possible problems in a cyberpunk future.

First off. Hi. I'm brand new here. Name's Dan. But I only joined because I need help with my writing, so let's get down to business.

I'm trying to write an in-depth cyberpunk story. Before I get to writing, i need some ideas of what to base the story around. If any of you have read Cyberpunk fiction, specifically William Gibson (Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive), then you're familiar with the idea of B.A.M.A. (Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis). Basically the east coast, from Boston to Atlanta is complete urban sprawl.

So back to my subject.. what sort of problems would an enormous urban sprawl such as BAMA cause that one could write a novel about? Consider environmental, political or corporate issues. Post any ideas you come up with, i'm really anxious to hear them. thanks.

Personally, I think that if you achieve a complex that large, you'll have a pollution index so high that it will kill off significant portions of the offshore area. That in turn will add just that much more strain and stress on the rest of the ocean. Essentially, we could already be approaching a point of no return that might cause a domino effect in the failure of numerous ecosystems. Whether a system could reach that much mass is debatable.

Cyberpunk is kind of last week in terms of subgenre popularity. But if you're going to do a cyberpunk-style story and want to try and sell it, I'd suggest coming up with an original setting, as opposed to recycling the Gibson/Sterling/Shirley template, which is as recognizable and nearly as overused as gray-bearded wizards in fantasy.

- Victoria

thank you for not helping at all, victoria. here's a jar. write down all of your opinions and put them in there.

You may not have felt helped by Victoria's post, but it should not be dismissed out of hand. If you had the novel sold today it would be at least a year before it was published. As you haven't started it yet you can figure on two, three, or more years before any novel you write will be on the shelves.

Writing anything aimed at todays market "hot market" is not the best bet, you have to aim at the future market, or at a perennial market. Most try to find their own niche.

However I suspect this is the first novel you have ever written in which case the chances of it being published are so small it does not matter what you write so long as you write. The first novel is sort of a test. If you ever finish it and start the second you passed the first test that answers the question, "Do I have what it takes to be a writer."

I don't need help getting published. I'm not planning on publishing anything. I'm writing for my own amusement but I am having trouble coming up with a plot that can keep me going. So you can all keep your marketing expertise to yourselves. If you want to help me, help me write this.

Okay, your hero comes into possession of a message asking another for assistance in fighting off a common enemy. The hero happens upon the individual the message was meant for and is saved in the process by that individual. Out of gratitude, the hero decides to join up and return with that individual to assist the person who sent the message. In the process they discover that the sender is being held prisoner. Along with some ruffians they meet on the way, they manage to save the sender and reach a place of safety where they can warn others of the danger and combine their forces to defeat the enemy.

The thing i wonder about cyberpunk or any metropolitan based world is where all the food comes from. lots of people in cities, less agricultural land, lots of pollution... Even more intensive farming, vat-meat, algae?

If you want to help me, help me write this.

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Why on earth would we want to? You obviously have a bad attitude.

good point, vein. some people predict that we'll be eating a whole lot of soy protein enhanced process foods.. another idea was that we'll be eating krill which is a small fish that grows in massive numbers, it's what certain whales eat. They just open their enormous mouths and swim through a school of krill. it's so abundant and healthy.

Have you read Tad Williams' 'Otherland' series? That'll probably give you a new perspective on the cyberpunk/vr sort of genre. Just read the first book, though, after that it gets REALLY boring.

thank you for not helping at all, victoria. here's a jar. write down all of your opinions and put them in there

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That was extremely rude, Street. Victoria is a gifted writer with many successes in this business. Since 99.9% of the people here are trying to get published, she made the reasonable assumption that you were one of them and offered you some valid advice. She is under no obligation to help anyone, and these kinds of responses to a sincere effort to help could cause her to say "why bother?" and other writers who in the future might have benefitted from her expertise will end up losing out.

You broke our first and only rule: respect your fellow writers.

>>thank you for not helping at all, victoria. here's a jar. write down all of your opinions and put them in there.<<

Nice one, Dan. You're welcome.

- Victoria

And I didn't even get any thanks for the plot and story idea I offered up.

Ninja, what you need help with is your manners.

Since you're planning to lift the standard cyberpunk setting from published works and you don't care to be published, why don't you also lift some characters and a plot problem? Just keep doing what you started--taking elements from other people's work and play with them.

Ninja, when you get to the trapped in a garbage compressor scene, be sure to have the hero cut their way out using his industrial-strength sword.

Now you're just making it too easy, Dave.

LOL Dave.

And ninja certainly deserved the spanking.