Fantasy question relating to suspension of disbelief

I might be put off if the story is set in a period before such day-names were used. But in a world that is comparable to late 19th century England, the use of Monday or Tuesday wouldn't be tasking my suspension of belief.

Rather, coming up with other weekday-names just to prove the point that this is not at all like our own world and history, might just be even more jarring.

I'd say you're fine.

With such advanced technology, I'd expect a standard calendar to be widely used. So, you could either create your own (which is incredibly confusing to me as I've encountered it) or use ours. Since you're already borrowing from our world, I'd expect as much. You can also file this down as an author "translation" taking whatever that world would say to our language. Oddly enough, I find it a bit strange when authors don't use days of the weeks but still use standard weeks and (unnamed) months and seasons.

When all else fails, you can work around it. "In three days..." and go really rudimentary "By the next full moon..."

Is it set in a completely alternate world or a divergent one--that is, a different Victorian England, but still England? If it's a completely alternate world, then yes, I would find our day-of-the-week names jarring--who's to say this alternate world has a repeating seven-day calendrical cycle, for one thing?

If it's just an alternate England/Europe, then our day-names would pass unnoticed.

It wouldn't bother me at all to read a story such as you describe with the days of the week named the same as the real world days of the week. You say it's an alternate world, and you're using some facets of this world from that general time period, so I don't see why you couldn't use the days of the week that we all know.

That wouldn't bother me one bit.

Sun day, Moon day, Tyr's day, Odin's day, Thor's day, Freya day, Saturn day.

The days of the week we use are already one short step away from myth. You could just take that short step backward and thus split the difference between using our weekday names and making up new ones.

I think Mieville made up days of the week for the world that The Scar takes place in. He kept it pretty simple - Bone Day, Ash Day, etc. It was a tad disconcerting at first but not completely confusing.

For worlds that are completely different, I would probably expect different day names. Especially if you are trying to distinguish this world from Victorian England.

If you dont want to make up days of the week, why not just have people mention numbers of days rather than names? "I havent eaten in three days" works just as well as "I havent eaten since Thursday." A day of the month works too, although its a little more vague if youre not specifying the current day. "I leave on the 12th." You dont even have to make up a month name for that one.

I would also advise to go the date route if you are so inclined to do it. It is much easier, and also amounts to some levels of immersion, I guess?

The problem with the weekdays as they are is this: if it is a separate from ours (secondary) world, you probably need to be consistent with the words and etymologies of the words you use in it. For example, I find myself in the same exact spot with the weekdays in my own WIP, also 19th century-esque and very reminiscent of the actual world's cultures. But my world is highly multilingual, and if characters would use all the names of all the weekdays in all their native cultures, it would overwhelm the reader. So I just, say, state in the beginning of the book that I am translating weekdays and the names of the months to the ones the English-speaking reader would be acquainted with. No problem, that way =).

So, with you, I would ask what are the specifics of your world? What is the base language culture of the place where the story happens? If it is non-european, I would rethink the use of the seven-day week as well. Additionally, if the topology, naming conventions and, of course, religion is by far very different from ours, using words such as "Saturn's Day" in a world where there is no Saturn (let alone, Thors, Freyas and Wodans) is something I would be cautious with. So, if you comfortable with such possible oddities in between the words and names your characters use while also using the European/Anglicized names of the weekdays and months, it is probably going to be okay - readers rarely put much attention to it, unless you go for deep-dive immersion. But if you are hesitant (otherwise you wouldn't ask this question), then there is your answer: maintain inner-world consistency.

And yes, just saying that it all is a "translation" from the original might also work ^^.

Hope some of these thoughts will help you =).

I agree with people that finding a way around it without inventing your own calender would be better, or using words that are similar in structure but represent the myth of your own world. Having a completely new calendar thrust upon you can be just as jarring as seeing the mordern day one represented, but yeah, I'd probably have my immersion broken if I was reading a fantasy book and they started saying "see you next tuesday."

Admittedly i've been facing the same problem with my writing. So far I've found a way around it by being more vague, but it's getting confusing in its self, so I feel your struggle, but so far I havent come to a full solution yet aside from using words like next sunrise, next moon, summers end, etc.

I've used my own system for secondary world, but it's rarely referenced. The days have numbers rather than names. Very simple.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I'm currently reading the Earthsea series by Le Guin, and she's liberally using the names of months like April in her similies and so forth. While reading it didn't really jar me.

Ultimately I think you can make both approaches work; it just depends on your execution. Though I would add that if you make this a part of your worldbuilding it should serve the story beyond pure differentiation. I'd be displeased if I learned the names of all your days in a week, and then it serves no further purpose but to sound different/cool.

Wouldn't bother me at all. I find 'fantasy' calendars a bit grating most of the time, though there are exceptions, like The Fifth Season where I really liked the world-building done through the calendar system.

I wouldn't be bothered by it at all, being entirely honest. It's used everywhere and its so second nature I wouldn't even notice it, probably.

Well, Tolkien did it.