But reading up on it introduced me to a lot of historical personalities and the outlines of a story framework. MAJESTIC-12 also led me to a possible source for these abilities, but I didn’t actually want to write an alien invasion story, either. Soon, I was neck deep in Roswell and Area 51 and…the MAJESTIC-12 conspiracy. That’s a good question.Īnd that’s when I went off to start some Wikipedia surfing and Googling, and that quickly led me to the tinfoil-hat sections of the Internet. How would the government then find these individuals and keep them secret? Well…huh.So are superpowered individuals common knowledge during the early Cold War? No, I don’t think so.did incredibly amazing and horrendously awful things all around the world. Early Cold War, when intelligence agencies in the U.S. And where are these spies? I like James Bond.Are they spies? Hey…that’s not a bad idea. So you now have people with different “special” abilites.
That would turn conventional espionage into a bloodbath. Do they all have the same ability? Err…no.Are there other spies like him? Let’s give that a solid maybe.So what about MJ-12: Inception? We have a spy character who can read minds, but only from those actually in the process of dying - at the moment of death, in fact. For those who have read the Daedalus trilogy, these names will be rather familiar! If not, suffice it to say that my worldbuilding exercise not only led to a key solution to the sailing ships question, but also a couple characters and the beginnings of an actual plot.įrom there, the questions splintered off into any number of directions: How does alchemy work, then? Where do these ships go when they leave Earth? What might they encounter? What does the political situation look like? Economics? Culture? Historical fantasy is fun because it gives you a starting point for those questions, but I also think it’s more rigorous because your answers tend to have to be pretty logical and sound. In fact, two of the more all-time famous alchemists were active in the mid-to-late 18th century - the Count St. So I looked at the various beliefs and mysticisms of the time and, lo, I stumbled on the Great Work - alchemy.Īlchemy was in its twilight in the 1700s, already largely replaced by real scientific inquiry, but there were still some puffers around peddling their ideas and wares. I thought about something like steampunk or clockworks, but steam engines were still a bit more in the future than what I wanted, and clockworks left me cold. I dismissed “magic” out of hand, because again, Spelljammer kind of did that. That was the first tough one, and led to a few cycles around my brain and a bit of research. OK, so how’d those ships get into space? *pause* Great question.I want actual ships from the historical Age of Sail. Are these historical sailing ships, or something out of a fantastical world? Spelljammer did the high-fantasy sailing ship thing.Are these actual sailing ships or just something that looks like them? Actual.So let’s break down some of the first questions I asked myself about The Daedalus Incident. It’s like the logical side of my brain having a conversation with the creative side of my brain - which isn’t weird AT ALL, I promise. And so I ask questions of this kernel to try to develop things further.
I’m a former journalist, and I flatter myself to think that I’m good at asking questions. (Or a notepad, if you’re super old-school.) It’s the leaping-off point for the entire universe that you, the writer-god, will create through nothing but your own sheer will and a laptop computer. So that’s your core concept, the diving board into the worldbuilding pool. MJ-12: Inception‘s kernel: What if there was a spy who could read minds - but only as the person he was trying to read was dying in that moment? The Daedalus Incident‘s kernel: I want sailing ships in space. Worldbuilding in fantasy and science fiction starts with a mere kernel of an idea, an unpopped piece of popcorn in your brain, just waiting to be nurtured into buttery goodness. ( Warning: There are mild spoilers ahead for MJ-12: Inception.) Go sit on the couch and grab some tea or wine or something. So I want to sit down and work through it a bit better. Sadly, this isn’t what I mean by “interrogate your worldbuilding.” I was on a couple of worldbuilding panels last weekend at Phoenix Comicon, and I briefly touched on this concept. “TALK! Or it’s the chair for you!”Īctually, I’d read the heck out of that.
He suddenly wheels on your worldbuilding and slams his hands on the table. A detective paces the room in a suit stained with coffee and despair. A gray room with bare walls, a metal table, two uncomfortable chairs, a single bulb dangling from the ceiling.
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