Writing How do I create a "-punk" environment?

[RaySizm]

Despite there being no steampunk tag, I'm trying to write a steampunk story, and I've had trouble establishing the environment. The same goes for most of the stories I've tried to write. Anyone know the best way to make a story feel steampunk-y, cyberpunk-y, dieselpunk-y, futuristic-y, medieval-y, grimdark-y, and whatever other kinds of moods/tones/environments there are?

It seems easy to establish in stories with visuals, like anime or movies, but it's hard to make the reader of a novel imagine the world as a specific environment without going into excessive boring detail about the way the gears and cogs were all aligned in whatever gimmicky steampunk gadget the protagonist is about to use in the next action sequence. By the time I finish explaining the details of a crossbow powered by steam or whatever, it feels like the reader would have drifted off to sleep by the time I'm done with the paragraph.

 

[DubstheDuke]

I guess subtly slipping words in? I did at one point write a steampunkesque city as part of my arc and aside from some basic descriptions and the character personalities and knowledge reflecting this world I just sorta slipped in descriptive words here and there to make people understand exactly what was supposed to be felt. It doesn't have to be excessive. Just enough to give them a feel.

 

[BenJepheneT]

Remember that punk is supposed to represent the rebellion of downtrodden lower class people etching out a loud living amongst an oppressive government/dictatorship. That's why we got cyberpunk, steampunk, biopunk, nanopunk, clockpunk dieselpunk (my second favourite), tech noir (my absolute favourite).

The word before the -punk is basically salad dressing: it's like a setting for where you want your punk to be in. As long as you understand the general idea of punk, you're golden.

Now, if what you're trying to convey is the atmosphere of steampunk, then I recommend you accentuate the STEAM in STEAMpunk. Victorian style architecture, fogs and steam from factories, loud clanks of metal, piss coloured skies and contraptions born out of DaVinci's cum-stained manuscript.

Clocktowers that seem to be in the midst of an autopsy, with gears and knobs boldly exposed to the dusty air. Royalties with funny looking top hats and goggles that scream status more than it does about fashion. Poverty stricken folks living in rotten bed sheets inside dusty attics next to furnaces and cogs just to keep themselves warm. Internally heated, golden chariots pulled by 4-cylinder steam engines across cobblestone roads paved by those who'd could only dream of having a hot meal.

You know, the usual. So long as you convey the steam and punk in tandem, you're good to go.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Use Google image search, choose what stands out to you, and go with that. Go with first impressions so you don't go into too much detail.