Putting your world on paper
I’ve been asked to contribute a talk on world building for a local literary festival, and this week I’m starting to thing of all the things which make up a world. Because I’m a science fiction writer, this is always a major job for me when I start a new story. Literally everything has to be invented, starting with the size of the planet and how close it is to its star. There are so many things which make up a world that I’ve had to devise a sensible way to organise the things I need to know. And I’ve decided that the first way to order the data is to divide it into macro things and micro things. Macro things exist on a planet-wide scale, micro things affect individual people or regions. Macro level world building includes things like the physical geography of the place. What climate zone does your story take place in? What does the land look like? Is it lush fields at low level, high, cold mountainous places, or a city by a river? What are the political and religious systems