Yuppies, Ronald Reagan, Pac-Man, Madonna, and leg warmers . . . quick, what decade? Yep, it’s the 1980s.
Lee Tobin McClain here, talking about the fun of writerly research and the daunting realization that a bona fide historical period doesn’t seem all that historical to me.
I recently found myself in the position to research the 1980s, because I needed to set a story there. In my Sacred Bond series, the prequel novella, A Christmas Bond, takes place during the year 2000. 
That’s when John Moretti has an eventful Christmas with four delinquent boys in his care, and the Sacred Bond brotherhood is born. I’d already carried that series into the present day, when the boys grow up to be heroes. But John had made a throwaway remark in A Christmas Bond that I kept wanting to explore.
It had been in just such a car that he’d made the biggest mistake of his life, one he was still paying for. And still nursing that same old flame.
What mistake would have haunted him all those years? And why was Miss Clara’s old car bringing the memories back to him? As I thought about John, one of my favorite heroes, I wanted to know what he’d been like as a younger, wilder man. I knew he was a veteran, but what war had he fought in? What had led him to create a school for delinquent boys? And why was he still insecure about his ability to attract a wonderful woman and make her happy? Those questions led me back into the past, into the 1980s.
As I wrote the short story, Before the Bond, I had to do a little research into the 1980s. Some of the things I looked up: How did a 1980s plumber fix a kitchen sink? What kind of clothes did college girls wear in the mid 80s? What military involvement did the US have during those days? Were there pregnancy tests, and what were they like?
Intrigued yet?
Oh, I to
rtured those characters in Before the Bond . . . partly because I knew I would bring them back later, so everyone would have the chance for a happy ending. I’ll tell you a secret: I have a crush on my hero John Moretti! He’s actually just my age, and it’s so much fun to be able to follow him through his whole life, starting in his 20s and proceeding into his 40s, his 50s, and maybe beyond.
If you’d like to meet that younger, wilder John Moretti, all you have to do is sign up for my newsletter by clicking on the book cover to the left. You’ll get the link to download a free copy of Before the Bond, and you can see for yourself whether I got the 80s right. Big hair, anyone?
Lee Tobin McClain read Gone With The Wind in the third grade and has been an incurable romantic ever since. Lee is the author of the Sacred Bond series of contemporary inspirational romances and also writes the Rescue River books (angsty, but full of fun kids and dogs) for Harlequin Love Inspired. When she not writing emotional Christian romances, she's probably driving around a carload of snarky teen girls, playing with her rescue dog and cat, or teaching aspiring writers in Seton Hill University's MFA program. She is probably not cleaning her house.
Lee, I’m feeling very old right now. ;) I graduated high school in the 80’s and started college in the late 80’s. I could have told you what college girls wore. Love the covers of your books.
How fun! And I have a hard time thinking of the 80’s as a bonafide historical era…but I guess it is. Yowza.
Oh how I loved the 80’s….Madonna, Duran Duran, leg warmers, neon colors….SIGH. What a great time period. And it is so strange to think of it from a historical perspective when I can remember it like yesterday. Funny thing..my 19 year old really romanticizes it and keeps asking me questions about the “80s”. Great time period to write about.
LOL, Kimberly! Think how I feel having graduated in the 1970s!!!
I know, Elizabeth, me too! I think of the 70s as kind of normal, and the 80s actually seem, well, young! Yowza is right!
Duran Duran!!!!! LOL. And here in Pittsburgh, it was Flashdance time. :)
I was in middle school/high school during the 80’s. Hard to think of it as historical. My kids had a dress up day with the theme of the “80’s”. I remember doing dress up days for the 60’s!
I was at school during the 80’s. I now have school-aged kids and so much has changed. It;s definitely a fun era to write. and didn’t we all aspire to have big hair, lol :)
I am an 80’s girl….I remember the big hair (although I could never achieve it no matter how hard I tried), had several pair of leg warmers, crazy/loud/bold colors, the preppies in high school, the awesomness they called music…some good memories, some I’d rather soon forget…lol!! I can’t believe it’s a historical era, how’d I get to be so old?!?! Well, maybe not THAT old, I am only 44, sheesh :-)
I do have “Before the Bond” & a couple of other books from the series. Now I really have to read them to see how accurate they are, haha! Thanks for bringing back some memories with your post today, Lee!
Haha, you 80s girls are actually young! At least compared to me, born in 1960. :)
Lee, you certainly aren’t old either, not by a long shot! I was born in 1970 so 10yrs isn’t that bad, lol! I have two aunts who are 10 & 11 yrs older than me, so I consider them as being young too :-) We were very close growing up, lots of good memories. Age is just a number, agreed? ;-)