Happy 26th Birthday Harry Potter

[pbray]

Of course in JK Rowling's world it's still 1997, and we're waiting for book seven when Harry will turn 17.

As writers we can take note of what happens when you put specific dates in your books. When JK Rowling started writing in 1990, the dates she used were contemporary. By the time the first book was published in 1997, it referred to Harry being 11, which would place the events in 1991.

Fortunately the time gap isn't a big deal, since the majority of the action takes place in the magical world, and thus there's no need to account for the differences between 1997 and 2007. But if this were a conventional series such date specificity could be a problem.

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

Although writing in the generic now can get one in trouble, too--I still remember a book where the heroine gets attacked by the bad guys as she's looking for a pay phone--and within a couple years of the writing, cell phones were common enough that someone in a high-risk job like hers would have had one as a matter of course.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yup. Or how many old books/suspense movies made a point of the villain cutting the telephone lines to the house so no one could call for help? I remember this in an old Dick Francis mystery.

One of the things I liked about Dick Francis's books is that they were always contemporary--if you got one of his books in the 60s, it had 60s technology, if it was written in the 80s or 90s, ditto. The older ones actually wear better, it's the ones that are just a few years out of date that are jarring, as you mentioned with the cell phones.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

This is why I stick to writing Fantasy set in past, imaginary worlds. ;)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Even when I was writing Regency romances I was very careful about date references. For most of my books I used general Regency era, rather than specifically stating whether it was 1810 versus 1811, for instance. The more specific you get, the easier it is to be caught in a mistake.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

I'm working on a book that TECHNICALLY takes place in an alternate mid-1800s America, but I'm trying hard to downplay that so I don't have to get into infodumps on, say, why the Civil War isn't going on. I give enough hints to justify it, but the fewer details I can trip up on, the better!

It helps that most of the story takes place in the middle of nowhere.