I've had a fantasy novel on the backburner for a long time now; I haven't done any work on it for a few months now. I started writing some time back, but I hadn't really developed the world it was set in. Then I came across the idea of world building while looking for resources; before you seriously get into your story, you should have developed the world, such as its history, places, social structures, religions etc. If these are developed in advance, while writing you can incorporate those things into the story, as opposed trying to invent stuff and force it in later.

One of the other things I've done lately is watch Planet Earth, an amazing documentary that covers the gamut of nature, from specific animals, areas, and climate. I've also been reading a book about geography. One of the things that I have found interesting is that in the vast majority of fantasy books I've read, they take place on something that very closely resembles most aspects of Earth. The Earth is interesting in that it is tilted 23.5 degrees, which causes the seasons. Most fantasy books I've read have the same day/night cycle as Earth, and also the same seasons. I suppose this familiarity helps get straight into things.

But what if the supposed planet in my book was not tilted at all? Would it still be able to support life? Every place on the planet would have the same climate all year round. How would the lack of seasons affect life? The tropics around the Earths equator which has a similar climate all year around supports life, but that only makes up a small part of the Earth. The North and South Pole would be in perpetual light (assuming the sun is bigger than the planet), and the further away you get from the equator, the longer days you would have and shorter nights.

What if the planet was tilted 90 degrees? This would mean that at the start of its revolution around the sun, a pole (we'll say north) would be in total darkness, while the south will be in eternal light. This is similar to now, except on Earth when it is eternal day, the sun skirts the horizon; in my supposed scenario the sun would continually be circling until it was directly overheard, then start spiralling out until it reaches the night cycle. A quarter of the way through the revolution, both the north and south pole would be in light temporarily. While getting to that stage, the equator would be receiving a relatively normal night/day cycle. But when it gets halfway through its revultion around the sun, the north pole would then be facing the sun. When the planet is around this position (as well as the start), no place has a night day cycle. Could life exist here? Would man migrate to those night/day cycles, and then for a period of time live in one of those twilight zones twice a year? Perhaps a better question is could man evolve on a planet like this? If so, what would be different about man? And if man could not evolve here, what could?

Creating worlds is hard. Then you have to think about how the weather affects things and everything relates. I suck and don't remember which desert or mountain range, but one of the major mountain ranges (I think it is the Himalayans though) collects all of the moisture in the air and turns it into snow, thus preventing that moisture from reaching the lands beyond, thus turning them into deserts. And what about the major water currents that carry around warm water?

World Building. Hard.