Genre Expectations: Writing All the Punks

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

When I was a kid, punk culture had really taken hold of the world. However, the idea of punk culture started in music, with punk rock and the idea that great music didn’t need a record label to succeed. I guess you could say it was the anti-establishment movement of the mid 70s and early 80s.

But “punk” in books really only showed up as a genre since 1987, although since then a host of classics and other works have been retroactively labeled with the punk genre. And since 1987, the punk culture of books has exploded. Maybe you’ve only heard of steampunk or cyberpunk, which are arguably the largest segment of the punk genre. But there are countless others, so as we bring this series on genre expectations to a close, I figured it was time to take a brief look at all the punks.

But before we get started, here’s a quick review of what we’ve covered so far this year (all posts are linked at the end of this post): 

• Romantic Fantasy and Fantasy Romance

• Fantasy and Space Opera

• Steampunk and Gaslamp

• Magical Realism and Contemporary Fantasy

• Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance

• Suspense and Thrillers

• Dystopian and Apocalyptic

• Classic Mystery and Cozy Mystery

• Horror and Gothic Horror

As we start looking at the punk genre, first let’s establish what punk is and where it came from. As the title suggests, the concept of punk novels came from punk rock bands—the anti-establishment creators of the 1970s who pushed back against a society that wanted to put them in boxes. 

That is the essence of the punk genre of books. If you say you have a punk genre, that idea of anti-establishment thinking needs to be present in the story. True, punk genres are primarily aesthetic in that they are mostly named because of the elements of worldbuilding that go into creating the setting of the book, but to truly belong in the punk genre, the characters need to be struggling against something in the book’s culture or history. The characters must defy conventions in some way.

But once that base expectation is set, the sky is truly the limit. I’ve honestly lost track of the myriad different variations of punk writing. So we’ll pull out a few of the notable variations, and I’ll give you a few links to do more digging on your own. 

Who knows? Maybe you’ve written a punk book, and you don’t even know it yet. 

Steampunk (the most familiar)

Whenever we talk about the punk genres, Steampunk is usually the one that people mention first. These stories always take place in the Victorian Era (1837 to 1901) and feature technology based on steam power and cogs and gears. But true Steampunk rarely leaves the confines of England. It’s basically anachronistic stories about the British Empire in the 19th Century. You don’t have to struggle to find elements of anti-establishment behavior or defying conventions during this era of history. Frankly, the Victorians were all rebels in some way.

Common examples of this genre include Morgan L. Busse’s Soul Chronicles series and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics. Classics like Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Time Machine are considered pre-cursors to steampunk. 

Cyberpunk (the first punk genre)

Ironically, Cyberpunk as a genre pre-dated Steampunk. Steampunk came about in 1987, but Cyberpunk began in 1980. Cyberpunk stories are usually set in a nearish sort of future landscape, usually dystopian in some way. The aesthetic of these stories is usually dark and gritty, verging on industrial in some instances. But it can take place in any nation, any planet, anywhere. These stories usually focus on how the government or whoever is power has used technology to control the population.

Common examples of this genre include Blade Runner, The Matrix, and Ready Player One.

Dieselpunk

Dieselpunk is a little less well known than the first two variations, but as you might expect instead of the technology focusing on steam power or futuristic advancements, the primary focus is on diesel engines (along with advanced machines, robotics, and aviation). The era of these books usually begins at the start of World War I and stretches to the end of World War II. As with all punk genres, dieselpunk books need to have some element of defying conventions, but where steampunk often includes elements of hope and optimism, diselpunk is mostly negative in its outlook for the future. 

Common examples of this genre include Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett, and the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfield.

Clockpunk

Often confused with steampunk because of its reliance on gears and cogs in its aesthetic, the clockpunk genre is actually set at an earlier time period. It’s focused in the 18th Century rather than steampunk’s 19th century. 

A great example of the clockpunk genre is actually an episode of Doctor Who, the science fiction television series from the U.K. The episode is called “The Girl in the Fireplace” and it features the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) facing robotic villains that are made of clockwork technology. 

Cattlepunk

Cattlepunk is a lot of fun, but it is often mistaken for steampunk because they take place during the same era of history. The difference is the setting, because while steampunk takes place in England, cattlepunk takes place in America. The Victoria Era in America was the wild west. 

Examples of the cattlepunk genre include The Clockwork Century series by Cherie Priest (HIGHLY recommend) and The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

With so many variations of the punk genre, you can absolutely find an aesthetic that matches your personal brand (I didn’t even touch biopunk, silkpunk, lacepunk, stonepunk, solarpunk, etc). But don’t take my word for it. Here are two online sources that have lots of information about all the different punk genres: 

• Different punk: A to Z of punk genres 

• All the Punks! An Introduction 

Have so much fun getting your “punk” on!

TWEETABLE

Genre Expectations: Writing All the Punks from author A.C. Williams (@ACW_Author) on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Don't Miss the Previous Posts in This Series

1. WRITING ROMANTIC FANTASY AND FANTASY ROMANCE
2. WRITING FANTASY AND SPACE OPERA
3. WRITING STEAMPUNK AND GASLAMP
4. WRITING MAGICAL REALISM AND CONTEMPORARY FANTASY
5. WRITING URBAN FANTASY AND PARANORMAL ROMANCE
6. WRITING SUSPENSE AND THRILLERS
7. WRITING DYSTOPIAN AND APOCALYPTIC
8. WRITING CLASSIC MYSTERY AND COZY MYSTERY
9. WRITING GOTHIC HORROR AND STANDARD HORROR
10. WRITING ALL THE PUNKS

A.C. Williams, also known as Amy C. Williams, is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. Author of more than 20 books, she keeps her fiction readers laughing with wildly imaginative adventures about samurai superheroes, clumsy church secretaries, and goofy malfunctioning androids; her non-fiction readers just laugh at her and the hysterical life experiences she’s survived. If that’s your cup of tea (or coffee), join the fun at www.amycwilliams.com.