I don’t know how to write sci-fi the way that people tell you you’re supposed to write it. Fortunately, there’s no one correct way to do anything, so it’s not a concern to me.
I feel comfortable writing within the universe established in Effugium and Anshar, because it represents a vast playground of unlimited possibilities. It provides me an escape, and when it provides readers with one as well, that makes me happy.
I don’t write sci–fi, I write my-fi. The goal is to achieve a certain vibe or aesthetic. I’m not really sure what I’d call it, but I chase the feeling I got as a kid when I’d find adventure and excitement in the musty old pages of some forgotten old book at the library.
I start out with a big, vague concept, so big that I can’t really wrap my own head around it. I then take normal human beings and write about their perceptions of it. They’re trying to figure it all out, just as I am. That’s where the story’s at. It’s not in the events, it’s how people react to them.
Say there’s an alien invasion of Earth. UFOs have darkened the skies, and everyone’s scared shitless.
I’m much more interested in how the lives of two or three completely ordinary, average people are impacted by the invasion than I am in what’s going on at the Pentagon. I don’t give a shit about any of that. I want to read the story about a guy who works at Chili’s getting chastised by his manager for calling in to work the day of the invasion.
That’s just me, though. That’s the kind of nonsense I write. I enjoy doing it, though, and I’m going to keep shoving it in people’s faces until they get it. 😄
Patrick Walts 
You know, if you did write science fiction they way everyone else does, then people would say your work is too derivative. You absolutely must find ways to make your writing stand out from the crowd.
Exactly. That’s why most things people say should be disregarded.