Do you want to write a cyberpunk story but don’t know where to begin? Perhaps you’re just interested in what makes a cyberpunk story unique?
In this article, we explain how to write a cyberpunk story through considering 6 key elements.
1. Set the story in the future
Cyberpunk stories belong in the genre of speculative fiction, and as such, the story you’re writing has to be set in the future. You can choose to set it millennia in the future, where you can also incorporate new species of humans (that may or may not be linked in a special way to the technology of the times).
The other option is to write it in what is commonly referred to as “20 minutes into the future”, that is, set the story a few decades up to a few centuries at most in the future. In this type of story, you might have humans who have chosen to incorporate technology (in their bodies and daily life), but not enough time would have passed for new species to have emerged.
2. Incorporate technology with humanity
In the world of the story, regardless of how far into the future it is, you need to advance our current technology to the extent that it will be incorporated with humanity in some way. For example, humans might do body modifications to connect with technology more.
Think of ocular implants that mean you have a computer or a communication device you can control with nothing but eye movement, or an implant that transfers your thoughts and enables you to send messages or write with your mind.
Additionally, some people can have neck jacks or other body modifications to allow them to connect with a computer directly. You can also incorporate the presence of cyberspace – that people would enter by jacking into a device.
3. Build a cyber-aesthetic world
The world of a cyberpunk story has a certain aesthetic. This means your story will rarely be set in a village with idyllic landscapes like the Shire. Instead, the setting will be urban. There will be a lot of ads, holograms, neon colors, and dark weather. Even better, the humans on the street might not be humans at all, but human-like androids. You can have holograms that walk and talk and all that distinguishes them is the fact that they are incorporeal and fuzzy at the edges.
Humans themselves will have changed, as previously mentioned. Hair colors will vary from normal to neon blue, neon green, or pink. Clothing can be regular jeans or jumpsuits.
Moreover, think about the world, i.e. the city and country the story is set in. If you go for a story set millennia in the future, you can go for a complete change (in comparison to our world), when it comes to countries and cities. You can also go even further in time and set the story on another planet or a spaceship.
If your story is set nearer in the future, then ensure the city where the story happens is recognizable, but it still has been changed and given the neon-like makeover. Usually, the climate in such stories is dreary and dark. It can be rainy and gloomy, but it can also be desert-like, dusty, with no rain (a draught that negatively affects the world).
If you need some ideas on creating a cyberpunk world, take a look at our article at the link below:
10 Cyberpunk World-Building Ideas
4. Focus on the negative effect of technology
Cyberpunk is not really a happy genre in nature. If you wish to portray a positive effect of advanced technology, then your story will belong more in the futuristic genre rather than the cyberpunk genre. Cyberpunk, as a genre, has been coined by joining the words cyber (which refers to technology), and punk (which refers to rebelling against a bad system).
As such, the future portrayed in the story needs to have been negatively affected by the available technology. Oftentimes, the world is run by greedy corporations, leaving a lot of people to struggle and live in slums, even if they have access to the new cool technology.
Moreover, the technology is usually very advanced and allows the governing body to control the movements of humans, detracting from their freedom and keeping them always under their watchful eye.
5. Explore the downtrodden geniuses
Because the world is more on the negative, unhappy side, you should focus on characters that are both very proficient in using the available technology, but have received the short end of the stick when it comes to money and social status.
These characters would be rebels, engaging in illegal coding or modifications of the current technology, and if the governing body (the government, or the powerful corporations) uses the technology to keep an eye on the population, these characters usually know how to modify their technology to keep themselves hidden.
These characters usually lack money or freedom, or something important to them that motivates them to take action during the story. They have been dealt bad cards (usually, were born poor or are at a disadvantage due to race or status) and are trying to improve their own situation by going against the established system.
However, at the same time, do not forget to also portray the characters who do have enough (money, status, etc.,) to contrast with the downtrodden characters (usually, the protagonist is one of them). These characters would have no reason to want to change the status quo of the world and make the world a better place for everyone, and usually, the primary antagonist will be one of those people, often with the highest position possible (i.e. the CEO of the corporation, or the head of the controlling government).
6. Relate the plot to crime
Due to the “punk” part of the cyberpunk genre, the main plot is normally related to crime, borrowing elements from the hardboiled detective subgenre, where you have the protagonist either investigating a crime (and finding the culprit who committed said crime), or the protagonist will be trying to commit the crime (by fighting the system).
You can also have both, i.e. tell the story of the person that is trying to commit a crime and the story of the hardboiled detective trying to stop him, which gives you the chance to explore how both sides of the coin can be sympathetic.
When it comes to the stakes for the world, they can be both high stakes and low. The story can be about changing the whole world (for the better), which means the protagonist will get involved in a world-changing plot. Or, the protagonist can be trying to prevent a group from releasing a cyber-virus that will affect the population of the whole city.
But the genre also allows for episodic-types of stories, where the stakes mostly affect the protagonist and their personal future, rather than the whole world. For example, the detective must solve the crime in order to keep his job, but if he fails to do so, it is only his job that is at stake.