: Re: Creating a unique spin on a nuclear apocalypse? Basically, my story follows a group of 6 people (and 1 mutant human) exploring a barren wasteland of what used to be the USA. The world they

@Goswami879

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Focus on what you are bringing to the table
Don't start with the focus on what you don't want to write. Focus on what you do want to write. What's special about your ideas, beyond the post-nuclear apocalypse? Are you writing a gritty survivalist novel? Or a technofuture novel? Look at how S.M. Stirling for example handled something akin to this in the Emberverse novels - his setting is not particularly new for post-apocalypse (not nuclear, but same idea really), but what it is, is well adapted to what his interest is here. Figure out what you're writing, and then let the setting evolve around that.
Maybe your story needs a decent population to really work - you're writing a story with a subplot involving a crime boss who's trying to take over a region. Okay, you need a decent number of people for that, plus you need enough of a functional society that there's time for crime! Or maybe you want to write about regional warlords - okay, so now you need weapons, some feudal structure, that implies more of an agrarian society with less tech.
Or, if you are more focused on the survivalist side of things, you want more of an empty wasteland, Fallout style. That can still be plenty unique, because of the story you write in that setting. If the story is good, the right setting for the story will feel right for the story, and not repetitious.

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