Writing Forum

I use software (a lot) to calculate orbital characteristics, work out date X on Mars from date Y on Earth, where the sun is in the sky at a specific date and (local) time at some point way into the future based on the location of Mars in its orbit, what season it is on Mars, what temperature it is based on sol number/season and time of day + elevation etc.

Some of the software I had to write myself, some came from NASA. Sometimes I could look up science papers, and sometimes I had to do the science myself. The more I discovered, the more I discovered I had yet to find out. For instance, in the Martian northern hemisphere, it gets colder and colder the further into Spring it is. I absolutely needed to know that, and I had to work out why myself.

Not everything I write is hard SF of course, but now I know that it gets colder during Martian northern spring (southern spring is quite 'normal', getting warmer), I know it can also happen on other planets. More importantly, I know why, and why southern spring isn't the same.

Here on Earth, the year begins shortly after the Winter Solstice. That's for historical reasons. On all other planets, the year begins on the Vernal Equinox (Spring Equinox), which makes a lot more sense - the VE occurs at the moment when L_S = 0. That's handy to know for future projects.

All the things you mentioned are aspects of world-building. I always feel that this is something that should be done organically, and everything in the world should be holistic and the world should be homogenous. Additionally, it should be similar enough the reader can recognise it, even if the world you've built seems quite alien at first. Small differences can have big impacts.

Anytime someone wants to talk about world-building, I'm up for a discussion, either in a forum or privately.