When first setting about a new project, I start by doing a set of ideas by which I will stick to and build around.

In the past, I’ve restricted myself to a singular personal project a year. The project can be multifaceted and should take up most of the year allotted.

Last year(2025), I sat at my desk. And, I’d already decided I really wanted to do something in the fantasy/scifi range that was magic heavy.

As I began setting up the things I wanted and the things I did not, I realized this wasn’t going to be like previous projects. No. MoonShadow was going to be my full on Frank Herbert worldbuilding Master Class.

It would require more than a year, and a method I’d never really used deeply before.

In the 1960s, Frank Herbert spent 6 years building the world of Dune before starting book One. Then, the first book clocked over 900 pages and took forever to convince a publisher it was worth it. Still, the publisher insisted on shaving off a huge chunk of the book, which became book Two Dune Messiah, book one was still 700 pages.

Herbert has always been the author I admired most, because he refused to take the partial route that nearly all fantasy and scifi uses. This method encourages the author to ignore any world elements that weren’t specifically in the narrative.

This method is best for most writers. Most won’t create a series. And if they do, the worlds are shallow at best. If they come back for book 2, they don’t have any material that hadn’t been used in the first part.

Laziness always bites back.