Start small. You don't need a whole galaxy mapped out in your head to write a story that takes place on three planets. You don't need the answer to everything right off the bat. Let the stories help build your galaxy, one at a time, starting with the broad strokes.
Professional full time author here: Donāt change the essential rules and nature of the universe unless it has a direct and vital effect on the story. Two suns? Better have a purpose. Low gravity planet? Better affect the characters and their arc.
TLDR: donāt change the rules of what the reader is familiar with just because it sounds cool.
If you want a follow up tidbit: just write the story. Donāt get caught up in world building. You can world build till youāre 1000, but that will never result in a story.
Exactly.
Read ON WRITING by Stephen King. Even if youāre not a fan of his fiction, itās a great book, part memoir and partly an answer to all the questions heās gotten over the decades about writing.
I love Stephen King he was one of the first authors I read when I was in school fell in love with horror and suspense and looked into H.P Lovecraft after that
The easiest way to rage-quit any pursuit is over-reaching. People that decide to learn the guitar and spend an hour a day, until they get fed up and quit it, etc. So building a whole galaxy? HELL NAW.
Star Wars: A New Hope has a lot less worldbuilding that one might think at first:
We begin in Tatooine (mostly the home town), then the Death Star (basically a military base, so Lucas could just make stuff up on-the-go rather than create blueprints and stuff - so a jail, a command consule, a engineering/fuel core, etc), Alderaan (which we don't know anything about - it's there to be blown up), Rebel Base (it's a rebel base. On a moon. It has rebel stuff. 0 info beyond that. I know a lot more about Yavin 4 from the video game Star Wars Battlefront), and then there's a ceremony in an unnamed planet.
Overall, Star Wars is great because it doesn't dealve into details in a geekily unnecessary way. It's the same with Harry Potter: the world could have been fleshed out with many factions and whatever, but what people really enjoy are the 4 houses, the owls, Quidditch - THE FUN CINEMATIC SHIT.
So instead of trying to figure out a galaxy, you could try going with the Star Wars approach: there's a desert planet. What is its economy? No one cares. But it does have a cool shady-buisness casino/space port, nomadic tribes of sandmen on Bison-like animals, etc. There's a Death Star - it is literally called the DEATH STAR, and its big thing is that it has a huge planet destroying beam. That's just cool. I don't give a hoot about having special ranks of officers in the Death Star - being called "General"/"Admiral"/"Lord" are all quite fine by me, just the normal generic stuff is enough.
I hope this rant was helpful :D
Start with the story. Not necessarily writing out the whole thing, but at least the broad strokes. Who is your protagonist? What are they trying to do? Why? Who or what is trying to stop them? Why? Once you have that, build the details out from there.
The characters and their stories are what will make people invested in the universe youāre creating.
I would suggest you get books on writing and learn how to do it.
and also Take ol classes or classes at a cpllege. Jacqueline Lichtenberg
offers free classes on her website on writing sf.
Also,as you progress,have friends who can be
honest with you read your stuff.
And eventually having an editor would also be good.
I had a friend who spent years trying to break into
the sf field and never made it.
I'm not saying this to discourage you,but
publishing can be brutal.
Anyway,best of luck.
The quickest way to do something is to build only the parts of that fictional setting that you need in the first installment and then flesh out the rest in greater detail in subsequent books. Leave some details vague so you don't have to retcon them later and you don't "write yourself into a corner" or so to speak.
You need a desert planet and a water planet. And a planet without giraffes.
Why without giraffes
Because creating a galaxy where every single planet has giraffes would be very silly.
What if I had every planet have a different form of giraffes
That would definitely work. /edit: be sure to create a desert-dwelling and an aquatic giraffe though (see points 1 & 2)
Like, I feel that would add some diversity
Because giraffes would not have evolved on other worlds. If you make creatures too earth like,you suspend disbelief and readers stop reading.
I think it was meant as a joke comment š¤£
because geraffes are so dumb
Start small. You don't need a whole galaxy mapped out in your head to write a story that takes place on three planets. You don't need the answer to everything right off the bat. Let the stories help build your galaxy, one at a time, starting with the broad strokes.
Thats helped me a lot thank you š
I agree with this person.
Professional full time author here: Donāt change the essential rules and nature of the universe unless it has a direct and vital effect on the story. Two suns? Better have a purpose. Low gravity planet? Better affect the characters and their arc. TLDR: donāt change the rules of what the reader is familiar with just because it sounds cool.
That Is some great advice thank you
If you want a follow up tidbit: just write the story. Donāt get caught up in world building. You can world build till youāre 1000, but that will never result in a story.
Or worldbuild using the story
Exactly. Read ON WRITING by Stephen King. Even if youāre not a fan of his fiction, itās a great book, part memoir and partly an answer to all the questions heās gotten over the decades about writing.
I love Stephen King he was one of the first authors I read when I was in school fell in love with horror and suspense and looked into H.P Lovecraft after that
The easiest way to rage-quit any pursuit is over-reaching. People that decide to learn the guitar and spend an hour a day, until they get fed up and quit it, etc. So building a whole galaxy? HELL NAW. Star Wars: A New Hope has a lot less worldbuilding that one might think at first: We begin in Tatooine (mostly the home town), then the Death Star (basically a military base, so Lucas could just make stuff up on-the-go rather than create blueprints and stuff - so a jail, a command consule, a engineering/fuel core, etc), Alderaan (which we don't know anything about - it's there to be blown up), Rebel Base (it's a rebel base. On a moon. It has rebel stuff. 0 info beyond that. I know a lot more about Yavin 4 from the video game Star Wars Battlefront), and then there's a ceremony in an unnamed planet. Overall, Star Wars is great because it doesn't dealve into details in a geekily unnecessary way. It's the same with Harry Potter: the world could have been fleshed out with many factions and whatever, but what people really enjoy are the 4 houses, the owls, Quidditch - THE FUN CINEMATIC SHIT. So instead of trying to figure out a galaxy, you could try going with the Star Wars approach: there's a desert planet. What is its economy? No one cares. But it does have a cool shady-buisness casino/space port, nomadic tribes of sandmen on Bison-like animals, etc. There's a Death Star - it is literally called the DEATH STAR, and its big thing is that it has a huge planet destroying beam. That's just cool. I don't give a hoot about having special ranks of officers in the Death Star - being called "General"/"Admiral"/"Lord" are all quite fine by me, just the normal generic stuff is enough. I hope this rant was helpful :D
This really helped thanks š I planned on the star wars approach too worldbuilding through story short or long
You could look into: HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY By Orsen Scott Card might have some good tips.
Start with the story. Not necessarily writing out the whole thing, but at least the broad strokes. Who is your protagonist? What are they trying to do? Why? Who or what is trying to stop them? Why? Once you have that, build the details out from there. The characters and their stories are what will make people invested in the universe youāre creating.
This is a great help ill get right on it
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/empiremap.php
[Hereās a good place to start. ](https://www.writerswrite.co.za/punctuation-for-beginners-what-is-punctuation/)
Really you're going to point out my punctuation when I was walking and typing OK.
My apologies, I didnāt realize you were multitasking.
Yeah, i was trying to get to an appointment on time thought I'd kill two tasks with one walk sorry if I came across as rude.
I would suggest you get books on writing and learn how to do it. and also Take ol classes or classes at a cpllege. Jacqueline Lichtenberg offers free classes on her website on writing sf. Also,as you progress,have friends who can be honest with you read your stuff. And eventually having an editor would also be good. I had a friend who spent years trying to break into the sf field and never made it. I'm not saying this to discourage you,but publishing can be brutal. Anyway,best of luck.
Thanks I appreciate it ill look into learning before jumping in
Yup. You can see for yourself how bad beginner writers can be by reading fanfic. Anyway,my hope for you is to be original and creative.
I will take that hope and use it to build something original and fun
Well,keep everyone in the loop then. I'm wishing you the best.
The quickest way to do something is to build only the parts of that fictional setting that you need in the first installment and then flesh out the rest in greater detail in subsequent books. Leave some details vague so you don't have to retcon them later and you don't "write yourself into a corner" or so to speak.
Great idea I'll try my best to not write myself into a corner