Writing Excuses 6.7: Brainstorming a Cyberpunk Story

Writing Excuses 6.7: Brainstorming a Cyberpunk Story

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/07/17/writing-excuses-6-7-brainstorming-a-cyberpunk-story/

Key Points: Premise. What are we going to do with our character? Who is our character? Metaphors! Don't forget the punks -- black market? Don't forget the science. Plot? Character conflict, problem, and personality. Dystopia plus extrapolated science plus what-if's -- mix it all together, it spells cyberpunk!
brainstorms and tattoo viruses )
[Brandon] All right. Mary, writing prompt.
[Mary] Come up with a cyberpunk world. For your seed for it, think about penguins.
[Brandon] Okay. Penguins in a cyberpunk world.
[Dan] Nice.
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
[Howard] Just don't write Happy Feet.
[Dan] I don't know. The cyberpunk Happy Feet, I would watch.

Writing Excuses 6.6: Cyberpunk

Writing Excuses 6.6: Cyberpunk

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/07/10/writing-excuses-6-6-cyberpunk/

Key points: near-future, Earth-based, internet connectivity, human augmentation, human identity. What does it mean to be human? Independent cobblers, gritty, antiestablishment. Hackers fighting corporations. Street culture of the future. East vs. West culture clash. Is popular cyberpunk an oxymoron? Cyber wonder, but also cautionary tales. World weariness. Dystopia. "We got our wish and now we're all monsters."  Fear of corporations, government, runaway technology. The Singularity.
electronic shades and other giggles )
[Brandon] All right. Well, let's go and do a writing prompt. Does anyone have one they want to throw at us?
[Howard] I... I've got one. Playing off of the patches stuff, we have a cyberpunk setting in which tattoos are the equivalent of implants, and you've got somebody who gets a tattoo, and for some reason, they now need to have that tattoo removed. Obsolescence, or a hack, or something. But, tattoo removal.
[Brandon] Your tattoo got hacked.
[Howard] Your tattoo got hacked.
[Dan] Nice. I digg it.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
       

Writing Excuses 9: Sci-Fi Sub-genres

Writing Excuses 9: Sci-Fi Sub-genres
from http://www.writingexcuses.com/2008/04/06/writing-excuses-episode-9-sci-fi-sub-genre/
The Little Stuff )
So - Space Opera goes out there and has an adventure, Mil SF lets the Space Marines kick butt, Hard SF means you gotta get the science right, and Cyberpunk can't pass a Turing test? How's that for a misguided summary?