Hi All, I came up with a plot a few years ago which had relevance to what was going on in the world at the time but, as always, I didn't do anything with it. What do you do with such plots. If i was to write it now, and make it happen a few years in the past, is that ok, or is it a case people will not be as interested because its not a what if. It's possible I could set it a few years in the future and create a what if, but then I have to create a whole plot of how a situation came about, or I could just say x has happened and leave the details out. I tend to over think things and worry to much about what others will think and put that up and an obstacle not to start. I need to start breaking these barriers down. Id like to discuss it with people who have been writing as trying to do it with people who have not gets me nowhere really. " they just don't understand "
I never really write about things that are set in this world and its events myself, but I think setting it a few years in the past would be just fine. It can still be a "What if?" even if we already know that's not what happened. Plenty of people have written books like that for WWII, despite the fact that we all know who won. It doesn't make reading about the other possibilities any less interesting. In fact, in my opinion, it makes them more interesting than ever. It's like opening a door onto a hidden path that destiny never chose to take and knowing you have discovered something extraordinary, rather than walking a path that very well may end up true and mundane. I hope that helped.
What do you want to do? Write it if it still interests you - period pieces are a thing. I try not to worry too much over whether other people will like or be interested in what I write, because fiction isn't my day job, and I'm guessing it's not yours either. Nothing's riding on anyone else finding it interesting, so if you still want to write it then go for it, and never mind the rest.
Its not my day job but i would like it to be. I was at the Warhammer Fest last month (for those who know what that is - for those who dont, its an event for fans of anything realated to Games Workshop products and the various universes they have created). They had a couple of seminars with black library writers and one of them mentioned that reading your own work always produces excessive criticism, you have to try and write for your audience, or in their case, your employer. I guess I could do that if I was being employed by someone but at the moment, it feels very much as if you are writing for yoursef and you are your first critic.
I think you should always be writing for yourself first and foremost, no matter the circumstances. Otherwise it may be difficult to feel passionate about your work. If you're not writing something you want to write, how are you supposed to enjoy it? You should always enjoy writing.
If the plot seems out of date, what has changed? How did things pan out differently from what you'd expected at the time? You could still work with your idea, but from the perspective of 'that didn't actually happen ...but this did.' I don't know if you're referring to politics, or some other worldwide event, or something closer to home, so it's not easy to give feedback on such a general topic. But if you feel the topic is 'finished' and you have nothing more to say about it, then fair enough ...dump it. But if it still has relevance (even in hindsight?) Why not?
I had exactly this experience in the late eighties, and began a very descriptive picture of the immediate and long-term aftermath of a nuclear war, from the POV of people in various places in the US, something I was in position to know quite well. Some were close to places like San Diego that were obliterated. Others were in the Midwest and saw the missile trails, felt the ground shudder ever so slightly, but were nowhere near any impacts, until the brown storm clouds from the missile fields to their northwest dumped brown radioactive rain on them. Got quite well into it, though the ten year old redhead who was developing as a major character was too much like my daughter on whom she was modeled. It became too hard to write. A few years later, the wall came down, we all held hands and sang kumbaya, and it seemed that this would never again be a likely scenario. But I kept a paper copy (pre-Word) and "Le plus les temps changent, le plus ces sont les memes choses." Maybe time to dust it off again.
