Nothing New to Talk About
As part of the December posting meme, 
cesperanza was talking about trying to be faithful to the time period when writing Steve and Bucky's vocabulary, which reminded me of something that can sometimes bounce me hard out of a fic. Some of my fandoms are old, and if a fic of that time of the characters' lives involves major anachronisms I just lose it. Like in due South. That series ended in the late '90s. If a fic of Fraser and Ray that takes place at that time of their lives involves smartphones, it's too much for me! (And it's such an easy fix too: just say "cellphone." As long as they're not surfing the 'net with it or using apps, I'm fine with that.)
It bothers me enough that it's something I try to be careful of in my own fic. I deliberately made "Glass Houses" somewhat timeless so it's not anchored to a specific year, more late '90s - early 2000s-ish, but there are some modern/contemporary things that just won't show up in it or I lightly gloss over some things. I actually sometimes enjoy writing an older Schwarz dealing with new technology at what would be their current ages, but if I'm doing that they're not in their teens or twenties anymore. In writing the Pike and Benny Stash series during the late '90s, I was careful to mention music in-text that was available in 1992, which was when the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie came out.
When The X-Files in the 1990s had an episode that took place years earlier, I got such of kick out of seeing Mulder using this big brick of a cellphone, so this is a longstanding thing with me.
Reading-wise, am I alone in this?
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
comments at Dreamwidth.
cesperanza was talking about trying to be faithful to the time period when writing Steve and Bucky's vocabulary, which reminded me of something that can sometimes bounce me hard out of a fic. Some of my fandoms are old, and if a fic of that time of the characters' lives involves major anachronisms I just lose it. Like in due South. That series ended in the late '90s. If a fic of Fraser and Ray that takes place at that time of their lives involves smartphones, it's too much for me! (And it's such an easy fix too: just say "cellphone." As long as they're not surfing the 'net with it or using apps, I'm fine with that.)
It bothers me enough that it's something I try to be careful of in my own fic. I deliberately made "Glass Houses" somewhat timeless so it's not anchored to a specific year, more late '90s - early 2000s-ish, but there are some modern/contemporary things that just won't show up in it or I lightly gloss over some things. I actually sometimes enjoy writing an older Schwarz dealing with new technology at what would be their current ages, but if I'm doing that they're not in their teens or twenties anymore. In writing the Pike and Benny Stash series during the late '90s, I was careful to mention music in-text that was available in 1992, which was when the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie came out.
When The X-Files in the 1990s had an episode that took place years earlier, I got such of kick out of seeing Mulder using this big brick of a cellphone, so this is a longstanding thing with me.
Reading-wise, am I alone in this?
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
comments at Dreamwidth.