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Originally Posted by andrewburt
New from ReAnimus Press: FUTUREPROOFING YOUR WRITING by Andrew Burt
How to avoid anachronisms in fiction to keep your prose timeless...
So you're reading along in the Bourne Ultimatum, you're with Jason Bourne on the run, he's caught sneaking out to the car--interrogated by the baddies--and boom, he says, "I'm just driving out on the highway to find a phone, that's all." He what? Doesn't he have a cell phone? While in 1991 there were no cell phones to speak of, today it's awkward for a character not to have one, and this leaves the reader feeling the story is dated. Yet it could have been easily avoided.
Technology changes so fast--and changes life so fast--that if you aren't careful as a writer, your masterpiece could quickly sound dated, and needlessly rob you of readers and sales. Science fiction is even more prone to this problem, when fictional technologies become real--but not in the way described--or, worse, are bypassed and laughably unreal. The good news is that, other than the Major Assumptions of your story, chances are little of your story truly relies on you nailing down specifics about many things that might get outdated. This book presents techniques to "futureproof" your writing, whether set in the distant future or the ever-changing "modern day."
A 50% off coupon in the ReAnimus Press store is available for a limited time (coupon code is on the store page).
Lots more new books from ReAnimus Press - see the list at www.reanimus.com/new |
On your cell phone question, I would assume the character is in the land of no cell service. So that does not sound so outrageous.