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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37097
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37097
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There are many examples of stories set in a post-apocalyptic space-faring human civilisation, with different takes on the idea. Isaac Asimov's _Foundation_ series, Anne McCaffrey's _Dragonriders of Pern_, even the computer game _Mass Effect - Andromeda_ fall under this broad description, and yet are completely different stories.

In terms of worldbuilding, your way to making your own story is to make a different world incorporating the framework you describe. You talk of rediscovering old technologies: what technologies? How does their rediscovery affect the story and the world? The collapse - how did it come about? What are its lasting effects?

But more important: make the characters your own. And with the characters - a different plot, different story beats, different goals, and thus a different resolution. Consider how many stories are set in our real world, how many stories are set in any given time and place in RL. Their setting might be the same, but the stories are very different. It's the characters that make them different: who they are, what happens to them, what they try to achieve and whether they succeed.

Original score: 6