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Rated: 13+ · In & Out · Sci-fi · #1792135
Leave a Steampunk themed writing prompt or use one!
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Welcome, dear friend, to our Inspiration Station, brought to you by "The Steampunk Authors' Guild [E].  Please feel free to find a writing prompt left here by one of our members.  Also, if you are so inclined, leave us a prompt to inspire our imaginations. 

Random GPs will be awarded by one of our leaders Beck Firing back up! or tYpO/T.Boilerman should they be particularly inspired to do so and should your prompt truly stand out. 

This is for all of us, and perchance a young one may stop in, please observe the ratings of the page and conduct yourself accordingly. 

A monstrous, robotic hand is discovered on an isolated beach. Reverse engineering the technology leads to....

Steam powered unicorn

The dream was one of his favorites. The beautiful ladies were dancing on the airship's quarter deck, and he began to whistle. But this time he couldn't stop...the girls began to scatter, and he woke up to the screeching of the pressure valve. "Damn!"

Mechanical ships that fly. There is the aerial navy, who patrol the city by sky. There are also pirates who search for unsuspecting vessels.

She worked in the sewers. It was better than the streets.

World war has come to the Victorian era. Imagine an arms race spawning all manner of Steampunk technologies from steam-powered battleships, zeppelin filled skies, to clockwork soldiers, to gigantic cannon able to shoot man to the moon.

Explore the world of the grease monkey, the gear-head, the tinkers, who keep the machines chugging and hissing, but do not share in the prosperity of their "betters."

Clockwork pets and their human companions ~ bonded for a lifetime. (What is a clockwork's lifetime, by the way? *Smirk*)

Steampunk sporting event? Favorite teams? Nature and venue.

Build your dream airship, describe it deck by deck, amenities, control mechanisms etc.

3 words: Steampunk Iron Man.

It's not just edwardian alternative history, Steam Punk is also rich in alternative Americana. Write a story featuring the arrival of Christopher Columbus in an Americana populated by Steam Punk tribes of Native Americans.

Having eluded his pursuers for the moment, Tinker slipped into an alley. Hidden from the gaslight on the street, he opened his shirt and twisted the brass key that would keep his heart beating for another hour.

She couldn't believe they had taken her parents. She pushed the throttle forward on the train, and is rose through the air and into the night sky. She would get them back if it was the last thing she did!

The hero of this story is a samurai lord who has a spyglass. The hero encounters a villain who he mistakes for a friend. This person has competence and is likeable. Plot elements include conflict between conscious and loyalty, and clockwork spiders.

Feature a character whose mental illness plays a major role in the story whether to benefit or detriment.

Nothing is what it appears. No one can be trusted. Heroes are villains. Villains are heroes. Throw in a conspiracy and a twist for good measure.

An actor from our world finds themselves in a Steampunk world.

Write a character profile for a Steampunk character who is actually a good person but is perceived as a bad person because of some particular character flaw.

Dr Mendallium invents a mechanical flying horse whose metal wings are powered by a tiny efficient steam engine that runs on hyper-compressed charcoal.

Someone new has come into your life and you could not be more excited. Trouble is you soon realize they not only have a clockwork heart but they are mostly clockwork with only minor parts of the human left in them.

What if you could use electricity and coal to bring someone you loved back from the dead...but at the cost of a complete stranger's life?

It is the end of an era, the time of steam (and good manners for that matter) is about to pass. There is new technology appearing electricity and the internal combustion engine. Put your characters in the thick of this transition.

A young clockwork robot must make a daring journey across a sea of fog to deliver vital information to her goverment

A human army versus an army of clockwork knights. Civil war would be a good setting.

It was as if reality itself had twisted and somehow shifted. The effect was most disconcerting, and ultimately resulted in . . .

A young, Jewish inventor learns the power of names when he inadvertently creates a powerful, brass golem.

Had they not taken my son from me, my clockwork minions would still be no more than household helpers... but they took my son away.

Damsel in distress? Tied up on the tracks? Train coming? Slimy greasy villain? Dashing hero . . . nah. Saved by the most unlikely of heroes in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Your lead character is a strong female psychic detective. She must prove herself in a "man's world."

A woman is courted by two tinkers, who shower her with gifts, each one more bizarre than the last.

Dogs have gone extinct and cats become feral and dangerous. A boy builds himself a clockwork canine.

An inquisitive young tinker finds a golden earring shaped like a triangle with an eye in its center. She holds it up to her ear to see how it would look, and it spontaneously (and painfully) attaches itself.

A young genius whose parents have both died from lung cancer unveils an alternative to steam power fueled by dirty coal, sparking the wrath of powerful establishment entities.

Of what use would steam powered boots be?

Write a story where a child's clockwork, wind-up toy turns out to be more important than first expected.

Start your story with the following line: Curious, most curious indeed, that happenstance could have had nothing to do with this.

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