Describing time of day

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Describing time of day

by Clara
(Fl. USA)

I NEED HELP!

I have a professional free-lance editor to 'clean up' my stories (I am a foreign born writer) her background is mainly in technical writing and although I love how she edit my stories she drives me insane with her comments when it comes to exact time and dates in my children's stories. I usually give days, or times as morning, afternoon and evening to indicate when the actions are taking place, I also indicate the time of day in the setting; dusk, morning bright sun, lunch-time, dinners but she insist on technical issues. I took one year writing course with a well-known writer, I've been reading for the past three years tons of children's books and I can't make it clear to her that it is in the setting and some words and not timetables that we explain when actions take place. Am I missing something here?

Thank you for your help. Frustrated writer.

Comments for
Describing time of day

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down to the minute!
by: Steve B. (webmaster)

Clara, it's hard to speak with any sort of authority without seeing the material, but it certainly sounds like she's applying a standard that she THINKS is a rule but isn't.

Why don't you find some well-known published work that handles time of day in a way that you know she would object to and say, "See!"

It sounds pedantic
by: Jeremy Foster-Fell

I am struggling to think of a circumstance where exact times are required in a story. History of battles perhaps ?? Agatha Christie murder mysteries?

I can however think of a huge body of literature where the hard clock numbers are absent. This exact time absence would seem to be the rule rather than the exception.

Without issuing a definitive judgement as without seeing you material, it seems very odd advice.

JFF

writing about time of day
by: Anonymous

examples you might use:

birds' chirping a few minutes before sunrise
just after lunch
as the sun was going down
late afternoon as the shadows grew long
the sun was at its peak overhead
shortly after dusk
as the stars became visible

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