I was set on the fantasy novel but switched to the hard sci-fi for NaNoWriMo

I spent all of October planning a fantasy epic set in this world of floating islands, but then I read a short story by Ted Chiang and it just clicked how much I love the logic puzzles in sci-fi. So last week I scrapped 40 pages of notes and started fresh with a story about a mining colony on a moon of Jupiter. I'm only 5,000 words in but the plot is already tighter and I'm not forcing any magic systems. Has anyone else completely pivoted their novel mid-stream and ended up happier?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleybutler8d ago

Oh man, that's a huge leap but I get it. In my experience, forcing a magic system is the fastest way to kill a story. So what's the main conflict in your Jupiter moon story? Is it more about survival against the environment, or are you digging into the crew turning on each other?

casey_campbell8d ago

Oh yeah, it's totally gotta be both. Probably starts as survival against the ice and radiation, but once supplies get low and someone makes a wrong call, that's when the real chaos kicks in, you know?