How To Write a Story: #81: Steampunk: “Appomattox”

I’ve found that in writing, exploring new genres can generate good results. I wrote fantasy and horror and some literary fiction, but I had not tried Steampunk as of yet. Steampunk is a relatively new genre. According to Wikipedia, Steampunk is "a sub-genre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic design inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.” It is a world of steam engines, dirigibles, submarines, but all powered by steam with the sort of technology that propelled the Titanic rather than that of the Space Shuttle or a modern jet. Steampunk also plays with the historical time line. It may rearrange history just slightly. It may put historical figures in different roles.

The notion of writing a story always, the thing that spurs the creative impulse can come from encountering a new genre like this and exploring it. When I did, I began to get the idea that became the story “Appomattox.”

Lee Surrenders to Grant

Even if you’re not a Civil War buff, must people who know anything about that conflict know that it ended when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant at the courthouse in Appomattox, Virginia on April 9, 1865. By the month of June all other active Confederate armies had surrendered as well.

I thought it would be fascinating to jumble things up, beginning with history. In my revised history Frederick Douglas wins the election of 1860 on his promise to reconcile the North and the South. He dies after only four months in office, and his Vice President, a pro-South politician named Johnson (not Andrew Johnson) takes office. Lincoln accepts the post of Secretary of War. Four years later, Lincoln is elected President and the war begins. During his term as Secretary of War, Lincoln promoted the development of technology. The Union began to produce submarines and, more importantly, airships. The South has prospered from the slave-produced cotton it sells and is confident its troops are superior fighters to those of the north. But eventually a slave revolt, led by John Brown, breaks out. It is contained but not completely quelled. Lincoln sees an opportunity to win the war when two Confederate Generals, Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson make an appointment to negotiate with him near the city of Appomattox, Virginia.

Exploring the Steampunk genre released possibilities, flurries of creative, and the chance for a unique story simply by its newness. The story flourished because it opened up new possibilities for the main elements of a story:  plot, character, narrative, setting, symbolism, and theme.

The historical figures mentioned are not the main characters of the plot. Two engineers, a man and a women, are in fact the point of view characters for the story. Mitchell Judd and Electra Koteos are a couple who have built the airships the Union army has used to win the war. Electra is a woman who defies conventions of the time.  She owns a business, is a single mother, an engineer, and a formidable woman. Once when they are on date, a robber accosts them; she pulls out a derringer and shoots him. When he first meets her she is wearing a short skirt. He stares and she explains. “Long dresses are too hot and too dangerous in a work environment such as this [the research factory she owns]. Once we were riveting some plate and the hem of my dress caught fire. I have scars on my legs from that and  since then I’ve worn this costume. It serves me well.” They marry and begin to develop technology. 

The Civil War will end in 1865 like it did in history and at the place it ended in history. Lee and Jackson are ready to negotiate. General Nathaniel Bedford Forest, however, has learned about the negotiations and sends a large army to intercept Lee and his troops. By skillful use of the airships, however, the northern forces are able to repel Forest’s army. The negotiations to end the war begin.

In writing a story, the new and the fresh are sometimes the path to increased creativity. You might want to try a different genre:  if you write horror, try a fantasy story; if you write fantasy, explore the genre of literary fiction—or steampunk or cyberpunk, dieselpunk (a lot of punks floating around out there) or science fiction. It opens doors and gives shape to new thinking and new ideas.

“Appomattox” appeared in an anthology titled Conquest Through Determination. It was published by Pill Hill Press, which has closed, and the book is, sadly, unavailable—though when I checked Amazon there are copies of it offered for $500.00 (I'm not joking, that’s what it says—the people who priced the books must be joking).

For additional titles, check out my Writer's Page.

A great Christmas gift for readers of vampire stories is Sinfonia: The First Notes on the Lute, A Vampire Chronicle, Part One. The Sequel, Sinfonia:  A Painted Lady, A Vampire Chronicle, Part Two will be available for Christmas.

Happy reading, happy writing.