In the grand scheme of world building, nothing is more difficult than details. How does that console work, what is that weapon made of, why does magic work that way? All the little bits an author needs to know, even if the reader doesn’t.
Times like these, however, far removed from Heinlein’s guesses at what technology would even look like far in the future, we sci-fi authors kind of have a leg up from authors of old. Our tech and science jump exponentially every couple of years and new stuff is discovered almost daily.
Take the newly made compressed glassy carbon. Its stats are very impressive and the science is just what the technical authors among us are dying for. Oodles of details to add for a world building bonanza. The best part, this substance is so new, science hasn’t had a good opportunity to put it to use yet.
Need a material to handle the pressure at both the bottom of the Marianas Trench or the possible surface of Jupiter? This is what you’re looking for. Or maybe the process is what you want as a jump off for creating bigger and better materials. I can’t even imagine all of the neat stuff that authors will take from compressed glassy carbon. I’m already adding it to my inventory of sci-fi substances.
Go nuts, fellow authors. I plan to.
-T.A. Creech
Science in the pursuit of Fiction