Your mind is on fire as you type out your latest story at super-fast speed when, all of a sudden, you come to a halt. You want to include a date or a time period, and you’re not sure of the best way to express it.

Here are some easy guidelines to help you get started.

Dates

There are two simple ways to write a date but in fiction you should try to write the words out in full:

Thursday 9 June 2016 – with no comma and no “th”

or

Ninth of June

Always write dialogue the way your character would say it:

“She’ll be here on April the tenth,” said Mary.

Years

Write a single year in numerals:

2014

For a range of years, you can write the numerals:

1998-99 or 2002-2006

But for fiction, you should try to write the phrase in full:

She died sometime…