Making Your Very Own Months, Dates and Years For Your Fantasy World

Confession time again. This is becoming a regular thing. I forgot all about making anything calendar related until the third draft of Broken Pattern. I didn’t even, (sob) have a time line. But I am better now, and I am ready to help you avoid my terrible mistake.

Now, you could take the easy route. You can just use normal dates and days of the week, the same ones we use in the real world. But it’s not the same. Its all about the suspension of disbelief. You can be talking about dragons and magic, and your readers will accept these things. But if you ask them to accept that these things are happening on something so common as a Thursday, that might throw them.

Are you ready to make your very own calendar? Then let’s get started.
* Consider what sort of weather your country has. People generally make calendars based on things like farming and the weather.
* What kind of people live in your country? Do they farm? Do they have special feasts days? Is there one day of the week that means something special to them?
* When I was making my months, I based them on the moon phases. Think about how your people know that another month has gone past.
* Or not. You don’t have to have months, after all. Remember, you can make up whatever you like, you don’t have to go by any of the normal rules. For instance, I made the first month of the year in the spring. It’s always made more sense to me than having the year start in the dead of winter.

Now, here are a couple things you want to remember when making your own calendar.
* Holidays. They’re important, and every society has them.
* What sort of chores are traditional for each season?
* How many seasons does your world have?
* What’s your main character’s birthday? In their society, what does that say about them?
* What sort of food is traditional in each season? Yes, everything comes back to food with me, why do you ask?

Making up your own calendar for your fantasy series may seem like a small detail. But it’s not. It makes your world feel more like a real world. It helps your reader feel like they’re living in your world. And when you’re writing fantasy, that’s pretty much the jackpot.