Dirigibles. Flying ships. Steampowered weapons. Oy. Vey. I’m writing a book, and I thought I was writing steampunk. Who knew, srsly? Now what the f do I call it? I was told, dressed down in fact, that because my work does not focus on technology, it is not a steampunk. It must be one of those other “skiffy subgenres” as I’ve heard them called. So I opened the skiffy subgenre guide to romances and my type of story was not there. It’s a romance. It takes place in more than one time period. One of those times periods is 1890. It has an alternate universe. It does not focus on technology, although it mentioned velocopedes (as well as skateboards), dirigibles (although my characters do not use one). Am I writing a fantasy again? Come on, I wants to be cooler than that. I don’t have that “elevator pitch” for this one.
I stumbled upon The Crooked Man last night. I hadn’t seen the late great Jeremy Brett as Holmes in so long–what a treat. I had a terrible crush on him back in the day, when I was in grad school. The only “older man” to ever make my heart race. The sensual way he’d use his mouth, the intelligence he brought to a role that required it. Ah. The Crooked Man is one of my favorite Holmes stories, because it brings the whole India mystique into the plot.
After seeing that I kinda forgot my Steampunk genre angst. I really want to be the Conan Doyle of romance. Yeah, right.
All this wonderful immersion into the past was ruined by the first Denzel Washington movie I ever disliked. My husband is Denzel’s biggest fan–we own all of his movies on DVD, and while I think he plays the same part every time, my husband keeps reminding me “that’s the definition of a leading man.” But this was awful. Meg Ryan was awful as a Captain during Desert Storm. Hated it. Oh well, he’s still way ahead for me.
4 responses so far ↓
Jake von Slatt // November 25, 2008 at 12:07 am
That sounds like a Steampunk story to me. The person who “dressed you down” because the story was did not have a tech component doesn’t understand that Steampunk is *Attitude*, more then anything else.
Jake.
ciarcullen // November 25, 2008 at 12:47 am
Thanks! You would know. I will go, with attitude, back to my dresser-downer and refer them to the expert.
)
Lucinda // November 26, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I liked Jeremy Brett as Holmes, too. When you see him in that, it’s hard to believe that he played the lovesick Freddie Hinesford-Hill in My Fair Lady opposite Audrey Hepburn.
The problem that I’ve had over the past few years is that I can’t write trends. If it’s not in me to write something, I’m not going there. I tried writing an erotic piece (because that’s what sells), but then I embarrassed myself when I read over it. Even with a pseudonym, there was no way I could submit that for publication.
I think it’s a shame that we’ve gone in the direction where we follow fads and trends and everyone tries to write exactly the way everyone else writes. But then, I’m one of those crazy people who still believe that writing is an art form, a creative expression of the soul. Ugh. That’s why I’ll never amount to anything in this business.
Melisse // December 6, 2008 at 9:34 am
Sounds steampunk to me. *Shrug* I’m sure there are plenty of steampunk fans who don’t want their genre sullied with romance! So I guess it will be a cross genre.