My fantasy story is also gaslamp, which unfortunately complicates matters, since I AM thinking about a specific time period for my story to take place in (it's the 1900-1910 era). I just don't want it to reflect real life 1900-1910. Because almost everything (societal roles of women, style of government, the fact that magic and gods exist!) is different from how it went down here in the real world. I do try to preserve the atmosphere of the 1900-1910 in other elements like clothing, architecture, occupations, and food, but those honestly feel like window dressing for my story, as in, I just put them there for fun. I might turn that into something more meaningful in the future but for now–
How do you date your fantasy worlds? Do you avoid specifics (like I'm thinking of doing) or do you label a specific year for your story, like a bold soul????
A few examples I can think of: Gail Carriger's Finishing School series confidently starts at 1851, despite having steampunk technology and magical creatures like werewolves and vampires. The research goes pretty deep though based on locations and fashion and mannerisms. On the other hand, Attack on Titan has its starting year show up in like, the 3 digits (ex. 845). Might be a largely fictional timeline. Also, the worldbuilding goes stupid-deep there.
Things just get a bit difficult when it comes to steampunk/gaslamp…..I'm afraid I might be overthinking it :(
You're overthinking it ;) If you put a real world date on it, it gives people a sense of what to expect. For instance, when you say steampunk and fantasy, people tend to almost immediately go to medieval. So giving a year attached to Victorian fashion and industrial age tech and stuff allows people to envision the era you're working with. Then you start revealing the things that are different- the things that make it fantasy and steampunk, and the we the readers realize this is no normal Victorian Era we're used to. This is something special.
You could always just make up your own timeline and year markers, but that requires more effort to explain. If I say 1950, but I mean on my timeline, that gives you no insight at all into what time period it might be, what tech exists. If I say its 1950 and man has just discovered the existence of dragons, you don't know if that's cool or not. That could be just so-so. But if I open with "It's 1950's America and instead of the atom bomb, we developed deep space exploration vessels. We've just discovered life on Pluto." Now you know its a cool premise. Lots of analog tech, not a lot of computers, etc. You have a frame of reference for why the concept of deep space exploration might be cool- because its different from the real 1950's.
So, at the end of all that: it's your call. Don't think too hard about it, because whatever you do will work.
Oh, that is such a cool answer…..I love that example you gave with the 1950s America! Thank you so much, I'll take your advice and try not to overthink it. <3
I'm sure you'll do great :)
