This is Contents page for my entire worldbuilding course (I’ll call it a course, but it’s more like a group of articles.)
#1.1 Setting, Worldbuilding and Geofiction
#2.1 Habitable Zone: Redefined (Model Included)
#2.2 Habitable Zone: Multiple Star Systems (Model Included)
#3 Stellar Zoo: Meet the Species
Special #1 – Hues of Light Under Alien Suns
#4 From Stars to Planets (series of posts)
#4.1 From Stars to Planets: Births and Deaths on Cosmic Scale
#4.2 From Stars to Planets: Objects in Space and Habitability Potential
#4.3 From Stars to Planets: The Loners
#5 Designing a Planetary System (series of posts)
#5.1 Designing a Planetary System: Input
#5.2 Designing a Planetary System: Output
#5.3 Designing a Planetary System: Extension
#6 The Four Elements (Series of Posts)
Special #2 – Understanding the Planetary Climate System
#6.1 The Four Elements: A Quest For Atmosphere
#6.2 The Four Elements: A Quest For Atmosphere (Continued)
#6.3 The Four Elements: A Quest for Atmosphere. Forests
#6.4 The Four Elements: It’s all in the record.
#6.5 The Four Elements: It’s all in the record (Continued)
#6.6 The Four Elements: The Deep Blue
Carbon cycle, climate patterns, global ocean, ocean circulation, planet’s hydrosphere, weather patterns.
#6.7 The Four Elements: Firepower
Insolation and climate effects. Seasons. Day and twilight length. Timekeeping and calendars. Biological rhythms (maybe).
Special #3 – Sky and Planet Colors
Spreadsheets and References
● Worldbuilding through Character. Character Chart & Outline Reference [pdf]
● How to Create Fictional Science [Blog Post]
More things to talk about (not in that particular order)
#7 Tidal constraints on HZ (M dwarfs here too).
#8 Cosmic catastrophes: how to crash things big and small.
#9 Destructive nature: disasters (floods, volcanoes and supervolcanoes, etc).
#10 Living things. Evolution. Ecosystems. Plants on other worlds.
#11 Animals
#12 Dissecting cultures (series, long term, not sequential)
#13 Language
Anything else I forgot to put on my list.
Hi. Liked your World Building 101. I’m going to check out your fiction. Did you ever finish the WB 101, #6-13?
Hi Clay, thanks for stopping by.
No, I haven’t finished writing articles beyond #6. I cannot even tell when I will get to those. Been busy with other things.
Best, J
I hope you finish these, really liked. I’m working on SF novel and short stories. I like worldbuilding but suck at math. I’m one of those people who just can’t grasp it.
Honestly, it stops being complex when you figure out what you are doing and why. Math is secondary to the theoretical side of whatever question you are trying to do calculus for. It comes down to “I need formula for this, this and this to get the answer for this. And with this answer I can see that something works or not, and why.” Once you figured out the stages you need to do numbers for, it is the easiest thing that can be. And if you still experience difficulties with number-crunching, you can find plenty of resources with good descriptions of already modeled environments, so you don’t need to do them on your own.
And good luck with your writing!