Truncated 30 days of World-building…

In browsing the NaNoWriMo forums, I came across a link to Stephanie Bryant’s 30 Days of World-building.  I decided “Huh, that could be interesting” — especially in light of one of the two ideas I have for my NaNoWriMo project this year (the project that parallels the colonization of the Americas is sounding more and more attractive the more I think about it versus “Universe,” a project that’s going to require a lot more research and thought since it takes place in a much, much nearer future and deals with MMORPGs, MMORPG culture, computer/gaming technology, ect).

So, that having been said, I’m going to do some world-building for the terraformed planet colonists have begun to settle–one a war will be fought over–for one of the potential projects, since the other is pretty much Earth about ten or so years in the future.

 

Day 1 of world building involved making a list of climates and feelings of climates; I’m skipping it, really.

Day 2 – “Jot down ten plot devices that relate to weather, and what you think they do to the story”

– Nor’easter – A sudden cold blow off the coast ravages settlements along one of the coastlines, wrecking some of their precious wind-catchers (which provide ecologically sustainable power for the settlements).

– Spring floods – The spring melt out of the mountains wasn’t ancitipated to be quite this quick or this large–some of the hydroelectric dams are overwhelmed, which cause flooding.

– Major earthquake leads to fires and coastal flooding–and a tsunami that wipes out an island settlement twenty miles off the coast. Some people will lose loved ones in the ensuing mess.

– Drought – east of a mountain range, alluevial plains suffer a major drought, causing food shortages throughout the colonies. This may cause some debate over whether it’s a good idea to build some irrigation devices or not — and still maintain ecological stability.

– Dust storms – the summer dry season (drier than anticipated) results in dust-storms. Some people will pick up and leave, others will become sick because of the dust and what’s in it (bacteria, ect).

– Hurricane – The terraformed world of one of the invading congloms has never experienced a hurricane–they think it’s just a big thunderstorm. While the locals have battened down the hatches and riding out the storm, the conglom sends down landers full of troops–most of which crash either along the coast or in the ocean.

– Long winter – An unusually long winter causes food shortages and stresses the communities on the colony world. Cannibalism will NOT happen, but there’s always the spectre of it.

– Summer storms – Sudden summer thunderstorms sweep down out of the mountains and bring down trees and wind-catchers. Some of the colonists (especially the newer ones) have never seen anything like it and have to depend on second and third generation settlers to help them figure out how to deal with these wild storms — and, more importantly, how to predict them.

– Tornado – A major settlement is completely obliterated by a tornado, and no one realizes what hit the settlement until later. It may have been an educational center that’s hit, which would cost the colony some major brainpower.

– Wind shears – these can easily wreak havoc with landers of any kind, which could work both for and against the colonists. The colonists come to understand their weather, whereas any invaders might well not have any idea how to handle it.

Day 3: “Close your eyes and think about what kind of feeling you like to have when you write or read.  Write down four words that fit into that feeling: two adjectives, a verb, and a noun.”

Tenuous
Dark
Imperiled
Hope

These are supposed to match up with a climate for day 1.  I skipped Day 1, and these terms are really very limiting anyway, so…moving on!

Day 4 will be tackled tomorrow….Day 4 involves geological history.  It’ll be fun times.

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