Avoiding Obsolescence: Technology, pop culture trends, and their place in fiction

+ I answer your questions about taking breaks between books

Hello, Protagonists!

Welcome to another entry in Author Diaries—where Joanna and I take you behind the scenes of publishing—querying, book auctions, cover design, how authors make money, book publicity, and more.

In this post you’ll find:

📚 What’s Filling My Creative Well—books or articles that are lighting up my brain

🕵🏻‍♀️ Behind the Scenes of Writing about Technology, Pop Culture, or anything else that might be obsolete by the time your book comes out.

‼️ Cover Reveal timing

🤓 Answers to your Questions about Taking a Break Between Books

As always, thank you for being here, not just as readers, but as fellow story-lovers and co-dreamers of this beautiful, bookish life.

xo,

Joanna & Evelyn

---

📚 What’s Filling My Creative Well

Currently reading:
Prévost by Manon Lescaut—I just started an online course called “Love and the French Novel” through Stanford Continuing Studies, where we’ll read four works of French literature and study the different kinds of love portrayed in them, from gallant love to sentimental love to romantic love and more. I haven’t taken a literature class since I graduated college (coming up on 25 years, eep!), so I am thoroughly enjoying being back in “school.”

“Facing Down the Blank Page”—This essay in Publishers Weekly is about writer’s block (and written by one of our community members!) If you’ve ever wondered what authors go through—or if you’ve suffered through writer’s block yourself—this is a great read.

---

🕵🏻‍♀️ Behind the Scenes of Writing about Technology, Pop Culture, etc.

A few weeks ago, I got a hilarious email from my editor that said only this:

“Evelyn!!! Are you psychic?!!!!”

The reason: Last year, I started writing Ideal Life, and I turned in the finished manuscript in May this year. (The book won’t be out until Summer 2026. For an explanation why it takes so long to publish, read this.)

In Ideal Life, I write about earbuds that do seamless, simultaneous translation of many languages.

• Now, months after I finished writing my book, Apple has just announced Airpods that do seamless, simultaneous translation of many languages.

Ideal Life also features smart glasses with a display where you can see and talk to a virtual assistant.

• Meta just announced their smart glasses with a display.

But I’m not psychic.

I actually deep-dive researched upcoming developments in technology for Ideal Life, since the main character, Talia, is a startup founder. She lives in Silicon Valley and works on the cutting edge of tech, so I needed to include details that made her world plausible.

Which meant I had to:

• know what new technology was being developed in late 2024 (this was when I began writing Ideal Life)

• use that research to predict what new tech was likely to be available by the time the book published in summer 2026

  • This was KEY, because I want readers to be familiar with much of the technology in the book. I am not writing science fiction. I’m writing a story set in 2026 so I didn’t want it to feel too futuristic, just cutting-edge but real.

• but also choose tech that wouldn’t be “old news” by the time the paperback edition of Ideal Life comes out (in 2027, a year after the hardcover).

It’s always a tricky thing, deciding what to put into a book, especially if you’re publishing with the Big 5 like I do, and it takes 2 years for a book to make it out onto shelves.

To avoid immediate obsolescence, I try to avoid naming bands or pop culture phenomenons that are a big deal when I’m writing my book, because what’s hugely popular in 2024 may not be what’s popular when my book comes out in 2026 (and the paperback in 2027).

Things that were popular in 2024 when I started writing Ideal Life:

• mob wife aesthetic

• “I was not selected for the Olympics” meme

• candy salad TikTok videos

• lime green / brat summer

• Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track - (I actually don’t know what this is, but Google told me it was popular then and has faded now)

If I had included those in my book, Ideal Life would already feel dated when it was published.

So if you’re a writer who is writing contemporary fiction, my advice is to avoid including fads or specific songs or albums that may be on repeat now, but won’t be by the time readers have your book in their hands.

As for the technology in Ideal Life…?

We’ll have to wait till next summer to see if I made the right call on what to include in the book and what not to!

---

‼️ Cover Reveal…?!

I just found out that we’ll have the cover for Ideal Life in the coming weeks! Stay tuned, my friends!

---

🤓 Answers to your Questions about Taking a Break Between Books

In last month’s Author Diary, I asked if you had any questions about the space between publishing books.

Here are your questions, and my answers!

Irvin K:

Do you still manage to work on another book in the main lead up to publication of the first book? I was doing so well at drafting my next book in between rounds of edits with my publisher. But now we're in the last month before Pub Day, and between updating websites, posting about preorders, organizing launch parties, and guesting on podcasts... I seem to have no time to write. (Also, day job, so there's that. )

I've given myself permission to take a few months off, til after Halloween, but I wonder if other authors manage to pull it off.

Evelyn:

I’m the same as you, Irvin. I actually take 2 to 3 months off writing when I’m launching a book, because I throw myself into book publicity and marketing. I have neither time nor mental space to write a new, good book during that period.

I have more to say on this topic of taking breaks, but the next question cues it up nicely, so…

Marta Lane:

In the space between books, do you take any downtime, or are you always writing? If so, how long do you take?

Evelyn:

I definitely pause after one book is out in the world and before I begin writing the next one. My creativity is pretty tapped out and I am just generally exhausted after the big push of releasing a new novel, that I need to give my brain space to rest.

I use that time to go out and “live some life,” be it going on long walks in nature or having lunch with friends I’ve neglected or baking or watching movies. And of course, reading lots of books.

During this downtime, I try not to force new ideas. Rather, I let my creative well refill at its own pace, knowing that ideas will come when they’re ready (i.e., when I’ve given my mind enough time to rest and rejuvenate).

Smriti Richard:

Do you typically allude to your next book during promos for your current one?

I imagine it's a tricky balance between keeping the focus on your new book vs next book.

Evelyn:

Readers tend to get confused about which books are already out, just released, coming out soon, or coming out in the farther future. So when I’m promoting a new release, I try to avoid talking about any of my other books (past or future) so that I don’t muddy the waters.

Before The Incredible Kindness of Paper, I’d written nine other novels. But even though I do want readers to buy my backlist, the main focus during New Release time should be on the current, most recent release, since

• your longtime readers will have already read the backlist and want your new book, and

• new readers who find you now will want to read the new one first, and after they love it, that’s when they will seek out your backlist.

Last month, I finally brought up Ideal Life because the heavy publicity push for The Incredible Kindness of Paper was winding down, so it seemed like the right time to introduce the next book. Also, I wanted to begin the year-long behind-the-scenes author diaries for Ideal Life, and since it comes out in August 2026, it was time to get started!

💛 Thank you all for your insightful questions! 💛

---

» This post is part of our Author Diary series. You can find past entries HERE.