: Re: Is it ok to reference something modern to give the reader a better idea of what something looks like if the book is set in the Middle Ages? This is a random example but would it be bad

@Ann1701686

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You can do it if you're writing a comedy (ha-ha funny, not phew-happy-ending); in fact, stylistically, it is likely easy to pull off if you are not very full of yourself and you don't want your audience to take you too seriously.

You haven't indicated that you are after that, but I would argue it is at times entirely appropriate.

You can make a lot of interesting comparisons if you allow yourself this space, but you'd want to stay tonally similar and drop these types things early.

The dragon breathed fire the way a teenage girl chewed and popped bubble gum; the knights, in turn, died in the way that most teen romances do at the feet of those who know not yet what they want. Even in the absence of malice the deaths were inevitable messy accidents in the circle of life. Young Roland watched from a hilltop as he did every friday night, hungry for popcorn, though he knew not yet what that was. "Someone pass the mead!" he called boisterously.

Really, it seems like it could be a lot of fun, but probably not the story you're writing.

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