September 14, 2020 • 9 mins
From hollow planets to moons with methane lakes, there are all kinds of strange and exciting possibilities when it comes to designing your world. Today, we are back for Season 3 with a whopper, excited to talk about the basic structure of a planet, and all the cool ideas that arise from it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
How many ways can a tree explode?
(00:06):
Humans living with straw grass?
My name is Ken Mears.
And I'm Melissa Fales.
And welcome to Writer's World.
(00:32):
Hello everyone.
Welcome to Season 3.
Big day in the life of the podcast.
Let's just dive right in.
Ken, why might you want to overthink the structure of your planet?
Well, outside of it being a great time waster for those who love to procrastinate, there
are a few benefits I can think of.
(00:52):
First of all, it can allow you, the author, to know some more of the things that could
benefit your writing.
It is important for you to know simple things like whether the planet generates an electromagnet
field or if the gravity is greater or lesser than here on Earth.
Just those two examples could vastly affect what kind of world you are writing about.
Another good reason is certain changes to the layered structure can lead to storytelling
(01:14):
changes.
More major changes to the structure of a planet could cause cataclysmic conditions or open
up new places for the story to take place.
Something that came to me when we were discussing this week's episode was how many story plots
you could get from just changing the structure of your planet.
What we mean by changing the structure of your planet is how on Earth, the Earth has
(01:36):
three basic layers.
The crust, the mantle, and the core, according to Geological Survey Ireland.
Quote, the core is the center of the Earth and is made up of two parts, the liquid outer
core and the solid inner core.
Temperatures here can reach up to 50,000 degrees.
The mantle lies below the crust and is up to 2,900 kilometers thick.
(01:58):
It consists of hot, dense iron, and magnesium-rich solid rock.
The crust and the upper part of the mantle make up the lithosphere, which is broken up
into plates, both large and small.
This is the outside layer of the Earth and is made of solid rock.
End quote.
Well, what Ken pointed out to me was that if you just change one thing about the structure
of the planet, like making the crust even thinner than it already is, then you have
(02:22):
a completely different habitat on Earth.
And what story could be there if you decide to just change something so basic and how
would it affect the people on Earth?
Ken, what are some geological changes you think would be really cool to have in a story?
Or have you made any structural differences in any of your writing?
(02:42):
So I can't say as I have made a lot of planetary structure changes in my personal writings
outside of my episodic story, The Forgotten Earth, which deals with a future Earth where
we have changed the atmosphere to toxic levels.
However, there are some cool ideas I have seen in a workshop I attended that are cool
in theory.
In this process, we wound up with a planet that had a small rocky core surrounded by
(03:06):
a vast ocean with a layer of metal as the top crust.
This wacky planet had all kinds of strange things like so-called water ewoks that lived
on the ocean.
Needless to say, it was a weird workshop.
Another really cool idea that some people genuinely believe is the case with our planet
is the idea of a hollow Earth where the inside of the Earth is layered and people could live
(03:29):
deep beneath the crust.
And honestly, my first thought on a geological change I could make was how trees would explode
off of all of their leaves periodically and at random.
But like none of the trees could get hurt by the fire or another tree.
Only humans could get hurt.
(03:50):
And that was just one idea I had.
For more ideas for this episode, I went all the way back to my Earth science note from
freshman year of high school to see more geological terms.
And if you are stuck or want some ideas of something in your world to change, then I
would recommend looking up geological terms and seeing where your imagination takes you.
(04:12):
Your imagination doesn't have to be factually correct or even close to reality.
A term in my search that popped out to me was meteorite.
And where I could picture civilization having a meteorite problem, but they don't have
the technology to stop it.
(04:33):
It was another term that caught my eye and according to my Earth science note, the cave
of crystals lies 300 meters below the surface of this mine in Mexico.
And the crystals in this cave can reach 30 to 40 feet in length, 4 feet in diameter and
55 tons.
Inside the cave when it is not flooded, explorers must wear refrigerated suits because they
(04:54):
believe the cave is situated above a chamber of magma-malted rock, which heats the cave
to a temperature of 130 to 150 Fahrenheit and 90 to 99 percent humidity.
That's the end of those notes.
And when I read all of these facts, I just had this image of the crystals coming out
of the cave at the temperatures inside the cave and being a real problem for this medieval
(05:18):
civilization.
Kind of silly, but there are no limits.
Ken actually really pumped me up on this idea of playing God and changing your planet's
structures.
He made it sound really awesome and got me excited about writing a story with weird structural
problems.
So Ken, how could someone change the structure of their planet?
Are there any principles we need to be aware of when adding major structural planet changes?
(05:43):
Really someone could make just about any change imaginable.
I already mentioned some kind of wacky ones.
As far as principles to be aware of, I think it is important to at least have a rudimentary
understanding of science and the structures of other planets.
In fact, a lot of real world planets and moons can have some really awesome sources of inspiration.
I mean, we have moons like Titan and Europa, which have a liquid methane lake on the surface
(06:08):
and a vast underground ocean respectively.
Certainly education outside of creative writing is helpful when creating special planets.
It's very true what education, even in all my other science classes, have done in inspiring
my creative writing, which is kind of fun.
And another point we could address is changing existing prominent landmarks, such as having
(06:28):
Mount Rushmore change faces unexpectedly or having it vanish and reappear in the same
spot or a different spot.
Or one of my writer's friends is currently writing a story right now where the people
live on clouds above Earth, which is uninhabitable.
And that was super interesting to me and got me thinking about similar type stuff, which
(06:48):
was super fun.
Ken, what are some other ways you could change the structure of your planet?
You can always do things that are man or water-iwok made.
I mean, civilizations that are sufficiently advanced have the ability to make planetary
changes.
Consider the fact that we humans are seriously considering terraforming Mars into something
habitable.
(07:09):
So that is another place you'd go to think of structural changes to a planet.
Consider what humanity could do to change it.
That's a good point.
Humanity is very powerful.
And also, I tend to think very much in terms of Earth.
So in my astronomy class, there was an assignment where you had to draw an alien and then explain
(07:29):
the conditions of why your alien would survive there and how they were built for it.
And doing the same thing when literal world building can be just another way to get your
brain going of thinking what could change if you have certain different features, what
creature would live there.
So Ken, what are some ways you could create new worlds?
(07:52):
How would someone go about creating a new planet?
As I already mentioned, a great way to create new worlds is to base them on things that
already exist.
We have such a wonderfully complicated and diverse universe, why not use it for inspiration?
As far as the actual process, I would recommend that you start by figuring out the surface
conditions as well as how that will affect the interior.
(08:13):
And probably work your way in figuring out the layers and considering what effects these
layers would have on the surface.
All great points and we hope today's episode was helpful.
If you like our podcast, please share it with your friends and family.
For sources in the transcript, visit writersworldpodcast.weebly.com.
Our Instagram and Facebook is at Writers World Podcast Official and our Patreon is patreon.com
(08:35):
slash Writers World Podcast.
And if you want your questions or concerns answered.
Our email is writersworldpodcast.gmail.com.
Until next time, I have been Ken Mears.
And I've been Melissa Fales with Writers World.
And keep on writing.
We nailed it!
How many ways can a tree explode?
(00:06):
Humans living with straw grass?
My name is Ken Mears.
And I'm Melissa Fales.
And welcome to Writer's World.
(00:32):
Hello everyone.
Welcome to Season 3.
Big day in the life of the podcast.
Let's just dive right in.
Ken, why might you want to overthink the structure of your planet?
Well, outside of it being a great time waster for those who love to procrastinate, there
are a few benefits I can think of.
(00:52):
First of all, it can allow you, the author, to know some more of the things that could
benefit your writing.
It is important for you to know simple things like whether the planet generates an electromagnet
field or if the gravity is greater or lesser than here on Earth.
Just those two examples could vastly affect what kind of world you are writing about.
Another good reason is certain changes to the layered structure can lead to storytelling
(01:14):
changes.
More major changes to the structure of a planet could cause cataclysmic conditions or open
up new places for the story to take place.
Something that came to me when we were discussing this week's episode was how many story plots
you could get from just changing the structure of your planet.
What we mean by changing the structure of your planet is how on Earth, the Earth has
(01:36):
three basic layers.
The crust, the mantle, and the core, according to Geological Survey Ireland.
Quote, the core is the center of the Earth and is made up of two parts, the liquid outer
core and the solid inner core.
Temperatures here can reach up to 50,000 degrees.
The mantle lies below the crust and is up to 2,900 kilometers thick.
(01:58):
It consists of hot, dense iron, and magnesium-rich solid rock.
The crust and the upper part of the mantle make up the lithosphere, which is broken up
into plates, both large and small.
This is the outside layer of the Earth and is made of solid rock.
End quote.
Well, what Ken pointed out to me was that if you just change one thing about the structure
of the planet, like making the crust even thinner than it already is, then you have
(02:22):
a completely different habitat on Earth.
And what story could be there if you decide to just change something so basic and how
would it affect the people on Earth?
Ken, what are some geological changes you think would be really cool to have in a story?
Or have you made any structural differences in any of your writing?
(02:42):
So I can't say as I have made a lot of planetary structure changes in my personal writings
outside of my episodic story, The Forgotten Earth, which deals with a future Earth where
we have changed the atmosphere to toxic levels.
However, there are some cool ideas I have seen in a workshop I attended that are cool
in theory.
In this process, we wound up with a planet that had a small rocky core surrounded by
(03:06):
a vast ocean with a layer of metal as the top crust.
This wacky planet had all kinds of strange things like so-called water ewoks that lived
on the ocean.
Needless to say, it was a weird workshop.
Another really cool idea that some people genuinely believe is the case with our planet
is the idea of a hollow Earth where the inside of the Earth is layered and people could live
(03:29):
deep beneath the crust.
And honestly, my first thought on a geological change I could make was how trees would explode
off of all of their leaves periodically and at random.
But like none of the trees could get hurt by the fire or another tree.
Only humans could get hurt.
(03:50):
And that was just one idea I had.
For more ideas for this episode, I went all the way back to my Earth science note from
freshman year of high school to see more geological terms.
And if you are stuck or want some ideas of something in your world to change, then I
would recommend looking up geological terms and seeing where your imagination takes you.
(04:12):
Your imagination doesn't have to be factually correct or even close to reality.
A term in my search that popped out to me was meteorite.
And where I could picture civilization having a meteorite problem, but they don't have
the technology to stop it.
(04:33):
It was another term that caught my eye and according to my Earth science note, the cave
of crystals lies 300 meters below the surface of this mine in Mexico.
And the crystals in this cave can reach 30 to 40 feet in length, 4 feet in diameter and
55 tons.
Inside the cave when it is not flooded, explorers must wear refrigerated suits because they
(04:54):
believe the cave is situated above a chamber of magma-malted rock, which heats the cave
to a temperature of 130 to 150 Fahrenheit and 90 to 99 percent humidity.
That's the end of those notes.
And when I read all of these facts, I just had this image of the crystals coming out
of the cave at the temperatures inside the cave and being a real problem for this medieval
(05:18):
civilization.
Kind of silly, but there are no limits.
Ken actually really pumped me up on this idea of playing God and changing your planet's
structures.
He made it sound really awesome and got me excited about writing a story with weird structural
problems.
So Ken, how could someone change the structure of their planet?
Are there any principles we need to be aware of when adding major structural planet changes?
(05:43):
Really someone could make just about any change imaginable.
I already mentioned some kind of wacky ones.
As far as principles to be aware of, I think it is important to at least have a rudimentary
understanding of science and the structures of other planets.
In fact, a lot of real world planets and moons can have some really awesome sources of inspiration.
I mean, we have moons like Titan and Europa, which have a liquid methane lake on the surface
(06:08):
and a vast underground ocean respectively.
Certainly education outside of creative writing is helpful when creating special planets.
It's very true what education, even in all my other science classes, have done in inspiring
my creative writing, which is kind of fun.
And another point we could address is changing existing prominent landmarks, such as having
(06:28):
Mount Rushmore change faces unexpectedly or having it vanish and reappear in the same
spot or a different spot.
Or one of my writer's friends is currently writing a story right now where the people
live on clouds above Earth, which is uninhabitable.
And that was super interesting to me and got me thinking about similar type stuff, which
(06:48):
was super fun.
Ken, what are some other ways you could change the structure of your planet?
You can always do things that are man or water-iwok made.
I mean, civilizations that are sufficiently advanced have the ability to make planetary
changes.
Consider the fact that we humans are seriously considering terraforming Mars into something
habitable.
(07:09):
So that is another place you'd go to think of structural changes to a planet.
Consider what humanity could do to change it.
That's a good point.
Humanity is very powerful.
And also, I tend to think very much in terms of Earth.
So in my astronomy class, there was an assignment where you had to draw an alien and then explain
(07:29):
the conditions of why your alien would survive there and how they were built for it.
And doing the same thing when literal world building can be just another way to get your
brain going of thinking what could change if you have certain different features, what
creature would live there.
So Ken, what are some ways you could create new worlds?
(07:52):
How would someone go about creating a new planet?
As I already mentioned, a great way to create new worlds is to base them on things that
already exist.
We have such a wonderfully complicated and diverse universe, why not use it for inspiration?
As far as the actual process, I would recommend that you start by figuring out the surface
conditions as well as how that will affect the interior.
(08:13):
And probably work your way in figuring out the layers and considering what effects these
layers would have on the surface.
All great points and we hope today's episode was helpful.
If you like our podcast, please share it with your friends and family.
For sources in the transcript, visit writersworldpodcast.weebly.com.
Our Instagram and Facebook is at Writers World Podcast Official and our Patreon is patreon.com
(08:35):
slash Writers World Podcast.
And if you want your questions or concerns answered.
Our email is writersworldpodcast.gmail.com.
Until next time, I have been Ken Mears.
And I've been Melissa Fales with Writers World.
And keep on writing.
We nailed it!
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