Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41585
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41585
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I find myself in a similar position with my novel and it's in the modern age (1995, with a couple quick chapters in 1942 and 2020) and in the past in a time and place that actually existed (even if the story I'm inserting mine into is more mythology than history).

No matter where and when your story takes place, there are going to be countless details you don't include. Every character has a backstory. And a family. Every neighborhood has a history. If I included everything, I'd take longer to write one book than George R.R. Martin takes to write 7.

My method is to research the hell out of it. And take copious notes. I have files on different elements.

For example, a boat figures prominently in my story, but mostly only in a couple chapters. So I researched boats of the time and have an entire Word file filed with quotes, notes, and pictures. I decided my boat would come from particular time and place and that it belonged to one character's grandfather. Then I discovered that this time and place happens to be famous for boats like these, that there was a special bit within this character's ethnic group, and that the wood the boat was likely to be made out of just happens to be the exact type of wood needed for a building project in the past.

Had I decided to barely mention the background and therefore not bother to research it, I never would have figured this out. Now that history is summed up in a single line by the boat owner's son. The type of wood will come in later, but it will be very brief as well.

For other background research, it's not what I mention but what I don't mention. For example, foods available to people of a particular class and group in the past (different from the foods in history works because they focus on what royals ate). What I leave out is just as important as what I put in.

Your behind the scenes setup will inform other parts of your novel. For example, you might decide that southern Florida is underwater but, instead of saying so, you can just mention that a character took the ferry from Havana to Orlando.

You do want a few future technologies mentioned, otherwise the jump to FTL travel is going to be jarring. But most people aren't going to fill their homes with it anyway. My house was built in 1956 and the basics are the same. Some updated appliances. Newer versions of flooring, paint, etc. But it all works about how it did in 1956, only my TV's in color (and thin). My landline is digital and cordless, but I still have a house phone.

Mention what you need to for the story and keep it matter of fact. Some details will be the same as what is possible today. Some will be slightly advanced. A few will be very advanced, like the cars. The balance is in how you focus your attention and also by assuming that old tech (even new versions of it) will stick around for a while. Like my lovely analog clock. Not in a wooden case with a hand winder, but in cheap plastic with batteries. But still a clock.

Original score: 4