The Decade Dilemma


I first met Stanley in a dream a few years ago…. I say dream, it was more of a nightmare. The dream was all about a prison guard who kept seeing the face of people he’d executed, everywhere he turned, there they were.

 I’ve decided my flashback suffering prison guard is called Henry Mason, Stanley is one of the men he'd executed. He’d faced the gallows for being a very bad man.

I’ve spent a lot of this week messing around with dates (not the romantic type) but dates of my story. It occurred to me, there might be a massive flaw in my story before I’d even decided why Stanley Thomas was a very bad man. 

The flaw was this…. Hanging was abolished in the UK in 1965 (the last hangings took place in 1964 fact fans) so if Henry was at the very youngest 18 years old at the time of Stanley’s hanging, in 2019 he’d be well in his 70’s.

So, this is my dilemma, do I set my story in present day or I do I pick another decade? Moving everything back in time means that I can make my characters slightly younger and to be honest in my head they do look younger than men in their 70's.

Do I go for the 1980’s or the 1990’s? What are the pros and cons of the decades?

This is what I came up with;

1980’s the Pros
·     There were some great advances in technology – the Commodore 64, the Amiga 500, VHS video recorder, mobile phones, faxes, CD’s.
·     The rise of the Brat pack, 80’s films are generally awesome.
·     80’s music! (plus, if it ever does get made into a film, I can legitimately ask Bros to record the soundtrack)
·     MTV launched.
·     Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Ponies & Pound Puppies.
·     Mansfield Town won the Freight Rover Trophy.

1980’s the Cons
·     Would my characters have to sport mullets, shell suits, shoulder pads & ra-ra skirts?

1990’s the Pros
·     The worldwide web.
·     The dot-com boom.
·     Brit pop.
·     Text messaging.
·     I-Mac computers.
·     24-hour news.
·     The Spice Girls.
·     “Friends” & “Sex and the City”
·     Hairstyles – “curtains” and “the Rachel”

1990’s the Cons
·     Recession.
·     Grunge.


You can see my problem! I’d appreciate your thoughts, whilst you think here’s my favourite song from each decade!




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