To Steampunk or not to steampunk
While working in this new serial, I find myself adding a lot of steampunk elements, but I am not sure if I should call the story steampunk or not.
There are a lot of Steampunk purists who would instantly tell me that what I am working on is not Steampunk. The story takes place in a secondary world. It is not a Victorian era setting in most ways. The plot is a mix of supernatural horror, epic fantasy, and steampunk. So what is it?
I hate genre titles. I've posted about that on numerous occasion. The problem is one of constraint. Oddly, that is also what I love about genre. It gives you conventions to play with and constraints on the types of stories you can tell.
In fact, I am almost more concerned about calling the serial an epic fantasy than a steampunk story. To be honest, it is somewhere between an epic fantasy and a sword and sorcery story.
I suppose, what I am most concerned about is more how readers react to the terms. I will probably use all the above as keywords for the serial. I just hope people know I am doing it in good faith.
What do you think? How flexible is the term steampunk? Let me know.