you know what the climate is like, or how some peoples interact, that is where you should start. In this example we are going to start big and work our way down.

The first things we are going to decide are about the planet. What is it like? Is it Earth-like? Is it a frozen wasteland? Is it hot beyond reason? Is it larger or smaller than Earth? Is it closer to the sun? Further away?

Pick one thing you want your planet to be like, and go with it.
Me? I'm going to say it is Earth-like in size but moderately closer to the sun, leading to a warmer atmosphere and little to no icecaps, so higher water levels.

This warmer planet is going to need an atmosphere, which I will say is close enough to Earth to be indistinguishable for our purposes. This allows me to avoid some questions of chemistry, of which I have little knowledge or desire to learn.

The main element on this planet is going to be silicon, as it is conjectured to be possible for life to originate this way. This also gives more credence to alien life forms occurring, rather than Earth clones. In other words, it helps suspend the disbelief.

These few answered questions have already shaped our world in major ways. Lets look at what we know:

• The world is warm
• It is roughly Earth sized
• It is based on silicon
• It has the necessary atmosphere to support itself
• It is closer to the sun

From this we can extrapolate several things:

• There is life
• There is less need for fur or other heat retaining constructs; lizards and other cold-blooded animals may be more common
• There is gravity about equal to ours, meaning the animal and plant size is limited
• Alien life forms can exist and be very outlandish in appearance
• The year is shorter and has longer harvesting times

This is a good start, and has us thinking about some animals, plant life and culture! 

Next time on World Building 101 we will look at the world around our world, the suns and planets and other space stuff!

World Building 101 - Gather Resources

Today we're going to look at another geeky hobby of mine: World building!
Maybe you're writing a book. Or perhaps you just want to share your imagination. It is even possible all you want is a richer experience inside your own head. In any case, this post is for you.

World building, or Geofiction, is the art of designing imaginary planets, cultures, languages, and more- all with the intent of creating a consistent universe. World builders consider such facts as what the air is made of, what kinds of plants and animals there are, what eats what, and more. In this series we will be starting a new world and designing it from the bottom up.

The first thing we are going to do, however, is what I always do when working on a new hobby- develop a list of resources! While by no means exhaustive, this list will be a good place to return to when stuck for ideas or in need of guidance. Without further ado, lets get listing!

A very good place to start is Patrica C. Wrede's Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions. For getting a general overview and dealing with a few thorny questions, this list is indispensable for authors as it hits all of the major points of contention you need to clarify for readers.

A nice next stop is 30 Days of World Building. With description and a 15 minute exercise for every day for 30 days you are sure to find something of use to do. And if you go through them all in order, more power to you!

An unfinished but very informative wiki-guide is the Educated Worldbuilder site. It doesn't go too in depth on any one thing, but gives a basic overview of how many different things work.

Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds. Split into chunks this article is exceptionally long- and good! From gods to zoology this article series hits on the most major topics to come up in building a world.

Considering magic in your world? Here is a Guide to Creating Believable Magic.
This same site also hosts a very brief introduction to world building, also called World Building 101.

We all know I like donjon's random generators and his Fantasy World Generator is no different. If you have a hard time with maps, this will be an invaluable resource for you.

Another list of resources that can still grow is the NaNoWriMo World Building Resource Thread. Catered to authors, it is a list of resources other authors have found and enjoyed- all of my previous links have found their way on there!

Another long list of questions is the Xtreme Culture Questionaire. If you're starting form people to world, this is a great place to start!

That's the end of the list for today, but I'm certain there are hundreds of other great resources out there. Care to share?