World Building

As I sit here avoid my novel, I wonder if I were writing what would I be writing about.  That is easy, however, as right now is all about world building!  For my current novel I have to crate a whole new world, unseen before to human eyes.  However, this world has to be close enough to our current world that it is believable.  There is only so much a reader can suspend reality in order to enjoy a book.  Or at least I find there is only so much I can suspend reality.

Right now I am building a planet, not unlike our own, that will support humanity.  It is amazing how easy this can be with the internet.  It is also amazing how difficult this can be because everyone can now search for the information in your book to see if it's real.  (Oh yes, I've done a quick search to see if it's plausible!)

So right now I am finding myself consumed with my new world.  How do my characters see the colors?  How do they move around the hills and the mountains?  What does that butterfly like creature look like?  Are there fish in the seas?  So many questions, which require a lot of floral thinking.  This takes so much time, and 90% of it will never make the final edit.  However, it is important.

Why?

Because it is!

I know, that's a crappy answer.  It is important because how people react to their environment is important.  Think about how you describe things.  When you give people directions do you say "You will turn left at Laren Avenue, the house is 1111" or do you say "You'll turn left at Laren Avenue, it's the 4th street on the right after you get off the highway.  The house is 1111, it's got blue siding and a basketball goal on the front.  It's at the end of the court, on the right!"

The second one is probably closer to how you give directions to your house because you want to explain at much as you can, especially to someone coming for the first time.  The more you know about the area, the easier it is to find the place.  I am finding that it is basically the same thing when it comes to writing.

So there you have it!  Building a new world takes time.