Revisiting old stories can be exciting and a little frustrating. Sometimes you're looking at what you wrote ten years ago and wonder who wrote this? It couldn't have been me! It most certainly was and now it's time to dust it off and start over.
So what makes you want to start over? For me it's the story. It's the actual story that I wanted to tell. The character that won't leave me alone because not everyone has heard their story. I've been thinking about this one particular story since the time I've finished it. I was sad that it never really got made into a movie. I told myself if this doesn't do well in the movie market, I'll try my hand in making it into a novel. So that's what I'm doing now.
But as I'm trying to rewrite this out, I'm adding more descriptions and details that you couldn't put in a screenplay and realizing how out of date this story has become. It was written well over ten years ago. Technology has changed. The way teenagers speak has changed since I was in high school. I realized that I might need to do a little more digging and research... even reach out to my younger cousins to help me out.
But then I thought to myself, what if I kept it at this time period that I wrote it in? Would people even care? I've heard people saying they'd rather read stories that happened pre-pandemic. We don't need to be reminded about what's going on current event wise. Or I could pretend it never happened at all. But do I do the same with other current events?
These are the kind of struggles most authors face today. As we strive to create worlds and stories that take us out of the real world, we also want the content to be believable in the society we live in (if you're writing general fiction). As I buy more and more contemporary fiction works, I've noticed that they're all set pre-pandemic time periods or the pandemic is hardly mentioned. It makes me curious as I dive deeper into my rewrites. What would the story be like if I did set it in 2023? How would it differ from 2013?
But, I decided this time around to set it in 2019 as I know that the "slang" language that I knew was just evolving around that time and I can still create the story I want to tell without having to worry about people getting sick.
I can't wait to share sneak peeks of my novel to you under the membership program. If you haven't heard about it here's the rundown:
For $3/month you get exclusive access to any flash fiction stories I post as well as sneak peeks at chapters, scenes, or pivotal moments in my works in progress. Get an exclusive insight to how my writing progress works AND a new short story to read 1-2 times a month.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi