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Q&A Is it a bad writing practice to open a story with a time frame when the time frame is irrelevant?

Your story generally happens at some particular moment, whether you're telling it in the present tense or past tense. There's nothing wrong with describing actions which happened a precise amount o...

posted 7y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:45Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28919
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:41:19Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28919
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T06:41:19Z (almost 5 years ago)
Your story generally happens at some particular moment, whether you're telling it in the present tense or past tense. There's nothing wrong with describing actions which happened a precise amount of time before your book opens.

Separately, adding a time stamp "just to add rhythm to the sentence" _is_ poor writing. Don't add detail unless it's necessary to the plot.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-06-26T09:36:48Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 3