World-Building Space Opera

It takes more than just moxie to write good space opera these days. Readers have grown sophisticated (read: jaded) and will pick things apart for the slightest things.

Further, as my mentors remind me, your science fiction requires setting more than any other genre.

Depth, richness, consistency.

To get there, I routinely walk through a complicated process that touches on all the ways I want THIS space opera universe to be different from the others I have written, as well as unique aspects that...