Let There be Light… And Jacopo birds!

What’s the most difficult part of writing a series? Keeping track of all the whos and whats and wheres!

In writing the second Trivial Venture episode, I’ve been having to write down all my Who, Whats and Wheres so I can keep track as the series grows. You see that list there? That’s just the places visited so far in my writing. And I know for certain we’ll have more very soon…

I absolutely adore world building. It’s glorious. You find a character, and drop them in a box with something to eat, something to drink, a toy to play with and a friend or two. Then you shake it all up and see where everything lands!

Well okay, that’s not exactly it. But that is how it feels some times.

My worlds develop organically by following through a thought; I wanted sky pirates.
“Okay, so how exactly does one act piratical in the sky?”
Well, on a flying ship of course.
”Yes, dear. But how does the ship fly?”
Oh. Well, with helium. piped through special sails. (Don’t spring a leak, up there,” Pip called to Harvey. “You’ll be talkin’ silly for hours.”)
”uh huh… And um… How does the ship move forward exactly?”
It has sails, didn’t you hear me? Wind up yonder is pretty intense.

And so on and so forth. (that was me, arguing with myself, by the by. I’m such a lively crowd) It’s an entire tree of thought. I start with a ship, and figure out how it works, I figure out how that affects the societal expectations: How does one dress when flying up where the air’s thin and chilly? Is society different in the sky dwellers than the land dwellers? Since we’re playing on boats and ships, what sort of customs and habits do people have? What’s their hierarchy like, then? Each question allows me to see more and more of the world, until it’s as bright and vibrant and deep as a painting by Edgar Degas.

These are the things I’m working out as I doodle and scribble between bouts of writing.