Writing Decopunk Fiction: Forging a New Future
Every generation has its own unique style of storytelling, with characters and settings that reflect the values and concerns they experienced while forging a new path into the future. Decopunk, a subgenre of science fiction, stands out among the many themes that dominate the world today. Drawing heavily on the artistic philosophy of the 20th century Art Deco movement, Decopunk blends elements of dieselpunk, steampunk, and retro-futurism to create a vivid picture of a technologically advanced but socially rigid futuristic world.
If you’re looking for prompts to jump-start your creativity and help you construct an engrossing Decopunk narrative, it’s important to think beyond the confines of the aesthetic and start exploring its core themes. Drawing on the speculative fiction of writers like David Gerrold, William Gibson, and Phillip K. Dick, look for ways to incorporate concepts like artificial intelligence, corporate control, government surveillance, and mass media into your story. Examine how these elements influence the characters, their choices, and the world they inhabit.
The Art of Crafting Characters
To inspire fresh ideas for your Decopunk characters, start by finding ways to link a sense of industrial progress with an appreciation for older cultural values. This dichotomy is at the heart of Decopunk, and it will inform the development of your protagonists and antagonists. Think of stories where morally dubious characters take advantage of advances in science and technology to force their views onto an unwitting public. Ask yourself whether the protagonists will accept defeat, or if they’ll stand up against the velvet glove of oppression and press for a more equitable society.
Explore the Framework of the Setting
The physical backdrop of your story will determine how readers interpret the behavior and attitudes of your characters. Think carefully about the layout of the cities, the religions and beliefs of the people, and the inventions they use to move through or even beyond the limits of our reality. How would living in perpetual night or day influence their behavior? What kind of technology would be available to civilians, and how would it be distributed?
It’s also important to consider the way the characters interact with each other, as well as the larger culture. How would they form communities and lead lives beyond the whims of organized power? Where would they meet and socialize? Who would be seen as a threat to their way of life, and what measures would they be willing to take to protect it?
Bring the Story to Life
Once you’ve got a feel for the world and the people who inhabit it, let your imagination run wild. Create dynamic settings for your characters to inhabit, and explore the correlations between the environment you’ve created and the people who call it home.
Think of ways to captivate the reader with vivid descriptions, unique dialogue, and stake-raising conflicts. Let the characters’ inner turmoil, moments of tension, and thought-provoking conversations with each other drive the story forward. Dive into their psyches and evoke the human experience on a whole new level, even one that’s light-years away from our own.
Taking Your Story to the Next Level
If you want to get your story out there, you’ll need savvy marketing to get it noticed in the over-saturated world of fiction. At gonnected.com, we provide a range of services to help you promote your story, including content creation and marketing, social media management, SEO, email campaigns, and paid advertising. We can help you create a winning strategy and ensure your Decopunk tale reaches the widest possible audience.
So get out there and bring the future to life. Your Decopunk story could be the spark that helps us forge a better tomorrow.
