Editing Neuromancer (section)

== Background ==

=== Author and composition ===
[[File:Uncle_Gibby.jpg|thumb|138x138px|Gibson in 2007 ]]
In 1981, while working as a teaching assistant at his alma mater, the [[University of British Columbia]], Gibson's [[Nebula Award]]-nominated short story "[[Johnny Mnemonic]]" introduced one of ''Neuromancer''{{'s}} main characters, [[Molly Millions|Molly]].{{Sfn|Smith|2014|p=11}} "Johnny Mnemonic" infused elements of crime fiction, like marginalised communities and criminal society, with technology, blurring the boundary of human and machine.{{Sfn|Miller|2016|p=41}} The setting of the Sprawl and the concept of [[cyberspace]] first appeared in [[Omni (magazine)|''Omni'']] the following year in his short story "[[Burning Chrome]]",{{Sfn|Miller|2016|p=4}} and were popularised by ''Neuromancer''.{{Sfn|McFarlane|Murphy|Schmeink|2020|p=1}} Later in 1981, Gibson was commissioned to write a novel by science-fiction editor [[Terry Carr]] for his second series of [[Ace Science Fiction Specials]]; he submitted an outline later that year with the working title ''Jacked In'', eventually renaming it ''Neuromancer''.{{Sfn|Smith|2014|p=12}}{{Efn|This change was at his publisher's suggestion, hoping to avoid the sexual connotation of the phrase "jacking off".{{Sfn|Smith|2014|p=12}}}} Gibson did not understand computing or networking in much detail, primarily wanting the shared vocabulary surrounding the topics.{{Sfn|Cavallaro |2000|p=70}}

The novel underwent considerable revision, with Gibson saying he rewrote the first two-thirds twelve times to ensure there was both stylistic consistency and a "vaguely plausible" plot.{{Sfn|McCaffery|1991|p=271}}  Gibson's sought to eliminate "clunk", contracting his prose to ensure "individual parts carry more weight". He did not write the novel with a concrete outline, or initially know how it would end,{{Sfn|McCaffery|1991|p=272}} writing the novel in "blind animal panic" because he thought it would fail if he did not hold the reader's attention.{{Sfn|Murphy|2024|p=2}} Gibson added the novel's final sentence ("He never saw Molly again.") to prevent himself from writing a sequel.{{Sfn|Gibson|2003}}{{Efn|Molly appears in the ''Sprawl'' trilogy's third entry, ''[[Mona Lisa Overdrive]]'', reporting that Case retired and married.{{Sfn|Murphy|2024|p=9}}}}

=== Inspiration ===
''Neuromancer'' has many literary progenitors. Detective fiction, like the work of [[Raymond Chandler]], is frequently cited as an influence on ''Neuromancer.'' For example, critics note similarities between Gibson's Case and Chandler's [[Philip Marlowe]]: Case is described as a "cowboy" and a "detective" and is involved in a heist;{{Sfn|Nazare|2003|p=386}} Molly, the novel's primary female character, has connections to the "molls" of 1940s [[film noir]].{{Sfn|McCaffery|1991|pp=14–15}} Case's illegal practices, like theft and murder, situate him within a wider tradition of transgressive detectives, like the [[opiate]] addiction of [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[Sherlock Holmes]].{{Sfn|Myers|2001|p=889}} Gibson stated that the [[pulp noir]] core of the novel was key to engaging his readers, and cited the works of [[Dashiell Hammett]] and [[Robert Stone (novelist)|Robert Stone]] as major influences on its style.{{Sfn|Wallace-Wells|2014|p=215}}{{Efn|Robert Stone's work is associated with settings that included great social turbulence, most famously the Vietnam War.{{Sfn|Weber|2015}}}} For dialogue, the author incorporated late 1960s [[Toronto]] drug dealer and [[Motorcycle club|biker]] [[slang]] into the novel.{{Sfn|Whalen|1992|p=86}}

Gibson's prose style—fast-paced, fragmented imagery—resembles the styles of [[William S. Burroughs]] and [[J. G. Ballard]].{{Sfn|Smith|2014|p=12}} Burroughs's ''[[Naked Lunch]]'' (1959) is frequently cited by critics as an influence on ''Neuromancer'',{{Sfn|Wood|1996|p=11}} including by one as its "principal source", as a literary predecessor of Gibson's "cyberspace".{{Sfn|Wood|1996|p=11}} Gibson's conception of cyberspace was compared by [[Samuel R. Delany]] to [[Roger Zelazny]]'s early short stories; Delany and other critics have explored the character of Molly as a development on the cyborg assassin of [[Joanna Russ]]'s ''[[The Female Man]]'' (1975).{{Sfn|Latham|2020|p=8}}{{Sfn|Murphy|2024|pp=10–11}}{{Efn|According to Latham, Delany comments that Gibson appeared "blind to any mention" of discussions on the matter.}}

Visual media likewise impacted the style of ''Neuromancer''. Gibson has repeatedly mentioned the artwork of the 1970s French magazine [[Métal hurlant|''Métal Hurlant'']],{{Sfn|Gibson|De Haven|Jensen|1989}} with critics noting the proto-cyberpunk aesthetic of [[Jean Giraud|Jean "Moebius" Giraud]]'s "The Long Tomorrow" (1976), republished in the American ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]'' magazine in 1977.{{Sfn|Higgins|Iung|2020|p=91}}  [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Escape from New York]]'' (1981) influenced Gibson's approach to world-building, pointing to throwaway lines that suggested much about the film's world and its history beyond the narrative itself.{{Sfn|Smith|2014|p=42}} Upon seeing [[Ridley Scott]]'s ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982), Gibson worried readers would think he had copied the film's "fine visual texture".{{Sfn|Smith|2014|p=42}} Gibson wrote in his introduction to the graphic novel of ''Neuromancer'' that ''Blade Runner'' was not a conscious influence;{{Sfn|Gibson|De Haven|Jensen|1989}} in a later interview, he recounted a lunch with Scott where they both acknowledged a shared debt to Moebius's work in ''Métal Hurlant''.{{Sfn|Murphy|2024|p=16}}