Steam(punk)ing Right Along

I literally just finished my first edit pass through my steampunk novel. I finished the manuscript about two months or so ago and I've been letting it sit, getting some distance from it be before doing my own beta-read. As far as the last 25K words or so go, it was the first time I'd read them at all. I can't tell you how excited I am to find that I really like this book! I honestly didn't know if the story would hold up, if it made sense, if it was loaded with contradictions and inconsistencies that would have to be corrected, etc., etc. I can confidently say it does, it does, and it wasn't. Yay! I haven't felt this good about a project in a long time. I still have to go through all my tracked changes before sending it to my beta readers, of course, but wheeeeeee! That clearly hasn't dampened my enthusiasm. ;-)

I hope everyone who has chosen to participate in NaNoWriMo this year is steaming merrily along on their own works! I might have to start a new novel this month myself just because I can. Hee-hee!

Steampunk + Kismet

Random things keep entering my sphere of reality lately that are peripherally steampunky. I think the universe is telling me it likes what I'm writing at the moment. ;-) Here are a couple of links that connect to the early 1900s as examples.

85-year-old steam engine ready to roll again in Lewis County
16 Edwardian Colour Photos That Will Make You Feel Like A Time Traveller

There are links to more photos off that second one that I could spend hours happily perusing. But, alas, my m/m steampunk novel isn't going to write itself. Although every now and then I hit a scene that seems to do just that. If only it were always so easy. ::sigh::

That moment when...

That moment when your characters first meet and sparks fly.
That moment when they begin to reveal secrets that you, even as the author, didn't know they had.
That moment when you discover a third voice is necessary to tell the story.
That moment when your "short story" passes 31K with no signs of slowing down.

I love that moment. :-D

Building a Steampunk World

It feels like ages since I've done any proper world building. I did so much of it for several years running, and then poof! Nadda. Just last month, that began to change. I love to read steampunk stories. I attended Steamcon V last October. These days, it is my favourite costuming genre to peruse online and find excuses to build. For a couple of years now, I've wanted to write my own steampunk story in my own steampunk world. My first attempts were with potential co-authors, but for varying reasons we simply couldn't get on the same page. (No pun intended.) Then I tried for months to work on an idea of my own, but the damned thing wants to come out as a movie script and that is just not something I can deal with right now. Plus, it has too many ambiguities even for me, and I am a classic example of a pantser. Now, at last, I'm in a groove. A writing groove, a world-building groove, a steampunky groove.

I've built the framework of the world and the general mores of two societies. I've done research that was more than just a string of increasingly unrelated distractions. I've presented a number of hurdles to my characters, and they are working hard to leap each of them in their arduous journey towards their HEA.

Now, if you'll excuse me, the two fine gentlemen talking at me inside my head would really appreciate having their story written down. I oughtn't keep them waiting.

New Worlds, Old Worlds, and Things In Between

As a primarily fantasy author, it should go without saying that I love world-building. In case it needs to be stated, well, I just did. Right now, I'm working out a story that's not quite fantasy/sci-fi, but neither is it historical. Can you guess? It's steampunk. (Natch.) I'm finding the creation of an historical-yet-fantastical world particularly challenging. How much do you stick to reality vs. how much do you fabricate? How plausible does your "science" have to be? How detailed do you have to get? Is it better if you just stick to general, broad descriptions of the tech? How historically accurate do you need to be, or should you veer away from historical events completely? I've read a fair amount of steampunk at this point by a variety of authors, and each finds his or her own balance, some with more success than others. I'm convinced that a solid knowledge of events of the time is the cornerstone of good steampunk. After all, when you know the rules, you can then choose how and when to break them. Of course, that means I wish I remembered more of my local and national history classes. Time to hit the books!

My brain scares me.

You know you're bored when you're doing random websearches that eventually lead your brain to the following:

Someone should make a steampunk Borg!

At which point you (you guessed it) websearch it and find this picture.

And you proceed to think:

Well, it's pretty good. The arm looks smashing! But it could be better if he did more with the clothing part of the costume and added the right Borg-ish make-up.

. . .

I have a very scary brain sometimes.