Do you ever come up with a plot and characters.... But cant decide where (or when) to place it? Long story short: a writer for a famous magazine meets a dishwasher writing lyrics for a band of geriatric musicians who meet up once a week in their nursing home's rec room to play. The dishwasher wants to help them produce a record because it was something his grandfather always wanted but wasnt good enough. The writer takes interest in them and wants to write a story about them. Part of me wants to set it back in the 60s... It would make sense for my old characters(pro), but limiting for my young characters (con). It also makes for realistic conflicts and challenges If i set it in the present, i could make her a blogger. It could also present realistic challenges as the old people dont know enough about technology. A con would be, in the age of cellphone video, someone could easily video record a nursing home band and get it to go viral... Then thered be no story... How the heck do i have everything BUT the setting!
Not sure why setting it in the 60's is limiting for your younger characters. Is there a specific reason? Things were different, but the same in many ways. A more contemporary setting won't work for the reasons you've identified.
Limiting in the sense that i had this idea of the woman going to a cafe with her laptop and when the guy says he's writing lyrics i wanted her to lookdown on him like she thought he was one of those people trying to be "insta-famous" (seems like everyone these days either makes beats or raps to put on tiktok and instagram). And she also tried to look him up to see if this "band" really exists I cant think of a quip for that kind of thing for the 60s. And i was born in the age of google. I cant make her google him Limiting for ME, I guess....
She could instead tell him she knows all the local bands and is going to ask around. Not as immediate, but there were (slower) parallels to most things we can do today. It just took a lot more work and effort and time (yes... work AND effort. Um... ). And often involved going to one of those places like the one where you work. Those were the Google of the time. Plus calling Information (dialing 411) and really knowing how to use a phone book. Maybe there were some kind of Band Directories or something? No idea.
To stay contemporary, you could add a detail to the quest, such as a live performance or a particularly nostalgic reason for vinyl recording or using the studio that was frequented by the old guys' heroes? Something that can't be solved by pointing a phone at a performance.
I specifically set all of my non-SF in an age without cellphones or Internet to avoid all those technological pratfalls. There's so much more depth and urgency to a situation where the character can't be bailed out by googling the answer to a problem or having access to instant communication to bail them out of a conflict. Think about a simple car chase. How does the victim get lost if they have GPS or be unable to call the cops if they have a phone? Sure the phone could be dead or lost, but then you have to write disclaimers all over the place to explain one of the most classic story telling devices. Sure, a younger audience would be like, oh, god, they lost their phone? The stakes couldn't be any higher! But fuck all that.
Same, but I don't really do sci-fi anymore, so it's just everything I write. It's mostly set in a sort of vague blending of everything from the late 60's through the early 80's. Or something even more improbable if I'm feeling postmodernist.
It offers a lot of wiggle room. I was trying to research very specific things that existed in 1979 and finding it almost impossible, until it hit me to go the vague route.
One thing I miss about older settings is some of the actions I'm familiar with but are kinda obsolete -- like ending a phone call by slamming the receiver down. I nearly wrote this action into my wip before forgetting - duh, my characters on a cell phone. Yes. My first book straddled a nameless decade. Your idea sounds interesting. Depends on your angle. Or maybe what theme you want to touch on. Fame has so many nasty angles to it nowadays that it could be interesting to contrast it with the older generation who just want to share music and aren't used to likes and dislikes and memes and trolls.
I see no problem with setting it in the 60s. Bands used to jam all the time in the 60s -- the Beatles had some jam session tapes leaked, IIRC, and then there were the famous Bob Dylan "basement tapes": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Basement_Tapes Your female MC might think the dishwasher guy is writing (or hoping to write) for some local band that's playing at local clubs, and the story might revolve around her gradually figuring out that the band is actually a group of geriatrics jamming in the recreation room at the old folks' home. Maybe she develops an interest, and gets involved by providing them with some basic recording gear. Back then, Radio Shack (are you old enough to even remember Radio Shack? "You've got questions -- we've got answers") used to sell microphones, tape recorders, and mixers that weren't exactly professional quality, but were good enough for a fledgling group trying to get started. I have some of that gear in a box in may basement, complete with the boxes. If you want specifics, I can get you model numbers and send you pics of what the mixer looks like.
I think it's a mistake to assume that 'geriatrics' don't understand technology. I've spent the past year and a half attending online musical events and watching extremely competent videos put up by older generation musicians ...yes, many from the 60s ...who certainly know their stuff. Enough to put together videos of jam sessions between themselves and either three or four versions of themselves playing different instruments on the same track, OR collaborative efforts with them playing a session with several other musicians. They have smartphones, recording equipment, play all sorts of instruments, and are still being creative. Most of these people I watched are playing traditional music. But I can't imagine that the 'rock' musicians and/or pop musicians from different eras aren't also doing the same thing. The thing is, modern tech offers much easier ways to record professional-sounding tracks. Lots of folk have kept up with that. If it makes it easier for you, why not set the story in the modern day? These guys here aren't terribly old, but they're in their 60s, and in one case early 70s. And this homemade video compilation is not only technically pretty good, it's fun as well. Duncan put this up earlier this year. Caution: EARWORM ALERT!
Not geriatrics in general. My geriatric characters I do a lot of work in outreach to nursing homes. Providing books, helping set up kindles and ipads for ebooks, downloading apps, walking them through what apps are and how they work over the phone, etc. My geriatric characters would be based on them. Not the whole population. We have tons of older patrons who come in nd know their stuff and get along without assistance. If i set my story in the present, i wanted technology as a barrier to provide conflict. Otherwise, they wouldnt need the dishwasher and he wouldnt need the writer, and the whole thing falls apart
I actually really like this. Instead of a quick quip on her part, she just assumes hes writing for someone more known. Adds for tension later
