Stories Set in the Distant Past

One of my earliest stories was Prisoner!, partly inspired by a story by G. A. Henty, a successful author of the last century.  My story was set in the Bronze Age of an alternate earth.  What's interesting about it at the moment is that, quite unconsciously, I began to slip into a voice that was slightly old-fashioned; a little stilted, as if to emphasize that the story was set far back in time.  I didn't do it deliberately--at least, I don't think I did.  One of the ways I did this was to use the word 'indeed' a little more often.  I wrote two stories set in an alternative earth, in a bronze age, and now I have got to go back and check whether I wrote in a stilted idiom in both stories.  I think I used contractions very sparingly (writing 'do not' instead of 'don't', and so forth).  Most readers would not even notice that I was doing this.  I wonder whether 'writing gurus' frown on this sort of thing.

Anyway, that's all I've got; hope my readers have a happy holiday season!

Kay.