Okay, here goes.

I've been threatening to write something about creating universes for your science fiction work and this is finally it.

While there are a lot of things to consider first, what I consider first is what type of characters will inhabit the planets of my universe. Are they human-ish or alien or a totally different life-form (though there really isn't anything besides human and alien is there?) And to aliens we are the aliens - - but I digress.

1. What planets, stars are in your system?

• The star(s) determine what planet types (if any) there are for your beings.
• The Planets, and their proximity or distance from the star(s) determine the environment that your beings are going to thrive (or die) in.
• Planet size determines gravity, how fast or slow they complete their circuit around the star(s) and the system.
• Planets (and star(s)) also determine the type and quantity of natural resources that are going to be available.
• How the planets revolve around the star, or how the star rotates around the planet is also important.

2. What kind of beings will inhabit your universe?

• Will they be Human or alien (to us).
• Where the various beings planets are in relation to the Habitable Zone will generally determine the type of climate your beings will live in; and in some instances the type of beings they will be.
• What type, size and type of star(s) your system has also determines (or should) the beings.

Now that you've started digesting those two important points lets move on to a few more.

The science of your universe has to make sense because science fiction readers are more apt to know more about the science you are trying to piece together than the average reader. So even if you have to make it up you should, by all means, base it (however light- or heavi-ly) on some actual technology. Unless your name is Spielberg, Roddenberry or Asimov, in which case make up your own stuff.

---  part two coming in a few  ---