When I was imagining up the worlds that would occupy the Duo Systems of the Flyght Series, I gave a lot of consideration to a few elements of world building.
First, each system had to have at least two planets in the “Goldilocks Zone” which is the habitable zone of each star. I figured with at least two planets in each, there would be plenty of breathing room for adventures for my characters.
I also wanted a variety of ecosystems to play with because I knew that would be fun in the long run.
In the Brazilianos System, we have two planets in the habitable zone and one RIGHT on the edge — Rio and Ossun, with Neve right out at the boundary. There are other planets in the system which don't get talked about much like Asobu close to the star and gas giants farther out, but these two main planets get the most play, especially Rio which did not need to be terraformed when the settlers arrived.
In the Californikus System, we have three planets in the habitable zone — Palo Alto, Laguna, and Sonoma. They were all terraformed when settlers arrived, Laguna the less of them all because it was mostly a warm water planet and all they had to do was build islands. This system also has other planets not mentioned in the books, two closer to the star and gas giants out in the distance.
Let me just take a break here and tell you how much fun it is to come up with whole solar systems to play around in! This is the best part of my job, hands down. And in this series I got to build TWO WHOLE SOLAR SYSTEMS. I mean, what brilliant genius came up with that idea? Lol. ;)
Anyway, I also needed to take into consideration moons. Several planets have moons that contain habitats, and several others are just lifeless rocks. But moons also exert tidal and weather forces, so I had to think about those too and how they would impact the worlds they orbit. Though I haven't spent much time on any of the moons in the Flyght books so far, I know they're there and I hope that we'll visit them at some point.
Vivian's home is located on Ossun. Her family owns a farming empire that takes up hundreds of square kilometers on this planet. Being that it's in the Brazilianos System, this land can only be owned by women, or handed down to women. In the first book of this series, we visit Ossun in the Brazilianos System and Palo Alto in the Californikos System where Vivian's ex lives.
Palo Alto sounds familiar, right? All of the planets in the Californikos System are named after towns and cities in California, of course! The planet names of the Brazilianos System are mostly derived from Brazil towns and cities with a sprinkling of Japanese as well. They were all a lot of fun to choose!
I really loved world building for the Flyght Series and watching each planet come to life as each book gets written. It's been a joy to write. I hope you all enjoy them too!
Next week, I'll be sharing photos of the people, actors and celebrities, who inspired my characters for the Flyght Series!
