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I wonder, what could be a good way to provide time measures in a fantasy universe. I don't mean the calendar which is covered in the question: Out of this world... Giving it time?, but measures lik...
#4: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-11-18T19:50:16Z (almost 4 years ago)
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I wonder, what could be a good way to provide time measures in a fantasy universe. I don't mean the calendar which is covered in the question: [Out of this world... Giving it time?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/427/out-of-this-world-giving-it-time), but measures like hours, quarters and minutes.When it's obvious for me that I won't write "5 kilometres from here", would it be satisfactory to write "an hour of a way from here" (pardon if it's not a proper grammar way to say that in English, I write stories in my native language)?Is it reasonable to provide exact time measures in worlds without clocks, basing it on sundials or magic? Sundials could be an answer for hours (perhaps with the passing hours announced by bells or anything), but they're not accurate for any shorter measures.Or is it better to pick up some in-universe measure, like the length of popular local prayer? F.e. we use Ave Maria in Poland for that.
- I wonder, what could be a good way to provide time measures in a fantasy universe. I don't mean the calendar which is covered in the question: [Out of this world... Giving it time?](https://writing.codidact.com/q/740), but measures like hours, quarters and minutes.
- When it's obvious for me that I won't write "5 kilometres from here", would it be satisfactory to write "an hour of a way from here" (pardon if it's not a proper grammar way to say that in English, I write stories in my native language)?
- Is it reasonable to provide exact time measures in worlds without clocks, basing it on sundials or magic? Sundials could be an answer for hours (perhaps with the passing hours announced by bells or anything), but they're not accurate for any shorter measures.
- Or is it better to pick up some in-universe measure, like the length of popular local prayer? F.e. we use Ave Maria in Poland for that.
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T02:53:30Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/7986 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Darek Wędrychowski
·
2019-12-08T02:53:30Z (almost 5 years ago)
I wonder, what could be a good way to provide time measures in a fantasy universe. I don't mean the calendar which is covered in the question: [Out of this world... Giving it time?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/427/out-of-this-world-giving-it-time), but measures like hours, quarters and minutes. When it's obvious for me that I won't write "5 kilometres from here", would it be satisfactory to write "an hour of a way from here" (pardon if it's not a proper grammar way to say that in English, I write stories in my native language)? Is it reasonable to provide exact time measures in worlds without clocks, basing it on sundials or magic? Sundials could be an answer for hours (perhaps with the passing hours announced by bells or anything), but they're not accurate for any shorter measures. Or is it better to pick up some in-universe measure, like the length of popular local prayer? F.e. we use Ave Maria in Poland for that.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2013-05-31T07:34:20Z (over 11 years ago)
Original score: 17