So a few chapters in my novel are set in 1990s-the early 2000, and they are set in my hometown. The main character is studying in college at that time (making her around 37 right now). The main concern I have is, while my sisters are almost the same generation as the protagonist (33 this year), I was too young back then to remember all the unique features of college life in the 90's, and even so, I can't verify them online because life in Pakistan is not as lucidly documented as, say, life in USA. My only resources are possible people who are in middle age right now around me, and some of my own recollections. Is that a good bet to go on? I don't need to or expect to mirror the stereotypical college girl's life (she's a very distinctive person), but I want it to be believable.
Maybe just contact some people who are willing to visit at a café or something and reminisce. If you're in a group it might help one another to jog each others memories. Or if you've got access to college newspapers archived, maybe go over them.
Well if you haven't been to college it's kind of hard to explain. The biggest thing about college at that time (at least at CU where my brother attended) were computers, being able to network computers, playing games on networked computers, hacking with computers, and playing hacked games on networked computers.
I am going to college right now, but life is much different now than before. As for the computers...good point. I missed that. The IT boom had just begun in the 90's, I remember, that's why my sister insisted on doing a BBIT. Hmm. I guess I could ask my professors. And college newspapers...eek. I am going to hate myself. But our college has archives dating back to the 1860s, so I should be in luck.
It was really more in the late 80s that BB were in use. Bulletin Boards on college campuses were a huge part of the gaming/hacking community, and on them you could find passwords to servers with games, ip addresses to networks with games, and occasionally share ware games on cheap floppy disks. Actually that's a good point. Depending on exactly when the story takes place either everyone is using floppy disks and only the very wealthy are using CDs. Or everyone is using CDs and talking about how much storage they have.
Probably abroad, but until recently all the technology that came to the developed world was staggered in its arrival in developing countries. For instance, privately owned black-and-white TV sets weren't available in households until the 1960s in Pakistan, the first cell phones for widespread usage weren't around until the late 1990s. My sister took a Nokia to college in 2002, and she was the only girl on the entire campus with a cell phone. Now, thanks to the internet, we get to know things quicker, and so technology reaches us quicker. Anyway, thanks for the tip. I might need it somewhere in the story.
