I'm writing a story set in a Steampunk Victorian London in an alternate Timeline to our own. I'm wondering how accurate to our own Timeline I should try to make it, but how accurate can you make it when the Victorians have Laser Guns?
Steampunk is basicaly a sub genre of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. It is basicaly what the future would look like, if it had happened sooner. Google imaging 'Steampunk' should give you a basic idea.
Exactly. Especially since steampunk is already kind of, well, fantastical, anyways, you probably can't get things to be too accurate. With such varying degrees of technology, that undoubtedly has many big effects on other areas, such as economics or politics, so the world timeline and the development of various cultures due to these changes would probably be different than that of our own anyways.
I think it would be nice to keep a little similarity to the real world. Like the abolishing of using Children as Chimney Sweeps, for example. Having it set in an alternate timeline is pretty good to say 'SCREW REALITY' but it's nice to keep some consitency. I might even write up a timeline for my Universe, add in some historic events and my own character's events.
It should still feel familiar. However, once you change timelines, the chance of a specific person being born should go down. Try coming up with a different direction; take a time period and remove a resource instead of adapting technology to an anachronism and messing with the social changes. Like, take the 1950's and imagine that gasoline never really caught on.
It depends on why you want it to parallel a real society/time period in the first place. Writers construct a setting for what it gives the story.
Having an Alternate Timeline is just a way of me being able to give my characters machines that if it were not alternate, wouldn't be possible. The whole plot focuses on Tech and machines which are more advanced in the Victorian era.
It don't have to be accurate, but depending on the style you got to balance "believable" and "rule of cool" in a satisfying manner.
if it's fantasy, the readers will be happy with whatever details you want to include, as long as it's written well and makes sense in re the story you're telling... so 'should' does not enter into it at all, other than it should all make sense to the reader...
