Steampunkin’ Around, By Tonia Brown

By Tonia Brown

I have no intention of wasting this whole article explaining what steampunk is. Folks have spanked that subject more than the counselors spanked that chunky kid who broke into the cake hut at fat camp. (Why did they have a cake hut if they didn’t want me in there? But I digress…)

Instead, follow this Wikipedia link for an in depth idea of what constitutes the genre of steampunk.

Read it, and then come back.

Go on.

I’ll wait.

*waits*

*waits more*

*checks watch, but is patient because she knows it is a long article over there*

Back so soon?

I am willing to guess that many of you didn’t go and read the link, and even less of you give a fat rat’s ass, which I suppose leaves me with having to explain it all just a bit. But that is okay, because I have a standby question for this very purpose. Here is my all encompassing single question regarding what steampunk is:

Have you ever seen the Wild, Wild West television series?

(The film will do, but not as well.)

If you say yes, then congratulations! You have been exposed to steampunk.

If you say no, then step away from the computer. You need a time out, buddy.

Now that we have covered the basics (read the article if you feel we haven’t) let’s get down to brass cogs. So you want to inject a bit of historical vibe into your horror, but you know diddlysquat about history? (Just for the record, Microsoft Word recognized the word diddlysquat, but not diddly squat. It doesn’t recognize steampunk either. And also, I am terrible at compound nouns.) Well, lucky for you, steampunk a great historical genre to experiment with because it emphasizes parallel history as apposed to historical accuracy. Though, I should add that there are about ten thousand hardcore steampunk fans out there, right now, rending clothes and gnashing teeth at that singular statement. Yet I stand by it. Steampunk is full of robots and ray guns and steam driven computers, airships and mad scientists and undead horrors, while somehow managing to remain true to the time period as far as the language and dress and attitude of the characters.

Keep in mind this doesn’t mean you can just set your werewolf attacks in 1890 and everything will be hunky-dory. To make it truly steampunk, it needs a bit of out of place tech to back it all up. Make your werewolf the product of a mad scientist hell bent on taking over the world, and you have a good start. Put your werewolf in a clockwork battle tank and make him the general of a werewolf army created by our mad scientist with the soul purpose of raiding the Queen’s farmlands, thus crippling the economy of late 19^th century England, and now you’re cooking with steam! (Oh, that’s not a bad story idea. I call dibs!) Just keep everything in line with traditional Victorian dialogue and fashion, and it will all come out in the wash. This means blowing that clockwork werewolf army all to hell while dressing your main character in a bowler and a tweed smoking jacket, and making him say something pithy like, “I say, those wolfy maniacs won’t jolly well mess with the Queen’s sheep again. Rather!”

Of course I have over simplified the whole thing by the above example. Writing steampunk is a little more difficult than just redressing your horror story in posh Victorian clothes and words. Much like any other genre, the readers will know if you’re just faking it. So, put in a little research into the Victorian era. Watch a documentary or two. But more importantly, read some other steampunk works. Take the time to enjoy steampunk first, then try your hand at it.

Good luck and have fun!

Tonia Brown is a southern author with a penchant for Victorian dead things. She lives in the backwoods of North Carolina with her genius husband and an ever fluctuating number of cats. She likes fudgesicles and coffee, though not always together. When not writing she raises unicorns and fights crime with her husband under the code names Dr. Weird and his sexy sidekick Butternut.

You can read her ongoing webserial Railroad!, a weird western steampunk adventure, at: steampunktrain.blogspot.com

You can learn more about her and her other stuff at: www.thebackseatwriter.com