Writers sometimes struggle with how specific to be in a novel. If you mention using a particular social media app, for example, will that app still be popular two years later? Or will its user demographics age, leaving your teen character looking out-of-step for using it? On the other hand, if you describe your character as using “a social media app” without naming it, your writing will lose points for being vague.

I took a picture of a parking lot that inspired a location in Eliana-Who-Sees-Us. It’s not a beautiful place – in fact, it’s looking a little worse for wear in recent years. But while editing the book, I asked myself, “Are there still Redbox rental machines sitting outside stores?” I was happy to see that was one thing I didn’t need to change in the text before sending it off!