New Cyberpunk Poll #2 (Patreon)

Hi, everyone! I loved watching the responses to the 1st poll roll in. It's so heartening to get so much feedback and to hear that many of you are eager to try whatever I'm excited to write. I'll say this: it does make a difference for an author to be writing what they want to write. Chapters really fly out of my fingers when I'm having fun! :)

That said, I did a lot of thinking while I watched the poll and read the comments, and I think I'm going to alter my plans just a little: I'll start the story with one "main" MC whose POV is represented about 5:1 compared to the "secondary" MC. I say I'll start that way because I'm hoping that people are going to grow to love both MCs and that, eventually, it'll move closer to a 2:1 or even 1:1 ratio. Definitely not a requirement for me to have fun, though, so if people aren't clamoring for more from MC #2, then I'll probably avoid forcing the issue.

Now, on to Poll #2:

Over the last month or so, I've done a lot of brainstorming, and one thing that I've come to realize is that there are a lot of little things I want to change about the setting that would make it a total ret-con of way too many aspects of Cyber Dreams. That said, I think I'm going to write Neon Dust in a new cyberpunk setting. It'll have some similarities, but certain key differences will be in place:

"The AI War" is still part of the setting's history, but it was resolved differently.

Humanity is only just beginning to expand into the Sol System.

There will be a bigger divide between the working poor and corpo-elite.

"local nets" are a much bigger thing - satellite coverage, instant access to wide-area networks, and connections to knowledge bases will be expensive, rare, and only available to people and corps with the right connections.

Corpo-sec is just that - corporate security. If a criminal is doing something that doesn't impact Company A's bottom line, the corpo-sec for Company A isn't going to intervene. Local police might exist, but they're going to be horrifically underfunded, likely relying on donations or a tiny sliver of the jurisdiction's tax base. This ties into the greater divide between poor and corpo-elite; the people living outside the megastructures will be largely left to fend for themselves as they try to live in the shadows of the all-powerful megacorps. That goes for the small-time corps, too. Not every corp can afford a security force.

I could probably make bullet points all day. The punchline is that I want to really refine my cyberpunk aesthetic, and I want to do it without impacting what's already set in stone in my Cyber Dreams universe.

So what's this poll about?

I've had a really fun time brainstorming how to make this story more "progression" and hopefully catch the interest of a lot more readers. I came up with an idea (which I'm sure isn't original) that would add some lore for a certain kind of energy source that could be utilized by people. More importantly, there are grades of energy purity for the source and grades of equipment to gather, store, and use it, meaning that if someone were able to "rank up," all sorts of new options for tech would open up for them.

One of the cool ideas I have involves what happens to people who don't have a certain piece of tech that lets them "handle" the energy - think mutations of all sorts (usually bad, but sometimes positive.) I'm being purposefully vague here, but I have some pretty fleshed-out ideas that I think will make for a fun blend of cyberpunk and progression fantasy. I have a fun idea about the source of the energy (it has to do with the AI war), and I have a fun idea for how it will impact the story I want to tell, but I also know that many of my readers are more cyberpunk purists - I just don't know how many, hence today's poll.

Now, a few caveats:

I think Cyber Dreams was successful because of the characters. I know the plots were fun, with lots of tension, etc., but I think the characters are what made it special. Neon Dust will be character-focused.

Neon Dust will move slower, with local stakes and meaningful dialogue, yet there will be a bigger background motivation for both of the MCs.

Whether we go with a kind of "supernatural" element or not, the story isn't going to change much. It'll just be a fun way to gauge the strength of augments and individuals and maybe make my life easier when I explain why So-and-so isn't to be messed with.

So, here's the poll question: Do you want any "supernatural" or "mysterious energy tech" element in your cyberpunk?

If you feel passionately about this, please comment!

EDIT: I'm gonna work on a sample to give people an idea of what I mean. Look for it in the next day or two. :)