How do in-story dates and custom calendars work?
Every universe has its own calendar. Out of the box it's the standard twelve months. If your world counts time differently, set your own months and eras in Settings → Calendar, and every date on a fact, event or relationship uses them.
Dates are what let the continuity check catch characters acting after they die, ages that don't add up, and someone in two places at once, so it's worth setting the calendar up early.
Set up your calendar
- Open Settings → Calendar.
- Give it a Calendar name, such as "Reckoning of the Flame".
- Under Months, rename each month and set its number of days. Use Add month, the arrows and the delete button to get the right list in the right order. The heading shows the total days a year.
- Under Eras, choose Add era if you need one. Give it a name, an abbreviation and the year it starts.
- Check the Preview line, then choose Save calendar.
Use the standard calendar puts the twelve usual months back.
How eras work
Years are stored as one continuous count. An era only changes how they're written. In the sample, the era After Sundering (AS) starts in year 1, so year 412 is written "412 AS". If a second era started in year 500, year 503 would be written as its fourth year: "4" followed by that era's abbreviation.
Typing dates
Date fields accept:
| You type | Means |
|---|---|
412 | The whole of year 412 |
Frostmoon 412 | The month of Frostmoon in 412 |
3 Frostmoon 412 | The 3rd of Frostmoon, 412 |
412-1-3 | Same, as year-month-day |
412 AS | Year 412 in the After Sundering era |
Month names come from your calendar, so type them the way you named them.
Precision matters. A year on its own covers the whole year, so "died in 412" and "attended a council in 412" won't be flagged unless you give more detail. Add the month or day when the order matters.
Dates on facts
Facts have True from and Until. Leave both blank for something that's always true. A fact with only True from is true from then on. A "born" or "died" fact with a date also sets the character's lifespan for the checker.
See Events and the timeline for how dated events are drawn.
Common questions
Can I change my calendar after adding dates?
Yes. Dates are never lost. Changing month lengths changes how existing dates are ordered against each other, so check the timeline afterward.
Do I have to give exact dates?
No. A year on its own is fine, and so is a month and year. Events can also have a When, in words description with no date at all.
Keep your story straight
Who Where When keeps every character, place and date in your books, and tells you when the story contradicts itself.
Start your story bibleMore in Building your bible
- How do entries, facts and sources work?Entries are the people, places and things in your series. Facts record details about them, with dates, a source chapter and a quote.
- How do events and the timeline work?Add births, battles, journeys and other events with dates, places and participants. They appear on a zoomable timeline with a lane per character.
- How do family trees and relationships work?Link entries with relationships like parent of, member of or rival of. Who Where When draws a relationship graph and family trees from them.
- How do I add maps and pins?Upload a map image of your world, drop pins on it, and link each pin to a place or other entry in your story bible.
- How does the continuity check work?Who Where When checks your bible on every change for conflicting facts, deaths, births, two places at once, ages and duplicates.
Related
- How to keep a story timelineTrack in-story dates separately from chapter order, and keep ages, travel times, flashbacks and invented calendars consistent.
- How to make a worldbuilding bibleWhat goes in a world bible for fantasy or science fiction, from places and cultures to magic rules, history and maps, and when to stop.