Opinions wanting on date/time information in formatting a big sci-fi series

[Anna]

I am writing a vast space opera of 6 planned books (five of them substantially written and in review right now). The premise is simple: thousands of years after an alternate universe Earth went dark, the people of one of her colonies, Albion, struggle for survival in the war against the Maess. The hero, Shield Captain Bennet, fights to prevent the destruction of humanity at the hands of an implacable alien enemy. Bennet’s relationships with lovers (of both sexes) and family are set against this background. When the series opens, Bennet is at odds with his long term partner, Joss, who wants him out of the military and back in an academic, archaeological career. He’s estranged from his father, Caeden, who is a Fleet commander. Events of the first book, in which he is sent to his father’s ship to carry out an infiltration mission behind Maess lines, improve his relationship with Caeden, but bring with them the catalyst that will destroy the one with Joss: one Fleet Lieutenant Flynn, who, over the course of the series, develops into Bennet’s main love interest. Bennet and Flynn meet and part more than once before finally, at the end of book six, they have the chance to be together permanently.

So, now that's clear, you'll appreciate that with a story of this size, I have a timeline. I have a *detailed* timeline (grins) worked out using a perpetual calendar based on Albion's year of 414 days (ten months of 41 or 42 days each), with each week being of 9 days. That means I know what day anything happens.

Now, I can hug this bit of information to myself and make the reader work it out, damn it! Or I can share.

Here's an example. The opening paragraph of the first Shield story, Gyrfalcon:

Something that might be a bird broke out of the bushes, wings blurring as it beat up into the sky. Its tooth-ringed mouth gaped wide on a hoarse shriek. The Maess drone appeared so suddenly behind it, pushing through the thick forest undergrowth, that Shield Captain Bennet just had time to hurl himself sideways to get out of the line of fire. The photon pistol built into the cyborg drone’s right arm spat out a plasma bolt that smacked through the air so close to his side he felt the kick to his ribs. The air smelled of burnt ozone.

Or:

Septimus 21st, 7489 : uninhabited planet, designation A2T-486G
Something that might be a bird broke out of the bushes, wings blurring as it beat up into the sky. Its tooth-ringed mouth gaped wide on a hoarse shriek. The Maess drone appeared so suddenly behind it, pushing through the thick forest undergrowth, that Shield Captain Bennet just had time to hurl himself sideways to get out of the line of fire. The photon pistol built into the cyborg drone’s right arm spat out a plasma bolt that smacked through the air so close to his side he felt the kick to his ribs. The air smelled of burnt ozone.

Which do you prefer? Is the second version a cop out for proper world building and story telling, do you think? Or would it be an acceptable way of making sure the reader knows what year they're in, in any particular novel?

I'd value your comments.

Cheers


Anna
(www.annabutlerfiction.com)

[Ilona]

Both versions work well, but I tend to glide over the bold written facts like in the second version after a time or two unless the author uses it as Chapter headings.

[Jaye]

It depends. How important are the dates to the reader's understanding of the story? If the whole series is told in a chronological, linear fashion, then you probably don't need to worry about it... but if you're doing a lot of bopping back and forth in the timeline, it might be helpful.

I say might be, because personally, once I get caught up in the story, I rarely pay a lot of attention to dates from an invented calendar... and if I do, it usually means the author hasn't done a good job making the timeline clear and I've had to go back and look to figure out the sequence of events.

It's even more of a pain when reading an ebook, where, depending on how it's been formatted, you might not be able to flip back to the last chapter heading and check the relative dates.

Hope that helps!

[Anna]

That's my problem too, Ilona, and that I have that sneaking suspicion that to pepper the manuscript with dates and places betrays a lack of confidence in the world building and story telling! A judicious use only when necessary, I think!

Thank you!

[Anna]

Ilona wrote: "Both versions work well, but I tend to glide over the bold written facts like in the second version after a time or two unless the author uses it as Chapter headings."

That's my problem too, Ilona, and that I have that sneaking suspicion that to pepper the manuscript with dates and places betrays a lack of confidence in the world building and story telling! A judicious use only when necessary, I think!

[Anna]

Jaye wrote: "It depends. How important are the dates to the reader's understanding of the story? If the whole series is told in a chronological, linear fashion, then you probably don't need to worry about it......"

IT isn't totally linear, but the jumps aren't too confusing, even without the dates etc - in the first book there are two main PoV characters and at times they're looking at the same event, so the narrative slips back and forth a bit. But even so, I think the timeline is clear. I think I'll go with a date line under the title, so that people know this is happening between x and y dates, and then only use dates in the narrative where it is absolutely necessary.

Thank you for the advice! It was very useful.

[Echo]

Hi! I liked the first version, mainly because I thought the second intruded on your writing voice a bit.

I tend to skip over dates in novels, unless it's a time travel thing where it is somehow significant.

looks to be really cool, btw.

[Anna]

mrsbookmark wrote: "Hi! I liked the first version, mainly because I thought the second intruded on your writing voice a bit.

I tend to skip over dates in novels, unless it's a time travel thing where it is somehow si..."

I polled over on LJ too, and a surprising number of people asked for the date/place headers! But I suppose what I'm thinking is that peppering the thing with dates and places does seem as though I don't have confidence in the world building and story telling and the answer may be to do so very judiciously and not at every possible stage, but just when the narrative could do with that sort of support. Thank you for your comment. It was much appreciated and very helpful.