Today we’re going to take a look at how your society marks the passage of time.
Recomended Reading
Today’s recomended reading is just this article.
The Exercise
Precise, small units of time probably don’t exist in your world, if it’s like most fantasy worlds. There will be years, months, weeks, days, and probably hours.
So let’s get started:
~How many months in a year? How many months does each season take up?
—In Llyr, for example, there are thirteen months. Spring, summer, and fall are all four months; winter is five months. In George R. R. Martin’s world, seasons can take years at a time.
How long each season is will have an effect on things like religion. In a world where winter is the longest season (or a kingdom; in the south, an island nation called Uruk-har, winter is short and mild), the sun will have huge religious importance. (It should anyway, but more so in a place with lots of winter.)
~How many weeks in a month?
—-How do characters tell the months? In Llyr, each month is a moon’s cycle, and it’s about five weeks. A month could be six weeks long if you really wanted it to be. You might not want to make it too different from our time so that you can keep track of it more easily. But you might want to make it entirely different and alien to us.
~How many days in a week?
—-Somewhere between five and ten days in the week is probably your best bet. In Llyr there are five days: Llyrday, Monday, Tuesday, Thriceday, and Friday.
~How many hours in a day?
—-Are hours called hours? In Llyr an hour is a mark. There are twenty-four hours in a day in Llyr for simplicity’s sake, but you could have twenty-six or twenty-eight. This will effect how much people sleep and when they sleep. Are night and day almost the same length, or is one longer than the other? Do the lengths of night and day change with the seasons like they do on our world, or do they stay the same?
Prompt Time!
Write 800 words about ‘the changing seasons’ from your main character’s PoV.