I’ve been thinking a lot about climate lately. My fantasy world consists of several continents, with somewhat varied climate. As I wrote the first book, I added the landscape I needed for the story to work, and I didn’t think about how it all fit together in my world. The current location of the desert causes some trouble for the remaining continent, in terms of logical climate zones.

Now, some of the inconsistencies can be explained by magic, as has always been the plan. However, not all of them can, not really. So now I have to find a way to make it all work. Not because I have to, but because I want to. I want my world to feel real, and not just like I threw darts at a map and picked whatever landscape and climate was there to use in the next chapter. Which is an awesome idea if you’re stuck during NaNoWriMo, but doesn’t really work the rest of the year.

As I’ve started to look into this whole climate and landscape and weather patterns and stuff, I’ve realised that there is a lot I don’t know about my own world. A lot of the stuff I already have can work, but I also need to change a lot of it. And as I read up on the subject, I’m left with more questions than answers.

I do have some things figured out though. Like a few of the various climate zones, to call them that.The southern coast is more mediterranean climate, and the eastern desert is, well, desert. I also had another desert up north, but I may change that for tundra or something along those lines.

There is also a lot of forests and hills and mountains, but I see now that I need to try to get it all to work together a bit better. I’m not saying I won’t use magic as an excuse to keep my strangely located northern desert, but I’ll at least consider finding another way.