: Re: How can I convey dates (with ordering) for events happening under different dating systems, e.g. a Sci-Fi story spread over the galaxy? So I want to write a Sci-Fi where humans have spread

@Debbie451

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I can think of a few ways:

1) Cheat. This was how Tolkien did it, so you'd be in good company. He just listed somewhere in the appendices that "Year 5798 by Gondor's calendar = 144 Shire Reckoning" and let the readers do the math.

2) Make the characters work out a solution. If you have characters on Terra and characters on Pluto who meet, they're going to have to work out some way of syncing their calendars.

3) Meta. At the beginning of a chapter, just announce as part of the header what the date is:

July 20, 2056 Terran Time
12 Fizzbinth of Shar, Plutonian Time

If you equate them at the beginning of the chapter, it will be clear that the two dates are the same, and then you can advance them separately (or together) as needed.

4) Reset the calendars. Call it 1 A.I., Year one after invasion.

At some point, unless all your characters are using a calendar which your reader understands, you are going to have to do some amount of explaining.

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