Time after time

[blamebrampton]

Before I embark on today's chatter, anyone who has an interest in next-generation HP fic should go and read Cal's post here. It's a brilliant new plan that should be supported! And I'm not telling you about it, go and read!

Now onto a little thinky bit. It's not a rant, more a tip. I've been going back over some of the AS/S fest stories I missed, slowly slowly. And something that's occurred to me is that pretty much all of my  favourite stories  had a real sense of time to them. 

The Epilogue to DH is set in 2017. That's eight years in the future. Eight years does not sound like a ong time, but it is. Think about what life was like in 2000: I bet most of you had never heard of Osama bin Laden, the iPod was still on the drawing board, Windows 2000 was cutting-edge and Hillary Clinton was having a year of political successes. Eight years from now, things will have changed just as much.

Now it can be hard to play speculation, believe me that I know this to be true! So I understand why some people choose not to go there. But for stories set in classic HP era, or even Marauders era, why do some people not think back 10 or 20 years to what life was like, what people wore, and how people spoke?

Note that it's some. There are people out there who do an amazing job of researching or remembering their eras. For the rest, the internet is your friend. Vintage television series are easily come by (takes a brief mental pause for visions of a wave of Professionals-inspired H/D, decides that would be quite funny, moves on), and everyone has novels from the 1990s, '80s and '70s on their bookshelves.  Embrace them.

And, there's no gentle way to say this, try and research what was happening in Britain at the time. It's not what was happening in America. Well, except for the fact that Reagan and Thatcher were both making us all very nervous indeed.

Comments

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

You see, I avoid this by writing flangsty "relationship-driven" stories that involve zero politics and very little of the muggle world in general - Hogwarts and secluded cottages are all I need! lol

Honestly though, I kind of feel like people who know their shit because 1) they were there or 2) have researched it like a mofo can get away with time-specific details (and yes, I'm in agreement on Snatched being a good example of well thought-out future extrapolation technology - just rearranged those words until they make sense, please) but the rest of us should just try to be vague so as not to distract people with our inappropriate details.

For me, a big example of this is clothing. Unless you're really trying to say something of significance, then I don't need to know what the boys are wearing. I mean sure, if it's a scene where they are *noticing* each other but otherwise, leave it up to me. Even when I describe clothes, I try to do it very generally because each of us has our own vision of things. Then you add the timeline issues - because really, will Scorpius be wearing a shirt that says "princess" in glitter in 2025? - and it goes from distracting to just plain annoying.

I have to confess though that one of the time/culture slip-ups I really struggle with is "whatever" - it's just so beautifully dismissive and adolescent and no matter how many times I try to sub in something else, it just doesn't capture it. Now, I could probably make a case for the next-gen kids using it but Harry and Draco? No. And yet, I can't seem to stop myself... *shrugs*

Also, thanks for the nod over to Calanthe's next-gen project - looks awesome!!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Vague is fine, although it limits the scope of the story somewhat. This can also be fine, especially when it is a personality driven story as yours tend to be, but it doesn't work so well for plot driven ones. However I MUCH prefer vague to retrospective anachronisms, where whatevers and so on appear in the 1970s!