It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys... It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of buildings full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the pistons of steam-engine worked monotonously up and down like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.
CHARLES DICKENS Hard Times, 1854
You can see it, hear it, smell it -- if this doesn't inspire, what would?
While my steampunk expedition is not full of squalor and stink, I may have to re-think this and add more of have-nots. Showing the great differences of wealth. I just don't know if I have the expertise for this...of course, I'll never have it iffen I don't try.
My heroine is a "found girl," young girls who are either abandoned or orphaned -- foundlings -- left to their own devises. People can bring them home, and put them to work. Yet it is a way to ensure a roof and some food on a daily basis.
I don't go into it, her fortune changes soon after the opening, but maybe it needs to be shown...hmmm. Or, maybe I could incorporate found girls into her new home.
See? I told you that Dickens was inspiring!
What, who inspires you?
CHARLES DICKENS Hard Times, 1854
You can see it, hear it, smell it -- if this doesn't inspire, what would?
While my steampunk expedition is not full of squalor and stink, I may have to re-think this and add more of have-nots. Showing the great differences of wealth. I just don't know if I have the expertise for this...of course, I'll never have it iffen I don't try.
My heroine is a "found girl," young girls who are either abandoned or orphaned -- foundlings -- left to their own devises. People can bring them home, and put them to work. Yet it is a way to ensure a roof and some food on a daily basis.
I don't go into it, her fortune changes soon after the opening, but maybe it needs to be shown...hmmm. Or, maybe I could incorporate found girls into her new home.
See? I told you that Dickens was inspiring!
What, who inspires you?
Pictures and music inspire me, though in different ways depending on my mood.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could wrap my head around writing steam punk. I can never make it pure tech. Magic always creeps in.
My newbie try with steampunk is full to the brim with magic!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Stephanie!
oh yeah! magic. Love magic. space opera is like that, too. seems like futuristic, end of the world theme...but it's magic!
ReplyDeleteI'm writing a time travel. just the idea of time travel is magic. :D :D I'm not mechanical enough for steampunk, though.
Hmm, what inspires me? History. Life. ...and USA television shows, like Burn Notice. haha.
Burn Notice, hahaha...love Burn Notice!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, I think magic comes into play with any major shifts, right? Well, even if it doesn't, it should. And there's a touch of time travel in my Steampunk too. If you're doing time travel I can't think why you can't do mechanical, but that's just me.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the follow back!