Hopepunk and Me

Stickers on my laptop are super appropriate to my Zuko-deep soul.

So I am definitely getting to the point if I don’t write a blog, it starts to look silly.

My friend introduced me to a new word a month or so ago. Hopepunk. At first I was like, “Great, another punk genre.” But then I started reading about it. And I realized it’s what my new full-length manuscript is.
 
Hopepunk. The aesthetic of hope.
 
For a writer who spent so much time both feet in the pool of Steampunk, the idea of hope seemed arbitrary. While Steampunk has some hope to it, it’s more about the inevitability of our hubris and how we hold onto humanity after our great follies, et cetera, et cetera.
 
Hopepunk is something new and different. It means you put that optimism right out front and center, and you strive for it.
 
“You wrote hopepunk,” my friend said, about this new book. “You wrote it, and I don’t know how you wrote it in 2017.”
 
My 2017 has been something else. From pneumonia to political terror to personal tragedy, it’s been a hell of a ride. But like one of my characters says, “What’s being angry gonna do? If I’m anything but angry, then I can keep pushing toward something. I can make this into something.”
 
And honestly, I think Hopepunk is what I’ve always written. “Marley and Marley” dropped this week, and even when things suck and are super dark … well, you just have to read it. I don’t want to spoil it.
 
I don’t know how any of this is going to end. I just know I have to keep going. I have to keep trying to believe that at some point, things are going to get better.

(Note: The adorable Hopepunk logo was made by "ariaste" and you can buy their merch on redbubble by clicking here . For more information about the Hopepunk movement, which I believe ariaste started (?) click here . )

UPDATE AND NOTE: Alexandra Rowland is the inventor of the word Hopepunk. She has a new book coming out from Saga Press this year.