UPDATING THE PAST
I’ve decided to republish CHASE THE DREAM, my contemporary romantic suspense that Loveswept published in 1998. CHASE THE DREAM was a finalist for the RITA in 1999 and one of the last Loveswepts published before the line closed., CHASE THE DREAM clearly shows how I was transforming from a romance writer to a mystery/suspense writer.
I really like this book but republishing it won’t be easy. First of all, just like THRILL OF THE CHASE, I can’t find a computer file for CHASE THE CREAM. It’s not on any disc that can be read. (All my moves over the last 27 years have resulted in corrupted discs or totally missing files.) I also can’t simply take the 1998 book and retype it. What was a contemporary in 1998 is now almost an historical. Phones, phone booths, airports. All have dramatically changed over the years. The idea of a hydrogen fuel cell is no long an idea for the future.. some cars on the road today have them.
So, in a way it’s good that I’m retyping the story. Whenever I come to a spot that needs and update, I can do it. What is really amazing to me is how many things have changed in less than 30 years. 9/11 created Home Land Secrity and TSA at airports, Electric Vehicles and hybrids are now common, most people have smart phones and are using social media. Covid-19 changed how and where people work, many only rarely going into an office. And, of course, now there’s AI.
So far, I’ve retyped 30 pages and have had to take the phone booths out of the story, update the airport experience, and have my MCs using smart phones. I like making these changes, but it is going to take me a while to get the book ready to republish.
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You can do it!
I have often thought of re-writing some of my very old books that have been out of print for years. I my case, it’s handy that they are already historical. However, it is now taboo to go too deeply into reality in these books – i.e. you can’t say the “N” word, even though it was used prolifically in the South. And you have to be more careful about putting African Americans or Mexicans or Chinese or our Native Americans in “typical” slave or poor or uneducated niches. I would need to re-word some of those things to keep history “real” without offending. It’s difficult, because to me, history is history and to tell it truthfully, you have to face reality. A lot of the very early historical romances did just that. I remember a story (I won’t mention the title or author) where the hero was forced to whip the African American woman who’d raised him and whom he loved. It was written very realistically and was hard to read. I doubt it would be allowed today. Most racial slurs and many of the racially based physical acts need to either be left out today or heavily re-worded. It’s hard for today’s audience to face the true reality of historical language and behavior from the 1700’s and 1800’s and even early 1900’s. It’s too bad that such things happened, but they did, and in writing historical novels the author has to be very careful how they portray people and historical facts, no matter how real or what race of people are involved. Other than that, I also have your problem of most of my older books having to be completely re-typed into Word because I have no computer versions. Some were written on a regular typewriter, and many of those written on a computer have long ago disappeared – via old computers, missing or discarded floppy discs and dvd’s. It’s hard enough to create a new book with knowing all the modern rules. But re-typing a 400-500 page novel and including all the changes that would be necessary is a bit overwhelming. I am lucky that a LOT of my older books are still in print and have been reissued without a problem. I was able to help the publisher(s) with a few changes that helped with difficult parts without needing a total re-write. Those back issues have been a huge support with continued income. Good luck with a reissue of CHASE THE DREAM. I know there are a lot of great stories out there in older books, but the source for easy reissues is long gone. I have been published for 37 years, so I understand.