Dating Your Writing

There are some things that I just don't do when I write. Things that I consider to be literary faults. One of them is references.

I avoid pop culture references as much as possible. When I read a story that refers to, say, a Beatle, the thing that immediately jumps out at me is how distracted the reader is going to be if they don't know what the person looks like. In that short story competition I entered back in February, I found that a lot of those writers did exactly this. Personally, I think this is lazy. Sure, I can picture what someone looks like if I'm told he looks like a young George Harrison, but in 20-30 years that reference is entirely expired. That's how easy it is to date your writing and confine it to a specific lifespan.

Maybe some day I'll explain why I avoid describing distances.