shadowseer

Do you guys use years in your writing? I usually don't specify the year. I leave it to the imagination. They can always tell if it's the future or past, but maybe not exactly how far it is.

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journyman161

In The Narkan Problem I simply made up my own calendar so I could easily refer back & forth to explain current situations.

Year can be important but it would depend on what's in the story.

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Hodge

I wrote up a timeline with exact dates and such for my novella, but I made it a little more ambiguous when I actually wrote it (my timeline makes it look like Dubya had a hand in a nuclear war, and I don't want my piece to be political).

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mammamaia

imo, disclosing the year/century will depend on the specific story/novel, and whether it works best to do so, or not... and not on a general personal preference...

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Dan101

I have a short story where the beginnings of the chapters are headed with the time and date, mainly because it is important for the flow of the story line. Some storys dont necessarily need time and date specifications.

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dglvrs

Setting a story to a timeline can lend realism, but it comes with its own set of hazards.

If you choose to set a timeline, you must constantly be aware of continuity, especially if you are dealing with travel (time zones); the days can really sneak up on you and before you know it, you are all messed up.

Create a calendar, if it helps you keep track of time.

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Heid

There are a couple of flashbacks in my story (so far) so I will probably need to give the rough date (in years, say) so the reader doesn't get confused.

I'll probably do what Dan101 did and title the chapters as such (e.g. "Five Years Earlier" etc.). Or I could subtly drop the date into the story via a newspaper heading or TV news bulletin etc.

lisajane

In my outline, I have a timeline of when each event occurred in each year. However, no specific year but one I believe is even mentioned in the novel itself. Not even the year it's set in is said.

Though if you did rough calculations on the one year mentioned, you'd probably have a good guess of when the story takes place.

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Kikster

it depends on the story you're writing. if the year is a piece of important info to give to the reader then go for it... otherwise you can just give the reader a rough idea of the era the story takes place in. just make sure your clues are clear enough... I read a book once that was really confusing about that... for the whole time I thought it took place in the late 1800s, and then almost at the end it turned out it took place in the 1600s... that was kind of annoying. and very innacurate of the author.

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