I got to thinking about time periods in fiction and how certain events, depending on how close to the story line they happen, can be a dead giveaway for when the story takes place. This can be tricky when writing a piece that takes place in the future. For instance George Orwell’s 1984 or Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey – both major works of art in literature, and yet now that we know better they tend to lose a miniscule amount of merit.
It can be even worse if the story takes place in the present, because what might be huge news today, unless it’s a major event, might be a non-issue in the future when your readers are reading it. How about this blast from the past: The L.A. Times announces McDonald’s big news! Read all about it!
My novel takes place in about the present – meaning I don’t really know. In trying to get the days of the week straight with the date, I put it about two years ago, but then again, I’m not sure anyone will really notice but me. But it’s difficult not to put some kind of time frame on a story. My characters obviously won’t be going to a Michael Jackson concert, nor will they be taking the next shuttle to the moon. These kinds of events place my story in the approximate now. They do, however, go to see Aerosmith, unless I write that scene out in the edits. What if, by the time my novel is published Aerosmith stops touring altogether? This will stick my novel in the past, whether I like it or not.
News can also be extremely inspiring, and sometimes it’s tempting to want to write current events into a story. It can even creep in when you’re least expecting it, in my experience anyway. How? Because some point in time everything is news, and there’s someone out there who is bound to remember it AS news, and by that I mean they’re going to remember when it happened.
Unless your story is fantasy–even more so than Lord of the Rings, which was based on World War II–there’s no getting around a time frame in the real world. It’s a tricky thing.
Illustrative fiction is this way –> http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/n-is-for-nexus/
lindaghill.com 
April 18, 2014 at 5:54 pm
Very good point! I’ve been thinking about this, too. In my current project, the protagonist writes letters to her best friend…and I’ve been wondering if I should include the date (year) in the letters or if that would limit its appeal (i.e., make it too “old” too quickly). I’m leaning toward taking out the year — and maybe even all references to the time period (naming movies, etc.). You’re right: it’s tricky!
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April 19, 2014 at 6:08 pm
It’s a tough call, that’s for sure. Best of luck with it!
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April 17, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Maybe a bit off topic Linda, but what about intertextuality?
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April 17, 2014 at 6:33 pm
As in allusion?
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April 17, 2014 at 6:38 pm
Yes, I suppose that would be the subtle version. I am not that literary, but my understanding of using an intertextual reference is more overt. Not hitting the reader (or viewer, such as in film) over the head with it, but somewhere in between. Wish I could think of a good example off the top of my head, but hope this makes sense.
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April 17, 2014 at 6:42 pm
I actually wrote an erotica piece using only food, a while back. You can find it here: http://neverendingstorydepository.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/a-peach-by-any-other-name-erotica-theme/ Is that what you mean?
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April 17, 2014 at 6:48 pm
Loved it…”Peach by any other name”
Yeah, I suppose that is what I mean. There must be many levels of intertextuality. I need to study more on it. I tend to use my version in a lot of my writing. (I should have a talk with my Shakespearean Ex soon–she knows all about this stuff. 😉 )
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April 17, 2014 at 6:53 pm
Thanks, Lance. 🙂 I’m sure there are many levels. I often go for the more subtle approach, unless something calls for the impact of telling it exactly like it is.
Good luck with it in your own writing. 🙂
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April 17, 2014 at 4:17 am
Hi Linda, I’ve given your blog a shout out from my letter O today.
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April 17, 2014 at 7:58 am
Thank you! I’ll come and have look 😀
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April 17, 2014 at 1:37 am
Over the years, I’ve also given this a lot of thought. My conclusion is that emotions are timeless and that readers can relate a novel written in any time period and relate it to their present lives – if the writer is able to lead them in that direction. And that’s one of the difficult parts of being a writer 😦
Ellespeth
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April 17, 2014 at 6:21 pm
I find that unless I really get into my characters and almost live their lives, it just doesn’t come across. I’m convinced there’s a certain amount of acting that has to go on in a writer’s head. Thanks for the comment, Ellespeth. 🙂
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April 16, 2014 at 5:57 pm
Interesting thought. It never occurred to me to put “newsy” elements in a story. Many authors refer to popular fiction though ie “Shrlock” and I can’t think of the others. TV does it all the time referring to stuff that I’m sure the younger viewers don’t get.
When I wrote the short story it started on a specific date then I made it known how much time had elapsed in each chapter.
The same for the “novel”
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April 16, 2014 at 6:51 pm
True! They do do it on TV a lot. When you say you start on a specific date, is the year in there as well?
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April 16, 2014 at 1:43 pm
But the idea is to write it in such a way that it’s still relevant years from now. Shakespeare wrote stories about his time. We still love it today, finding his themes eternal, using both the original and rewriting it so we can more easily relate. Though…I didn’t realize Aerosmith still toured.
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April 16, 2014 at 6:47 pm
True, the themes are eternal, even in today’s literature. It’s the details that cause all the problems.
Aerosmith is coming to Canada this July. 🙂
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April 17, 2014 at 3:43 pm
I concur Paul, but for me the best of Shakespeare lies in his characters. Who could exist in just about any time and still be valid, as I probably don’t have to tell you, but many Shakespearean plays are adapted for different times than the times he was writing about.
Great comment.
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April 16, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Sometimes it’s tricky, that’s why too precise elments are discouraged during workshops! But keep going!
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April 16, 2014 at 6:38 pm
Thanks, Franny! 🙂
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April 16, 2014 at 12:39 pm
Tolkien was emphatic that the Lord of the Rings was NOT based on his war experience in WW1 though from the reader’s perspective it does seem as though some stuff must have crept in.
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April 16, 2014 at 6:37 pm
It seems to be the general consensus, in fact. I guess no one believed him. 😛
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April 16, 2014 at 6:52 pm
He would get really indignant about that, actually. I can kind of see his point. Turning the LOTR narrative into some kind of allegory cheapens it. And he didn’t want to ugliness or stupidity of the war to enter into it. I do think the writing probably was a way he worked out his emotions about the experience though. I attended a talk by one Tolkien scholar who noted that a lot of veterans tend to avoid talking about their experiences but there seems to be a kind of sweet spot between 10-20 years when all of sudden they seem to spontaneously begin working through the trauma. In the case of soldiers who were writers there was an interesting surge of publications at just that time following the ‘great’ war.
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April 16, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Very interesting indeed. Personally, when I read about the theory I dismissed it – I didn’t want to start layering what was a beautiful story (which I’ve read from beginning to end about half a dozen times) over top of a war.
Thanks for that info, Debra. Much appreciated. 🙂
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April 16, 2014 at 12:37 pm
I know what you mean but Orwell’s 1984 seems more relevant today than ever. A number is just a number but his ideas were prophetic. I figure the ‘1984’ could be a reckoning not from AD from a different starting point …
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April 16, 2014 at 6:32 pm
There were MANY predictions which came true in that book. I studied it in a Science Fiction class in high school in 1982, so the time was ripe for comparisons. We found most of what Orwell predicted was much like the current state of the Soviet Union at the time. It was pretty interesting.
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April 16, 2014 at 6:39 pm
Yeah people used to talk about how it was very much like the East German Stasi.Today, it is just like the NSA. I wonder what Orwell would say if someone brought here to see just how awful it could get.
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April 16, 2014 at 6:54 pm
I didn’t think about the NSA stuff that’s going on, but you’re right. I haven’t really kept up with it, but from what I’ve heard, it fits.
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