Be Careful Using Current Events In Your Novels

 A common thing we see a lot in submissions are authors using the latest things that are happening around them in their novels. These are items that are on the authors' minds when they are writing so it is only obvious those fragments of time work into the story lines. Other authors see this as a way to make a story relevant to that time. They feel this is a great way to "ride a wave" of a certain trend. While this certainly does sound like a great idea, the problem is that the story often now becomes "dated." When that trend is over, the novel loses steam. I would also add that sometimes, those elements around us are things maybe we don't want to read about. Let's look at a couple of examples.

I remember in the early 2000's the push for reality competitive tv shows was big. OK, these are still going

now, but at that time, those watching really felt that this was "real" and not the scripted stories we see with things such as The Bachelor. When those shows hit, we saw a wave of romance and women's fiction novels flooding our inboxes. Everyone thought their story was unique (see the prior post on unique stories). We had romances around cooking shows, dating shows, survivor shows and even some around dogs and cats. Not only did these stories show a lack of being unique, the stories also were a bit flat and could go no where. Why? We had already seen the stories play out on tv. We knew how things would work out for the characters. 

But there is another twist to this. The stories lack a "newness." The easiest way to think about this is to tell your kids about something "really great" from your life. They will laugh. While the idea was great for you THEN, it is not a great idea NOW.

A second factor of adding those elements is that maybe we want a little escape. As I write this, all of the news stations note that we have three major issues facing us today: Covid-19, Economic Hardships, Race Relations. Are these important? Sure. Do we want to address these issues and not hide the issues away? YES! But, when it comes to a lot of fiction writing, especially in the areas of romance and women's fiction, the escapism element is big. We just dealt with all of this during the day. Do we really want to read more about that at the end of the day? 

My wife and I have seen that our pastor has seemed to forget this in the last couple of weeks in his sermons. Each Sunday, we tune in for inspiration, and are bombarded again by more depressing thoughts and ideas. Again, he knows that people are facing this and may want to know some ways to deal with the issues; however, some need a "breather."

To sum this up, just think! If you are putting something in the story just because it is happening today, it might not be a great approach. If the story "truly" needs it, then use it. Just remember, that there may be consequences down the line.