Steampunk. Cyberpunk. Dieselpunk. Clockpunk. The more you peruse the bookshelves, the more subgenres you\u2019ll find that end in \u201cpunk\u201d. When considering what to write, this can be confusing. So what is the steampunk genre family all about? And how can you make the most of it?<\/p>\n
\u201cPunk\u201d fiction movements started emerging during the 1980s.<\/p>\n
The first was\u00a0cyberpunk<\/strong>, a brand of science fiction concerned with computer technology, social change, and lowlife characters in near-future settings. The term was taken from a 1983 story by Bruce Bethke and popularised following the publication of William Gibson\u2019s novel\u00a0Neuromancer<\/em>\u00a0the following year.<\/p>\n Back then, punk itself was still young, so the title sounded daring. In an age when Top Shop sells Clash t-shirts, it might have lost some of its edge, but it\u2019s still full of potential.<\/p>\n Emerging from the New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s, cyberpunk incorporated existing works like the 1982 film\u00a0Bladerunner<\/em>, as cyberpunk writers built a subgenre juxtaposing technological progress with social breakdown. In its early days, it firmly fitted its title, adopting the harshly-anti-establishment aesthetic of early punk music.<\/p>\n As the genre evolved, that began to wear off. While early works had the driving anger of the Sex Pistols, some later stories have had all the edge of a One Direction single. Just featuring computer programmers could sometimes get you a cyberpunk label.<\/p>\n Next came\u00a0steampunk<\/strong>. Identified as a genre a few years later, this movement\u2019s title was a knowing reference to cyberpunk. Its main concern was with reinventing Victorian technology, creating alternate histories or entirely new worlds built on 19th-century technology, making steam power evolve in different ways from reality. It was a genre for people who wanted to wear top hats and shout \u201ctally-ho!\u201d<\/p>\n Steampunk fans traced the movement\u2019s origins back to H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, with more modern foundations in the stories of Michael Moorcock, Tim Powers, and K. W. Jeter. For many years, it remained more obscure than cyberpunk, while building a passionate fanbase \u2013 some people really like top hats and \u201ctally-ho.\u201d It became a distinct subculture based as much around prop and costume making as it was around fiction.<\/p>\n With these two having set a precedent, other subgenres started using the -punk suffix. Recent years have seen fans and publishers talk about dieselpunk, clockpunk, silkpunk, splatterpunk \u2013 seemingly any -punk they thought they could market. The -punk label now indicates a focused genre that gets away from the constraints of reality, usually through reinventing technology. The idea of punk as defiantly anti-establishment is often lost, but what has emerged is no less interesting for it.<\/p>\n What are these different genres about? And how can you use them in your storytelling?<\/p>\n The parent of suffix-punk genres, cyberpunk emerged as a forward-looking form of science fiction. At a time before the internet and a computer in every home, cyberpunk writers predicted a world with those things. This is a genre in which computing and body modification are the central technologies, and their growing importance in reality have made the genre no less relevant.<\/p>\n The aesthetic of cyberpunk is strongly influenced by film noir and the associated American crime fiction. Common features include:<\/p>\n Cyberpunk foresaw important social, economic, and technological trends and has continued to engage with them. In its worlds, national governments are increasingly weak, the real power lying with corporations. Life is uncertain, the truth hard to find, and a technologically-connected world creates as many problems as it solves. It\u2019s a cynical genre, not one to curl up with for a cozy comfortable read.<\/p>\n Cyberpunk is a great genre if you want to write about any of the following:<\/p>\n If you like the idea of morally bankrupt characters committing dark deeds on streets soaked by acid rain, then cyberpunk is probably for you.<\/p>\n Looking for some cyberpunk inspiration? Try writing about:<\/p>\n Steampunk is about reinventing 19th-century technology and the world around it. Imagine if Babbage\u2019s calculating engines had birthed a world of mechanical computers; if airship travel had become common; if steam-powered machines were in every office and home. What you\u2019re imagining is steampunk.<\/p>\n Though technology is important in the steampunk genre, so are the manners and culture of the time. Authors in this genre often adopt a Victorian aesthetic or twist and exaggerate it into something new. Top hats, tailcoats, and bustles are the order of the day. Ladies and gentlemen sip tea and exchange barbed pleasantries. It\u2019s all about the fancy dress, with an emphasis on the \u201cfancy.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of this aesthetic, the focus is often on relatively well-to-do characters. There are regular exceptions, showing the mechanics, laborers, and soldiers whose hard work made 19th-century elegance possible. Just don\u2019t think too hard about what their lives were really like, unless you want to end up crying into your keyboard.<\/p>\n Steampunk fiction is tied to a broader steampunk subculture, in which people make props and costumes fitting the genre, meet up to share their creations, and engage in Victorian-inspired pastimes like tea dueling (yes, that\u2019s every bit as silly as it sounds, which is why people do it).<\/p>\n Because of this maker-flavored subculture and the interest in old technology, steampunk celebrates invention. Its protagonists are often goggle-wearing gadgeteers capable of making new machines from a pile of gears and pistons.<\/p>\n In publishing, the edges of the steampunk genre have become increasingly blurred. A lot of fantasy elements bleed into steampunk. Some fantasy novels with a 19th-century aesthetic but no technological element sell themselves as this genre. Purists rage against stories that aren\u2019t \u201creally steampunk,\u201d as if the presence of elves somehow makes steam-powered robot stories less plausible.<\/p>\n The Steampunk genre is a good fit if you want to write:<\/p>\nThe Cyberpunk Genre<\/h2>\n
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The Steampunk Genre<\/h2>\n