Killing Time
If I could save time in a bottle...
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.
At 1 AM she's just waiting like a shadow.
I get in from work at 2 AM.
It's 3 AM and I must be lonely.
It's 4:03 and I can't sleep without you next to me.
It's 5 o'clock and we tell ourselves, "We need to get home! The sun is creeping overhead again!"
There's something special 'bout 6 o'clock, when it's still too early to knock.
7 am the garbage truck beeps as it backs up.
It's been 8 o'clock for years.
It's 9 o'clock in the morning, you've been this way before.
Like an addict, 10AM automatic.
11 am, by now you would think that I would be up.
12 pm and my dusty telephone rings.
I'm just being silly, playing with some lyrics. After listening to Shinedown's 'If You Only Knew' (It's 4:03...) today, it dawned on me that quite a few songs have time in them. I rounded up a bunch I could think of and looked up the missing times.
I try very hard not to put too specific of a time stamp on my WiP's. I prefer to give a general time frame with subtle descriptions. How about you, do you prefer dating your WiP?
Comments
With my WIP I have a few times in it, but I tend to just give subtle descriptions. :)
Fun post. :)
Love,
Lola
And cool, post, I'd be interested to see where the lyrics are from.
:)
The majority of my books seem to take place in the past where clocks don't actually occur with any frequency (of haven't yet been invented), so I spend a bit of time avoiding references like seconds, minutes, even hours, and especially Specific times.
Anne - You're in a different boat with the regencies since your readers will know it's set in the past ;)
Amalia - I love the Spin Doctors. One, two princes kneel before you...
You sure know a lot of lyrics!
I'm really into music (can't write without it). Collecting the lyrics referencing time is a great idea!
As for my WIP? Much of Watcher, my paranormal/urban fantasy takes place at night - which is when Sunny hunts. She usually makes note of the moon, which means I needed to track the days in the story on a real calendar so that I referenced the proper moon phase. I used March 2007 as my starting point, although there is nothing in the story to indicate what the actual year is.
Sunny also notes the time when she wakes up each day, so, yeah, I would say time and dates play an important part in the background of the story.
My YA paranormal series takes place in modern day - no dates or time referenced. Just sunrise and sunset...
I only mention the time if I'm trying to make a point of how much time has passed, or how much time until a certain event. Otherwise, I just give a general morning/afternoon/evening description.
I don't usually mention time too specifically - only when there's a reason for doing so.
I guess the general consensus goes along with the same thing I do - no real time stamp, but a vague time frame.
I had a better comment, but I scrolled down to read through a few posts - I'm woefully behind - and man, I can't think of anything right now but your Let's Talk blogfest.
Wow, that was amazing. I loved how comfortable they were with each other. The impression of a long time, progressive relationship was clearly defined. Characterization was just beautiful.
I loved his comment about feeling "empty" all the other times. This was sweet, innocent yet sensual. So special, for a girls first time.
Sorry I didn't comment sooner - what can I say, I've been wrapped up in my own life. I didn't leave a comment there because I wanted you to be sure to read how much I enjoyed your entry.
And this post. Intriguing, both.
.........dhole
As for time-stamping my wip - some instances follow real-life, so I do have to date them correctly. Others I like to do the same as you - subtle descriptions giving the idea of the year, but nothing specific.
I liked what you did with time on your post. Lots of fun. =D
The result of which is an encyclopedia of symbolism for different times of day! The witching hour, the haunting dusk, the hope of dawn, etc etc!
Great post, really got me thinking :)
I don't have an excact "era" for my wips...I don't think anyone could tell what time frame it took place in. It just sort of happens.
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Thanks for stopping by at my blog, BTW.