Cyberpunk and Solarpunk

Someone wrote a comment in a retweet under my last post about solarpunk. About how maybe Cyberpunk is more suited to motivate us to work for a better future, than Solarpunk is. Because Cyberpunk can show us, how bad it can get, it can be a warning.

My issue is, that for the most part it isn't.

Now, don't get me wrong. I adore Cyberpunk. I basically grew up in Japanese Cyberpunk especially (which I like a lot more than Western Cyberpunk - but the reasons are to complex to discuss here). But I think for a plethora of reasons it does not work as a "warning".

Part of the reason is, that the dystopia of Cyberpunk is not that far away from reality anymore these days. Even in effective Cyberpunk, that really goes into the Late Stage Capitalism... It shows a stark divide between rich and poor, state violence, rule of coorporations, end of ecosystems. Yes, it is more heightened than our reality, but it is all that we see in our reality right now and... we are kinda getting used to it. We are getting used to all the horrible things happening right now, because we feel powerless and our minds do not know how else to deal with it. So they will just chuck it of as "normal".

The other reason, why I think, Cyberpunk fails, is, that it is objectively cool. And a lot of people, who consume Cyberpunk media, do not engage with the dystopia, but just with the power fantasy of being a cool street sam with a lot of awesome augmentations. They want Cyberpunk to be real, not to prevent it. Because to them, it is mostly a really darn cool aesthetic.

And a last reason is, that in the end Cyberpunk does not offer solutions. Half the point of the genre is a sort of hopelessness. In most Cyberpunk there is no big happy ending. The happy end is, that the characters get to survive. Maybe, just maybe, the characters manage to bring down one coorporation or at least one corrupt CEO. But the most the characters get, is, to survive and maybe kiss a love interest. The point of Cyberpunk is the hopelessness.

But you cannot build a better world from hopelessness.

Which is, why I see Solarpunk as so promising - and am at the same time afraid of it turning too much into an "aesthetics only" movement. Because Solarpunk at its core is about reclaiming optimism for the future. It is not (only) an art movement, but first and foremost a genre of both fiction and activism.

If you look into the Solarpunk Manifesto, you will find that, it is about optimism and rebellion against the current system. About the things, that we so desperately need right now.

It is supposed to offer those solutions, that Cyberpunk does not want to offer - or rather that Cyberpunk thinks are out of reach.

Because here is the thing about Solarpunk: Yes, it is Science Fiction, but a lot of the Science it presents is available today. If states were actually to invest in it, we could have clean energy by 2035. That is not unrealistic. Because the technology is here, we just need to use it.

Degrowth, which is another core tennent of Solarpunk, is also possible. And it does not need to mean "live bad", as so many publications try to make it out.

Building local communities, too, is possible. The reasons we lost local communities, is, that the current system we live under, does not want us to have those communities - because communities allow us to organize and retake our power.

Those tennents have been there in Solarpunk from the very beginning. And it is quite frankly frightening to see, how the movement gets kinda taken over by people, only being there for green aesthetics.

This is not meant to be escapism. At least not just that. It is supposed to be a root of activism.

What, in your opinion, is the difference between paranormal fiction and supernatural fiction and which genre do you prefer?

🔪🩸👻 🧛‍♀️👽

I've been looking for a good way to define the differences in the genres but I can't find a good example online, so I thought I'd ask my writeblr friends since y'all are into this stuff like I am! Please lemme know what you think makes these genres different and why you like a specific one, please! 😊❤️

Do you have a favorite genre to write in?

Fantasy! (I blame Brandon Sanderson)

I love crafting a magic system and worldbuilding and how the characters interact with such a system.

I've dabbled in sci-fi too (which is basically fantasy but future) with mixed results.

Just a start on the many many combos possible but I’d love to see people’s views

Hello my Tumblr friends I wanted to talk about movie stars I was watching the babysitter if any of you know what the babysitter is it’s a movie on Netflix and it’s crazy as fucking shit bro like damn that shit was so fucking nuts. I was watching it and I’ve figured out like the first movie was funny

Apologies for the misspellings I did this with voice to text.

The first movie was really really funny if I will be honest with you about Cole and the babysitter that he has and her name is B and you know if she calls them see if they do this so cute little thing with their fingers and it’s really cute but what happens is is that you know few spoilers up ahead is there’s some crazy stuff that happens. He gets told by his friend Melanie to stay up late at night to see what his babysitters doing because maybe she’s smashing somebody maybe she’s fucking somebody maybe they’re having an orgy And so like he’s like what’s an orgy he’s a very innocent kid and so what happens. Is that you know he stays up and he watches his babysitter and you know that they’re kind of doing regular teenage things or spinning a bottle and they’re playing truth or dare and you know the babysitter gets dared to kiss everybody in the group which is John, Max, Allison, Sonia, and John and so what happens is you know she kisses them all Allison she had she had a most sexual kiss with which makes sense for Allison being the most hottest girl in the group and Sonya kind of looks like an IMO girl and she looks pretty punk rock and we kind of figure out that out in the second movie and stuff like that and so it’s so cool to me and then the last guy name Samuel who’s a nerd that she’s been trying to you know get together with an invited she kisses him then she stops kissing him and starts stabbing him in the fucking brains. I was surprised he wasn’t dead yet like damn motherfucker was literally like his brain was stabbed. He wasn’t dead until they squeezed all of the blood out of him like how how does that work, I did I expect a lot thanks. They put it in a cup. They had like all that stuff and what they were meant to do was get the blood of a sacrifice in the blood of an innocent for a devil worshiper thing and I’m not going to really continue that much because the rest of it is colons and passing out because they try to get to the blood of an innocent which is Cole, Cole is a very innocent kid. He doesn’t know what an orgy is. He’s not a pervert, he doesn’t know anything And you know he called the police because he told his bullshit right he saw this guy getting killed and shit like that and so what happened was he ended up calling the police the police came and he was already to kind of tied up they found out that he was like watching them and they were kind of gonna let him go free they were just gonna take his blood drinking and then they were just gonna leave right there being really sweet towards him until you know they saw the police and they didn’t want to go to jail and they also their soul to the fucking devil, and the rest of them just kind of trying to kill colon losing it and about dying The second movie and it just starts up with everyone thinking that Cole is crazy. Jenna Ortega is in it that’s so fucking interesting to me because how they how Jenna Ortega ends up literally being in the most craziest as series and I’m going to say this, as a very unpopular opinion This like this is one of those craziest things out of the scream series, and I hated that that series OK I hated it you know the old movies they’re great, but like the new ones like the ones from this year and the ones from about last year weren’t really speaking to me and Chyna was like I don’t like it. I don’t like it in the fact that they might be coming out with a scream. Seven makes me like him, but I’m not talking about you know the scream series. I’m talking about the babysitter, duo series and later on, I will be with my cousin, and I’ll be watching a lot of more horror movies because I’ve been really wanting to get into horror recently and be a critic to that my most craziest movies I’ve ever watch number one would kind of be the babysitter, cause I kind of enjoyed it, but I also in a little bit didn’t and then the second one would be men and third one would probably be pearl

I cannot continue due to too long of paragraphs



People assign genres to things like I actually fucking care

Exploring Different Genres of Literature: Finding Your Writing Niche

Literature offers a vast array of genres, each with its own unique characteristics and readership. As a writer, finding your writing niche is crucial for developing your voice, understanding your audience, and creating stories that resonate. In this article, we will explore various genres of literature and provide guidance on how to discover your writing niche. Understand Genre…

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NaNoWriMo

So, I am going to attempt to do the challenge and stick to it (but am not confident enough to enroll in the challenge). However, I have like ten WIPs that I am working on, along with some new ideas I want to try in a different genre. This begs the question of what should I focus on? And the question is, can I only focus on one project?

The second question I can answer now. Nope. Focus has a different meaning in my mind.

Should I just count all the words I write between my various projects, then? But then, this presents a problem. I write a lot on my phone under a Notebook app, which does not have a word count feature. I guess I will just count the words I do on my computer.

Well, I have two days to figure it out.

So, all my writers, what you are planning on doing?

fanfic is so good bc the premise of some genres of fic are just inherently funny. I want these two grizzled crime drama protagonists to have some fucking fun for once, so they go to a water park. I dont care how i have to logic my way into them going there i dont care who has to drag them Theyre Going

Dr Who is apparently a cartoonish urban fantasy wearing a sci-fi facade, unlike Star Trek. 🤣

desperately craving weird surrealist arthurania. Knights with no faces wandering through the mists. Seams between Christian and pre-Christian Britain gaping like open wounds. Beafts and visions. Maybe a monk. Maybe the monk is gay

Hi there! Its Week 1 of the Sunday Writeblr Ask-A-Thon! I'm Athena, my question for you is: Think of the genres you write, what drew you you to them? What do you love about them?

Hey! I haven't been great on answering these so expect several posts today 💕

So I write predominantly Scifi, Horror, and Fantasy. No published scifi yet, but I've published a few horror, with a fantasy short to come this year!

I was drawn to scifi initially out of my love for Star Wars actually. It was a natural leap, and I already loved most dystopia style worlds. I adore the vast universes and robots. Love me some robots.

As for horror, it's the psychological aspect. Tokyo Ghoul was a big influence for this for me. I don't like jumpscares or horror liek that but I love psychological horror, delving into small twisted that make the reader feel like those little twisted thoughts are lurking right there.

And fantasy is an odd one. I don't enjoy reading much fantasy. No Harry Potter, no Six of Crows, I find the genre difficult, but I did love the vast worldbuikding and dnd-like aspect of building my own fantasy world. So I do enjoy fantasy to an extent, but I mostly love the beautiful languages it let's me create.