: Re: When to publish satire of current events? I'm writing a satirical novella of sorts, based on the current American political climate. I'm exploring themes of race, political polarity, and youth.

@Moriarity138

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Liquid's excellent answer gives the right advice, but I wanted to add the fact that there's a good general rule that covers all such questions:

The more current something is, the quicker it goes stale (and the more dated it will seem in the future). This goes across all genres and even across art forms. If a story is ripped from the headlines, if a song uses the most currently popular beats, if an image is created with the very latest technologies, if something is in the very center of current interests and obsessions, it can potentially be very popular right at that moment, but it will begin to look quaint and out of date almost immediately after.

However, there are ways around this. A satirical novel with a timeless plotline can hold up even after all the references expire. We still read Plato, for example, despite the fact that his dialogs are littered with pop culture references that we no longer have any hope of understanding or appreciating. In general, however, the more timely something is, the more time is of the essence in getting it out the door. Nothing that is purely timely improves with age.

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