About Silicon Ruins
The questions below came up during early reader previews. The answers are written by me (the author) in the first person.
A note for English readers — I'm not a native English speaker. But I've seen many Chinese novels and TV shows reach audiences around the world. And with the help of AI and volunteers, I hope Silicon Ruins can find its way to you too.
Q1. What kind of novel is Silicon Ruins?
A1. Silicon Ruins is a serious long-form novel — not a power-fantasy serial or quick-fix entertainment. On the surface it mixes post-apocalyptic, fantasy, and science-fiction elements, but underneath it is grounded in realism: through the experiences and choices of its central characters, the book engages with real-life questions. I want the writing to work like an iceberg — what shows above the water is a story you can simply enjoy, and everything beneath is there for readers who want to go digging.
Q2. Who are you (the author)?
A2. I'm an ordinary middle-aged person working in the tech industry. I'm not a professional writer.
Silicon Ruins is my first serious literary work. Alongside the obvious passion, I've put my software-industry habits to use — leaning on AI agents and an engineering mindset to maintain the worldbuilding, outlines, character files, and writing-style rules, all in service of holding up a complex world and a long-form structure.
Not being a professional writer also has its upsides — no deadlines from a publisher, no metric I have to chase. When a scene wants to breathe, it breathes; when the pace wants to slow down, it slows down. The rhythm is entirely mine.
Q3. Why write a novel like this?
A3. Roughly three reasons. First, there's a part of me that still hasn't been able to feel at peace with my own life, and conventional "success" doesn't really fill that gap — I needed to reach for it through a work of art. Second, I want to share the way I think about things — my values, the odd little ideas I keep coming back to. I considered other forms, like vlogging, but a novel turned out to be the medium I find most interesting. Third, I never had the experience of writing a long novel before, but now, with AI assisting me on the foundation layer — the worldbuilding, the outlines, the dossiers — what used to be impossible has become possible.
Q4. What inspired the world and stories?
A4. Three loose sources. The first is other works of art — novels, films, games, comics. I take cues from things like Berserk, the Dark Souls series, A Song of Ice and Fire, the kind of work many readers will already recognize; I tend to empathize easily, which lets me absorb a lot from very different works. The second is the social problems around us — both global and everyday — that I find myself turning over again and again. The third is one layer beneath that: views from economics, sociology, game theory, those more philosophical lenses, plus whatever I've personally figured out by living and thinking through these things.
Q5. Will it ever stop updating?
A5. I started this novel for the sake of finishing something that matters to me — in some sense, it's something I'm writing for myself. I'm not counting on it to make money. So even if it ends up with just one reader (which would be me), I'll keep writing until the story is finished.
Q6. What do you most want to say to readers?
A6. I believe a good work of art shouldn't be private or closed off — it should be open, something built together. So I genuinely welcome — and am genuinely grateful for — every reader who reads, discusses, and creates from this story in whatever form. I'd love to see what we can finish together, something none of us could have written alone.
PS: Translation volunteers in any language are always welcome — and you'll get to read the latest chapters of Silicon Ruins before anyone else.