Sunday, September 03, 2006

STELLA CAMERON STRUGGLES WITH THE QUESTION: TO DATE OR NOT TO DATE?

Or, will they still respect her when they know she's a cheap date?

There is a school of writerly thought that insists you never date--other than in obviously historical novels--because dating might bother some readers. Don't mention the price of a double martini in 1999 because in 2008 the price will be more, making the book seem out of date. "Readers want their contemporary stories totally contemporary."

Watch out for fashions. This is another warning. Don't mention hem lengths or "in" colors. And hair, be very, very careful with hairstyles. Think before you use a particular car, or a building that exists now.

I just wrote a car chase across a good part of the country. "They got in a car there, and drove there, by the shortest route, chasing the villain all the way." Hm, seems I could get more out of the sequence by using wellknown highways--with numbers--and cars with makes that form pictures in the readers' minds, and the names of cities as the two drivers race to be first at their destination. But, the roads might change and, gosh, even the name of a town. . .

Deep in one of my favorite Ruth Rendell mysteries, I giggled at the mention of someone in England paying 8/6d for a lipstick. I giggled because I learned pounds, shillings and pence as a child and 8/6d gave me a rough idea of when the book was set. Even though British money is now decimal, that marker from the past was lovely to me and didn't make the book feel dated. In fact it made me think about this subject and the dire warnings I recall.

Seems to me that by avoiding a real background when it enters a story by brushing over details, or never mentioning all those little facts that are special to a year or decade, like music or sayings, we fail to record history as it's made. Think about it. I know we usually avoid researching through fiction but it's still nice to have the sense that we're walking on the streets of New York, San Francisco, or New Orleans and seeing what's actually there, just in case we like a little fact with our fiction.

Just thoughts, Stella

Do you avoid books set ten, twenty, thirty or so years ago in times that don't yet qualify as "historical?"