Forum: Author Hangout

A question of dates, for non-US writers

Freyrs_stories 🚫

In my notes attached to the draft of the story I have the weeks marked. But in the story there is very little mention of weeks or dates outside of the regular Fri, Sat & Sun that sees the 'action' take place.

I'm figuring I need some way to make dates as they pass. but I'm worried that my southern hemisphere dates / seasons may confuse NH readers. I really wanted a way to do dates so they were agnostic (if that's the right word) to where the reader assumes the story takes place.

So I have a question. Do I write the dates so they make sense for SH as those are the dates and term structure I am basing my calculations on? or perhaps use say 3rd week of Autumn and keep it flexible? If people know the rough time of year and can relate that the story is told based on a progression of time in 'weeks' rather than calendar 'months' then that may make things easier. Do all US schools have the same term structure? I have no idea of what they use.. Even here with only a handful of states and territories we don't have a universal system across single states let alone the whole damn country.

Just looking for a quick bit of feedback on this one. it likely won['t get written in till the next draft but as long as I have the week markers in the story 'meta data' then that can remain flexible till a much later draft.

I like the idea of being able to set the story outside of the US as 90 odd % of stories are there. I doubt the readership is that concentrated.

I am also aware that not all countries set the seasons to the same day. at least some state in the US change date by Equinox / solstice while here its the first day of the applicable month. so even that may cause a few issues, if even 2 weeks difference has a big enough impact on the timing of school attendance.

It seems there is no simple answer to this problem as there will always be issues based on where the reader perceives the story taking place. Even when I use my own state there are yearly variations that mean counting weeks since school started will give very different answers as to what the date is. in this case it is due to the week Easter falls on. the first holiday of the year here. So like I said no simple answer.

Past all this there is also the differences in order of magnitude. here 5/3/22 would be 5th of March 2022 where in the US if I remember right it would be May 3rd 2022. not sure about other places but thought it worth noting, of course the option of just writing dates longhand solves this problem to a large degree

I'd love a few thoughts on the matter if you could oblige.

Thanks in advance.

F.

Replies: Ernest Bywater Remus2 Grey Wolf

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

There are many ways to use dates in a story.

I've always felt if you have to use specific dates with a month and year should be as March 2022 or 5th March 2022.

However, there are ways to cover time passing without specific dates. The easiest is to start with something like - In early autumn ...... - or - in March .... - - then later move things along with items like - Two weeks later ....... - or - The next month ..... - or - In April ....

Replies: Freyrs_stories richardshagrin

Freyrs_stories 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

At the moment all the major events are marked in meta data as the week they occur in the standard 4 term year progression using 'comments'. there are a handful of markers such as 3rd Friday of first term and then deviations from that in weeks and months. some steps are very clearly defined other are not.

so I need a way to do them all clearly or at least uniformly. Right now with the story I have a little over 1 week before the end of the year (December) which is also summer. our seasons are different to yours not just inverted but different start and end dates which I mentioned.

Another problem is that I'm counting 'months' as 4 weeks so by the end of the year I'm out by a bit. over by 1 month I think. I need to iron this out. though I doubt people will go through a 100k word story and add up every single day, just to say Ha your year has the wrong number of days and is inaccurate. but some one or a few may do that and I'd like to avoid that if possible.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to take the step of picking an actual year that will tie me to a calendar and technology. If I do go that route then I'm likely looking early 00's for a start date, Just to get the tech right. both abilities and costs to an average family. I just have to pick a year where Easter doesn't screw up my story progression

Replies: Dominions Son Ernest Bywater helmut_meukel

Dominions Son 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

I just have to pick a year where Easter doesn't screw up my story progression

Why would Easter (or any other religious holiday) screw up your story progression?

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

At the moment all the major events are marked in meta data as the week they occur in the standard 4 term year progression using 'comments'. there are a handful of markers such as 3rd Friday of first term and then deviations from that in weeks and months. some steps are very clearly defined other are not.

Might I suggest you have chapter headings of Year x Term y1, then sub-chapter headings of week 1, week 2 etc.

helmut_meukel 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

before the end of the year (December) which is also summer. our seasons are different to yours not just inverted but different start and end dates

Hmmm, you replied this to Ernest, but it really was directed to the other readers, wasn't it?
Or did you miss that Ernest is an Aussie?

Just curious, HM.

Replies: Freyrs_stories

Freyrs_stories 🚫

@helmut_meukel

'yours' was aimed at the generic default of Americans who make up the majority of this site. though I did't remember where Ernest is from, thanks for the heads up

richardshagrin 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

dates

"Dates are healthy but only when taken in moderate amount. High consumption of dates can lead to several side effects like diabetes & weight gain. Eating 2-3 dates everyday on an empty stomach prevents you from many health problems. Include it in your diet & notice the change."

Remus2 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

I would suggest writing by season. Summer, fall, winter, spring.

Grey Wolf 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

Personally, I'd write the seasons to fit your locale. If the story is set in the Southern Hemisphere, perhaps some note about the flipped seasons (as an aside), but perhaps not. This is one of those 'readers not understanding the story' bits. Foreseeable, so maybe worth some action, but not worth taking dates out of the story (to me, at least).

For instance ... 'Easter always seemed a bit funny here. Most of the world had it inextricably woven into their springtime traditions, with bunnies and eggs and other celebrations of new life. Here, it was often right in the middle of harvest season."

I would never write dates in X/Y/Z format in a story. Write out the month - then there's no ambiguity. '5 March 2022' may not read 'naturally' to a US reader, but it's perfectly understandable. 5/3/22 is a mess (and will drive some US readers nuts when the next day is 6/3/22).

Asides about Easter being your first big holiday are worthwhile. You can't re-explain everything constantly, but your story has to be set somewhere, and everyone's different.

Replies: Freyrs_stories

Freyrs_stories 🚫

@Grey Wolf

Yer, with the exception that the rest of the world calls Fall Autumn the seasonal approach might work if you forget that some countries start Seasons on the solar event, so equinox and solstice. others do it on the first of the month so there's a few weeks to contend with there.

Looking at what I've got written the first 3/4 of the year is only 10% of the word count. Its a bit of a slow build up. If I do got strict dates I have to pick an actual year to set this in, that brings in the complication of calculating the week Easter falls on, but that's normally only a variation of 2 or 3 weeks max. it just puts the break between first and second term in odd places.

So I need a year that matches the somewhat generic setting to put the break in the right week, though I can move the first week of the story too, but that knocks on to the rest of the year. right now the main characters birthday is the weekend as soon as school breaks up for the summer.

I seem to of left some of my run too late to close off all the main threads at the start of summer, but there's still month between Xmas and first term of the second year and it gives me a bit of an excuse to carry on with a second year of the story.the ideas for that year started with a character introduced as an enigma to the MC's, partly as a distraction or red herring but at the time who I had different goals in the story for. In the presently projected second year there will be an increase from 1 to 4 main couples who have trials to go through if feedback is good, or good enough I guess

The last thing to say is that I will likely include a blurb in the 'yellow box' that appears above the chapter listing on the landing page of the story. It will just briefly explain the reversal of seasons and other quirks of not being in the USA where the majority of readers as well as writers are.

Can anyone else think of any other issues with there plans?

Thanks

F.

Replies: Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf 🚫

@Freyrs_stories

Few in the US would be confused by 'Autumn', I think, so whichever suits your characters better for that.

The way I generally see it is that the seasons 'officially' start on the solstice/equinox, but that's a formal definition. In terms of popular culture, the dates vary widely.

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Forum: Author Hangout

A question of dates, for non-US writers

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