Have you heard of Steampunk?
No? I’m not surprised. It was new to me a little while ago too, but the more I look into it, the more I become enthralled by the beautiful mess it seems to be.
For those of you not familiar with the trend, here’s the official definition:
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or “Wild West”-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc.
If that definition didn’t help, I find showing pictures of Steampunk-inspired art or machines helps. Here are a few that jumped out at me.
Or how about this gun pen….
Or this one (possibly my favorite)
Now that you’ve gotten a better understanding of what Steampunk actually looks like, let’s dive in a little bit to see what we can learn about blogging from it.
Juxtaposition For Joy
One of the things that really makes Steampunk art and crafts a pleasure to look at is their odd usage of objects that rarely come in contact with either to create something entirely different and beautiful. At first, it may look like a crudely-assembled conglomerate of crap, but upon closer inspection, you can see the care and creativity necessary to bring a piece of Steampunk art to life and it’s a beautiful thing.
The blending of steam-powered Victorian objects with the imagination necessary to power science fiction offer a perfect juxtaposition of classic, modern and fantasy that give Steampunk its true allure.
How are you combining things in your writing to create something epic and never seen before? Most people tend to simply spit out old nuances and known knowledge in their posts, but Steampunk Blogging would require you to connect two (or more) things into a creation of your own devising that will inspire people.
Everything In The Kitchen Sink
Steampunk is known for creating outlandishly futuristic items, but one thing that’s interesting is that most of the objects are purposely created using things you see everyday and re-imagining them in new ways.
We’ve all seen nail clippers, fountain pens, watches, handles and bullets, but rarely have we seen them combined into a functioning, intriguing Gun Pen.
Make your blog that Gun Pen.
Always leaving hidden jewels in there for those ready to take a closer look. Your Steampunk blog will look and feel and work like a brand new creation, but leave those truths in there that people can relate to and pull out if absolutely necessary.
Classically Futuristic
I think the thing that truly pulled my attention into Steampunk art was the joining of classic ideas and items and creating something futuristic with them. There’s something gorgeous in being able to do that.
When was the last time you took a look at Peter F. Drucker’s 1967 book The Effective Executive to see what tips can be gleaned for your company or industry? (There are some really good tips in there, BTW.) Have you taken a look inside How To Win Friends and Influence People lately? What tips do you thing Carnegie would have for us in the social media age?
Sometimes what is considered “classic” wisdom can have a very futuristic look at your industry if you’re willing to look and apply the pieces that fit into something helpful.
SteamPunk’d
No one’s going to do it for you, but if you’re willing to take some queues from a random underground trend that you’ve probably never heard of before today, you may be able to create something futuristic for your industry and something beautiful for your blog. It may take stepping out of your comfort zone and using some muscles you haven’t used before, but in the end you may just create something worth hitching your wagon to.
(final image via: HowToGeek.com)
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About Joey Strawn
Its always fantastic to see the tentacles of Steampunk spreading far and wide :-)
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