Including "current events"

Fizgig · Sep 15, 2014

I'm thinking about setting part of my WIP in West Africa amid the ebola outbreak and I'm curious what you all think about the wisdom of including current events in a novel?

Assuming this novel were to eventually be traditionally published, it would obviously be at least a year, probably two before release and, hopefully, this outbreak will be a distant memory by then.

Think I'm shooting myself in the foot by using that as the backdrop of my novel?

Chris P · Sep 15, 2014

I would recommend setting your book during AN outbreak, and not THIS outbreak unless there is a particular story connected to this outbreak that you want to tell. It doesn't necessarily have to be ebola, either. Disconnecting from a current event can give you more freedom to take the story where you want it it go.

guttersquid · Sep 15, 2014

I see nothing wrong with setting your story in a current event. All current events are tomorrow's history, so what's the harm?

Jamesaritchie · Sep 15, 2014

Using a current event helps anchor a story in time and place. This is a good thing. If a novel is set in a time and place where something serious is happening, and the writer doesn't mention it, it always makes me wonder why, and I feel the writer didn't bother doing enough research.

Buffysquirrel · Sep 15, 2014

The only problem I see with using this specific outbreak is your novel diverging from the outcome, which is unknowable at this point. But that may not matter much

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Fizgig · Sep 15, 2014

Thanks for the thoughts! I think making it "an" outbreak sounds right.

RedWombat · Sep 15, 2014

Could set you in historical context or date you terribly. It depends on the tone of the book. Techno-thrillers age badly, human drama usually does okay.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 16, 2014

RedWombat said:
Could set you in historical context or date you terribly. It depends on the tone of the book. Techno-thrillers age badly, human drama usually does okay.

Every novel is dated, and even extreme dating doesn't stop anyone from reading the classics. The dating is one of the things readers love most about many of the classics.

I think even well-written techno-thrillers are ageless, if the writer got the technology correct.

quicklime · Sep 16, 2014

you can make it "an" outbreak.

That said, this outbreak will likely be logged in history. not many folks now may know of the 1914 flu pandemic, but it WAS a uniquely bad event, and it would, looking back, make more sense to write of it specifically than to write of "a pandemic, in the early 1900s" imho

Including "current events"

Fizgig

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

guttersquid

I agree with Roxxsmom.

Jamesaritchie

Buffysquirrel

Fizgig

RedWombat

Runs With Scissors

Jamesaritchie

quicklime

all out of fucks to give