A story I'm writing now is, among other things, a work of historical fiction. It's also set within my lifetime, because I'm at an age where that's possible.
While there is a market I'm considering, the guidelines don't say anything about setting the story in the past. That's my choice, made for a couple of different reasons. For one thing, the protagonist is a banker. A relatively sympathetic one, out of necessity for me. But the thing is, if it were set today, I'd have to answer questions like "what kind of phone does he use" and "does he use Slack to talk to coworkers" and "what is slack." This way I can limit my research to more fun topics.
Also it's set in New York, a city which seems to have a little more grandeur when you're talking about the seventies. Part of that is because of the movies that have imprinted me, I'm sure.
While there is a market I'm considering, the guidelines don't say anything about setting the story in the past. That's my choice, made for a couple of different reasons. For one thing, the protagonist is a banker. A relatively sympathetic one, out of necessity for me. But the thing is, if it were set today, I'd have to answer questions like "what kind of phone does he use" and "does he use Slack to talk to coworkers" and "what is slack." This way I can limit my research to more fun topics.
Also it's set in New York, a city which seems to have a little more grandeur when you're talking about the seventies. Part of that is because of the movies that have imprinted me, I'm sure.
2 comments:
It's certainly true that banks and other businesses were more straightforward in their practices as late as the 70s. While I don't know what kind of story you have in mind you do have my best wishes that you write something that satisfies you and your potential audience. One thing I do recall is that NYC was on the verge of bankruptcy in the middle of that decade.
There was probably more of an ethic in the finance industry because these were still family firms. But it's too easy to generalize, I think. The banker in this story is fairly good, but everyone around him might not be. I got a decent draft done, although some things may call for rethinking.
It was an eventful time. That's when the big blackouts happened as well. Plus a lot of political ferment.
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