A Peak At Process

A Peak At Process

Asterism : defined as, in astrology, a group pf stars such as a constellation or portion of a constellation such as Orion’s Belt or the dipper in the big or little dipper. In minerology it is defined as A property of some crystals as to show a star like figure(shape) when light is cast through it.

Why am I sharing this?

A common question is, “where do you get your ideas from?” Not just to me, of course, but to writers in general and I’m here to give you a peak at exactly how that works. Of the too many apps I posses one is for dictionary DOT com (spelled out so as NOT to send you a hyper link you didn’t ask for) which gives me a word of the day.

Most are words like asterism which are kind of obscure and no one would use them in common conversation but sometimes it gets a thought going.

In my far-future sci-fantasy setting there is a faction called the Coalition, a unity of different Earth based nations who expanded to the stars. To show unity and to oppose favoritism a lot of the nomenclature is taken from differing cultures/nationalities or things that do not have a strong tie to a specific culture, like asterism.

It is a more obscure term than constellation which will help distinguish the product. Though that same obscurity may make it difficult for audiences to ingest. This is the balance all writers must consider when world building.

It’s why almost every setting has the same identifiers for units of time, days of the week or common animals. There’s no particular reason that horse should be called a horse in some random other world except that it would cause dissonance with the readers not to.

So, when I introduce the name for a small group of fighter craft it may be asterism, it may not but it is something I will consider. This is ho w we, as writers, operate. We take from the world around us, our own experiences and little bits of information that might otherwise slip by and hold onto them. A lot is never used, but we hold onto it just the same because maybe, just maybe we’ll open our chest of secret wonders and find exactly what we need.

I hope that small peak into the process of an author was entertaining for you my der readers. Thank you for the indulgence and God bless;

~ S. Wallace