My mutuals, my lovelies, my pride, my fellow creators. Lend me your... eye, technically. Thread time about a project of mine.

The way I have my sci-fantasy, post-apoc setting? The one where Dana hails from? I'm not sure if I like the direction I took it in thus far.

However, I'm not feeling a hard reset either. There's not a lot of hard stuff that's been created thus far. Only a few rewritten chapters of an unfinished novelette.

Maybe I'm in the "Midgar chapters" of Apocalypse Fox / Moon Fall. Literally so, within a dystopian city.

I believe that a story should grab readers, players, watchers, etc from the get-go. I also don't believe hard worldbuilding works for me, either. Rather than define endless amounts of lore, I'd rather tell character-driven tales that develop and expand upon lore over time.

The tl;dr of Apoc-Fox as it exists right now are thus.

Mutant fox-girl lives in village. World is overgrown. Skid friend saw werewolf employers eat coworker, and fears he's next. Vixen slips into workplace, finds info.

There's more to the story, but nothing finished.

Apoc-Fox started as a solitaire tabletop RPG campaign. I had used the game to help me tell a story. The bits I'd finished of the first tale, "Wolf of Dead Streets", are from lost tabletop sessions that I recall.

I don't think it tells enough of what I wanted of the setting.

The characters? That's the opposite.

From the first drafts I'd shared on my writing blog, you get a great idea of who Dana, the titular Apocalypse Fox, is. You get an okay picture of the junkie Tom (AKA Prowler), and of the ex-merc Eric. The supporting cast is dece, too.

So, what's the point of this thread?

I need help deciding on where to go next. I don't have the first story finished. There is so much gonzo apocalyptia I'd like to unveil. Plenty of character concepts. Insight into what happened during the cataclysm.

...in the end, I'd better keep writing. Question is, should I try a side-story for now? Something shorter? Or should I trudge through finishing the first draft?

Again, I feel like Lock City is my Midgar. Doesn't mean that's all there is to it.

Also, I want a 00's vibe. >_>