maps and dates

What's the purpose...

of your map?

If it is to ease your readers into the story then a date would be helpful.

Also a map of the same area today for comparison is fun. I myself enjoy seeing those in historical novels particularly those set in geographical areas which are now quite differently divided up!

If you don't want to orient your reader to a specific time in history, then don't include a date at all.

If you don't want your reader to attach the setting of your story to today's political/geographic boundaries, then label the map only with the names that are contemporary to your story.

When I look at a map of New France, that gives me one set of information; when I look at a map of Quebec and the Maritimes, that gives me an entirely different set of information, even though the geography is the same.

Ultimately, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here. It's a judgment call, plain and simple. If you're hesitant to slap a date on the map, you can always set the time relative to the story. For example:

MAPLANDIA DURING THE CARTOGRAPHIC WARS

Of course, if you want to orient your reader to a specific time, you're going to have to include a date (and a date they will understand) somewhere.

I'm writing in 3rd century B.C. Rome, so I've had to contend with this myself. My personal solution was to keep things period accurate within the story itself, but to fall back on modern date reckoning for chapter and section headings. I've taken some flak for it over in the SYW area, but in my opinion it's a necessary evil. I want the reader invested in the story, not in trying to work out what some period accurate date (four days before the nones of Aprilis, in the consulship of Flaminius and Geminus) translates into. The question, it seems to me, is which one takes the reader out of the story the least?

Doogs said:

I'm writing in 3rd century B.C. Rome, so I've had to contend with this myself. My personal solution was to keep things period accurate within the story itself, but to fall back on modern date reckoning for chapter and section headings. I've taken some flak for it over in the SYW area

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From whom? Your solution is IMO the absolutely best solution. And I studied classics in college, and could probably translate from the dating system of that era better than most people.

I mean, heck, you're already "translating" the dialogue into English, so why not translate the dating as well?

From whom? Your solution is IMO the absolutely best solution. And I studied classics in college, and could probably translate from the dating system of that era better than most people.

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I don't remember exactly. It was in one of the scenes I posted. I believe it was settled when it was revealed Colleen McCullough makes regular use of B.C. in her Roman novels.

I tried to use period accurate dates at first (and still have a day-by-day calendar in Excel with everything translated from modern to Roman date reckoning), but found most readers got hopelessly lost.

3rd cent. bc in Rome...what a great time to write a story in. The history of Rome is filled with writing material, isn't it?

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That it is!

Finni said:

I would love to read your book. when will it be done?

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I finished writing it last March. Now I'm busy editing/rewriting with an eye to cutting the word count. But it is definitely readable in its current state (I gave a dozen or so people copies when I finished the draft, and all but two tore through it and demanded to know what happens next).

If you're seriously interested, I could send on a PDF in the next week or two (so I can get to a chapter end in the editing). I have to say, I'd definitely appreciate a fellow writer's eyes on it. And I'd certainly be willing to return the favor in kind.