Welcome to Gaia! ::

..with a steam powered brass pick of course.

Hi there, Im the clueless newbie!
It was an accidental discovery but a nice one nonetheless, so how would you personally sum up steampunk to someone who had no idea? Seems like the best way to learn to me.
I admit i have a sly motive, i am writing a book. Not a steampunk themed book at all but i sketched a few of the characters and showed them to a friend, steampunk was mentioned so i looked it up, liked what i saw and came here. So much in fact that i want to learn more about it and add it to more of my characters and the setting, just a little as it wont fit the theme, but i think i could get rather into this and want to know all you have stuffed in your heads please!

If it's just a vague idea you're after, I'd sum Steampunk up as "Victorian Science-Fiction" [although for something so specific it is quite diverse and comes in many other flavours, such as post-apocalypse regression and 'Weird West'].

For a better introduction to steampunk, I would suggest you try to watch the animé Steamboy (or even just look it up). I find it's a rather splendid example of what steampunk is (and helps put otherwise random descriptions into context). It's got plenty of the common themes in steampunk, and is visually quite stunning to boot.

If you wanna know what I think about steampunk, it's heavy themes and predominant elements along these lines:

1. STEAM and steam-powered machinery and gadgets (without steam, it can't honestly be steampunk! Steampunk without steam is either just anachronism or possibly clockpunk!)
2. Anachronism (without this it's just a history lesson in obsolete technology, though "futuristic" and "non-Earth" steampunk may just as well be out there somewhere)
3. Brass
4. Wood
5. Leather
6. Lots of other brownish things and earthy tones
7. Wearing a bit more clothing than modern times expect
8. Having a bit more class than modern times expect (even for lower classes)


I'd say, as long as you hit #1 and #2, and at least one or two of the other ones, it's probably steampunk, but of course, part of the wonder of steampunk is that it's fairly versatile. I know a lot of members here (and other folks across the interwebs and in real life) think that if you throw a few steam-powered airships into a fantasy setting that it's steampunk, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Sure, the airships might be steampunk, but that does not by any means justify the entire medium or work (i.e. the game/movie/book) to be classified as steampunk.

Before I get off on a long ranty tangent, I'd just like to point out that there really should be a noted difference between "works with notable steampunk elements" and "actual works of steampunk as a genre." But again, not everyone thinks like that and my word alone is just another bit of advice to be taken with a grain of salt.

Considering I come from the Goth Culture into Steampunk, I can't say I agree that we "rally together" or don't have different opinions. There are several variations in the "goth" community as wel, just like any aspect of a community.

Anyway...

I got into Steamy stuff via the Goth culture, as said, I have always loved the victorian era and then started listning to Abney Park and such... and started drawing comics in a very steamy environment. Anyway... I realized that what I really liked was Victorian Steampunk.

Don't pick at your brain, it'll get infected.


Oh, another one!


In one word... *pokes guild title* Anachronism. Dictionary.com describes an anachronism as "something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, esp. a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time." This works in both ways, as it is both a modern styling with a throwback to Victorian era (Steampunk fashion), as well as advanced technology in Victorian settings (Steampunk fiction). Then there's the "punk" side of it...

I'm thinking everybody's discussed this already.


Hooray for books! I like to read. Though I haven't had much time lately... sweatdrop


All I can say is, write what you know. So yeah, I hope you're preparing to know a lot.

By the by, there is a Wiki article on Steampunk if you need it.

All we have stuffed in our heads? It is about time to clean out the ol' noggin again. -starts pulling things out of right ear: a lot of fluff , a series of little numbers from work, a band of otters falls out and scurry away, some gears and cogs tumble out, adventure, and a pair of goggles-
-catches the otters- Get back in there. -and puts them back into brain through left ear-

Now that that's all clean and unstuffed...To me, Steampunk is a mixture of anachronistic curiosity and adventure as they saw it back in the late 1800s as the world was shrinking. I suppose one would call it a mindset more than anything.