Ever try to back track and figure out when things happen in a book? Sure, there might references to Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween and from there you figure the date. Then if you thought about it some more, you might be able to discern that boy met girl three weeks or four months before. Heck, they might even tell you it’s the middle of January. But you every know the date from a story that doesn’t specifically state it in terms of holidays? Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that way.
Of course, as an author, I’m guilty of not explicitly stating the date to my readers. Let’s be honest… as a reader I don’t usually care. I’m more interested in who the character is or what’s happening to them. But as an author, having your timeline is important – in both story and character development. But I don’t keep it generic as a timeline. I calendar it. Literally. I have a calendar with key events or chapters noted in it. For me, my first book opens on October 12. Is that date significant to me? No, not before I started writing. But when I looked at the calendar and knew what things had to happen, and in what order, I realized that some time had to pass between events and had backtracked it all to October 12. It had to be October 12.
After a bad day, I was driving home and let my mind wander to my book. It was then, in a moment where I let go of the day-to-day stresses, that I realized it was the 12th of October. The realization hit me that I had to be around the date that the book “started”. I knew it started in mid-October. Keep in mind, I’m not referring to when I started writing, but rather what date we begin to hear Liz talking. Once I got home, I pulled out my book calendar and found I was right. It was mid-October. In fact it was that day. It was a weird cosmic thing. My book – and characters, naturally – are so connected to me that I had that sixth sense that today was significant in my book. I just didn’t realize how.