World Building (Science Fiction Writing)

Rating:
Summary: A Helpful Guide to Constructing Star Systems and Planets
Review: "World-Building" is the volume in the Science Fiction Writing Series edited by Ben Bova devoted to constructing star systems and life-supporting planets. Stephen L. Gillett has a doctorate in geology, was the science columnist at "Amazing Science Fiction" and has written SF under a pseudonym. My doctorate is in rhetorical studies, so I am starting at ground zero when it comes to understanding or at least appreciating the mathematical equations for escape velocity, scaling tidal forces or Roche's limit. While this book thoroughly convinced me that I have no aptitude for writing hard science, I can see how it would be extremely helpful to anyone interested in being on a strong scientific foundation when it comes to writing their own stories.

Gillett's volume has eight chapters: (1) Why World-Build? looks at the necessity of using real science to create the requisite sense of wonder in your science fiction writing; (2) The Astronomical Setting covers the important differences between planets and stars in general and gravity, orbits, seasons and tidal action in particular; (3) Making a Planet details how the formation of a planetary system impacts the resulting planets and the options for story writing; (4) The Earth looks at the interconnected aspects that make interesting variations possible with the home worlds you create because of plate tectonics, water and air, magnetic field, colors, etc.; (5) The Ancient Earth deals with avoiding the "Cenozoic Earth Syndrome" (creating an alien world by making a few slight changes on ancient earth) by better understanding our ancient past as an inspiration for creativity; (6) The Other Planet looks at the wealth of data we have accumulated from our deep space probes as another source of inspiration; (7) Stars and Suns looks at how such heavenly bodies can supporting interesting planets as well; and (8) Not as We Know It discusses differences in volatile content (e.g., wetworlds, nitroworlds, brimstone worlds) as a final means of providing major scope for variation in words.

Hopefully this will provide you enough information to decide if "World-Building" will help you in writing your own Science Fiction. I appreciate that for some people this book does not go far enough, but certainly for the vast majority of us it gives us enough information that we will not thoroughly embarrass ourselves when it comes to creating new worlds for our characters to inhabit and visit.

Rating:
Summary: A Helpful Guide to Constructing Star Systems and Planets
Review: "World-Building" is the volume in the Science Fiction Writing Series edited by Ben Bova devoted to constructing star systems and life-supporting planets. Stephen L. Gillett has a doctorate in geology, was the science columnist at "Amazing Science Fiction" and has written SF under a pseudonym. My doctorate is in rhetorical studies, so I am starting at ground zero when it comes to understanding or at least appreciating the mathematical equations for escape velocity, scaling tidal forces or Roche's limit. While this book thoroughly convinced me that I have no aptitude for writing hard science, I can see how it would be extremely helpful to anyone interested in being on a strong scientific foundation when it comes to writing their own stories.

Gillett's volume has eight chapters: (1) Why World-Build? looks at the necessity of using real science to create the requisite sense of wonder in your science fiction writing; (2) The Astronomical Setting covers the important differences between planets and stars in general and gravity, orbits, seasons and tidal action in particular; (3) Making a Planet details how the formation of a planetary system impacts the resulting planets and the options for story writing; (4) The Earth looks at the interconnected aspects that make interesting variations possible with the home worlds you create because of plate tectonics, water and air, magnetic field, colors, etc.; (5) The Ancient Earth deals with avoiding the "Cenozoic Earth Syndrome" (creating an alien world by making a few slight changes on ancient earth) by better understanding our ancient past as an inspiration for creativity; (6) The Other Planet looks at the wealth of data we have accumulated from our deep space probes as another source of inspiration; (7) Stars and Suns looks at how such heavenly bodies can supporting interesting planets as well; and (8) Not as We Know It discusses differences in volatile content (e.g., wetworlds, nitroworlds, brimstone worlds) as a final means of providing major scope for variation in words.

Hopefully this will provide you enough information to decide if "World-Building" will help you in writing your own Science Fiction. I appreciate that for some people this book does not go far enough, but certainly for the vast majority of us it gives us enough information that we will not thoroughly embarrass ourselves when it comes to creating new worlds for our characters to inhabit and visit.

Rating:
Summary: Wow, I never thought of that!
Review: Ben Bova has helped to write several books in this series, including Aliens and Alien Societies, Time Travel, and this one, World-Building.

This book gives the science fiction writer the science needed to create worlds on which your stories can unfold. As a scientist myself, I knew much of the information included, but there were more than a few times where I found myself saying "Wow, I never thought of that!".

I'm sure there are a lot of writers out there who aren't scientists like me, and I'm sure they would benefit from having this information so that their worlds will not only be more realistic, they'll be scientifically plausible.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I was hoping for
Review: Despite the book's prestigious author, the title is a bit misleading. Most of the book focuses on "world-building" is not a 'world' per se, but is is meant in the larger sense: planetary/star-system building. I was hoping for more. One of my fiction projects includes "world-building" societies: things like races, religions, language, culture, costume, architecture, flora, government, et al., and the book covers none of that. Although the book itself it good for what it covers, I wish it had a different title that more accurately reflected its content.

Rating:
Summary: Useful for both SF writers and a General Reference
Review: I am not a SF writer and really do not have plans to become one, but since I have an interest in astronomy, I found myself, by turns, buying and looking over this book.

The detail in the book is very good. While the equations and mathematics will turn off some, they ARE necessary in order to construct a "believable" science fiction world, and the authors do take pains to make it as "plug and play" as possible.

The best part of the book is the last, with the authors imaginative and fanciful planetary settings for science fiction stories. The "clorox" world has to be read to be believed.

The only caveat to the book is the inevitable march of planetary knowledge slowly rendering some details of our own solar system slightly incorrect.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I was hoping for
Review: I could go on and on about how helpful this book is. It has been absolutely indispensible to me while designing my latest (and largest) world. There's a lot to think about, but this book helps you organize your thoughts, it's very easy to understand, and it presents the information in such a way that it's easy to look up things quickly when you need them. Awesome... ^.^

Rating:
Summary: Packed with information
Review: I have been extremely pleased with this book. I bought it because I wanted to know how to invent a planet that would look plausible scientifically. I am a neophyte in the sciences field, and as such found this book really excellent. It is full pack of information clearly presented, to understand how planets are formed, and what are the requirements for life (this is not simply air and water, but, for example, on the long run also requires volcanism and plate tectonics!). In fact, had I read this book when I was in college, I would have wanted to study chemistry and physics at university (instead of hating it). Lastly, for those wanting to create alien worlds, the end of the book also presents some examples, without which all the info presented may be of few use to design some original exo-planet. Overall, an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Concise, useful starting point.
Review: The biggest advantage to his book is that it concisely draws together the general facts about stars, planets, and atmospheres that one needs to design the physicality of worlds for hard-science fiction. Though not all encompassing or exhaustive of the subject, there's enough data to enable one to make choices for a world and then research those choices to the depth necessary to meet one's needs without having to become an expert in astrophysics and/or biochemistry.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but superficial
Review: This is an excellent reference, writen in a clear, conversational style. I won' repeat the similar comments made by the other reviewers.

My only complaint: it doesn't go into much detail. I realize that Dr. Gillett had to write a book anyone could use for their sci-fi, be they engineer or English major. He couldn't go math-crazy.

Well, as an engineer, I would have liked to see a chapter or two, added at the end, intended for people who aren't scared of differential equations and who want to BUILD a world, not just outline it.

My experience, in both industry and graduate school, is that the obscure implications you encounter while modeling a system can be as interesting and important as the final answer you achieve. Dr. Gillett just gives us the final answer.

So, to sum up: EXCELLENT book and REQUIRED reading. But, they should have thrown in another chapter of MATH.

Rating:
Summary: Unique in its beauty
Review: This is probably the best and only book that clearly states the current understanding of stars and formation/evolution of planets around them, in plain speech. The information is as extensive as it is scientifically accurate which is a great plus for an aspiring fiction writer who does not want to look over the countless pages of an Encyclopaedia Formulae on astrophysics. Besides the numerous formulas one needs to create a (scientifically) cohesive world, Gillett also gives many tidbits from the fiction writing over the course of time, allowing you to become familiar with the possibilities of several future technologies/discoveries. Also included are several studies of fictuous odd-ball worlds ( one is an ocean world filled with sulfuric acid). This book will likely be useful to the writer as well as the explorer within everyone.