#MGMonday - Settings - Writing About Another Planet

 Happy Monday! This week, we'll be sticking with the Science Fiction theme from last week. If you'd like to read up on my top tips for writing Science Fiction, they can be found here. At school this week, we have the Caithness Science Festival show all sorts of great things for the children. Kids love it! Talented presenters come and share cool facts in fun ways, and the classes can have a go at some really awesome experiments, or meet some funky animals.

I love science, and I get a buzz from seeing the children enjoy science too. This can link into fiction, too, where science fiction can ignite children's imaginations of possible futures and new inventions.

Today, I'll be sharing some top tips for writing stories on other planets. This is not something I've done much, partly because I know I will get drawn into a rabbit hole of research because it's just so fun. When I'm not being an author, or a primary teacher, I am a student at the Open University, studying astronomy. In fact, instead of writing this blog post, I should really be writing the first draft of a research report on the planet WASP-12b. But this is more fun!

So... what things do you have to consider when writing a story on a different planet. In many ways, it's like writing a high fantasy story where you can do your own worldbuilding on an epic scale, including maps and the whole shebang! However, there are more rules. You have to consider the laws of physics more when it's in this universe. There can't be any magic, only undiscovered science. If you want a land where rain goes upwards instead of downwards, you have to explain how.

Gravity

Let's start with the obvious one! The amount of gravity a planet (or star!) has depends on its mass. Just to compare some planets we know well, here are (rounded) values for gravity on some planets in our solar system (all values in m/s2):

Earth    10

Mars    4

Venus    9

Jupiter    25

(The moon, by the way, is 2)

Gravity-wise, therefore, humans will find it easier to walk on Venus than any of the other planets. Consider the implications of living on Mars. We would feel much lighter, and be able to jump higher, perhaps cover larger distances more easily. We would also become more feeble over time, and struggle if we returned to Earth. So, how do you think a race of Martians would cope if they came to our planet? I think they would appear to be quite weak.

Considering Jupiter, the gravity is over twice as strong. Any alien race to have evolved on this planet would have comparative super strength. And humans would struggle to survive in such a high gravity. They would need some technology to help them move around.

When creating your own planet for your story, start with the level of gravity. From there, you can work out sensible values for the mass and radius of your planet, neither of which will matter to your characters quite as much as gravity! You can also figure out the density, which will tell you about the structure of your planet...

Rock or Gas?

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are rocky. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are gas. What is your planet?

Most stories on other planets will be set on a rocky surface. This just means they are solid, it doesn't mean that they have to be covered in hard rocks without any soil, or water, or sand. The reason for setting your story here is that your characters can land on the surface. The advantages are somewhat obvious! It's also what we are familiar with, so is much easier to write.

If you do want to go against the grain, and set your story on a gas planet, this means no plants, no animals (unless you can explain how they might have evolved), no water, and potentially very poisonous gases creating the atmosphere. My advice is to stay away from gas giants!!

To make sure you're not accidentally making your planet into a gas giant, make sure you have sensible values for the density, and therefore the mass and radius. The rocky planets in our solar system have a density of about 5 g/cm3 (with the exception of Mars - why does everyone want to go to Mars?). The gas giants have a density of about 1 g/cm3.

Am I getting a bit carried away?

Language

You want everyone on the planet to speak English? How spiffingly colonial of you!

Figure out a system of translation. Generally, this is done through technology, but should at least have a brief mention in your story of how this is done.

Seasons and the Year

All of our planets have different lengths for a year. Mercury's year is only 88 days, while Neptune has a year of 165 years. Their seasons are also, therefore, different lengths. Winter on Neptune is about 40 years. What implications would that have on animals and plants if they lived there? How would they survive? Do a bit of research on animals that live in harsh environments on this planet. Perhaps they could hibernate, and dig a nice cosy den in the soil or find a cave or something. Perhaps there are entire underground colonies where people/animals go and live in the 40 year winter? Wouldn't they need any Vitamin D? What would they eat?

Temperature

Venus is 464°C. Neptune is -214°C. Neither is conducive for life, so work out what temperature your planet needs to be before setting your story there. Some factors that would affect the temperature of a planet are how close it is to its star, and its atmosphere (global warming, anyone?).

Basically, there could be an entire book on what to consider before setting your story on another planet. Don't be put off, though. Astronomy is really fascinating. If I wasn't aware I would be zooming down a rabbit hole of research, I would write more science fiction.

What's New With Crowvus?

Ginny has been hard at work putting together the Science Fiction anthology of Hooded. I have been lucky enough to get a preview, and I can tell you that it is well worth a read! The anthology will be released on 31st March, and is available to pre-order here. The paperback will be available shortly!