Is there an era you won't touch?

2085. I don't know, I guess that's because that's the day I'll die.

1956, the year I was, um... don't even want to think about it.

Like I said in the other thread, I don't do the sixties.

Middle ages Europe. Not my thing, man.

Middle Ages. Greece and Rome. Pre-Industrial Revolution nineteenth century.

kuwisdelu said:

Middle Ages. Greece and Rome. Pre-Industrial Revolution nineteenth century.

Click to expand...

Greece and Rome no way!

Hmm I think I must revise my previous post. Anything between about the first century AD and the Industrial Revolution (Europe) probably isn't my thing. Course, I say this now and probably the next idea I have will be just PERFECT set in pre-industrial Germany, or something...

Mmm I should also say that I doubt I'll ever write anything historical. I'm a perfectionist and the amount of research I'd have to do before feeling comfortable to do it justice....I'm just not ready for that, yet. It's difficult for me to write about anything I haven't lived (to some extent).

So in a way, anything before the late 90s is a no-no for me, for now.

Ideally, though, I'd love to write something set in the 20's and 30's. If I could do it, I'd probably feel inclined to dabble in some steampunk, too.

None! I love writing period peices. The further in the past the better. I've done a whole bunch of ancient greece stories and would love to write about ancient egypt one day. I have a seven book series planned that begins in 1890 London and ends in 2020 russia. Each book is set in a different time period and location. I find the past fascinating. I've done hours of research on all sorts of things from Victorian fashions to ancient greece house diagrams.

I don't read much historical fiction, but I'm neutral on most time periods. I do have an aversion to the 1920s and 1930s, though.

I'm also reluctant to read anything set in America around the time of the Revolutionary War, but that's because I read too many books set in this time period when I was a kid. (Not because I had any particular draw to the time period, but because there were just so many.)

Anything before Jane Austen's time, with the exception of reading Shakespear.

I already posted this in the other thread, so I'll post it again here: the Victorian era. Ew!

Any era (and place) I don't have a good working knowledge of--which is the vast majority of time and locations. I figure if I'm not interested enough to read about it for fun, I'm not going to be very attracted to writing there.

Carmy said:

For me, 1910 - 1935 is taboo. Won't touch it, won't read about it, watch movies or TV programs set during those years. Don't know why, but it gives me the creeps.

If reincarnation is possible, maybe something bad happened to me then.

Click to expand...

1950s-1995

First off, I really think a moderator needs to inlcude/merge the posts from the other thread into this one. Fasciating stuff all around.

And second, there isn't an era I wouldn't do. People are people. Stories are stories. Drama is drama. It's all grist for the mill.

I can't imagine anyone going "Ew, yuck!" to an era. That sort of reaction just boggles my mind. And at the risk of offending everyone who has repsonded so far, this "Ew, yuck!" thing actually smacks as a form of closed-mindedness --a very selective form of it.

Probably the 1800's. IMO they've been written to death already.
Linnea

I never would've imagined people not wishing to write about a particular era for any other reason than the ones I myself have, but to each their own!

I won't write about the eras I just don't know enough to write about. Don't know if I phrased that grammatically correctly. But you catch my drift. Most eras, I don't know enough about them to write convincingly, so I won't, or else I'll utilize an alternate reality-type fantasy thing (which I'm doing for my current story).

I imagine that if I were to get really jazzed about an idea set in an era I don't know much about, I could just research it until I feel I know enough, though I'm so picky it'd probably still be fantasy or would else have a nice disclaimer! I only write what I'm interested in learning about, so that would be no big problem.

Aside from that though, my only reasons for not touching an era are my own ignorance and lack of interest.

Plot Device said:

First off, I really think a moderator needs to inlcude/merge the posts from the other thread into this one. Fasciating stuff all around.

And second, there isn't an era I wouldn't do. People are people. Stories are stories. Drama is drama. It's all grist for the mill.

I can't imagine anyone going "Ew, yuck!" to an era. That sort of reaction just boggles my mind. And at the risk of offending everyone who has repsonded so far, this "Ew, yuck!" thing actually smacks as a form of closed-mindedness --a very selective form of it.

Click to expand...

I figure there is no way to have a good idea of all times and places. So far I am avoiding China and Russia and South America and the Pacific in general. I have plans for alternative Africas, Frances, Englands, Italies, Levantine Realms, Slovakias, Greeces, USAs and Mexicos and for no time periods earlier than 500 AD usually. It's not that I have anything against earlier times, but you have to stay relatively close to what you know something about as much as you can.

I'll write about whatever era strikes my fancy.

Anything before Blondie broke up. I'm too set in my era and lousy at research, anyway.

Nope, although I've found writing something in a contemporary setting can become a tad depressing.

Bayou Bill

Okay, guys, I generally view history through two lenses: fashion and archtiecture. For now I'm just going to focus on fashion. This way of viewing history is something that got instilled into me very early on from two diverse sources: 1) a sci-fi movie, and 2) a college text book.

First, here's that clip from the 1960 movie The Time Machine which I saw as a kid. It includes the scene with the shop window where the women's fashions on the shop window dummy kept changing over the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhTfsgFfUho&feature=related

Fast-forward to the following two time stamps on that YouTube clip:

2:30
3:10

Both times the clothing thing lasts for less than 10 seconds, but that's all that's needed to get the gist of what is happening.




And second, there was a college textbook that I flipped through as a kid. That book came from the Philadelphia College of Textile and Fashion. The bottom of the pages (for something like eight pages straight) had a succession of full-color drawings of people standing along the borrom of the page, side by side, wearing clothes that progressed through history from left to right across the pages like a time line of fashion. It started back in Roman days, then progressed through the Middle Ages, and then the Rennaissance, and on up through to the 1800's. Then from there each precise decade and its hallmark fashion statement was dilineated. I recall the "Gibson Girl," the "Flapper," the Hollywood glamour look of the 1930's, the more conservative look of the 1940's, the "New Look" of the 1950's, an on and on. I really liked it! And then later when I got totally into film, I was always very picky about seeing correct clothing worn as costumes in period piece movies. (I especially loved that very comical situation from the Christopher Reeve time travel love story called Somewhere in Time where he went to a costume shop herre in present day and told the shop keeper: "I need a gentlemen's suit circa 1910." And then when he travelled back in time to 1910 wearing that exact suit, some lady across the garden took one look at Christopher Reeve and laughed, then turned to her husband and said: "I haven't seen anyone wear a suit like that in over ten years!")



Taking all of this in as a whole and viewing it as a progression through history helped me appreciate all of it and to not merely discard or pooh-pooh any one decade. I just can't see hating an entire era. I see it as all very much connected and I love every last link in the chain.

Oo! Mention of Somewhere In Time! I've never seen it but it was filmed in my favorite place so...

Plot Device said:

Taking all of this in as a whole and viewing it as a progression through history helped me appreciate all of it and to not merely discard or pooh-pooh any one decade. I just can't see hating an entire era. I see it as all very much connected and I love every last link in the chain.

Click to expand...

This is a very good point. I often find myself starting to become interested in different eras and even subjects as a result of them being tied in to the eras and subjects I already write about. Ten years ago I never would have spent a second thought on the stuff I love to learn about now. For me it's good not to completely shut out any era or particular subject because sometime down the line, who knows how it might tie in with what I'm writing about now? It could even enrich what I'm already writing.

I agree that there isn't any decade that is an automatic "no go" for me. I do find myself less interested in 50s-70s for no particular reason other than it doesn't light my fire.