Lately, my characters want to make disparaging comments on the state of their 401Ks, the economy in general, and rising gas prices.
I tell my characters to put a sock in it. If I mention the economy in the manuscript, there’s no promise that the crisis will still be happening at the May 2010 publication date. (Wouldn’t it be great if it wasn’t?)
And the crisis should definitely be over in a couple of years. So I could really date my book by mentioning current events.
I’m also careful to make only vague references to the type of technology my characters are using. While it’s fine to say my character is on the computer, I don’t want them to say they’re on Facebook or Twittering. Who knows what the cool social media application will be in five years?
Sometimes I’ll discover a new author and will check out their first book from the library. While I still enjoy books that make references to new-fangled VCRs and 8-tracks, it does pull me out of the novel for a few minutes.
With any luck, people will still be reading my books in libraries for years to come—I just want to make sure readers aren’t getting a blast from the past when they do.
Yes, gadgetry is a challenge. We don’t want to fall victim to the anachronism error, though that’s a fun one to find. Doesn’t a clock strike the hour in Julius Caesar?
A fear I have is not getting the technological description correct. If I go into too much detail about a particular widget, I’m just asking for trouble. So, yeah, I’m a vague reference guy. (I’m such a coward.)
Best Regards, Galen
GalenKindley.com
I find this especially amusing in old science fiction where they are talking about modern stuff. I read Ender’s Game to my son recently and it was such a trip how in 1981 he got so much right and so much wrong all at the same time.
It is true though, we should be less specific. My novel has a Facebook reference by a teen, and I should perhaps consider editing…
A great point! I know that children’s books with outdated technology mentioned are more likely to become obsolete than those that mention little, if any, current events/technology. Unless it’s historical fiction…then it’s totally allowed. I’m off to scan my manuscript!
Good point. Unless you are writing trendy YA, if you want a novel to have any chance at attaining to a classic or have any kind of staying power in the market over time, you have to be careful about too much references to specific technologies.
The Old Silly From Free Spirit Blog
This is such a good point. At the same time, if we avoid too much technology, world events, or weather, there’s no sense of time or place in the story. It’s definitely something to think about as we write.