Looking for advise on first character.

[Toledo]

Hello everyone.
I am a steampunk newbie who has a first character in mind, but is unsure weather she is steampunk enough. She is a pharmaceutical assistant in a slightly dodgy but far from out of business pharmacy/surgery. She works for a mysterious man who she calls 'The Professor'. He makes all the medicine in the back room, which she is rarely allowed in. When she is, she has to wear goggles. She doesn't like to think why. The pharmacy is full of snakes, floor to ceiling, all looking at her all day long. She shudders to think what they are even for. Other than that, her life contains a couple of steampunk cliches such as strange inventions (with a medical, rather than military theme) and a general steampunk aesthetic of waistcoats, collar pins, frosted glass brown jars all around the shop, and general brass/other generic metal machinery.

Thank you very much for reading my somewhat lengthy post. I would be very happy if you would give your opinion on it and maybe suggest some ways to improve it, especially to make it more steampunk. Thank you.

[qui est in literis]

...steampunk enough.

That right there is your only mistake!  Your character is yours, and  your steampunk is yours, and "steampunk enough" is whatever works for you.

Personally, I quite like the creeper snakes.

Now, if you want to, ah, intensify the character, are you looking for more steam, or more punk?

[Toledo]

That is a good point. I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for. Maybe more steam? There isn't a lot of heavy machinery going on. Maybe that's what's in the mysterious back room? According to her diary, the professor does occasionally build machinery, there are some sketches, but if you put the things she's sketching on the floor, they wouldn't reach up higher than your knee. I like heavy machinery, perhaps I'll throw in some background airships overhead.

Thanks for helping! 

[qui est in literis]

Well, I do imagine a pharmacy might need a big, scary, extremely dodgy steam-powered autoclave.

[Toledo]

Thank you! An autoclave makes much more sense in the scene I just wrote than a sink. I'll put one in the back room.

[CPT_J_Percell]

*Shrugs his hunched wolfen shoulders*
Well my dear, the only thing slightly "Steampunk" about me is this ere Ætheric pistol other then that, I'm just an ordinary lycan that walks around wearing robes.
...
...
...
Okay I am the only wolf that wears robes.
As long as you work in the victorian/wellsian word then you class as "Steampunk"...
ok not even that classes 

[walking stick]

If you haven't named your character yet, send a scramble of the letters of your name stating that you are female to Nephelle's thread. Your Hidden Steampunk Name. She does amazing anagrams. If you want visual inspiration look at Victorian and Edwardian fashions as well as the Playing Dress Up threads. 

Your character develops over time,  Being the sort of steampunk you would like to meet is the best guide I can think of, the only rule is to be splendid to one another. 

[Penny Lovelace]

Don't forget that if you have ideas that don't seem to fit your current character, don't dismiss them. You can have as many characters as you like

...steampunk enough.

That right there is your only mistake!  Your character is yours, and  your steampunk is yours, and "steampunk enough" is whatever works for you.

Exactly this, too!

For some reason, your character description made me think of something I came across earlier whilst looking for Alchemist vials. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fantasy-Glass-Potion-Bottles-Set-of-3-Dragon-Blood-Love-No-9-and-Eye-of-Newt-/301765565261?hash=item4642a11b4d:g:85MAAOSwPYZU77YK

Enjoy  x

[Dr Fidelius]

We're supposed to have characters?

I am myself, but when I go to an event I tend to dress a little fancier than my daily garb.

[Clym Angus]

We're supposed to have characters?

I am myself, but when I go to an event I tend to dress a little fancier than my daily garb.

I am me and always have been. Clym Angus; Lord of Misrule, Head of the House of Misrule. Steel smith, link maker, artist, poet, fighter, animator, audio dramatist, web site format super thief, deliverer of films that most of you have seen, plumber, landscape gardener, bricky and many, many other things.

Don't be someone else, find the well spring from which you flow. Give it a polish and take pride in it. Be you. Because, well you know, you are unique and insanely rare.