Writer's Block: Creating a New Planet
My current WIP is another backstory chapter--this time exploring the past of Nerana, one of my most enigmatic characters. Also perhaps the character who's undergone the most evolutions (especially since she's appeared as a side character in many of my stories). It's been really fun, and it makes this picture even more appropriate as a model for her character:
A great model for the young Ms. Wierth
Almost more fun than trying to nail down how her character behaves and evolves is creating the planet she was born on. Named Atelia, it is the oldest of the worlds settled by the Orusai (the name of her race). A world known more for its bleakness, its surface of rock and ice made it look favorable to the first settlers only because they'd been forced to flee their homeworld. Now it is little more than a once glorious backwater. . . .
Still, a hyper-technological race such as the Orusai know how to make life interesting. The Atelians have adapted themselves well to the harsh environment through a combination of underground tunneling and the use of a vibrant virtual-reality interface that ensures you'd never have to look at bleak corridors (if you didn't want to). The combination of cold, antiseptic architecture, and the superfluity of artificial intelligences that abound on the planet have several inspirations. Three in particular I wish to share:
I think, more than anything, a series of conversations I've had with my wife about one of her WIPs has influenced the feel of the writing. Her story is about the underground survivors of a nuclear event--where the surface is experiencing severe nuclear winter--and has artificial intelligences play a large role. Or at least they did the last time I talked with her :P
The overall feel is inspired heavily by the planet Noveria in Mass Effect, particularly the central hub of Port Hanshan:
Everything from the steely blue architecture to the hot springs is awesome for how I envision Atelia.
Another inspiration is something a bit more local. There's a large bridge right on the Milwaukee lakeshore that I've gone over many times when I had to drive my wife to work. Many early winter mornings, fog would have rollen in, and the combination of the sodium vapor lights, snow, and fog, made me come up with the idea for Nerana growing up on an ice planet. Inspiration strikes in funny ways, no?
This is obviously not in winter, but it gives a non-Milwaukeean a little flavor of what I'm getting at:
One last inspiration would have to be the moments in both Halo: Combat Involved and Halo 3 where the Master Chief has to get his snow-shoes on:
I know that was kind of a ramble, but I hope you at least enjoyed it :)
I'm glad that I can be a source of inspiration for you ;)