Copyeditor’s note: Guantanamo Bay prison has been ordered closed under Obama. Should this reference on p. 279 be changed?
Ah yes, Gitmo. The copyeditor is referring to a passage in The Gatekeeper where one of my characters wonders if they’re incarcerating Americans there now too. When I wrote it eight months ago, this was a timely reference. But if the copyeditor hadn’t been on her game, my book would have looked dated when it came out in November.
Which brings me to today’s topic: how do you keep a political thriller timely? The Gatekeeper was my first real foray into politics, at least literarily speaking. And now I’m sitting here gnawing my nails to the nub, watching immigration issues rise and fall in the nation’s consciousness, and wondering if by November something dramatic will have happened that will either make my book appear incredibly timely, or terribly passé.
Therein lies the pitfall of writing something politically based. I was on a panel at Left Coast Crime a few weeks ago where this question came up. The pat answer is to stick to something tried and true, a conflict or issue that is ongoing and seemingly intractable. One of the other authors joked that if peace arrived in the Middle East before his next release, he was screwed (he added quickly that of course, it would be great to have peace in the Middle East. Just not by October if possible). A significant portion of the television show 24’s success can be attributed to the fact that it hit the airwaves shortly after 9/11, 
feeding upon the sudden collective consciousness of fear and paranoia. Which is why now, the show feels a little tired–in the aftermath of the last election, the Jack Bauer model just doesn’t seem as relevant as before. Not that we don’t still have enemies outside our borders, but we’re all a bit fatigued of having that fact shoved down our throats.
Of course, every book faces this hazard if it’s written with any sort of current “markers.” Simply by including a fax machine, CD player, or website in your text, you run the risk of sounding outdated when it hits the shelves months later. When I wrote for magazines, we aimed for “evergreen” stories, articles that would be timely if they came out next week or next year (that way a piece could be resold ad-infinitum once the rights reverted). That’s a bit trickier with fiction, when you’re dealing with 100,000 words instead of 1,000.
Getting back to my Gitmo reference…I changed the text slightly. The character in question is above all else distrustful of the American government, so I inserted a line saying, “The feds claimed to have closed it, but that was probably a lie like everything else they said.” Problem solved. I got to keep the reference I had grown attached to (I know, I know- kill your darlings. But that line served to illuminate this character and his mindset). And The Gatekeeper will still feel timely and relevant when it comes out. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Barring any unforeseen circumstances.
A very “timely” post, Michelle. In the political thrill arena, if our book is set in present day, it can become a slippery slope as world events seem to change with the tide. But that should not slow us down. The more compelling the story, the more the reader will slide past any dated issues to get to the next page.
Of course, catching those issues in the copy edit stage is a very good thing.
I’ve mentioned a couple of times at TKZ that one of the scariest books I’ve ever read was RED DRAGON by Thomas Harris. It was written in 1981 before terms like HDTV, DVD, BlueRay, or even CDs and VHS had entered our vocabulary. RED DRAGON was not a period piece but was written in “present day”. The technology used in that story was 8mm home movies. Today, we would be hard pressed to find a source of 8mm film for home use, a camera to shoot it, a facility to develop it, or a projector to view it. And yet, with all we know about modern technology, reading RED DRAGON never fails to give us the bone chilling realization that we are never really safe, that our privacy is never guaranteed, and that a cold blooded serial killer can look right into our personal life with the purpose of choosing his next victim. The fact that he’s a lab tech developing 8mm home movies is so unnerving that even today, reading it makes us want to go take a shower to wash off the creepiness.
I believe readers are sophisticated enough to know that our thrillers are snapshots in time, decorated with the current condiments of culture and society. To paraphrase a popular saying about the economy, it’s the story, stupid. I think that the stronger the tale, the less chance the reader will stumble over a dated device.
I’ll second Joe’s comment that a good story can transcend the little things. But the opposite is true too. If the story isn’t good, the little things stick out even more – at least for me.
Using a “generic” name can also keep you clear of this issue. In Sean Chercover’s most recent work he uses the name Hawk River in reference to a military contractor. It’s pretty clear who he is referring to in real life but if Blackwater is no more in a couple years, then there isn’t an issue.
This is why I write historicals:) But I do agree that a str9ng story can transcend any issue of timeliness – and its not just political. References to music, technology, clothes etc. can all date a story but if the plot and the characters are great I find I don’t even notice.
Recently I was reading a Clancy book written in the late 90’s before the tech bubble burst. It felt nostalgic and I had a hard time keeping a sense of excitement. On the other hand, just before that I read a novel set in 60’s East Germany a country that no longer exists and felt as though I was reliving it and that the news was still current in the book.
I think that as long as one can either make their time sensitive information interchangable to keep it up to date, or write in such a way that the reader can be drawn into the past as though it were current it will still work.
One of the books I am trying to sell involves the premise to a war with Iran. I just hope it doesn’t happen before my book gets bought. If so, I will need to remake it as a “Red Dawn” Middle Eastern Version.
Whatever did happen to that Gitmo place? Hmm. Guess something more important came up. When was this post?