Story Timestamps?

[Incanus]

So I have some short stories, and a novella, all set in the world I’d made to write my novels in. These shorter pieces take place in wildly different time periods, and the novels will be set in at least two different periods which are far apart as well.

I’m thinking about including era/date type information at the beginning of all my stories that take place in this same world. I haven’t figured out all the details yet, naming the eras and determining their length and whatnot, though I have some of this info.

One advantage I see right away is that it might help clue in readers that a particular story is set in this world–a consistent signal. Especially if it is formatted the same way in every instance.

I’m leaning toward doing it this way, but thought I’d get some opinions on it. Has this technique been overused? Is it cliché? Thoughts? Opinions? A deluge of rotting vegetables?

 

[Svrtnsse]

I think this is a good idea.
I don't know whether it's been overused, or even used at all, but I'm not sure that should be a consideration.

Knowing the time periods of the respective shorts will add a bit of extra depth to the meta-story (is that a thing). Just make sure you keep the system easily understandable, and use it consistently for all stories.

 

[Russ]

I think it is a very good idea.

The only problem I can forsee if that it if you publish the stories with clear timestamps, you can't fudge them down the road.

Otherwise as a reader I would quite like that approach.

 

[ChasingSuns]

As Russ said, I would just be careful to make sure that your timeline ducks are in a row, but yeah... I think this would be a fantastic idea It would help the readers have an idea of where things fit into place, and would also create a more cohesive universe for your story.

 

[Incanus]

Great! Thanks, everyone. I'm editing my shorts now, then moving on to brainstorming/outlining my (first) novel. During all this, I'll tinker a bit more with the world-building and fine-tune the timeline. As it stands, I know the relative differences and rough amounts between them (story A happens about two centuries after story C, say).

And yes, the 'meta-story' is a factor in figuring all this out. Absolutely, I think a consistent application of the idea is essential to making it work like it's supposed to.

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I first thought it might have been overused. Offhand, I can only come up with one prior example: Erickson's Malazan series.

 

[ThinkerX]

I do this with almost all my stories -

one or two lines in italics beneath the title in ()

The first line gives the location, say (City of Ismara, extreme SE corner of the Solarian Empire)

The second line gives the date (Imperial Year 1010, fifteen years after the end of the Traag War)

In parts of my world that are vague about time, I'll give just the location.

This way, the story has a time and place without the necessity of working it into the story text itself, plus its so short that even prologue haters don't usually mind it.

Sometimes, I will do the same thing with chapter headings as well, if the location changes significantly.

 

[Incanus]

Nice, ThinkerX. The location info is a great idea--it seems to go hand-in-hand with the timeline stuff.

So, as in the examples you provided above, you also include some relevant additional info? (as in, the location within the empire, how many years after such-and-such event). That's an interesting touch. I'll have to ponder that one for a bit...

Of course, I wouldn't want to do exactly what you do. Hmmm.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Yes it's a good idea. One other example where this was done was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and it works well there. You might also want to check out the TV series Andromeda where the quotes at the start were all dated and together form an almost cohesive picture of the commonwealth.

One piece of advice would be that you need a time stamp that's essentially linear. "The Reign of Bud the Wise etc" is not enough to tell me as a reader where one story fits into place with respect to another. I really need something that gives me as a reader some clear guide as to how story A fits in to the timeline with story B.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[skip.knox]

Because my stories are set in an alternate history world (Altearth), I use a continuous dating system. All years are AUC--ab urbe condite, which means from the founding of the city (Rome, of course). This means some of my stories take place in the 27th century AUC. It does feel weird, I confess, to have events happen in 1989 AUC (which is equivalent to 1236 in real Earth years). I have an essay entitled 1819 and All That.

Like you, I am writing stories across a spectrum of centuries. A uniform dating system (not eHarmony!) is a convenience for the reader and a must for the author.

 

[TWErvin2]

I used something like that when shifting back to the 'present' in my post-apocalyptic fantasy novel. At the top of the chapter, for the chapter start, it would list a geographic location and then 2,873 Years before the Reign of King Tobias of Keesee.

Using a dating system related to the novel's contents, but with some anchor to gauge time by the reader would be a positive for your novels/novellas/stories, Incanus, especially as they're widely varied in their historical/timeline placement.

 

[Incanus]

Lot's of great input here. Very helpful.

@psychotick--most definitely there would be numerals involved. A reader should be able to tell at a glance the difference in time between any two of the stories.

I think I'm leaning toward a pretty pared-down version: simply the place and date. While the extra descriptions certainly add a lot of color, and can provide additional info, I'm wondering how it might effect the 'framing' of a story. What I mean is--the more descriptive this device gets, the more there might be a sense of an 'omniscient' narrator. Does that make sense? I'll try putting it another way--if this info gets elaborate, it might draw too much attention to itself. Maybe like having a super-ornate frame around a painting, the frame may end up 'competing' with the painting for attention. I want to ensure I get the right balance/tone.

 

[spectre]

Well if it's to orient your readers as to their place in time when spanning multiple novels I'd say not. I don't recall very well so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe Piers Anthony did not do this with his Xanth novels, and it I kind of felt that in their descriptions and did not read them.

It is a used concept, both in literature and fantasy games, but it's a fun aspect of the story to tell and detail. I think it's overuse is what you have to look at, some readers love history, while others love adventure, so you don't want to create archives within your story that will suck your reader away from the time your story is set during. I think that'd be the one pitfall to be wary of and you probably already have thought of that being a creative writer, there are some traits of writing that are just inherent to all of us.

But it is fun to me, I'd say go for it, but a calendar on the wall isn't the story so their importance as markers shouldn't be equal some distracting flamboyance.