I have started the process of working out the details for my next novel. Now I had previously worked out a novel and its synopsis before, submitted it to my editor and after a very friendly discussion about it themes and ending, we came to the conclusion that it was not a novel for that press. I could have moved on to writing it, it’s a dark cynical story that is kin of adjacent to cosmic horror without being a horror novel but I decided to follow a new idea that had recently arrived in my brain and would be a perfect fit for the press.

So yesterday I began the note process where I do the majority of my world building. This is sort of like explain on paper to myself how the world works and how the characters interact with the world and its social structures. It’s me telling myself the background of the story without getting into the plot details. I have a clear understanding of the sweeping outline of the plot, I know the story’s central mystery, the protagonist, and the resolution, but within those grand sweeps are nearly countless details and tones that I have to nail down before I can outline the actual story.

What’s a joy is that the worldbuilding solves plot problems before I even get to the outline. This new novel will take place on a ‘generation ship,’ one that travels slower than light and generations of people are born, live, and die on the ship before it reaches its colonization target. How do you organize people as a society that both meets the needs of a ship, with a rigid command and control structure and meets the needs of a free people living their lives in a vast spinning cylinder? How do you direct populations to prevent any sub-group from becoming a dead end genetically preserving both diversity in the gene pool and freedom for the population? Answering those question not only helped me make, at least in my mind, a more credible world but also gave concrete solutions to plot problem I had already seen but not yet answered.

This is the fun puzzle solving stage of creation. There will be more challenges to overcome and new puzzles to solve but right now it is mostly slotting the framing pieces into place.