Or is it forward?
Whatever. I want to explain a little about writing fiction. I’m going to tell you something that your first instinct will be to say I’m wrong.
You ready?
All fiction is set in an alternate universe.
Off you go. ‘No, it’s set in 1912 London.’ Or ‘No, it’s modern day New York, as real as it gets!’
Now, I will prove my point, in very few words.
Pick up a book. Any book, as long as it not True Crime, history, or biography.
Open the book at random, and pick out a name. Any name, as long as it is not a business you have heard of, or a cameo role by a celebrity – it has to be a character.
Now for the test: Look them up in a search engine.
If you can prove they exist, I’ve lost my argument.
But of course they don’t exist, because they are characters!
So, if they are in the book, and they don’t exist, the book must be set in a world where they do exist, as opposed to the real world…
I win.
Now, the point of this: all my books are set in an alternate universe, where my characters exist. As such, I can make small changes to the world to suit my story.
So when you spot that, for instance, a shop doesn’t actually exist – I know, I made it up.
There is an entire chain of industry leading supermarkets in my world; there is a soap opera set in Exeter in my world; Dartmoor is still a functioning prison in my world.
I base my stories in the real world, but it is modified to suit me. It is not the real world you know, although it looks and feels exactly the same.
Mostly.
I guess what I’m saying is: don’t believe everything you read.
But if it’s something I wrote, just enjoy it. Please.