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New Macro/Micro Sci-fi Setting?
2 years ago
So I technically wrote Disintegration about four years ago back in 2019. This gradually turned into the whole “LGM” or Little Green Men setting most of my current sci-fi content takes place in.
It’s no secret that it started off as a fanfic of another story called Integration to focus on the invasion of Earth. Long story short, I rewrote Disintegration to take place in my own original setting altogether after dealing with astoundingly disrespectful and immature behavior from multiple parties that I attempted to work with. I’d rather not go into too much detail since the point isn’t to re-open old wounds, I only bring it up because it’s something of a sore point for me regarding the setting in general, and quite frankly I was also fully at fault for how that situation unraveled by allowing my temper to get the best of me and saying things I shouldn’t have once I had my feelings hurt, but what’s done is done and the past is the past.
It’s been four years since that point. In the meantime, I graduated from a technical school around the start of the covid pandemic and eventually managed to get a job in my industry. I’ve had a lot of time to think about things. My 25 year old self wants to go four years back in time and slap the shit out of my younger 21 year old self for being so stupid and immature back then. I was not expecting Disintegration to get the fanart and attention that it did and I had no idea how to handle it all, much less everything else that it attracted afterward.
However, certain plot decisions aged like milk. I originally decided to make Disintegration focus on Russia to avoid conflicting with Integration’s lore and to write about eastern European military hardware, which I retained for the LGM setting rewrite. I’ve always had great respect for Russian history and culture, so I did glorify Russia’s military a bit during the story since they had a thing for fending off hostile invaders ranging from the Wehrmacht to Napoleon Bonaparte. This became awkward after Russia invaded Ukraine about a year after I finished writing Disintegration since Russia’s military became a laughingstock and they were an international pariah overnight.
So I rarely want to work with the setting anymore. Too much baggage and unpleasant memories associated with it among other mistakes from the past stemming from my inexperience. Oh, and its origins as a fanfic made it way too similar to Integration’s lore for my tastes. It ultimately served its purpose by telling Ishtar’s story, and it did a pretty good job in that regard based on the positive reception Disintegration received.
Now I want a clean slate. A fresh canvas. Ideally I can take the hard lessons I learned writing over the years by creating a new setting altogether.
Naturally, I want to focus on military sci-fi with a macro/micro dynamic. I’ve been contemplating a few potential angles, but nothing is set in stone. I’m still preoccupied by other projects such as Friends In Low Places and I don’t want to get too carried away yet. I felt the need to make this journal sharing my thoughts though just to sort of formalize things since I’ve been discontent with how LGM turned out despite the amount of time and resources I put into it.
I’ll start small this time around. Odds are I’ll just try short stories in the same setting and dabbling in worldbuilding rather than attempting to write another huge series... yet. At best I could try the anthology format if the stories share overlapping characters in a mostly chronological order, kind of like emotional support human. Thanks to my job and the occasional sixty hour work week, I don’t have the free time that I used to have, so just consistently updating my current series has been a struggle at times, and something more… bite-sized… could be more manageable in the long-term.
But that’s all I got. Expect content relating to that potential project to randomly spring up on my profile between chapters as I flesh things out and try starting something anew since military sci-fi is still my favorite genre in fiction and I want to primarily focus on it again.
It’s no secret that it started off as a fanfic of another story called Integration to focus on the invasion of Earth. Long story short, I rewrote Disintegration to take place in my own original setting altogether after dealing with astoundingly disrespectful and immature behavior from multiple parties that I attempted to work with. I’d rather not go into too much detail since the point isn’t to re-open old wounds, I only bring it up because it’s something of a sore point for me regarding the setting in general, and quite frankly I was also fully at fault for how that situation unraveled by allowing my temper to get the best of me and saying things I shouldn’t have once I had my feelings hurt, but what’s done is done and the past is the past.
It’s been four years since that point. In the meantime, I graduated from a technical school around the start of the covid pandemic and eventually managed to get a job in my industry. I’ve had a lot of time to think about things. My 25 year old self wants to go four years back in time and slap the shit out of my younger 21 year old self for being so stupid and immature back then. I was not expecting Disintegration to get the fanart and attention that it did and I had no idea how to handle it all, much less everything else that it attracted afterward.
However, certain plot decisions aged like milk. I originally decided to make Disintegration focus on Russia to avoid conflicting with Integration’s lore and to write about eastern European military hardware, which I retained for the LGM setting rewrite. I’ve always had great respect for Russian history and culture, so I did glorify Russia’s military a bit during the story since they had a thing for fending off hostile invaders ranging from the Wehrmacht to Napoleon Bonaparte. This became awkward after Russia invaded Ukraine about a year after I finished writing Disintegration since Russia’s military became a laughingstock and they were an international pariah overnight.
So I rarely want to work with the setting anymore. Too much baggage and unpleasant memories associated with it among other mistakes from the past stemming from my inexperience. Oh, and its origins as a fanfic made it way too similar to Integration’s lore for my tastes. It ultimately served its purpose by telling Ishtar’s story, and it did a pretty good job in that regard based on the positive reception Disintegration received.
Now I want a clean slate. A fresh canvas. Ideally I can take the hard lessons I learned writing over the years by creating a new setting altogether.
Naturally, I want to focus on military sci-fi with a macro/micro dynamic. I’ve been contemplating a few potential angles, but nothing is set in stone. I’m still preoccupied by other projects such as Friends In Low Places and I don’t want to get too carried away yet. I felt the need to make this journal sharing my thoughts though just to sort of formalize things since I’ve been discontent with how LGM turned out despite the amount of time and resources I put into it.
I’ll start small this time around. Odds are I’ll just try short stories in the same setting and dabbling in worldbuilding rather than attempting to write another huge series... yet. At best I could try the anthology format if the stories share overlapping characters in a mostly chronological order, kind of like emotional support human. Thanks to my job and the occasional sixty hour work week, I don’t have the free time that I used to have, so just consistently updating my current series has been a struggle at times, and something more… bite-sized… could be more manageable in the long-term.
But that’s all I got. Expect content relating to that potential project to randomly spring up on my profile between chapters as I flesh things out and try starting something anew since military sci-fi is still my favorite genre in fiction and I want to primarily focus on it again.
They are not far fetched and if the fictional russian leader build a better relation to the west maybe even the electronic equippment could be to a better standard.
And thanks!
writing.
Best of luck with your writing!
We are with you and we support you ^^
Good luck with your new sci-fi setting. If you're interested in creating an anthology series, you can try one trick I'm working on while I struggle to motivate my arse to finish The Odyssey. Start fleshing out other ideas set in your world. If you want to focus on world-building, come up with some basic lore and write it down. That way, you can develop story ideas based on that lore that you can use for a future plot point or short story.
And thanks! That's a good idea and ultimately little tid-bits of worldbuilding and lore could be confined to short stories that gradually form a greater whole.
hope you keep making good stories and continue to enjoy making them