Writing Excuses 5.15: Steampunk with Scott Westerfeld
Writing Excuses
Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2010
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is steampunk? Basically, it's Victorian-era science-fiction as written by non-Victorian-era writers. Why do we write it? We talk about the way it lets authors bend some science-fiction rules, and how the sensibilities of an era a sesquicentury past inform the plot, prose, characters, and (of course) setting.
How does one go about writing steampunk? Scott offers some advice on the approach, from idea synthesis to world-building,. His books Leviathan and Behemoth are both great examples of the genre, though they might fit the "diesel-punk" label a little better.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld, narrated by Alan Cumming.
Writing Prompt: It's 1912, and Nikola Tesla is the President of the United States...
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This year my family will be having our 67th annual Christmas Eve dinner. |
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... |
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