This post was originally published on this site.
It’s probably true that the elder citizens of every society and historical period have whined that the world has changed and things just keep moving faster. It’s certainly true that in the last hundred years, the pace of change has only increased.
So it’s really no surprise that books which were written five or ten or twenty years ago feel a bit quaint when we read them these days.
At the same time, advances in publishing mean that a book can stay on the market forever, rather than making a brief appearance at Barnes & Noble and then sinking into obscurity in the used-book stores, as they did early in my career. And instead of being printed just once, with the text remaining unchangeable unless the publisher started from scratch to create a new edition, we can now update the covers or contents at a whim. Fix a typo? No big deal. Change the appearance of a character? A little more work, but completely doable in a morning. Rewrite the entire story to set it in 2026 instead of 2016, or 2006, or 1996?
A great many authors are doing that. Some are reconstructing their backlist books, which were originally written as stand-alone titles, so they fit into a series. Or updating the technology the characters use. Or adding social media.
I respect those authors for their choices, and I applaud the hard work it takes to re-imagine a book that was originally set ten or twenty or even thirty years ago and make it work in today’s very different world.
I just don’t plan to do that.
Many of my 80 “contemporary” romance novels are creatures of their time. They reflect not only the technology but the attitudes of the era when they were written. As I’ve smoothed them out to republish, I have updated a few things. (Now, when when my character checks in at the airline desk, she’s no longer asked if she’d prefer the smoking or non-smoking section of the airplane.) But I’ve opted not to try to make the books, or the characters, fit into today’s world.
Instead, I’ve accepted the fact that those books reflect an era. They’re vintage romance. They’re classic romance. Or — the term I’ve come to use most often — they’re accidental historicals. That is, they were contemporary when they were written, but as the world has moved on, the stories have become something else entirely — a reflection of an era that’s now gone.
(When you think about it, Jane Austen was writing contemporary romance. It’s only the passage of time that has turned Pride and Prejudice into a historical classic. And though numerous authors have reimagined Elizabeth and Darcy for the modern world, their work honors the original; it’s not a replacement.)
Is my choice the right one? No idea, but I’m certain it’s the best approach for me. If I updated my books to the current times, I’d have no time to write anything new. (Including Snarky Editor posts.) And probably, by the time I finished updating all 80 “contemporary” romances, it would be time to start over again — because the world will have moved on once more.
I’m the last one to criticize the choice that someone else makes. If updating their book feels right, I say go for it.
For myself, I embrace the concept of accidental historical. I’ve even leaned into it, with book descriptions that start off with lines like:
Before WiFi, before thumb drives, before the Internet, there was Toolshop Software….
What do you think? Share your thoughts, your experience, your examples, your questions. Is there a topic you’d like to see addressed?
The Snarky Editor’s Softer Side is represented by author / editor / teacher / writing coach Leigh Michaels, commenting on random topics of interest to writers and readers. Leigh is the award-winning author of more than 100 books. (The Snarky Editor herself mainly comes out to play when she discovers egregious and often hilarious errors in published books.)
To find out more, check out https://leighmichaels.com
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