Category: Volume 3

Websites offer the mobility we need to work from anywhere, but they carry a risk that our creative work is on someone’s servers and can be compromised. This may expose us to hacking. Our devices, including a laptop (even at Read More …

We need somewhere to store our ideas. An ideal scenario is to have access wherever we are, whether home, vacation, or work (we never know when an idea will strike). Or the toilet. Some smart phones are even waterproof so Read More …

The random approach means creating individual items and worrying about how they relate to each other later. We can create a species here, a god there, a city elsewhere, doing each on the spur of the moment. There’s no quota Read More …

The bottom up approach means starting at a more localized level, such as the settlement where a story takes place. We may decide some land features are at various distances from here and any impact this causes. Later, we decide Read More …

There are multiple approach to world building, such as a top-down and bottom-up. All are valid and have their merits and undesirable consequences, which can be mitigated. Top Down The top down approach can be described as starting with the Read More …

Creating world building elements that stand isolated from others can make the setting seem poorly designed and lacking depth. There’s no quick solution for tying everything together. It pays to have a good memory of what’s been invented so far Read More …

Modern audiences are especially astute and often notice inconsistency. We should strive to avoid this in world building by following any rules that we’ve stated for our setting. There are several tricks that can assist with this by providing flexibility. Read More …

Having a goal helps us reduce both the number of tasks and the depth of world building in which we engage. Otherwise we can spend too much time and energy on activities that don’t warrant them. We should always ask Read More …

With all systems, we need to start with our genre. Fantasy and even dystopian SF might have much poorer infrastructure than modern Earth, while other SF might have the same or greater. This and how established the government is will Read More …

None of this technology exists in a medieval-like setting, so what did people do on Earth? Notices were sometimes posted on the door of important buildings like a church or town hall, but we can choose any location, like a Read More …