I saved this entry until I had time to sit and write something meaningful.
The first part is a "hell yes, that person deserves to be sued." Not very meaningful, but the conclusion seemed pretty obvious.
The second part is interesting because there seems to be some assumption that you can write things without details that make them more likely to become "timeless" than if you write them with. I can't imagine how it's possible to write anything interesting that leaves out the details of how people live the daily grind in their time. If I don't know what about characters' lives make them go the way they do, how can I relate to them at all? If you tell me a character feels apathetic about his future despite his type-A parents' pushing on him, it's a set-up. A gimmick. But if they're Baby Boomers and the kid is Generation X, it makes sense for the time. It's much more work to sell that without the timely social cues.
Also? The parts of works that are considered "timeless" that are most enduring are those that speak to the universal human condition. You don't have to know the intimate details of the time period about which you are reading to be able to fall into the world so long as the characters are recognizably human. (Even when they may not be human at all, as you see in sci-fi.) They can be good or bad, but there are some interactions which are just inevitable in human life--dealing with loss, romance, bureaucracy, to name a few--that remain as pertinent across the centuries as they were when first written down. But without the details prompting those examinations, you wouldn't be able to relate to this character facing nameless, insubstantial obstacles.
no subject
The first part is a "hell yes, that person deserves to be sued." Not very meaningful, but the conclusion seemed pretty obvious.
The second part is interesting because there seems to be some assumption that you can write things without details that make them more likely to become "timeless" than if you write them with. I can't imagine how it's possible to write anything interesting that leaves out the details of how people live the daily grind in their time. If I don't know what about characters' lives make them go the way they do, how can I relate to them at all? If you tell me a character feels apathetic about his future despite his type-A parents' pushing on him, it's a set-up. A gimmick. But if they're Baby Boomers and the kid is Generation X, it makes sense for the time. It's much more work to sell that without the timely social cues.
Also? The parts of works that are considered "timeless" that are most enduring are those that speak to the universal human condition. You don't have to know the intimate details of the time period about which you are reading to be able to fall into the world so long as the characters are recognizably human. (Even when they may not be human at all, as you see in sci-fi.) They can be good or bad, but there are some interactions which are just inevitable in human life--dealing with loss, romance, bureaucracy, to name a few--that remain as pertinent across the centuries as they were when first written down. But without the details prompting those examinations, you wouldn't be able to relate to this character facing nameless, insubstantial obstacles.