The Crossroads of the Aether
Writing Steampunk; Stories, Plays, Poetry, and more
It has come to my attention that many people in the various steampunk communities turn their hands towards writing in the genre. Not an easy task, I assure you, but quite rewarding when one can make it work. I started this discussion in hope of hearing from fellow scribes, of both the professional and amateur varieties. Please feel free to expound upon your trials and tribulations of the author's art.
What sort of research do you do? How do you go about making up characters, plot, imaginary history, world-building, and so forth? What is your favorite part of writing? What is your least favorite part of writing? What do you find easy? What gives you the most trouble?
As a seed, so to speak, I'll relate a bit about myself;
I'm an amateur writer of some 15 years standing. Until I discovered Steampunk, I wrote mainly Science-Fiction, Fantasy, poetry, and sometimes even within the Horror genre. I've had stuff published in half a dozen e-zines over the years since '95 or '96- Whenever it was that I first went online. That said, honesty requires me to point out that I've yet to make a professional sale, so don't be too impressed by what could laughingly be called my "publishing credits." Most of my work is character-driven, but with a generous dash of world-building used as set dressing.
Now that I have gotten into steampunk I've found that my prefered writing sub-genre of Alternate Universe stories dovetails easily with steampunk. The world-building process is almost the same, but a bit more tightly focused. The same sort of historical research applies. As does the process of picking a point or series of points where real history and the alternate history diverge. For me, world-building is half the fun. Once I have a believable backdrop and history to use as a playground, I can turn the characters loose and let them roam as they will. That's what works best for me. I do write outlines, but I've learned to treat them as suggestions rather than strict limitations. Once I've established a character, or set of characters, they continually amaze me with what they say and do. They'll veer wildly away from my outline, weave back and forth across it from time to time, then intersect the outline again somewhere towards the end of my proposed plot. That can be fun, or it can be a hair-pulling, vexing annoyance. It all depends on whether the story suffers, or becomes more interesting than I'd planned.
All right, that's enough of a seed for now. Let's see what sprouts from this oh so fertile soil...
Vila
What sort of research do you do? How do you go about making up characters, plot, imaginary history, world-building, and so forth? What is your favorite part of writing? What is your least favorite part of writing? What do you find easy? What gives you the most trouble?
As a seed, so to speak, I'll relate a bit about myself;
I'm an amateur writer of some 15 years standing. Until I discovered Steampunk, I wrote mainly Science-Fiction, Fantasy, poetry, and sometimes even within the Horror genre. I've had stuff published in half a dozen e-zines over the years since '95 or '96- Whenever it was that I first went online. That said, honesty requires me to point out that I've yet to make a professional sale, so don't be too impressed by what could laughingly be called my "publishing credits." Most of my work is character-driven, but with a generous dash of world-building used as set dressing.
Now that I have gotten into steampunk I've found that my prefered writing sub-genre of Alternate Universe stories dovetails easily with steampunk. The world-building process is almost the same, but a bit more tightly focused. The same sort of historical research applies. As does the process of picking a point or series of points where real history and the alternate history diverge. For me, world-building is half the fun. Once I have a believable backdrop and history to use as a playground, I can turn the characters loose and let them roam as they will. That's what works best for me. I do write outlines, but I've learned to treat them as suggestions rather than strict limitations. Once I've established a character, or set of characters, they continually amaze me with what they say and do. They'll veer wildly away from my outline, weave back and forth across it from time to time, then intersect the outline again somewhere towards the end of my proposed plot. That can be fun, or it can be a hair-pulling, vexing annoyance. It all depends on whether the story suffers, or becomes more interesting than I'd planned.
All right, that's enough of a seed for now. Let's see what sprouts from this oh so fertile soil...
Vila
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Zaphod Beeblebrox on -
I'm new to writing, and am currently writing a tale with a steampunk element.
I'm also trying a "twitter-tale" that's steampunkish, as well as fan work (Star Trek+H2G2). Twitter doesn't lend itself to great writing, but seems good for those with a short attention span.
I'd love to have someone critique my regular writing though.
-Z
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Permalink Reply by Dizzy on -
I've been working on a steampunk writing project, I can't explain specifics but I reasearched alot of things for my project, from Victorian, and theoretical science, the effect of excessses of certain elements in the atmosphere, to clothing and ancient edgypt, yeah it's all over the place. For me everything starts with charactors, I make them up get to know them get to love them and then, and only then do I get the world and plot, they sort of tell me (well not litereally I don't hear voices or anything ... yet)
My favorite part of writing is just writing, my least is the outlining process.I almost always wrote horror so it's fun to experiment with something new. I'll you guys know how it works out
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Permalink Reply by Captain Jancer on -
I like writing and put a few small works on my deviantart/storm-artist accounts online but never really get particularly far with them. I usually start with characters like Dizzy, and things go from there. As of late I've really wanted to start a webcomic, and with the fairly recent birth of this alternate steampunk persona (that I'll admit was a lot of back and forth improvised acting on my own and my friend "Lug"s part) I found I want to create a comic for this rather eccentric character and his oddball crew. Too bad I cant draw....are there any artists around? Helllooooo artists...come out come out wherever you are XD
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Permalink Reply by Zebulon Vitruvius Pike on -
Last year I started participating in a Deadlands role playing game and fictionalizing my character's adventures in the form of letters to his sister back in Massachusetts. It gave me an opportunity to try to write not merely steampunk, which is contemporary fiction set in the Victorian-era (or, in this case, in the Wild West) but to write a scientific romance in the style of the writing and language that would have been used at that time. I admit to being a bit out of practice but I've been trying to read period fiction and newspaper articles to clean up my style.
In some ways I like fictionalize role playing games in that I don't have to worry so much about plot and pacing. Of course, the problem with that is sometimes the Game Master creates a plot that has awful pacing, plot holes or other flaws that, if it were a short story or novel, would doom the endeavor. In this game, the GM has a propensity for naming non-player characters Zeke. This lead to something of a running joke and the culmination of the issue into the Zeke Brothers. (recall "this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl.") Also, in an RPG game, sometimes characters take action that throws the story into chaos. Our Clint Eastwood-like character Ezekial Tobin (there's that Zeke, again) has a nasty habit of shooting the plot hook.
You can link to my synopsis and chapters at http://dergeis.livejournal.com/361162.html.
Gaming-wise, we are up to Chapter 26, and I'll be adding those over the next few weeks.
Also, for a fiction contest in Second Life's New Babbage, I wrote a time travel story called "Dialogues." That story is available at http://dergeis.livejournal.com/323725.html.
I have some other stories that are non-steampunk, if people are interested:
The Magus Chronicles of Geradi Ivanovich Ruzhkov: Another RPG fictionalization.
Any Magic Sufficiently Advanced: A Mage/Werewolf crossover.
Goodbye, Mister Bond: A 007 short-short story.
That Which Eternal Lies: Gamera vs. Cthulhu in the style of H.P.Lovecraft
An Untitled Deep Space Nine Teaser
Dear Kordite: A Klingon Advice Column
An Imbalance of Power: A Klingon RPG module
Stormbird
The Outsiders: A Tale of Klingon First Contact
Point of Impact
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Permalink Reply by Zaphod Beeblebrox on
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I really, really enjoyed "That Which Eternal Lies". It felt Lovecraftian, and Gamera fit in very well.
Regards;
-Z
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Permalink Reply by Zaphod Beeblebrox on
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Gamera vs. Cthulhu? Now this is something I gotta read. I currently listening to the "Dunwich Horror" audio book, so, I'm geared for Lovecraftian stuff. Besides, I'm a long time Gamera fan.
As short as it is, "Dialogues" was neat. I enjoyed reading it.
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Permalink Reply by M. Leigh Hood on -
I've always loved to write, but it's only been in fairly recent years that I've started to take it seriously. At the moment I am studying writing in college and have yet to be published outside of small college papers and such, but I hope to one day make this my official profession.
Since I've only recent been introduced to steampunk, I have very little writing completed in that genre. However, fantasy is my main passion, and I find that certain areas of steampunk cross over very well into my range of writing. There's actually a piece I began work on much earlier this year that I realized later could be considered steampunk. I have very little of it written, but if anyone is interested in giving me some constructive criticism on it, I would be more than happy to share it with you all.
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Permalink Reply by Zaphod Beeblebrox on
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Would love to read it.
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Permalink Reply by Mrs. Emeline Warren on -
I suppose once you get paid, you're a professional. Well, that was a long time ago, when I was kicking around with certain muscians who painted their faces and breathed fire....now they have reality shows and all. But I have written quite a bit in recent years, for Weird NJ magazine, all that non-fiction stuff.
More importantly, Victorian-inspired fiction, mainly with Lovecraftian twists, have been my favorites. Currently working on a lengthy bit for publication, with slight references to things steampunk, which I plan to see expanded in the future. The original intent when I started about 5 years ago (I tend to take year long breaks) was quickly hijacked by a secondary character. He in fact began writing it, and the whole thing took off in directions I never imagined. I am not lying to admit that things were being written which made no sense to me at all-- until several chapters later when the real meaning became evident. Don't mind telling you, it was a tad unnerving....
i love research, and i'm in that stage of editing where I have to delve deeper into certain areas to get the facts straight. It's been a fun ride, so far, but this is just the most recent, and most dedicated, MS's I've worked on in a long time. Keep posting, folks-- news of what everyone's doing, and how they gp about doing it is always an inspiration!
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Permalink Reply by Bethany Grenier on -
I am publishing my first novel in late February!! It's a y/a - teen fiction book that takes place in a magickal/steampunk world. The book is called Sings With Stars. It's a semi- autobiographical novel. Based on my experiences growing up with a mentally ill, drug addicted single parent.
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17 year old Gigi Storme is different. How and why she is different, she doesn't know, but she feels it. So do her classmates.
The world that she lives in is about to change forever. With an attack upon the only friend she has, Mr. Whitley and the meeting of a mysterious stranger she has been longing to meet.
Gigi will discover that she is from another world. A magickal world where she must face unexpected betrayal, learn about love, and confront the truth about her own dark heritage. Discovering that where and who she comes from will have less to do with where she'll end up, than her own choices...
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Each chapter starts out with an illustration of a character of the book as a tarot card from the Major Arcana. After that is a quote from a song that sets the tone for the chapter, and act as foreshadowing for later events. There are also quotes from songs woven throughout the book as an integral part of the story as well. The main character receives claireauident guidance by way of songs that get stuck in her head, 'Hearing' them.
You can check out the website (though it is not completely finished) and let me know what you think.
singswithstars.com
Thanks and enjoy!
-Bethany Greenier
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Permalink Reply by Zaphod Beeblebrox on
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Ms. Greenier;
Though far past my teens, this does sound like a book that I'd enjoy reading.
Please keep us updated.
B. Regards;
-Z
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Permalink Reply by Bethany Grenier on
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I definitely will keep you posted!
Though the target audience is teen, it is written so that an adult could enjoy it as well.
It is my own love of the y/a - teen fiction genre that inspired me to write in it.
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