Five ways to save steampunk
on November 29, 2009 at 11:18 amI’ve seen a huge wave of steampunk rise in just the last 2 years, and it’s great. People are dressing punk, talking punk, and are donning goggles at this meetup and that. With this “instant” popularity suddenly exploding after years of obscurity, I think that steampunk could be in real trouble.
Steampunk could be a fad.
I know, I know. It’s shocking, and I’d really hate to see it so. But if our steampunk is based on little more than fashion, it’s going to be a pretty short ride. (And I do love the fashion.) We’re going to have to create some compelling and interesting stories that both expand and bring forward our favorite brass genre.
The opportunity is here; we’ve just got to make it happen.
Here our some of my ideas on how to save steampunk:
1. Make it more than about goggles and brass. Sure the trappings are what got us into steampunk in the first place, but just putting some steamjunk on a character doesn’t equal interesting. Make your character interesting first, and cook in the steampunk in equal parts. This will ensure that your steampunky creation has legs to stand on. If you make it ABOUT the technology, you might as well be tech talking like old Star Trek, because it’s the exact same thing.
2. Steampunkify your world. Why is your world a world of steam? How does the anachronistic technology play a part in your world? Why is it stuck here? Who uses it, and who doesn’t? Why hasn’t it moved on? Answer these questions, and you’ll have a reason to choose ‘punk as your genre.
3. Make something different. Steampunk doesn’t have to be just about Victorian gentlefolk wearing goggles on an adventure on dirigibles. Twist things up. Intermix flavors. Delve into other genres or investigate it’s birth with Jules Verne. Thusfar, there are no rules to what IS or ISN’T “pure” steampunk. Embrace this, as this will be the thing to give the movement longevity. Variety is good, in all of it’s dieselpunk, monsterpunk, sailpunk, vampirepunk goodness. Without this variety, this genre will die faster than the Big Band music fad.
4. Everything ISN’T in your steampunk. Good world building isn’t about including every cool idea in the world… it’s about limits. Otherwise you end up with a stew with no central or recognizable flavor. Carefully exclude everything but the core concepts, the defining flavors of your world. What it isn’t makes it stronger.
5. Make it about the story, not about the punk. Great stories can often transcend genre. Great stories also bring the genre forward. Do that, and we’ll have some great steampunk stories/books/comics/films to point to. A great story will make punk part of the story.
Okay, so I’m not a definitive speaker/thinker about Steampunk or anything like that, but I have some ideas about how I like to create a steampunky universe.
Fads can kill. Let’s not kill steampunk just yet.
Maybe you’ve got your own thoughts on the matter?
- Daniel
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This is just great advice for artists and writers in general.
I think there is a certain aesthetic quality that steampunk has that will ensure that it is around for years to come. Great artists and writers will always keep steampunk alive I’m sure!
I always thought steampunk was really about imagination. And, no offense, people in American do not really know what to do with imagination anymore.
Very true. ‘Mericans are about being entertained, not imagining.
I know it’s pretty arrogant for me to offer ways to “save steampunk” but I just wanted to bring it up. I’d hate to see it as a short-lived fad, that’s all.
It has the potential to do so much more than be a genre. If steampunk is about technology and ingenuity, isn’t that exactly what the world needs right now? Creative ways to solve problems with the tools at hand. Also, solutions that anyone can design/develop/implement/maintain. So much of our technology is a black box- it’s technology people don’t understand. Steampunk presents the idea that you can do things with technology that anybody can understand.
If steampunkpop is really going to be effective, it has to plant this seed in people’s mind. Then it ceases to be entertainment and starts being the way people think about things.
On the other hand, look at pirates. They were a fad. I’m glad the pirate is fad is over, so I can go back to liking pirates without feeling like a sell out. I’m still waiting for the vampire fad to be over.
Good advice, reminds me a little of a thread elsewhere on how to introduce catgirls into an RPG without their being stereotypes (Um, yeah, I’ll avoid the long recollection in this one).
I agree with ethan that a genre/movement.social group with a heavy emphasis on creative problem solving could be a Good Thing. Perhaps as part of a larger ‘maker’ movement. I think the part of me that likes the idea of fabbers is the same part that likes steampunk.