One of the most interesting things about writing science fiction, even near-future sci-fi, is deciding when and how to use slang and how to avoid anachronisms. If you’re coming up with something new, it has to be baked into the world, or it’s going to fly right over the reader’s head. It’s also worth some head-scratching to decide whether something is really going to stand the test of time.
While writing “Integrate,” Jell-O wrestling, for instance, was right out, even though we will probably still be slapping on a generic “Band-Aid” until technology replaces it entirely, whether the actual company is still in business or not. (And Starbucks can try to fool us with their “Marshmallow Dream Bars,” but that’s a lie. We know a Rice Krispy Treat when we see one.) Animal metaphors, however, my betas and I decided were fine, as being “dumb as a dodo” still has not “gone the way of the dinosaurs”. “Vanilla” was another keeper, as the word is simply too versatile to ever go completely out of style: my personal relationship to the word has evolved over the course of my life to mean a flavor, a level of kink, and most currently whether my PC game is running native or modded assets.
So I had to laugh when I was recently advised to “Create a blog! Generate followers!”, as my first thought was, “I can generate followers? Do I push a button? And how many can I generate at one time before lagging?”
Oh, English. Never change.
Forgot To Be Guilty 