In a story I'm writing, there is a lot of switching between time and characters. They are separate stories that all come together at the end, which makes the constant switching necessary. To make it easier on the reader, I've been putting time, place and date before each switch. What I'm wondering is if there is a correct (or just preferred) way to do this. Example: London, England September 23. 1992 11:30 am
I am reading Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which is written in a series of emails, diary entries, press comments and letters. At the top of each posted email, it has who the email is from, to, date, and folder. At the beginning of the press comments it has the title of the article and the date. The letters are headed with the address and date. Personally I am not that excited about it, but Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was a Richard and Judy summer read, making it a big seller. (information) Richard and Judy was a popular magazine programme.
I would probably show time, date or setting within the content of each scene or chapter, rather than tell it. Obviously, I don't know what you are writing about and where you want to go with the story. So my opinion may not be the correct answer to your question. I think most authors I have read that stamp a date and place, have done so to establish a particular time and space in history, present or future. But they only do it once or twice and that is about it. Unless these events are happening simultaneously in different locations, and it is vital to the story to stamp this information, then I would probably do it, although I would first try to establish it within the content of the chapter/scene rather that state it like a time stamp. Also, once the reader gets to know your characters, they will be able to know where they are. Again, this is just an opinion, feel free to disregard it if it doesn't work for your story.
I usually prefer to do it that way as well, but as I tried it in this story, it just sounded extremely awkward most of the time, and it really confused my currently only reader. It just became much simpler for both me and her to just write the place and date, then get on with the story (seeing as I'd have to explain it in pretty much every single passage).
there's no 'correct' or 'preferred' way... just do whatever works best for your story and will not confuse or annoy the readers...
I guess that's the thing about a timeless setting being more relatable to more readers, or stories not getting bogged down by modern politics where people still have agendas. Time and place don't seem to do much harm to best selling historical novels, nor travel literature, or other things where it's the marketing point. In literary work it's a half and half between strange locations made up to stand symbolically for society as a whole, often with retro technology, and things set very specifically in a place and the story being an analysis of the time and place as much as the characters. Either can work very well, so, in short, don't worry about that comment. If any single one thing is pulled off badly, it can be argued against. You may as well read a bad novel and say, "Characters always ruin a novel. Don't use them."
Perhaps I'm veering off topic here, but this did remind me of something. When I'm writing, I ask myself, does the reader NEED to know this piece of information for the story to work? If not, I'm inclined to remove it. I'm sure I still amass plenty of fluff in my work, but this criteria can help reduce it. I'm not saying this is the only way to write. Many well respected writers present a great deal of information and use a great many words to do so. But it is worth considering if you haven't developed a definite style you want to write in.
Dracula springs to mind... I'm also copying the way Agatha Christie does this in one of her novels, but I can't remember if it was exactly the way she did it (and naturally I can't find the book, and I can't remember it's name even though it's my favorite Christie novel), which is why I was asking here. And also something weird, my grandfather's edition of Around the World in 80 days has time and place in it, but the edition I own doesn't... But anyway. There is a lot of going back and forth in time (from year 62 ((I've wasted 2 years of my life styding ancient, Asian and Inca history, if I don't put it to some use, I'll kill my professors)) 'til present time), and sometimes things are going on at the same time in different chapters. It's possible it could work without it, I'll look it over again once the first draft is completely done, but right now a partial reason why it's there is because I need to make sure I'm getting the time-line right.
It has to be a good writer who writes it and believe me till yet i ve never read a book that is perfect in timing, place..etc.
I've read plenty of good books that relate the time and place to the reader in some manner or other. As mamamaia said, above, just do it in a manner that isn't annoying to the reader. I think a straightforward presentation like in your original post is just fine.
global conspiracy and natural disaster thrillers often use the time/place method, since their settings are usually in various parts of the world and 'ticking down' to some major catastrophe/terrorist act is the focal point of the plot...
