Wondering About When

I have questions.

Boy, do I have questions.

What year is it? Who are these people? What's going on?

I'm, of course, talking about my NaNo novel. Of course. I'm certainly not asking that about real life…

Anyway, and I don't know why I'm using such short paragraphs, I've been thinking about the time and place in which this story is set. Now, there's this, I don't know, assumption, that unless something is explicitly a period piece, it must be happening right now. Like, you figure a movie made in '98 is set in '98 unless told otherwise. (I just watched The Faculty. It's from '98. I'm not just picking random years.)

So, you'd think that my story about three fresh college graduates on a road trip of randomness would take place now, or now-ish. But I don't know if it does. I think it might take place ten years ago. And that might just be due to our old friend, 6am in mid-July. It's the moment where adventure begins and anything can happen. And it's probably 2007.

I feel like none of that makes sense. To other people. I get it just fine. Let me try to… There's this moment that lives in my head. A time of eternal sunshine and endless possibility. And it's how a morning might have felt, in mid-July, at 6am, around 2007.

Also, in 2007, smartphones were much less prevalent. As it is, they're going to be losing cell service a lot. This modern constant interconnectedness makes it very hard to get people into trouble. I mean, you can text 911 now. In some places, anyway. The point is, it's going to be a lot easier to get them lost if they can't just pull up google maps on their phone.

Then, time frame aside, there's the issue of who these characters are. I was recently trying to figure out surnames for my main characters. And then I wondered, what if i… just don’t give them any. I don't think I've ever done that before. Even characters whose last name is never used in story still have them. But in this case, if it's never relevant, why even have them? I am trying to make an effort to cut out all the extraneous bullshit. What better time to do that than in a story made entirely of extraneous bullshit? Or… wait.

I have less than a week to get a clue about this damn story. I at least need a starting point, so I have something to write while I figure out the rest. but up until now, I've been so infuriatingly calm about the whole thing, like I think the universe is going to present me with what I need and everything will turn out all right. Historically, that has never happened, so I don't know why that's my strategy. So currently my strategy is starting to shift toward panic as I realize that I do not have a plan.

My next post will be the day before NaNo begins. I should have settled into a nice state of full-blown panic by then.

See you Tuesday!