This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked, "How do current events impact your stories? Give an example."
For the most part, current events only matter in terms of how they affect my characters. I'm currently working on a book set in Napa, California, and the fires that occurred there in 2017 and 2018 were very traumatizing to my hero, who had been eighteen/nineteen years old at the time. That changed the course of his life...or at least the past six years.
In the Oberon series I really notice the effect of current events because A. the books are now twenty+ years old, so what's current within the world of the series is not the same as what's current now, and sometimes that really shows.
In my most recent re-release (The Spirit of the Place) for example, my characters talk a lot about politics--upon which they don't always agree. But disagreement then looked VERY different than disagreement now. So re-releasing it in an election year has been...interesting.
In my most recent NEW release (Giada Mazzi is Living her Best Life) on the other hand, current events are still very current and show up very obviously in the first few pages where my title character throws shade at a very well known TERF.
I think the biggest problem with using current events in stories is that it undeniably dates your books. A good example of this is in my upcoming re-release (Visions Before Midnight) where two characters discuss California's marriage equality situation, but at this distance, what they're saying could be misinterpreted to mean the opposite to how it sounds. Kind of how that TERF I mentioned earlier, had she been alluded to in a book set ten years ago, would have evoked a very different mood. And had she been mentioned in a book set twenty years ago, that would have suggested something different once again.
Luckily, I'm currently annotating the Oberon series, so I get the chance to explain myself...and give the reader a little history lesson in the process. It's been a fascinating journey.
What if your car broke down on a deserted highway in the middle of Texas? Would you think it was fate and that it would change your life?
When Wylie Nichols walked toward the nearest town, his future was forever altered. The problem when you’re a stranger in a small town is you never know what you might discover. In this particular place, there is murder, greed, lust.
But waiting is earthy, sexy, enigmatic Kennedy. With a convoluted family history and the power to make his dreams come true.
https://amzn.to/42b3KlL
'Tis the season to be jolly, but Jasmine Quinn is far from happy about her mother's latest folly: her upcoming wedding to former Wall Street financier, Sam Sterling. Jasmine doesn't like her future stepfather, or his values. Anybody with as much money as Sam, should be spreading it around, aiding worthy causes, making it count for something. Instead, he seems intent on using his wealth to embarrass her mother by throwing a ridiculously lavish wedding. But there's one thing about Sam that Jasmine can't help but admire, no matter how much she'd like to--the graduate student he's hired as an intern.
Brandon Ablemarle is also finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit. Especially since his dream job has just become a nightmare, thanks in part to the fiery redhead with some of the goofiest ideas he's ever heard of. But what else can you expect from the daughter of a self-proclaimed psychic? Marsha Quinn has a lot to answer for. Not only has she encouraged her daughter's esoteric craziness, she's also turned one of the most brilliant stock analysts Wall Street had ever seen into a nutcase as well. One who actually appears to believe that the answers to the stock market can be found in the stars!
It's a clash of ideologies when Jasmine and Brandon get together. Can the spirit of the season, and the spirit of the place help them to see beyond their differences?
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