Writing a story set in another time? Here’s the key: don’t explain the era—immerse your readers in it. In this Ask Jane, I share why readers of all ages love discovering unfamiliar worlds through story, and I point you to a Newbery Medal-winning exemplar that proves the 1970s can captivate any age.
Hi, Jane Cleland here. Well, many graders want to know about the 1970s. That’s where my story’s set, and I worry that it’s going to feel like a history text to them. But first of all, a truism about readers in general is we like learning new things.
It’s one of the drivers that make us readers. I think if you write it like a history text, it will read like a history text and that will be interesting to some people and not to others. If you immerse your reader in the 1970s, they are, I’m sure, going to just get caught up in that wave of reality, as all of us readers do, in whatever setting we are immersed in. It’s one of the pleasures of reading, is going to places you might not otherwise know, sharing experiences, being there, fly in the wall.
I think I would embrace the 1970s, not think of that era as something that you have to explain. I would really think immersion, think experiential. I will also mention there’s a wonderful book. It’s by Rebecca Steed, S-T-E-A-D, and it’s called When You Reach Me.
Multiple award-winning, best-selling novel. It is set in the 1970s. I think that might be useful for you as an exemplar. I know you can do it.
I know that you can take your knowledge or research behind the 1970s and integrate it with the story you want to tell, not layer it on top or submerge your story in. If this tip had value for you, would you like it? Would you share it? Would you subscribe to the channel?
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Thank you.
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