We need to talk about Time Setting and Research! - Writing Tips (Long post)
Guys if you going to write fanfics of games, books, shows, cartoons or movies that are set in 40s,50s,60s,70s,80s,90s and early 2000s please RESEARCH THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR!!!!
I know when we write old set stories like in 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800 and early 1900 we are more careful with technology and knowledge of the time. The biggest mistake here is always on clothes. Many puts those big princess dresses on ages they weren't created yet. (Also please research clothes before doing stories).
If we creating or using a fictional world like Narnia, Middle Earth, Eldarya, etc please follow the rules of those dimensions. Aragorn is 80 but he doesn't look our 80. So don't set a character on 20s because in Middle Earth this is a baby. Also careful with Narnia time to Earth time, etc.
Also Hogwarts don't accept muggle technology, it doesn't work inside the school. And the Yule Ball is part of Triwizard Cup that didn't happen for years. There is no way of Marauders having it.
It may sound like small details but those details that make the fanfics/story believable. They set the mood and rhythm of story, if you break them without previous warning you make the reader unset.
If you don't want to set to those rules, warn it is out of context or an Alternative Universe in the description (not only on tags).
Because believe me who are reading, watching or listening to those original stories maybe doing for Time Set. It is an important part, it is part of the charm of the original story. And they expect that on fanfics too.
I am tired of finding Sally Face (set between 91 to 2004) and Stranger Things fanfics (83 to 85) with technology that didn't exist (example: Wii, XBox, cellphones or smartphones,etc). It kills the mood (and in niche fandoms like Sally Face this makes the readable fanfics smaller and there is already few fanfics to read).
Also telephones =/= cellphones =/= smartphone. Telephones are the one we use in the house, it needs a line and energy. Cellphones had the basic to it: message, call and one or other had a camera depending on the decade we talking about. Smartphones is what he have around now with social media and internet.
Guys, not even Mike and Will (our favorites nerds) knew what was Internet/IP when Suzie comments on it in S4. Do you really think Billy would have a cellphone that sends messages? The boys don't use a walkie talkie because is cool, cheap or a toy, they use it because it was the only option back then.
Damn it sometimes those telephones were so expensive that only one neighbor had it and everyone on neighborhood asked to use it. Why do you think Joyce asked for her salary to pay for it in S1? (It wasn't only to set the family as poor compared to Wheelers...)
I know I maybe sound boring but for me the mood about SF, ST, Narnia, LOTR, HP, etc. is that they are different than the times and places we are living in now days. If it isn't a time travel or Isekai fanfic don't mention technology of 2010s or 2020s (if they aren't set in 2010s and 2020s) please and thank you.
Also the clothes settings help much, follow the fashion of the age (unless of course the main objective is for the character to be seen as weird and not following the fashion). On the scenario of calling attention just be careful for your character to not being seen as indecent when this isn't the aim (happens more on the older centuries stories and more traditional cultures but still).
Also be careful when mentioning famous people. Chose people that already had a strong career back then. For example Guns n Roses start at end of 80s and early 90s (their career started 85 but their most famous songs only came out in 87), in Stranger Things it doesn't make sense since they still weren't famous but in Sally Face they were on radios already.
If you want to add people that will get famous be careful, don't make them already known by everyone. You can play around here. (Example: "Oh who is that?" She asks pointing to a man holding a book on his hands. "Oh that one? He is a weirdo who writes about a detective in journal, I think his name is Arthur.") See how you play about the start of the career of Conan Doyle and Sherlock without making him be seen as one of the main authors of the time?
When you are living the times you don't know who will be seen as legends on future decades or who will fall in forgetfulness. Sometimes you have no idea what events will go into history books (people fighting WW1 and WW2 had no idea how big or how long it would be).
An exercise/example: who from the nowdays artists you think will enter to music/cinema/literature history? We can't know, just guess. You can also play with it on your story. Example: "I think Prince will enter to history as Pop King." (Which now we know didn't happen because this title is Michael Jackson's one and the same may happen with us guessing Gaga will take Madonna's place as Pop Queen, etc.)
I know it may sounds hard but sometimes a simple and quick Google search is enough. (Example: "Does smartphone existed in 84s?" "Which was the most popular videogame console in 93s?" "When did Welcome to the Jungle was released?" "How old are Aragorn?" Etc.)
Guys, being loyal on Time Set and Rules don't make your writing boring, you can get creative with them. And if you know those details you can also break them in a well done way, just warn it is an AU.
Example for time travel: In Back to The Future, McFly goes back to the past so he know way more than the people around him. Play with that too, example when he played a song that still wasn't released and sounded like a rock start. (The guitarist appears calling Chuck Berry, the owner of the song saying he found the new hit he was looking for)
Example of Isekai AUs: if the character/reader had fallen into a tv show they watched make them safe everyone.
If you know how the universe works you can break it but you should explain how you broke it or people won't understand (Make a character explain what happened, make it be an Isekai au here the character knew what was going to happen, make an alternative universe/timeline where that rule/event never happened or existed in first place, make it be a time travel, make it be a time loop, make it be memories of another dimension, get creative.)
Anything is fair game but let the readers know before hand on description or they may leave half work because they feel uncomfortable or unset because something was out context.
Thanks for reading till here, hope this helps somehow. This it the methodology I use on my fics.
Also ask someone help, a teacher or someone that lived back at that time (you can pass it of as just curiosity you don't need to mention fanfics, people won't question curiosity. In the worst scenarios say: "I saw that on a story, wanted to see if was real.").
