Tech-No-Logy

I’ve spent the last week writing a section of the book which is based in 1988, which has weirdly proved more difficult that the bits set in the 1950’s.

How I imagine my desk would have looked if I were writing my book in 1988.

 Since I started writing, I’ve always been conscious that writing something set in a decade that I wasn’t alive in would be challenging, but I’ve been fortunate, and I’ve had a lot of help from people. There’s been e-mails, phone calls, Facebook groups that have all helped me create a fairly accurate picture of life in Mansfield and Nottinghamshire in the 1950’s, albeit I’ve added a certain Stanley Thomas twist.

My lovely sister even went out and bought me this book, which really helped bring some places to life.

Writing about 1988 had always bothered me less, I mean I was alive then, I was 12 years old, I was hopelessly in love with Matt Goss (some things never change) I cried when Charlene and Scott got married (the opening bars of Angry Anderson’s “Suddenly” still brings tears to my eyes) I was fighting with my sister over who got “Now 10” and who got “Now 11”, we both wanted “Now 11” because it had Kylie on. 

I was watching “Moondial” on the TV and subsequently made my parents take me to Belton House so I could see if I could time travel (I couldn’t, so I bought a notebook) Lucy and I sat down every Sunday tea time to watch the latest BBC adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe” and we still laugh about how the girl who played Lucy said “I’m Lucy”

I shopped in Tammy Girl, I watched “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Big” and convinced my Mum that I wouldn’t be frightened if she let us hire “Beetlejuice” from the video shop.

1988 was my year!

However, writing about it has been really difficult, because it is my lifetime. I have to stop myself from making references to modern technology. In the book, I have a group of characters who need to meet up quickly, but they couldn’t WhatsApp each other, they had to phone one another, on an actual telephone! In fact, I had one of them nip round to the others house because it was quicker!

 They can’t research stuff on the internet, there’s no mobile phones (Henry has to use a phonebox to call his wife whilst he’s in London!)

In 1988, there’s video recorders (VHS) but not DVD players and you can’t stop live TV.

Derek Jameson is hosting the Radio 2 breakfast show, Jeremy Paxman is hosting BBC Breakfast Time TV, there’s a duck co-hosting children’s TV.

Times were very different!

So, here’s my question, what bit of technology that you use all the time didn’t exist in 1988? I think for me it’s a mobile phone.

Stanley Thomas might be a very bad man, but with a mobile phone he’d have been even worse!