Behind the Scenes: How I Did Some Practical Worldbuilding

Over on the main blog, I did a post this week about practical worldbuilding, using the blasters of Star Wars as an example. Allow me to expand a bit here.

For my own Space Opera stories, I use blasters. Not just for immediate familiarity, but also because it makes illustration and any adaptations easier to do. It also makes things easier for me to write; if I know what Duke Far's sidearm looks like, then I can write more fun things he can do with it that may not be so with others.

I'll summarize here how they work: they're plasma casters. The "ammunition" is gas sealed in the cartridge, and the action has the electronic power required to ignite the gas and discharge it down the barrel. You think it's "pew pew" until you see the hits, where you get a fist-sized (for sidearms) burn that goes into the target. Shields can defeat them until overloaded, but they aren't cheaper than blasters by a long shot; personal armor isn't to stop the hit from doing damage, but rather to keep it from killing you through some level of heat dispersion.

Personal blasters I model on rimfire-chambered pistols and rifles. Duke Far's sidearm, in particular, is modeled on a Ruger Mk.IV Target model like this one here. Just imagine that pistol discharge discrete blasts of plasma upon Baron Sheelak's minions while leading his loyal marines in the story I wrote for the PulpRev Sampler: "The Ghost Fist Gambit"

The end result gives me what I want out of blasters. Not only do I get to signal character by having a character prefer to use a specific item--using character's preferences in aesthetics as shorthand--but I also get to preserve the use of the logistical problem of ammunition, something that I can turn into plot-relevant complications with ease. Also, if I get enough people wanting to do fan art, official illustration, I have easy guides to point people to.

Now, I'm under no delusions that folks with money and connections are going to read my short and back dump trucks to my door looking to buy this or that set of rights. However, if I get anywhere in this hustle then I had better be ready for that possibility. (If you want a good reason as to why, read Brian Niemeier's post on protecting your IP as a writer.) Yes, it's the Boy Scout talking, but I've never gone wrong by being prepared.

So yeah, I'll be doing what Brian's done and boning up on the negotiation thing for when that dumptruck backs up to the door, and making that event happen down the road will be because I've done some practical worldbuilding to make it easy to adapt to other media.