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There is a lot of difference between those two sets of years, technologically, socially, maybe even culturally. The biggest one being that I'd caught up to Eve and Garrit, age-wise. And since they were my contemporaries then, I just went with it, and kept the book in what was ostensibly a present-day setting--contemporary to me.
Of course Forged by Fate didn't release until 2013, several MORE years after that. I fudged some of it with Eve being, by nature, more of a traditionalist. When you've lived however many thousands of years, adapting to technological change probably gets a little exhausting--and both she and Adam show a preference for the physical over the ethereal of the digital in a way that's not so different from the gods who cling to the trappings of the times and periods when their power was at its height. (But now I digress.)
Fast forward to the year 2019, and I'm writing Concealing Fate, a prequel to the "Present-Day" timeline of Forged by Fate, which probably actually begins in 2009, four years prior to its publication. This is the story of Garrit and Eve in college together--at University, in Paris--and, if Forged by Fate starts somewhere around 2009, that means Concealing Fate begins at least two years earlier, in 2006/2007 or so.
More than a decade ago.
I don't know about you, but by that time in my life I'd gotten a cell phone finally, but only just, and after fighting with my parents about the need for one--to put behind me the endless gifts (and purchases) of phone cards for long-distance calls to avoid having to worry about paying for long-distance service in my dorm room (I can't tell you how many times I would call one of my siblings and after they answered, we'd hang up, and they'd call me back on THEIR long-distance service to save me the minutes) and then to avoid having to have a landline in the apartment I shared with my roommate, who had embraced the cell phone life years prior. I was late to that game, and Eve is slightly later, still--too poor in Paris to afford a cell phone even if she'd wanted one.
(Remember when we paid for long-distance calls by the minute? Now it's all bundled into your service unless you go out of your way to refuse it, even on a landline.)
There's no texting in Concealing Fate. No Facebooking--though there could have been, I suppose, since Facebook opened to anyone in late 2006 (it isn't clear that French Universities were included before then from my research), but if you're Garrit DeLeon, you probably went out of your way to NOT be on it, regardless, and Eve being Eve... I think it's fair to say she probably wasn't an early adopter.
In Concealing Fate, the question of identity--and revealing one's self to a romantic partner--is pretty central to the story. Could Garrit have attempted to Google Eve as Abby Watson in 2006? Looked her up in some student directory? Sure. And probably he did, giving into temptation at some point--off-page.
If the events of Concealing Fate had happened TODAY, it wouldn't even be a question. The history of their lives would have been all over the internet to be found by one another. They'd both have cell phones, almost certainly, and texting would probably be a foundational pillar of their communication and engagement with one another--or at least Garrit would make the attempt even if Eve wasn't entirely all in on responding. They'd be connecting on Instagram and Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook. And that's the difference more than ten years makes. The reason why I needed to write this post to clarify--
In Concealing Fate, the "Present Day" isn't now.
It hasn't been for a long time.
Amazon | Barnes&Noble
Amazon | Barnes&Noble
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