WHAT ARE YOU WRITING?

[Lia Keyes]

What are you currently working on? Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Mystery/Romance, NeoVictorian, Paranormal, alternative history?

Are you creating a world only flavored with Victorian mores and manners, or working closely with Victorian history, but subverting it?

[David Mark Brown]

THanks for the lead. Do you use a creative editor as well? Or just the story edit (or are you using those terms interchangeably)?

[Lia Keyes]

I have a mentor who I check in with every other week for a two hour session with two other (published) writers. We share pages or brainstorm. Is that what you think of as a creative editor? Lorin does that kind of thing, too. Check out this page: http://www.free-expressions.com/site/editor.asp

[Warren C. Bennett]

David Mark Brown said:

Let me know when you figure it out. I'm a big fan of the Weird West!
Warren C. Bennett said:

I am planning out a short story set in the Old West.  I am much fonder of Western steampunk than Victorian...

 

Now i Just have to figure out a plot :)

No problem :) I have a couple ideas i'm going to play with this week. Just had to cross a few items off my to do list before starting on it.

[Graham Russell]

I am writing a Steampunk story relating directly to Armageddon. A miner finds an ancient gate that leads to an underground vault filled with legendary amounts of treasure...or disaster. Mr.Tides, a respected politician and entrepreneur sets out to find the Eight Rings of Melidona: the keys for opening the legendary safe. Vince, a lower-class mechanic and inventor gets news of this and must stop Mr.Tides and his mercenaries from opening the door to Armageddon and save the planet!

(Perhaps it is slightly cheesy, but man it's fun to write!!)

[Lia Keyes]

Enjoy writing it, Graham! I love quest stories. The question to ask yourself is: what does the finding of each key teach the main character about himself? How does the gathering of the keys change him?

[Peter Francis]

Michal Wojcik said:

Currently working on a short story set on Mars, 1906.  The great Aether-ships have crossed the void and brought Englishmen to a dead planet, save for the self-programming "clankers" built by the long-extinct Martians.  The British Empire has fallen on Earth, bit by bit, thanks to the massive expenditures on keeping the Martian colony alive and a premature world war fought over Germany and Austria-Hungary's attempts to build aether ships of their own.  

 

That's the gist of the setting.  Part of a collaborative effort which, if all goes well, will be featured on Youtube as audiofiction with accompanying artwork.

 

Also, the ongoing short-story series about a bounty hunter from our own world in the employ of a nefarious doctor, before he double-crosses her and leaves her stranded in an alternate reality where the Czars still rule Russia.  Probably the most foul-mouthed set of stories I've ever written.  Two parts in, I don't know how much further it'll go.

 

I reckon this sounds well cool! - Pete Francis

[Anna Chen]

I have a feeling my story has got too much steam and too little punk. But I don't really like to put things like goggles and airships in there if they don't serve a purpose. On the other hand, the Chinese airship is about to land and they are the ones who have the interesting tech in my world, so I hope the story's going to get punkier from now on...

[Lia Keyes]

Anna, Chinese airships sound wonderful!  Not every steampunk story has to have a punky element. Any whiff of rebellion counts as punk. Even if it's just a protagonist who goes against societal or familial expectations for what he/she should be doing. The main thing is to revel in the character's journey. Not just the aesthetics of the world. We want a character who is either fascinating or who we wish we knew for real.

[Michael Grey]

'Memoirs of a Gadget'?  I'm surprised there's so little use of the orient in steampunk, or in fact all alternate historical novels.  The far east was such a strange place to the western world in the 19th century, much more foriegn than we could imagine now.  The possibilities are huge.

 

Or, I suppose the Charlie Chan films of the 40s may have conned us all into thinking any Asian of the time must be a villain.

 

Good luck with the story, Anna.

[Lia Keyes]

I would love to see more steampunk set in the east, but I wouldn't dare try to write it myself for fear of bringing down the wrath of those who already feel misrepresented.

[Jason]

Right now I'm working on a couple of short stories.  The first one deals with medicine shows, patent medicines, and nanites.  The second was based on a trip I took to New York, where I visited Ellis Island and was amazed by the fact that the civil servants there had to do everything without computers.  So, I decided to give them some difference engines...

[Lia Keyes]

Both sound like wonderful ideas to play with, Jason! I have a fascination for medicine shows. All those lovely bottles, and charlatans selling them. :)