Forum Discussion
Creating a Fantasy Calendar
- Jan 07, 2022
ChristianHauer see if the attached does everything you want. I locked the sheet except the 2 green cells where you enter the start & end dates but there is no password if you want to unlock it.
Just wanted to drop a line saying I'm having fun with this, even making some progress. It'll likely take another couple of days, however, because I do have a life in the real world.
By the way, have you read Time and Again? https://smile.amazon.com/Time-Again-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00AK9IY0O/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QXKI893YQXA0&keywords=time+and+again+by+jack+finney&qid=1641348384&sprefix=time+and+again%2Caps%2C58&sr=8-1
What little you've said of your story reminds me of this classic by Jack Finney. Weaves real history in with sci-fi with illustrations from actual news magazines of the past....
- mtarlerJan 08, 2022Silver ContributorYou're welcome and best of luck
- mathetesJan 08, 2022Gold ContributorLet us know when the book comes out.
- ChristianHauerJan 08, 2022Copper ContributorYes! This looks fantastic! Thank you! And thank you to mathetes for helping too! I’ve appreciated both of you guys’ help and interest in this project!
- mathetesJan 08, 2022Gold Contributor
Great job! I was still in the earliest stages; would have taken a few more days...
ChristianHauer I'm going to assume this meets your every need unless you come back looking for more.
- mtarlerJan 07, 2022Silver Contributor
ChristianHauer see if the attached does everything you want. I locked the sheet except the 2 green cells where you enter the start & end dates but there is no password if you want to unlock it.
- ChristianHauerJan 07, 2022Copper ContributorMy ideal outcome would be a calendar that shows all of the months of a year, with the days, and being able to type in a year to change that view. Basically, a function that can keep the numbers of a day (like Excels built in numbering system) and spit out a view that would look similar to the Julian calendar, but the fantasy world calendar. Similar to mathetes idea.
The story I’m writing is one of a series of stories. The current story has time travel over 200 years, and some dates being referenced, so it would be nice to “realistically” bridge that gap of time, instead of just guessing the dates. Also, a later story focuses specifically on one week way later in the future from the first story. Because of that distance, and because I want to keep day, month, and year continuity, I’d like to see each year laid out by months with the months showing days, much like a 12-month calendar of ours would have. But the fantasy world 14 month calendar. Basically, a micro-macro view.
Does that make sense? Or does it seem like I’m running in circles? Thanks! - mtarlerJan 07, 2022Silver ContributorSry from the context I thought you had a template already (e.g from the web or something) that you wanted to adapt.
I'm still confused what the spreadsheet will be used for. Is this just a tool for you to create a consistent date in the alternate calendar or to see year's of this alternate calendar? In one case you talked about needing a function that can tell you # days between 2 dates and another location you want to see a 14 month planner based on a year. Is any format for this ok? Do you really need all 14 months of a single year or would it be more useful to have the month of a starting date and the month of the end date and # days between? Really hard to guess what you are looking for when we don't know what for/ how you're are planning to use it. - ChristianHauerJan 07, 2022Copper ContributorI have very little knowledge of commands in Excel, so I wouldn’t know how to make that from scratch. But if you could help me with the commands I would need, or know of a YouTube video or similar tutorial that could show me all of the different pieces I need to put that together, I could work at it.
- mtarlerJan 05, 2022Silver Contributorso I was trying to suggest if you have a lookup to go from day-of-year (i.e. 1-365/366) to fantasy date and back. Since both calendars are based on same #days/year (inc leap years) then you convert it to our calendar, use excel function, then convert it back to fantasy calendar all based on day#. I think it should work. My only concern is the days between the 2 leap days in leap years but like I said you need to account for that in the lookup table.
As for creating a 14 month planner that is done using various techniques. Depending on the technique used may depend on how you would adapt it for your fantasy calendar.. - ChristianHauerJan 05, 2022Copper ContributorBut wouldn’t that show me the figures for the Julian calendar? I would like to have the figures for the fantasy calendar. Also, my preference would be if I could have all 14 months of a year displayed in block format on a worksheet, like we might have in a “planner” document for Excel with our 12 month calendar. And then be able to change what year I’m looking at by typing in a new one. I don’t know how feasible that is, but that’s what my ultimate goal would be.
I hope that makes sense. Thanks for your insights! - mtarlerJan 05, 2022Silver Contributorso i just read this thread and what I think you are looking for is a way to either:
a) give a year, month, day (in the fictitious calendar) and find out what day of the week it is, and
b) given 2 dates know how many days happened between them (in that fictitious calendar)
I think all you need is a look-up that defines every day as what day # it is in the year (and adj for leap yrs). So given 2 "dates" you use that look up for each then convert them to our calendar and use the date functions in Excel. So for example if they travelled back in time from 2068-14-20 (day 359 in that year) back to 1968-01-22 (day 22) then you use excel
=DAYS( DATE(2068,1,1) + 359 , DATE(1968,1,1) + 22 ) - ChristianHauerJan 04, 2022Copper ContributorI’m glad you’re having fun! I was worried I was being too unclear and vague that it was annoying. I really appreciate all your help and your questions! And I’m sorry if I seem cagey about the story itself, we are in the last phases of development before my sister begins to illustrate for it so I’m trying to not get too many details out yet.
I know how that is! I have a job working sheet metal so take all the time you need.
I’ll have to look into “Time and Again” I have not heard of that! It sounds interesting.