Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Posts Tagged ‘research’

Link: Why Are Europeans White?

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

When working on the world-building for your secondary fantasy world, here’s an interesting thought to chew on. Did you know that Northern Europeans are uniquely depigmented?

“White,” of course, is a a social designation. The question really is, “Why are northern Europeans depigmented?” Here is a map of human skin tone. The natives of northern Europe are oddly light-skinned. They are paler than anyone else on earth.

Most people know that it has something to do with sunlight, UV, latitude, and vitamin D. Here is a map of solar UV at the surface taken from satellite. It matches the skin-tone map everywhere but Europe.

Read the entire article as it traces development back step by step to figure out why Northern Europe is unique in its depigmentation.

Tags: research, world building
Posted in SFWA Blog | 3 Comments »

Research Tool: A brief intro to furniture history

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

When writing there will come a moment when you have to deal with furniture.  If it’s historical fantasy, steampunk or timetravel you’ll face the question of finding something that is period correct.  What did people sit on in 1650? How long have drop-leaf tables been around?  What was the most expensive wood?

Props Master, Eric Hart, has an introduction to furniture with a number of useful links for European influenced furniture.

Tags: research, world building
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writing Technique | 1 Comment »

NASA finds water on the moon

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

In an announcement that has scientist and science-fiction authors alike reeling with the new possibilities, NASA announced today that it has found a “significant amount” of frozen water on the moon.

Preliminary data from a dramatic experiment on the moon “indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater,” NASA said in a statement.

“The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon,” it added, as ecstatic scientists celebrated the landmark discovery.

Read the full article for more details. Our question is: How many science-fiction books and stories have just become out-dated, do you think?

via Brandie Tarvin

Tags: Moon, NASA, research, Science-fiction
Posted in SFWA Blog | Comments Off

Research Tool: Archive of WWI pictures

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

FirstWorldWar.com has a deep archive of WWI pictures, which are clearly labeled and sorted. Whether you are doing a historical fantasy, steampunk, or staging a war in your science-fictional world, this will prove fascinating reading.

Besides the photos, there’s also a collection of primary documents that document the course of the war via source – often official government – material.

Some of the archive documents were asigned in the late 1830s and bore relevance to the outbreak of war some 75 years later. There are memos, letters, treaties and the text of speeches throughout the war and beyond.

Thanks to Daniel Poeira for the link

Tags: research, twitter, WWI
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writing Technique | Comments Off

Research Tool: Random name generators and lists

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Sometimes coming up with the right character name can be the hardest part.  Whether working in secondary worlds or the real world, we have some research tools to make picking that perfect name a little easier.

Behind the Name.com is searchable by nationality, first letter, gender, or meaning.  Make sure you check out their Surname area as well.

Surnames from Old English – Useful for historical fiction, but also because it translates the names, offering structure ideas for names in secondary worlds.

List of most common surnames – Exactly what it sounds like. This is handy if you want to strongly identify someone as being from a particular place or if you want to avoid the obvious choices.

Random Name Generator – The random name generator will create a list of male or female names from the U.S. Census. You can set the obscurity level you’d like the list to be.

Everchanging Book of Names – This shareware program creates names based on naming patterns, for instance if you wanted a name that sounds Icelandic, but isn’t a real name.  You can also create your own “chapters” and define the parameters for alien names.

Your Spam Box – Why not do something useful with all that spam?  Random combinations ranging from Raymondo Zuniga to Rosemary Hart are just waiting for you.

Tags: research, world building
Posted in Writing Technique | Comments Off

Research Tool: Google News Timeline

Friday, July 17th, 2009

If you are writing fiction that’s set at any point in the real world’s history, the subject of research can take up countless hours of time.  The nitty details can tie up you up while writing anything from alternate history to urban fantasy.  Sometimes though, you just need to know a quick date to set the  background of your story.

Check out the Google News Timeline, as a quick place to start your search.  It  will either save you countless hours of research or suck you into hours of distraction.  What’s particularly handy about it is that you can see what happens on the days or weeks on either side of the even you are looking for. This is useful in setting your context or avoiding blunders.

Tags: research
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writing Technique | 2 Comments »