Day 1: Climate and Variety

So here we go.  Day One - Climate & Variety.

The first fifteen minute exercise is to write down all the different climates you can think of-if you need to just say a city name, do it. Sometimes "Seattle" is more evocative than "northern damp temperate climate." Write these names down in a list.

Then, go through that list and write one or two words that describe how that climate, either the word itself or the way the place itself may have made you feel, if you've been there before. Try to stick to abstract adjectives; emotional words, if you can, but nouns are also okay.

 This is going to be tricky because I'm actually trying to create several planets, not just one. I'm trying to populate an entire star cluster; okay, not an entire cluster, just the inhabited parts. Still, it's a good exercise.

 Let's start with this...

And someday we'll stop fucking this all up...

And now, climates. not really going for the "17 recognized climates" here as much as I'm thinking about geographic locations. Here's where my mind went and what I came up with.

1. Temperate Forest - Tall trees, shade, concealment, nature
2. Urban - contrasts, loud, motion, stark
3. Appalachia - country, rural, traverse
4. Tundra - desolate, cold, exposed
5. Arctic - hibernation, harsh, cold
6. Bayou - buzzing, obscured, oppressive
7. Marshlands - damp, winding
8. Plains - agriculture, flatlands, torandoes
9. Desert - blistering, exhausting
10. Badlands - ambush, orange, apocalyptic
11. Rocky Mountains - intimidating, unyielding
12. The Alps - stratosphere, snow-capped, majestic
13. Ocean - vast, isolation
14. Marianas Trench - crushing, blackness
15. Jungle - predatory, sweltering
16. Savannah - speed, warm, surveying
17. Tropics - dictatorship, relaxation, care-free
18. The Outback - deadly, survival
19. Volcanic - Hellborne, illumination, methodical

I know there are others, and some more evocative words too, but this is a pretty interesting list to consider when creating my worlds. I can already see certain themes coming together for some worlds I'm thinking about creating.

This probably took me a bit more than 20 minutes, rather than the 15. But not bad for what it was.

Looking ahead at tomorrow's task has definitely piqued my interest; The Physical Planet. Let's see where this goes...

Exercises taken from "30 Days of WorldBuilding" by Stephanie Cottrell Bryant