Steampunk

by annaguirre on Oct.06, 2009, under Ann Aguirre and Ilona Andrews

I did a quick poll on twitter to see what people wanted to talk about today and steampunk came up. Since I’m interested in this topic, I’ll be happy to discuss it. First, if you aren’t sure what that actually is, Katiebabs has a great series (three parts) discussing the various elements. It starts here. Feel free to go peruse that; I’ll wait. And here’s an excellent Wiki offering a list of steampunk works in various media sources.

Okay, now that we’re on the same page, Jess Rosen asks: What about struggling with adding steampunk to a novel without making it all steampunk. Doable?

That’s an interesting question, I think. Full disclosure here: I have a project with Anne Sowards right now that I’d call steampunk. Here’s the blurb I used in describing Bronze Gods:

Bronze Gods takes place a dark, lush dangerous world set in what we’d call fairy. Only “under the hill” isn’t the pastoral utopia it once was. Because there are fairly regular crossings (once every hundred years or so), our technology has gradually infiltrated the other world. So when steam ships go missing, well, that’s where they’ve gone. The original population, the Ferishers–what we’d call the Seelie and Unseelie–have long since interbred with the humans who crossed over. Now there are no pure bloods left, and there are noble houses formed on the basis of how much Ferisher blood is left in their lineage. Ferisher blood permits their human descendants to work small magics and cast glamours. The fey who refused to share their world with the interlopers fell into the Fade; their bodies withered and died, leaving them hungry, angry spirits that haunt the countryside. Some citizens can summon those spirits and use them to gain strength and power. In this book, there’s murder, mayhem, dark rituals, theatre, forbidden romance, a dark stranger who has been called the Lord of Spiders, a drug-addicted gray knight who works as a cop, and a genealogist who is cursed with sensing lies.

So I have some background in this. However, that said, I would actually caution against “adding steampunk elements” just because the market is hot. Unless you have a finished manuscript from the sub-genre that’s heating up, as I did, by the time you finish the book, they will have acquired all the steampunk they want, and the market will be turning to something else. By the time you hear about a trend, as a writer, chances are, it’s already passing, at least in terms of acquisitions.

I wouldn’t suggest trying to tailor a manuscript by shoehorning elements in to make it fit, at least superficially, the demand for steampunk. The elements are either integral to the plot, or they are not. I don’t think a book can be “a little bit steampunk”; it’s like being a little bit dead or a little bit pregnant. One either is, or isn’t.

You’re free to disagree with me, of course. Do you think a book can (or should, maybe that’s the better question) have steampunk elements without being all steampunk?

Worldbuilding
To dance from Ann’s topic on Steampunk: I get a lot of worldbuilding questions. Some of them are a little bit trippy. I once got an email explaining to me that the author of the email was writing an urban fantasy and could I please point out to him which...

8 Comments for this entry

Vivi Anna
October 6th, 2009 on 11:55 am
Hmm, that’s a tough question to answer…

I mean I look at say the Golden Compass, and to me I wouldn’t classify it as steampunk, but fantasy, but it definitely has elements of steampunk in it.

Or it could be there is a ton of fantasy that I enjoy that I’ve been calling fantasy this whole time and in reality its steampunk.
annaguirre
October 6th, 2009 on 11:56 am
I would totally call Golden Compass and its brethren steampunk. By definition, I think all steampunk is also fantasy, but the reverse is clearly not true.
Jessica Rosen
October 6th, 2009 on 11:58 am
Thanks for exploring this subject. I’m a real fan of steampunk and have found myself naturally adding elements of it to my current series. I’m concerned that it will appear to be “shoehorning” them in, as you put it, for that reason. Absolutely agree with you that the market will likely be saturated with steampunk by the time my series is ready for publication, so it’s an iffy situation.

I do feel very strongly that adding steampunk - or any “hot” concepts - to a novel just because they seem to make it marketable will show through. They’ll make the story awkward and stilted. Perhaps that’s the litmus test for my own novels. I’ll leave it to my critique partners to see if it feels as natural to them as it does to me.

*Love* the concept behind Bronze Gods! Definitely looking forward to snapping it up and giving it a good read.

Thanks again,
Jessica Rosen
annaguirre
October 6th, 2009 on 12:01 pm
Well, it’s not sold. We’ll see. The market may already have all the steampunk it wants! *g*

And yes, you’re totally right. I think if an author is like, hey, this stuff is hot. Let’s add some dirigibles and steam-driven cars! It will show in the book.
Vivi Anna
October 6th, 2009 on 12:01 pm
Interesting Ann, but you’re right. Not all fantasy is steampunk and it is those certain elements, the Victorian/Edwardian times with technology as advanced as ours that clearly places it in that realm.

What about Van Helsing. Again, I would’nt have put it in the Steampunk realm, but really it is that.

Then really I think if an author starts to put those elements into their book, then that would indeed classify their book as steampunk.
annaguirre
October 6th, 2009 on 12:05 pm
Van Helsing is on the Wiki list. I was surprised at first, but then I went, “Yeah, totally.”

I think what we’re talking about is a search and replace kind of thing. Instead of magic, the author does a search and replace, changing things willy-nilly to give the world a steampunk feel. Unless the revision is carefully done, I just don’t think it works. It has to be cohesive and internally consistent, not done as a superficial paint job.
annaguirre
October 6th, 2009 on 12:07 pm
I would totally be up for someone proving me wrong, though. Can you think of books that have steampunk punk elements, but don’t really qualify as steampunk overall? I’m wracking my brain here, trying to playing devil’s advocate against myself.
RKCharron
October 6th, 2009 on 1:24 pm
Hi Ann
Thanks for the post on steampunk & the links.
I might add Cherie Priest’s excellent post on steampunk: http://theclockworkcentury.com/?p=165
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains steampunk elements but doesn’t qualify as steampunk.

All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo