The Importance of Time
Chuck reminds me of this weekly.
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When you write stories, one of the things you must maintain an awareness of, is time.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time” – Leo Tolstoy
The age of characters, the ages themselves — as in the specific sections of time in your world — because time affects everything and everyone. Readers can often become confused if your story isn’t consistent with events and people in the flow of time.
Chuck reminds me of this weekly.
I’m so glad that WorldAnvil has revamped and expanded ‘timelines’ for our WantedHero world. It will make listing events and keeping the lifespans of characters in order as I continue to build these stories for you. If you haven’t stopped over and had a peek at what Höbin and I are building to expand the goodies of this fictional world with you, you should.
Just go to WantedHero.com.
Funny Story
I believe I mentioned this in one of the Morning Coffee videos, but I couldn’t find it…a conversation I had with my daughter, Ruby. She’s four years old going on 45 with that attitude and intelligence.
One evening, I was watching a program with Dr. Jordan Peterson and she walked into the room. Seeing me engrossed in the conversation I was watching, she asked, "Daddy, what are you doing?"
"Uh, I’m watching Dr. Jordan Peterson, sweetie."
She watched with me for a minute, then said, "He looks…old."
I paused, considering. "Well,…yes, I guess he is getting old."
She stared at the TV. "I mean REEEEEALLY old. Like 45…or even 30!"
My wife, who was knitting in the chair next to me, slapped her hand over her mouth and laughed.
Now I’m 54. I looked at Ruby, her face stoic, then to my wife. "Should I try and…," but my wife shook her head.
"Don’t bother," she said.
But I couldn’t let it go. So I leaned down with a smile on my face and asked, "Ruby, do you know how old daddy is?"
She nodded, "You’re 54."
My wife laughed herself to tears,…and I learned my little girl had absolutely zero concept of numbers or age.
Q: Have you ever read a story and were ‘thrown off’ by a confusion about its use of time?
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Yes! I have. Sadly all too often I need to remind writers of this. It is one of the best things about World Anvil! I mentioned it to one author who was struggling... And got a "you just want me to use World Anvil." Nope. I just want you to make a valid timeline! Writer was not amused because... They thought it was right. I had to make a timeline for them. Then the could see it. Time is hard! I've also learned that people can sense time differently. I'm actually the type who feels time very loosely. The less structured, the better. LoL