Q&A September 2021 - Worldbuilding Research

Hello everyone. So as some of you saw the chapter posted on the Sept 18th, I'm now past the worst of my busy season at work and have started writing again. That being said I'm still under enough stress at work that it's making it difficult be creative on most days. Furthermore, the next chapter (v3ch12) is not just extra long, but also has a ton of events so it's taking a while. I'm going to see about getting a pre-release made available this weekend if possible, but we'll have to see. I'm also hoping to post another appendix item soon -- on the military organizational structure of Hyperion and Weichsel's "Battlegroup doctrine".

In the meantime, I have another Q&A question from Patreons, so here we go.

Addicted_Reader: You've made is pretty clear in the story itself that Hyperion is heavily based on Earth (I suppose that in-universe it could be the other way around). I wanted to ask how you do your world-building to transplant things from the real world to Hyperion. Do you do some independent research for each chapter/concept, or do you use the knowledge you just generally have from nonfiction writing for your writing?

For the vast majority of topics, I don't really need to do much research. Almost all the topics I refer to or discuss in the story are items I've come across in various books, videos, articles, and presentations already. In fact if anything, I have to hold back because I can't justify Kaede knowing some of the things I know.

For example, when Kaede discusses economics, I mostly use the information I learned from economics history -- particularly the South Sea Company bubble and the 2008 Financial Crisis, both of which I've read/watched extensively about. I myself have read a lot more economics and finance than that, from taking enough courses during my university days to minor in it, to countless articles I've spent reading on investments, personal finance, and government policy. However Kaede doesn't have an interest in finance, nor has Kaede ever managed a personal investment account. So while she might know of a few big warning items, I largely limit how much of my knowledge I give her.

For other topics like history and geopolitics however, I go all out. I've read a number of "applied history" geopolitical books myself from top academics. In fact the three men Kaede cited as role models in v2ch6 (George Kennan, Samuel Huntington, Lee Kuan Yew) are also three of the five scholars I hold in highest regard and have read many books from. History and politics are intrinsically intertwined (and anyone who claims they can discuss history without discussing politics is bs-ing), so not only is this knowledge useful for writing Kaede and how she analyzes the world, it's also useful for constructing that world in the first place.

For example, in his magus opus, Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington discusses how the history and circumstances of each human civilization shapes its cultural values, which in turn molds its government, policy, and diplomacy. This is the same route I use in worldbuilding on Hyperion. Whether it's Rhin-Lotharingie's long and bloody history of resisting foreign occupation, or Weichsel's role as a military frontier for the Imperial/Trinitian sphere, each nation's history has a heavy influence on its culture, its instititutions, and its politics.

Now this is not to say I do no research. There are a lot of specific details that I write about which I do have to look up, if for no other reason than to jog my memory. This can be as simple as how dinner is served among the upper class (v2ch12 actually required me to research how aristocrats arranged seating order, as it can make a ton of difference when you consider that royal dinners is also an arena of diplomacy) or how to explain Bipolar Disorder in proper medical terminology (as noted in previous Q&A, I dug deep into psychology to write that). 

Similarly, when I wrote the scene with the Caliphate commander in v3ch10, I spent quite a bit of time browsing wikiislam and discussing with my beta-reader ahmsab for inspirations. I actually designed General Salim's character due to my realization of just how important the role of the judicial is in Islam, and his interaction with Major Hamid is actually based on a Islamic fable about the Prophet Muhammad lecturing one of his companions.

But the gist of it is -- I do focused research, but rarely general research. I've been studying the historical, cultural, and political evolution of so many nations on Earth for so long that I can discuss Worldbuilding based on my knowledge alone. It's only in the finer details where I turn to encyclopedias.