Can I write my short story by reading similar stories?

A while ago, the muse struck me on a road trip, and a vision of a story formed in my head. I was so excited; it was a while since I had a feasible idea for a story. I was so inspired I even managed to plot the story in bullet points during my trip. All was good and fun until I returned from my trip and sat down to write. I realized I was blocked; I couldn't develop the story, the characters, and the world.

They say sit down and write. I tried that, but it didn't work for me. However, they also say to read a lot; it helps expand your horizons and your writing. A smaller group also suggests practicing writing by imitating other writers or simply typing out their work word by word. Let's try that for once. In the worst case, it will be another day without finishing my story.

Hypothesis: I'll be able to write my sci-fi short story by learning from and imitating similar stories.

Step 0: What I've already got?

I have an idea of the story's start and end, a silhouette of the main and two side characters, and a high-level plot outline.

Step 1: Find similar stories

I need short stories about the near future, conflicts over technology, developing technologies, simulating human relationships with technology, and indulging in technology.

First stop: googling the above themes and topics

There's so much content and recommendations out there on the World Wide Web, and search engines harness that good enough. However, stories are unique and challenging to summarize with a couple of keywords. One day, the marriage of LLMs and Search Engines will grant us magical search results, but we're not there yet. I'm going to take my chance anyway.

Near-future short stories about technology

• Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness by S.L. Huang (audio) : Clarkesworld Magazine
• Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer : Clarkesworld Magazine – Science Fiction & Fantasy
• The Machine Stops
• Unauthorized Bread: Real rebellions involve jailbreaking IoT toasters | Ars Technica
• Ep. 3: End User, by Alastair Reynolds | by Auki Labs | The Posemesh Foundation | Medium
• Future Science Fiction Digest - The Digital Aesthete: Human Musings on the Intersection of Art and AI
• Any Percent - GigaNotoSaurus
• Upgrade Day by RJ Taylor : Clarkesworld Magazine – Science Fiction & Fantasy

Some random short stories about tech, AI, and simulation

• Bigger Fish - Uncanny Magazine
• Escape Pod 789: The Machine That Would Rewild Humanity
• STET
• A Ring Around - Apex Magazine
• The four best short stories about artificial intelligence you need to read - The Verge

Step 2: Read these stories and choose the relevant ones

Which is a story for another time! Thanks for checking out this week's deep dive newsletter. Next time, I'll report this step. Make sure to subscribe to receive it in your inbox!