Where Rivers Come From

Rivers, streams, creeks, brooks, along with their variously named cousins are arguably the most important features of any setting.  I've discussed their importance related to human settlements in a previous post (Resource Allocation (part 1)).  Now that I've convinced you, the questions "Where do they fit?" and "What do they look like?"remain. 
     The basic idea behind water movement (and more broadly all gravity based movement) is that it's always trying to go downhill by the quickest path.  If water could move straight to the core of the planet, it would.  The only reason it doesn't is because other material gets in the way.  Liquid water will only stop moving when it is trapped by an impermeable material.  As simple as this first idea is, it is essential to all that follows.
    The second most important (and basic, sorry) point is that all of this water comes from somewhere.  How it moves through the environment as a whole is aptly called the Water (or Hydrologic) Cycle. 
http://www.srh.weather.gov/jetstream/atmos/hydro_cycle.htm

This cycle illustrates of some of the diversions and restarts that water goes through on its travel downhill.  
    Through the application of these simple concepts, the shape of rivers can be understood.  In its quest to descend a quickly as possible, water encounters all kinds of material and (primarily through friction) erodes it.  When water encounters a change in material or slope, it will turn to follow the path of least resistance.  Water is lazy.  These changes in material or slope account for all redirection of water flow.  This means that when a river meanders (it's a technical term, really) across a landscape that there are underlying reasons for it.
    As water flows downhill, it joins up with its buddies and they all work together to make life easier.  Streams, brooks and rivulets get together to make rivers.  Where they intersect, the course may be altered briefly depending on the sources relative flow rates and volumes of water.  A very fast flowing stream may scour a pool where it meets a greater river, but do little to the overall direction.  A low point where numerous streams meet may become a lake, whose outflow is the combined volume of all its feeders (the lake is purely a pass through, once full.  think of a tub).  Increasing the mass of the material involved in the flow increases the force applied proportionally.  
    Not all sources of water for a river are visible at the surface.  Some water travels underground, through the soil, or through cracks in the rock.  When I was in Brazil, I walked through a field of grasses (in Chapada) where the soil was so thin that the water basically flowed an inch under my feet.  Groundwater can form springs where it reaches an impermeable material downhill becoming a feeder stream or it may feed directly into a river from the channel.  

   
from Kniffen, F.B. 1968. Louisiana, its land and people. LSU Press

Rate of flow determines the sediment load of water, which increases its scour potential.  The flow direction (illustrated in the diagram) identifies where the greatest scouring will occur along the banks.  Eventually, the the ratio of energy loss (required to redirect the water flow) verses material strength may be overcome, cutting across the meander and creating an oxbow lake, island or towhead (generally re-straightening the course of the river).
    
    The cross-sectional shape of rivers vary widely.  Some are deep and narrow.  Some are wide and shallow.  When rivers have to pass through rock, they narrow and the rate of flow increases as a result (same amount of water after all).  Likewise, when passing through a soft sediment (a nice sandy soil perhaps) a river will tend to spread out, as deeper soil is generally tighter packed.  Changes in a river's proportional shape are always the result of a change in the material it is flowing through.
    It is important to remember that every time flowing water slows down, it drops some of its sediment load (the Wiki on Sediment, subsection fluvial processes, is more in depth).  This is how you get point bars, braided rivers, and so on.  Obstructions in a river also have this impact, sometimes even forming islands amidst the flow.  Some large rivers (Mississippi, Nile), when approaching the ocean, slow to such an extent that they drop the majority of their sediment load,  forming deltas. 

    A river whose channel reaches the ocean will be influenced by tidal effects, raising and lowering river levels.  Depending on the volume of water carried by the channel, salt water may even mingle with the fresh near the shoreline, creating what is called brackish water (which not many species enjoy).  Some rivers (like the Amazon) maintain a high enough rate of flow that they carry fresh water well into the ocean proper.     
    By keeping in mind how water interacts with its environment, the positioning of rivers in their surroundings makes simple logical sense.  The reasons for it my not be immediately apparent, but if we dig deeply enough, they are there. 

As a writer I care about these things because I want to know what that mid-channel island (where the bandit camp is) is made of.  I want to know how the fish got poisoned in this part of the river.  I want to know where the water nymph's pool is located.  Maybe I even want my seagoing vessel to be taking on fresh water while still afloat on the ocean.  There are so many wonders on this planet Earth, it seems a shame not to incorporate some into yours.

Foreign Languages

A friend made a suggestion that I do a post related to language.  Now, I've traveled a bit, attempted to learn a few languages, even taught English for four years outside the US; but I'd never dream of trying to invent a whole language.  How I plan to use my knowledge of language learning is by having my non-native speakers make specific types of mistakes. 
    One of the classic ways Hollywood writes characters with Russian accents is by omitting articles (a, an, the).  The reason some speakers have trouble with these is simply because they don't exist in some languages.  Unfortunately, it is so commonly used that whatever characters you use this for will not only sound like non-native English speakers, but specifically Slavic/Russian type speakers (try saying, "Get into car," without using a Russian accent).  Then again, maybe that's what you want.
    Tense confusion is the second basic mistake for most people learning English.  In English, we use different cases to give things a place in time relative to each other.  Other languages, apparently not so much.  Learning the Past Simple is usually fine for them (except for some irregulars), since they just add -ed (though some do pronounce it like "walk-ed").  Continuous tenses can also be tricky, with mistakes either from confusion or from forgetting to use "am" in the continuous form ("I going to school").  Most non-native speakers I've met just don't understand the perfect tenses (have done, had done) and simply avoid them, using other structures.    
    Phrasal verbs are a good way to really mess with non-natives.  These are verb-preposition pairs that have a non-literal meaning (some can be separated by a noun).  Tell a non-native speaker to "work it out" or "look it up" and you'll often get blank stares.  Having your foreign characters not use them is a subtle tool, but having them not understand when a native uses them can help to remind the reader of cultural difference.
    Use of idiomatic English and slang also causes confusion for non-natives.  Hell, it can cause trouble for parents listening to children or visitors from a different state. One way for a non-native to make a mistake is with using a synonym for one of the words ("scarce as chicken's teeth," instead of "scarce as hen's teeth").  This is probably due to the speaker having learned the phrase in a literal translation.  More often the mistake would be the substitution of a word that sounds similar ("scarce as men's teeth"), which can lead to misunderstanding and then misapplication of the phrase, since men's teeth are a bit more common than hen's teeth.
    The trick with all of these things is in applying them without confusing your reader or distracting from the story.  Used too subtly, some readers might not even notice you being clever.  However, as I noted in my first posting, this is not a blog about how to best write your stories.  This is my own personal info dump about how to flesh out your new world.  I hope it helps.      

It's also good to remember that when two cultures are in close contact they often appropriate words to use, especially for an activity or product that originates in the other culture.  English is full of words that we have taken from other languages over the years (kowtow, souffle, etc).  Other cultures have clearly done the same, with France most famously trying to avoid English language infiltration.  One of the most loved recent examples is the short lived show "Firefly".  Often Chinese phrases were used in conversation to remind the viewers of the universe the characters were living in (or maybe get around censors).  

Where Mountains Come From

One of my favorite things when cracking open a new book is to pore over the maps.  It kicks off my imagination.  I wonder about how some of the details are going to be used in the story.  Undefined edges recall the Age of Exploration and those cryptic notes, like "Here be dragons."  The one thing that bugs me (yes, it's mostly because I love geology and got the degree) is when topography makes no sense.

     Plate tectonics is the widely accepted theory of how continents move across the Earth.  On the surface are basically two types of material: oceanic crust and continental crust.  These both "float" on a layer known as the mantle, which is liquid due to the weight of the crust (the core is below the mantle).  A cohesive mass of material (which can be made of both oceanic and continental crust) that all moves in the same direction at the same rate, is called a plate.  These plates move very slowly with both direction and rotation.  How these plates interact affects almost every physical feature on the Earth.  If this theory functions on your planet (which as a reader is always my assumption), there are infinite ways to arrange your dry land, but only a few ways to create a mountain. 
    Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust.  Consequently, when the two meet, the oceanic crust is pushed down (subduction) at an angle.  It is theorized that at depth this subduction causes melt, putting pressure on the underside of the continental crust (vulcanism), causing uplift.  This is one of the primary methods of mountain-building.  A modern example of this is the Cascade Range of the Western US and Canada.
    It seems that when two plates consisting of continental crust meet, neither wants to subduct.  In this case, the land masses smash together and form some spectacular mountains.  The Himalayan mountain chain is an example of this kind of collision.  
    In a place where two plates consisting of oceanic crust meet, the denser plate (not all oceanic crust is created equal) will be subducted.  Again, at depth this causes melt, inducing vulcanism and creating what are known as island arcs (like the Aleutians).  When this resulting oceanic crust is later subducted beneath continental crust, the islands are essentially scraped off, slamming into the surface material (making mountains and causing some lovely metamorphism).  This is thought to be how the mountains of the Eastern US formed (the Grenville Orogeny, Taconic Orogeny, etc).  
    The final basic way known to form mountains is through hot spot volcanism.  Some volcanic island chains are formed in the middle of a plate (like the Hawaiian Islands).  The thought is that certain given areas of the mantle are significantly hotter than the rest.  These "hot spots" burn their way through the overlying material to reach the surface, each building a volcano.  As the plate moves over a hot spot the route to the surface outlet becomes inefficient.  The magma then has break through at a new spot in the crust to fight its way to the surface.  The subsequent chain of mountains (or islands) then shows the motion of the plate over the hot spot.   

    Woah, that was loads of information.  Feel free to look any of that up on Wikipedia for diagrams and such.  Most of the technical stuff is much nastier to read. 
    Following this info dump, you may rightly ask, "How the hell does this relate to my maps?"  Well, I'll tell you.  On a continental scale, mountain come in chains.  These chains tend to be linear features.  It would take some real finagling to make a continent which has a cross or a ring of mountains (like Mordor).  Similarly, one mountain in the middle of a vast plain is really unlikely (still looking at you Tolkien*), unless it's a volcano.  Even then it should probably be close to the shore (sorry Mount Doom).  By patterning your fantasy world after nature, you can allow it to grow on its own.
    Lastly, a note on description.  Big mountains don't always mean old mountains.  In the US, the Cascade range is still rising, the Rockies stopped rising 55 million years ago and the Appalachian Mountains finished 260 million years ago (following the Allegheny Orogeny).  Stature doesn't imply age.  What it looks like today is largely related to the rock of which it's composed, but that is a post for another day.  

*I forgive Professor Tolkien, since he was writing before the theory of plate tectonics was formulated   

Reference I Love

I mentioned in my first post how I took a number of Medieval history classes when I was in college which left me with some good reference materials.  Probably I should thank my professor, Ben McRee (yes, small school, one professor for this historical period) for introducing me to them.  One that I keep going back to is Growing Up in Medieval London, by Barbara A Hanawalt.  She does a fantastic job of making academic history readable.  Focusing on childhood, Ms. Hanawalt explores aspects of everyday city life that are often ignored in works focused on grand events and notable characters.

Chapter List
1. Introduction
2. The Material Environment of London's Youth
3. Birth and Baptism: Membership in a Social and Spiritual Network
4. The Fragile Childhood Years
5. Childrearing, Training, and Education
6. Orphans and Their Upbringing
7. Life on the Threshold of Adolescence
8. Entering into Apprenticeship
9. Relationships Between Masters and Apprentices
10. Servants
11. On Becoming Sad and Wise

Being the work of a scholar, the book is also well noted, including bibliography and a helpful index.  In my work, it has enabled me to illuminate my vision, breathing life and detail into my rough sketches. 

Technology in Time

One of the tv shows that enthralled me for a time (there weren't many episodes) was called "Connections".  It was a series produced by the BBC and written/hosted by James Burke which showed how the development of one technology directly or indirectly led to the development of others.  Part of the joy was in learning how things worked and the other was in the stories of how the inventors took inspiration from others and sometimes redirected it into completely different disciplines.
   
When fantasy writers make products available to our characters, we make certain technologies available to them as well.  If wooden planks are a cheap building material, there must be a sawmill that produces them.  In a medieval setting, a sawmill of this output runs thanks to a waterwheel.  This requires a certain level of engineering skill and probably damming a stream, or diverting a bit of a river, to get a consistent water flow (wikipedia has some nice history and pictures).  Wood also has a number of useful byproducts like:tannin, potash, pitch, tar, resin (http://www.engr.psu.edu/mtah/articles/colonial_wood_water.htm#wp).  If you can produce a commodity this useful, it becomes a trade good (http://medievalwoodworking.org/articles/The%20Northern%20European%20Lumber%20Trade%20in%20the%20Middle%20Ages.pdf).
    Now that we know some of the products you can get from wood, what can you do with them?  Potash can be used: in making soap and glass, as a fertilizer, and to bleach textiles.  Tannin are used in the process of tanning hides (into leather, not corporal punishment) .  Pitch, tar and resin are all used aboard ships as sealants and weather-proofers.  These components are of course in addition to making planks, shingles, masts, barrel staves, dinner plates, kitchen tables and so on. 
    Education is a clear issue when a fantasy author supplies these tools and technologies to their characters.  Not just anyone can design and build a mill.  Universities existed primarily in the large cities and innovators were in high demand.  Secrets were jealously guarded.  Who extracts the tannin to sell to the tannery?  How did they figure out what the hell potash even is?  Much of this knowledge would be handed down through personal apprenticeships or even full blown craft guilds.  With literacy being relatively uncommon and books extravagantly expensive, someone generally had to show you how to do things.  Control of this information was simple job security.   
    When we start looking into the details of our creations, we begin to scratch the surface of their interconnected nature (as in the title of that tv show).  Exploring those connections leads to a greater understanding of history and the world around us.  Once we recognize how things work in reality; we can, with joyful understanding, break with it.  
    

Creature Culture (part 1)

One of the standard elements of Fantasy (and SciFi) writing is the presence of fantastic creatures.  The presence of these beings in the story can serve many purposes.  Often they are used as foils, to show the positives and negatives of the human societies we build.  Some times they are simple adversaries, acting as obstacles for our heroes to overcome (and/or slaughter without too much guilt).  The uses of these creatures are legion, but not all creatures are "created" equally.  When populating our worlds with fantastical creatures, it behooves writers to put just as much thought into the "others" as they do into their humans.  Readers care if your creations make sense.

Humans are generally the "youngest" culture in a fantasy world.  This is often used by the author to instantaneously create a "lived in" feel.  These older, and possibly wiser, beings have histories that go back untold generations.  Potentially then there are many things that humans can learn from these folk.  One question the author needs to answer though, is "Why have these ancient cultures not progressed beyond their current level of technology?"  or to put it more plainly, "Why haven't your creative and industrious dwarfs moved beyond smacking people with axes and hammers?"  Maybe more importantly, if these intelligent creatures have been watching humanity develop, have they been keeping us in check or exploiting us in some way?  Larry Niven's Ringworld explores this a bit. 
    In many of the books I read while growing up, as well as the RPGs, there were characters that were half-this and half-that.  I suspect it's one of the reasons these different creatures are commonly referred to as "races" and not "species."  It is a good way to investigate the real world human issue of mixed parentage without being too blatant.  One interesting repercussion is that, (by definition) in order to produce viable offspring (which means that the child can subsequently reproduce), two beings must be of the same species.  Consequently, in a setting that uses half-whatevers (produced through natural means), the creatures involved can not have significant genetic difference and their cultures have gone through development of similar duration.
    When creating a species different from humans, basic physical differences can (and probably should) lead to significant societal impacts.  Nature has shown us many different examples of reproduction with varying benefits and hindrances inherent.  For example, animals that lay eggs are not slowed by carrying developing young, but the eggs are more susceptible to predation.  Diet (carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, other?) is a determining factor in where/how we live as well as the success of various body designs.  Pure carnivores would have difficulty forming close knit societies since their food source requires a much larger area (can you imagine them developing farming to keep their food animals close together?). 
    Above all, the place held by the fantastic creatures of your world needs to be just as reasonable as their human counterparts.  If you want your dwarfs to live entirely underground, you probably should know what they eat.  Do they have farms topside?  Are there hidden pastures up in the high places?  Maybe there are subterranean creatures that they raise in underground caverns (plants won't grow there silly, but other things may).  What do things that live underground look like?  Anyway, where did all those underground caverns come from and why the hell would the dwarfs choose to live there?  Similarly, if your elves don't have mines or forges, where did they get their steel?
    It is important to remember that we are creating essentially alien cultures.  The basic motive force behind most organisms is simply to perpetuate the species.  Strategies alternate to our own for doing such, like ant colonies, may seem utterly incomprehensible.  You can find a good example of a culture that feels truly alien in Tad Williams' series (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn).  Having lived in other countries, I can say that even other human cultures can be downright mystifying.  There is no such thing as a universal language or experience.  What is important to one culture may be considered stupid or even anathema in another. 
    Knowing all of these things about your creations is important because it shows you where you can create conflict.  If your pixies lay eggs, they may need to defend those eggs.  When those stupid humans knock down your tiger-men's barbed wire fence, they're going to hear about it.  Maybe your dwarfs are willing to kill for beer, since they've never grown wheat, barley or hops.  Knowing how and where these cultures intersect is key to figuring out how to make things go wrong.  After all, in a fantasy world, it's all the writer's fault.

    

Resource Allocation (part 1)

(Alright, this is an enormous topic.  In some ways it is all encompassing.  Consequently, I'm going to try to start with the basics and move into other areas in subsequent posts when I feel like it ; )  On with the show.)

Alright, so you've got your story idea and decided where you want to set it (right?).  Now we need to think about the impacts that setting have on civilization.  In the modern world (especially the US), we tend to forget that not all things are available to all people.  In fact, the limitations that place put on people is often a dominant factor in the power that one group has over its neighbors.  For a good run through on this idea in the real world, read Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. 
    The placement of any population (human or otherwise) is predicated on the availability of required resources.  The basics are, of course, food and fresh water (meaning not salt water).  Other considerations include defensibility, trade routes, mineral resources, and so on.  All put together, they should answer the question, "Why did they put that there?"
    What do your people eat?  Remember, the potato was first imported to Europe some 400 years ago.  Pasta came to Italy a bit earlier, but still after Charlemagne.  If we think about the diet of our communities, it will lead to a fuller understanding about how this society functions.  Do we import everything?  That'll get expensive.  Anyway, how do we preserve things?  If we want flour, we need to grind the grain.  Do we have a mill?  So there is a mill; how do we turn the stone?  Do we use flowing water, windmill, a large barbarian?  Evolving our characters' diets can lead to the evolution of our economies, skylines and moralities.
    Fresh water is a resource that seems abundant to most people.  The truth is that most surface water (rivers, streams, ponds, etc.) near human settlements is not exactly the healthiest to drink.  This is due in large part to us befouling the waters with our own wastes (fecal and otherwise), but still water in general is a great breeding ground for bacteria and other teeny creatures that like to feast on your entrails (damn it, I'm not a doctor).  You might tell me that you'll just dig a well.  This is a perfectly reasonable answer for a source of fresh water in certain areas, though you can certainly contaminate them too.  It will be a bit more troublesome near the ocean where there may be issues with no fresh water (some islands collect rainwater) or salt water intrusion in your city's aquifer (http://kanat.jsc.vsc.edu/student/spatafora/setup.htm).  Mountains can be difficult for a variety of reasons depending on your rock type.  Getting into geology and soil science isn't the goal here, but just remember that civilizations stay in a given place for a reason.  If it's hard to get fresh water, there better be a damn good reason. 
       
    Alright, that's enough to think about for now.  It's a good place to start at least.  Remember, as a Fantasy setting, of course you can always give your cast everything they need, but limitations encourage creativity from you and your characters.

Heraldry References

For those of you who can't get enough of pageantry or are simply trying to decipher some of George Martin's descriptions, I present to you some rather helpful resources.  (Some day I may even figure out how to make clickable links.  Ah technology.)

http://www.internationalheraldry.com/ has loads of wonderful images and information, but it's mostly one long scroll.  It's a bit of a bear to wade through.

The Encyclopedia Britannica provides a wealth of information, well indexed, but few pictures.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/262552/heraldry

Ian Brennan is a gentleman working in the field as sculptor and woodcarver to the British Royal Household. Nice photos of his work, but could be better formatted. 
http://www.heraldicsculptor.com/index.html

Lastly, if you have a specific question about a historical figure's arms (from the UK and territories) you can contact the authorities on the subject.
http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/


Oh and for those of you who want a quick answer: No, there is no such thing as a family coat of arms. All heraldry is unique to the individual.  Those mall booths are a load of crap.

Celestial Bodies and You

When I think about building a brand new world I like to go large scale.  Before I start populating this little orb of mine I want to know what the neighborhood looks like.  There is a great history of this in the medium, whether it be Jack Vance's old cooling sun, three moons appearing in Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's long running series, or the occluded heavens in Steven Brust's work.  These kinds of changes can create significant atmospheric and practical effects that impact an author's entire body of work. 

Please note that while an author can simply say "I want it to be just like Earth," that's not what this post is about, so let's see what we can do if we play.

First we want to look at what a planet's relationship is to its star.  How do we interact?  The most pertinent interaction to me boils down to weather effects.  How hot do you want it?  The tilt of the Earth in relation to its orbit of the Sun is what generates seasons on our planet.  If you increase the tilt, this should create more dramatic differences in seasonal variation (summers get hotter, winters get colder).  Decreasing the tilt should therefore decrease seasonal variation and give a fairly regular temperature gradient from equator to poles year round.
    Another interesting way to play with the dynamic between these two bodies would be to alter the shape of the of your planet's orbit around its star.  The Earth's orbit is roughly circular, providing little impact on the seasons.  What then happens if you make a strongly elliptical orbit?  Depending on how you point your planet this could lead to a large variety of impacts.  For example: if the north pole is tilted directly towards the star while it is at it's closest point in orbit, it makes the peak of Summer hotter.  Its orbit then takes it furthest away from the star when the northern hemisphere is in autumn, making it cooler.  Coming back to the closest point while the northern hemisphere is in winter (pointed directly away from the star) would make it warmer.  Spring, away from the star again would be cooler relative to Earth normal.  Using this idea, I can imagine a year with eight seasons, including a greater and lesser summer (when the planet is nearest the star).
    One more thought on stars relates to binary stars: okay, using a system like this is certainly possible, but the mechanics related to the previous section make my mind boggle.  The one additional question I'd seriously think about is the effect of additional hours of light throughout the day and year.  Would the increased growing hours accelerate plant growth?  I'd probably also dig up information on those who live close to the poles to see how they deal with it, bearing in mind that people near the poles deal with extra long dark seasons as well, while your population may not.

The other celestial body that has a significant direct impact on the Earth is the Moon.  It's most significant interaction with the Earth comes in the form of tides (though the Sun does have some small influence).  I'm sure the math involved in the gravitational effects of multiple satellites is fascinating, but as tides are not something most of us are interested in getting too involved in as a storytelling device, I ended my research in that direction.
    One important aspect of human interaction with the Moon's effects is as a simple light source.  The difference in visible light is dramatic when the moon has risen.  Additional light sources (of whatever hues) could provide additional brightness or simply alter the quality of the light.  This would potentially have interesting impacts on hunter and hunted.
    The Moon has many cultural associations that could be fun to play with.  First, the lunar calendar gave early civilizations a reliable way to keep track of time.  What do you do if you don't have a moon?  Are the moons surrounding your world constant?  Celestial bodies have also been seen as representations (or even the physical form) of the Gods.  A story could connect with something simple, like the old  "when the Sun sets, where does it go?"  A good eclipse or a Grand Conjunction is an old reliable story device, but usually only if they're not too common.  Hmmm then they'd have to have different orbits.  Ouch, my brain is hurting again.  
    The Moon has been linked to all kinds of unpleasant things.  Lycanthropy is a popular Fantasy illness (at least I hope it's a fantasy) related to the Moon.  So what happens if you have two moons?  More powerful reaction?  Different types of were-creatures associated to each with massive battles taking place between them when both are in the sky?  Of course, the Moon has also been associated with madness (lunacy), which can serve as another simple jumping off point for all kinds of stories whether there is a true tie or not in your world.

Creating a Fantasy world does not require a degree in Astrophysics.  I will certainly be fudging details, but learning how things work is part of the enjoyment I get from being a writer.  Don't get me wrong; I love Terry Pratchett's elephants.  I enjoy the philosophical musings of Fritz Lieber's characters on the nature of their universe.  In my experience, the more I learn about the real world, the more creative ideas spring to mind.  As a final note:  I know that if ever I have a reader ask me how something in my world works, I'd prefer to smile smugly and not tell rather than fumble for an answer and say, "Because..... MAGIC." 

oh, just spotted this as an addendum.
http://io9.com/astronomers-have-discovered-a-tilted-solar-system-1447978841

Birth of a Blog

Friends of mine can tell you that I've been a fan of the Fantasy genre since early childhood.  I've spent countless hours immersed in other worlds, living through the ups and downs of a seemingly endless parade of protagonists.  Somewhere along the road I reached a point where, while many stories were still provoking or entertaining, they weren't telling the stories that I wanted to read.  It's a standard tale for many aspiring writers, I know.
    This is not a writing blog.  I'm honestly just getting started with the true honing of that skill.  This is not a blog about how to make contacts within the industry.  I'm trying to learn all that too.  I can't tell you about how to self-publish or build a better web site.  This might lead you to ask, "What are you good for then?"  to which I would answer "world building."
    Obviously,  being a Fantasy fan from way back led me to doing a fair amount of reading on Medieval History, even going so far as to taking a number of courses on the subject in college (which left me with some great reference books).  Also, when I look back on why I decided on a Geology degree, I recognize that I was mostly interested in it because of the storytelling aspect.  "How did this world come to be the way it is?"  I get that the genre of Fantasy, by definition, does not require the author to be historically or factually accurate (related to the real world).  However, one of the things I've found in my early attempts is that too much freedom can be as daunting as too little. 
    This blog is intended to be a bit of a running history of the questions I ask myself, or encounter as I build my world.  It will cover a broad range of topics and some times may just be info dumps about cool things I've uncovered or sources that I've found helpful.  One of the things I love about this process is that as I learn more about how things work and fit together, new stories suggest themselves.  Granted, not all of this effort will end up in the final story, but I feel better if I know how or why things work.
    As a final note, I would ask that any of you who may be reading this to feel free and offer up additional notes or information on the topics covered.  If you have a topic to suggest, I'm always interested.  It is a big world and there is always more to learn.