Hello there. Recently I have came up with the idea of writing a Fantasy/sci-fi/military novel/story. However I am not really confident about the plot and ideas about my story. as this is the first time that I came out with something like this. Maybe you can kindly take a look at the synopsis below and tell me if it will work? Any comments are appreciated. As a series of weird events unfold on Earth, it became clear that the the fabric of space-time in the south pacific region slowly disintegrating. As a result, all 5 permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council decided to form an uneasy alliance with each other to deal with the unknown threat. Merely a week later, a wormhole appears in Sydney. An army wielding cold weapons (like swords or spears) emerges from the portal and attacked the city. The Australian Army and the UN task force pushed the invaders back, capturing POWs (Prisoners of war) in the process. After interrogating the POWs, the 5 powers realized that these invaders came from another universe, on a planet not unlike Earth itself, except for the fact that this alternate Earth is inhabited by wizards, elves and other animals that were considered to be fictional in our world. The UN then dispatches a field-army-sized expeditionary force aiming to destroy the Empire in the name of revenge. As soon as the expeditionary force arrives, the Novichokan Empire (one of the two major powers in the planet and the state responsible for the Sydney incident) attacks the force head on, only to be defeated by the heavy firepower of the joint force. After the Empire suffered from heavy casualties, their long time archenemy, the Suileant Empire, launched an offensive against the weakened Novichokan Empire. Looking forward to maximize their own benefits, the UN powers used their own ways to seize more resources and land for their own (more discussion in depth below). This cause problems for all 3 sides of the conflict. In the end, a peasant uprising (secretly supported by the US) overthrew the king in Novichoka, Russia, meanwhile, launches an airborne assault to Suileant's capital, forcing the Suileant king to surrender. In the Aftermath, the Novichoka became an anarchic wasteland controlled by warlords and the Suileant Empire became a puppet state for the UN. In the story, there is no clean cut "good guy" or "bad guy". Instead everyone got their hands dirty even though many of them have truly noble goals. The powers involved in this dirty game are: 1. The US-lead NATO: Being the strongest of the "big 5", the US deployed a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, a Stryker brigade combat team, a few fighter squadrons and an airborne division in the other world (about 40000 men). They are joined by their NATO allies: France (deploying an armored Calvary regiment, a marine brigade and a Franco-German Brigade supported by Germany) and Britain (deploying 2 infantry divisions).Upon discovering the abundance of resources in the "wonderland", the US decided to launch Operation Aardvark. In the surface the NATO operation's goal is to free the oppressed peasants in Novichoka. In reality they want to seize the oil-rich regions in Novichoka. In the end the US-backed rebels overthrew the oppressive Novichokan government but then the temporary allies between different species of rebels broke as their enemy falls, causing a prolonged war. The NATO states gain access to quite a number of oil fields as the rebels sold the exclusive rights of extraction to the them in exchange for more modern weapons. France and Britain were also caught selling weapons to both sides of multiple conflicts at the same time. 2. China: The Chinese expeditionary force is quite big in terms of size. It consist of an armored division, an infantry division, an attack/recon helicopter squadron, an artillery brigade and some logistic and non-combat units (about 30000 men). At first the Chinese embassy in Sydney is destroyed by a dragon, enraging the Chinese public. However, the Chinese expeditionary force deployed their engineers to build roads, schools and hospitals for the local population right after they reaches the "yì jiè" (another world/odd world in Chinese). This helps the Chinese army to build a positive image among the natives of the other world. In the end though it is revealed that China uses propaganda and various techniques to lure the local population to work for them as cheap, expendable labor in dangerous mines and oil rigs under Chinese control. China also overwhelmed the Economy of the new world by dumping their relatively advanced products into the new world. In the aftermath China gains a large market and the new world became a place for China to build new factories in. 3. Russia: The former superpower is desperate to regain its status in our world. Russia deployed a VDV (airborne) division, a bomber squadron, an armored division, a rifles (infantry) brigade and an artillery brigade into the fight. At first Russia is concerned about the vast amount of resources in the"новая граница" (new frontier) may lead to their decline as natural resources held in Russian hands will soon be worthless when the supply of oil and gas skyrockets. Desperate to stop an Economic collapse back home, Russian troops are authorized to kill without discretion to achieve their goals (ie to control natural gas and oil supply), even if that means bombing a volcano with thermobaric weapons to cause an eruption, flooding the oil fields and a city with lava . Eventually the Russians forced the Suileant Empire to surrender and established a puppet government within the boders of the Empire, ruling the civilians with an iron fist. 4. Novichoka: "The northern barbarians" as referred by its southern neighbor, they are expansionists and imperialists. They also have a Caesaropapist government which worships a single religion. The king is was once a loyal general but when his king tried to purge his military officers, he secretly planned Coup d'État and overthrew the old king. When his son had a heart attack and died, he instantly concludes that his son is killed by Suileant assasins. So he gains more resources for the Novichokan war machine by launching a series of offensives against smaller settlements that were independent from both Empires. After enslaving the POWs, he decided that it is time to invade the southern Empire (which is seen as a heretic and corrupt hellhole by the majority in Novichoka anyway). Despite of the early success with human wave attacks, the assult bogged down and the war dragged on for 10 years. Desperate for victory, he ordered his wizards to come up with a way to open a portal between them and the Suileant's capitol. This accidentally opens a portal between our world and theirs instead. As Novichoka is invaded by the NATO and the Suileants, the peasants and slaves of the Empire revolted and overthrew their king, killing most of the original upper class social elite of the Empire on the way. Finally the once great Empire was broken into pieces, with rebel warlords ruling their part of the former country with the same cruel laws that the old king used before he fell. 5. Suileants: Unlike their Caesaropapist neighbors, the Suileant Empire is more open towards religions. However that’s pretty much the only “freedom” that an average civilian can enjoy as the upper class controls everything that a citizen will use. If you dare to criticize them, then you, your family and you friends will be “missing” if you are lucky, hanged in front of your house if not. The government is corrupted at best, incompetent at worse. In fact despite having a larger military than the north, the Suileants kept losing in the first 3 years of the war because their troops have a much lower morale than the northern troops and their military leaders either inheritted their positions or bought their way into the military academy. However after their military soon retreated towards the Otara Moutains, the Novichokan military couldn’t breach their defences as the Moutainous terrain halted their advances while the newly developed magic crossbows (with a maximum range of 600 meters and can shoot 3 arrows at once) were used as anti-air (dragons and other beasts) and anti-armor (cast armor for heavy infantry) weapons effectively. They also employed terror tactics by sending assasins and magicians into Novichokan territory, assasinating high value targets with brutal methods and attack local civilian population recklessly in an attempt to destroy their morale. After the UN forces attacked Novichoka, the Suileants seized the opportunity and attacked northwards, retaking many towns in the progress. However when the Russian VDV showed up right above their royal palace, the king surroundered and a puppet regime was established to rule this Empire. The civilians found that their lives were basically harder than before. 6. Other powers: Aside from the “big 5”, Australian troops also marched into war in the name of revenge. They ran POW camps for the UN forces and help patrolling the supply lines. The Australian spec ops, SASR, was also deployed in the frontlines. There were also a few settlements and strongholds independent from both Empires. However citizenns in these towns were living under the constant fear of being colonized. Some of these towns remained independent at the end of the day but their economy is basically destroyed by Chinese products flooding into the market. Also, I have been thinking about the creatures in the other world. However I struggle to come up with creatures that make biological sense in the other world (I am a biology student but I am by no means an expert. I am just too obsessed with details I guess.) and the effect on our world on them (atmosphere, food, even noise in the city centre) so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to put them down in the comments. Thank you.
Hi, @bustead, welcome to the forum. We get similar questions quite often here and there's a bit of a standard answer. That's more than enough planning, it's time for you to start writing if you haven't already. One thing that strikes me reading skimming your plot idea is you've got a lot of backstory there. Thorough knowledge of backstory a good thing to have when you embark on novel writing. The trick then is in how, when and how much you need to put in the novel. Start writing, don't think you need to tell the reader everything up front, but use your familiarity with the backstory to build your characters and setting.
