If you are a writer, I think you are familiar with this topic. For the newbie, it might be a little bit strange.

Well, then I would like to explain it. There are many kinds of numbers used in fiction. However, in this article I would like to talk about two kinds:

- date/year of the story is in

- age of the characters

Why do I raise these two?

Because these two elements are important. The writers need to know about them before they write a story.

Date/year of the story 

It is like a fence to help me to not go out of topic. Also, it helps readers to read and understand my story well.

If the story is set in the contemporary era, I can use the exact year such as 2010, 2018 - or might be the future if I write fantasy or sci-fi fiction.

Though in some stories I don’t say it, I have to know it and set it, and the readers might be able to catch up what year my story is in just by seeing the social event that I put in.

Age of the characters

How old are my characters? All characters, including main role, supporting role, minor supporting role even a maid role.

The same as the year of the story, in some stories I tell the readers frankly, some I don’t but I show to the readers the age of my characters through appearance, dress, or other things.

How are they connected and important?

Well, let me explain in the next article.