Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.

Writing Excuses 7.32: Astronomy 101 for Writers

Eric James Stone, Nebula winner and “graduate” of NASA’s Launchpad workshop, joins us to talk about astronomy in our world-building.

We talk about tides, habitable zones, planetary orbits and axial tilts, stellar life-cycles, and other fun factors for authors to take into account. But obviously we can’t teach you everything you need to know about astronomy in 15 minutes, so we wrap with some handy resources for you to begin your continuing education:

Homework: Your colonists are going to a world whose axial tilt is different from Earth’s. How are the seasons different?

Thing of the week: Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss, narrated by Christopher Slade.

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