SANJIESAN LORE / BUYING GUIDE
Choose timeline software with an invented-calendar example
A chronology tool must fit your calendar, not quietly force the world into a familiar one. Aeon Timeline’s worldbuilding page describes custom calendars and grouped timelines. It is a relevant option to investigate, but a small troublesome sequence will tell you more than a beautiful view of centuries.
Bring an example with a boundary
Write a sample calendar with invented month lengths and a named era transition. Place one event on the last day of a month, another just after the transition and a third described only as happening between them. Ask how the tool represents each case without fabricating a precise date. Do not assume that support for custom month names proves support for every irregular rule your setting uses. Keep a plain-language answer beside the software demonstration.
Separate event order from telling order
Arrange three chapters so that the middle event is revealed first. During evaluation, check whether you can compare chronological order with the order readers encounter, and whether moving a chapter changes the underlying date. This distinction matters for mysteries and historical revelations. Also inspect one character’s age at the relevant events, using the tool’s documented method, rather than accepting a correct-looking number without understanding its calendar assumptions.
Decide what you need outside the application
Ask a collaborator which chronology information they need in a manuscript, spreadsheet or reference PDF. Test a supported output with the sample events, then check dates, relationships and uncertainty notes in the receiving file. The official purchase page distinguishes ownership of the current version from later updates; confirm the current device and update terms for your situation. Buy after the awkward example survives, rather than paying to organise hundreds of unresolved dates.