No, not the kind you eat or take to dinner. I'm talking about time, events, places.
How much of a date should you include in your storytelling?
January?
January 11th?
January 11th, 1989?
1989?
Saturday?
A year ago?
The answer depends on how secure of a timeline you're setting up, and how significant dates are to the story/storyteller. Maybe the girl who lost her boyfriend in a car accident specifically remembers that date. Someone time-traveling, say, may have a reason to go back to 7PM on Friday January 11th, 1989. Or maybe they just press a few buttons and they're sometime in the 17th century. Maybe you just need to know that it's a September afternoon and the leaves have begun to transition from emerald to orange.
I warn you that sometimes the more specific you are, the easier it is for holes to be poked (or for you to forget what you're doing), especially if you're using real history (where people can check dates of battles or whether August 11th fell on a Friday or a Tuesday).
Here's what you can do to keep yourself on track:
1. Check a calendar (again, if you're using real dates, might be wise; if it's made up, it doesn't matter quite as much). A quick google search will answer most of your questions if you wanted to know something like what day of the week it was or how long a battle took place.
2. Check your story dates. You also want to make sure that you aren't telling the reader it's January 11th, and then say a week later (on January 14th...).
How clear do I need to be?
Readers won't mind one way or another, as long as it makes sense! :)
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