The writing of Summers in the City is going well and I should make my deadlines for the first draft to send to my beta readers. I am really excited about setting this book in Montreal, Bailey’s hometown and mine.
Of course, one of the things I have to remember as I write is that this is 2024 – but the Bailey Summers books are set in 2000. That means making sure places, buildings, etc., that I mention existed in 2000. And the big item to watch is the technology.
This is an area that has exploded over the past 24 years. It is part of our daily life and it influences not only the way we live but also our language. I have to be careful about the language Bailey and Derek use. And what technological tools they have to help them in their profession and how they manage that.
When I worked as a journalist back in the dark ages (1970s) we did not have portable phones. We couldn’t text news bulletins to our editor. Photos were taken with a camera not a phone. We got the news out as fast as we could but today it moves almost at the speed of light. We see and hear news events as they happen.
So, I keep having to double check my technology in these books. For example, in Summers in Wolf Falls they had some cell phone issues which were common back then – not so much these days.
This is a challenge, but it is one I am enjoying. And it makes me realize, as I have said higher up, how our language has been changed by technology. We text with friends, we zoom with friends, we live stream events. It is new world in 2024. Advanced as it was in 2000, I think Bailey and Derek, if they popped in today, would be going “wow.”
Why did I set this book in 2000 – because that is when I wrote the first draft of the first book, Summers in San Somás. Rewriting it to place it in 2024 would have made a complete change to plot and events and I preferred the somewhat simpler days of 2000.
So, enjoy your visit to the year 2000 when you read these books. And help Bailey solve the mysteries and get her scoop – does anyone even say that anymore?
