The greatest appeal of writing genre fiction for me is world creation. I’m part of the generation that grew up playing games. For instance, I’ve been a World of Warcraft player since the open beta, and I still occasionally participate in role-playing because its worldbuilding and culture are so vast. Translating the official World of Warcraft novel Of Blood and Honor was my first formal encounter with writing.
“The Computational Universe Book 1: Xinglong Awakening” is the first book in the eight-part “The Computational Universe” series. This rewrite introduces a second female protagonist, Reva Stern, from the Astra Federation. I am extremely satisfied with the rewrite results – the overall story is rich and full, perhaps even overly abundant, but it truly serves as an excellent beginning for the eight-part series. The first draft is complete, but I still need a few days to address the detailed issues arising from the new storyline.
People often say my novels aren’t story-like and advise me to change my style. Instead, let’s examine the difference between writing a story and creating a world. Recently, I watched several interviews with Director Gunn, who said something like this:
Yesterday I went to see the new Superman movie. Absolutely loved it, and I’ll be going for a second watch today. I’m a die-hard DC fan—there are traces of DC in all the novels I write. The new Superman performed brilliantly; it’s been a long time since a superhero film kept me thrilled from start to finish. It was exhilarating, heart-wrenching, and emotionally resonant, with that overwhelming comic-book feel—a rousing start for the DCU. It’s not perfect, but it’s undeniably exciting.
It was pure luck.
Anyone who has written Chinese science fiction knows that the current Chinese sci-fi market is highly competitive, but 80% of the market belongs to Liu Cixin. The remaining 20% is usually unread by anyone. There are few opportunities and intense competition, and readers are nowhere to be found. Therefore, many science fiction authors are confused, even paralyzed by uncertainty.
This doesn’t sound like a good market strategy and doesn’t consider everyone’s feelings. There are more people in the mainstream market, but the biggest problem is that I simply can’t do it… I would be more successful if I could write mainstream.
I am Si Liang, an eternal thinker. My name is my life. Love wisdom and pay the price for it.
When I first saw the AI video, Kling had just been released, and I was immediately captivated by it. I made a 5-minute Batman video. Although this video has become outdated and unwatchable due to technological advances, I got sick from overexertion in my first week of making AI videos. I had to lie down for several days. That’s how fascinated I was.
We will explore the main characteristics and themes of my novel and AI video creation. In brief, the Computing Universe is a grand cosmic epic featuring space, adventure, and computational warfare.
My writing career began in 2005 with my first blog post, which has now been 20 years. During these two decades, I had about 10 years of intensive writing, while I barely picked up my pen the rest of the time. I have reached a cycle where writers hit a wall—I need to break through myself.