Talk:Rodriguez, Christopher K.

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Kit is twelve years old at the beginning of SYWTBAW, and can be assumed to have been thirteen for the seven books following.

DD, not to be picky or anything, but am I correct in believing that about a year passes in between DW and AWAB? After all, DW takes places the summer before AWAB, which also takes place during the summer, doesn't this imply that Kit should've aged more than a year over this time? Thanks for any clarifications you can offer. --Moeen 16:08, 3 Aug 2005 (EDT)

I can't make this agree with my attempt at a timeline either. --Peter Murray 16:41, 3 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Is it possible it all happens in the same summer? I haven't got any of the early books with me, but I know High Wizardry occurs during the summer- there's some muttering about how hot it is- if DW is early summer, HW midsummer and AWAb mid-late summer? I genuinely have no clue how possible this is in relation to US summers but I know they can be quite long- say 3 months ish? DW takes place over a week, HW only three or four days- AWAB's the longest one. Ummmmmm *scratches head* Have DW in early-ish June, rather than July as in your timeline Peter- fits in with the AWAb reference...

Oh man. *has a headache* I can't make it work too well with Peter's timeline, but it is conceivable that all three books could occur in one summer. Um. Just. And that could have been the original intent- even if, okay. maybe some of the dates are a bit off, right? ;)

or we could just put it down to timeline shenanigans. Trademark. ----Tui 00:51, 8 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Moeen has suggested that in chat. My problem with that is the following list:

• Deep Wizardry says it's set in July.
• A Wizard Abroad includes the start of August, and refers to SYWTBAW being two and a half years earlier, and DW being the previous year. (I can't resolve the SYWTBAW reference anyway.)
• Kit's birthday is August 25.
• The Wizard's Dilemma is set after they go back to school. (I can't find where it says Kit is 13 - still - but if it's a note in my timeline, it should only be there because the book says it somewhere.)
• A Wizard Alone is set in January, a month or so after Betsy's death.
• Wizard's Holiday and Wizards at War are set during spring break.

It's difficult to get all of that into a summer without ignoring all the date references. --Peter Murray

Peter, I think Tui was only referring to DW, HW, and AWAB being in the same summer, not the remaining books. Tui, as Peter mentioned above, I had the same idea myself, that DW-AWAB all take place in the same summer, which I think works well with books, except for a few statements here and there. In any case here's my version of a YW timeline, with a few explanations:

Note: In the US, children born in a given year are all placed into the same grade, unlike many other countries. Hence, in order for Kit to have skipped a grade, but be in the same grade as Nita, he must have been born the year before Nita, so I will be assuming this henceforth. Furthermore, from the start of the series, Kit and Nita are both in eighth grade.

• SYWTBAW: This book takes place during the spring of some year, sometime between March and May. (A date given in DW would imply that it takes place in May.) Kit is 12, and Nita 13 and note that Nita's birthday is never explicitly stated (nor in any later text), so we cannot be certain as to her date of birth. The time frame of this text spans about a week or two.

• DW: This takes places early July, which is consistent with schools of the Long Island area, as school ends around the last day of June. The time frame of this novel is about a week, and ends (according to the text) on July 15.

• UL: In this short story, Kit is 12, and Nita 13, and certainly takes place after DW according to the text. It is also clear that it takes place during the summer. As the story itself spans only about a few hours in the afternoon, it can take place with a matter of days after DW has finished. Say, July 20th, for example.

• HW: Here, it is clear this takes place during some of the hottest days of the summer, and mid to late July certain fits as a typically hot period of the year around Long Island. The only technicality (which is probably what throws everything else off), is that Kit is mentioned as being 13, but his birthday is on August 25th. However, assuming this is simply an oversight on DD's part, this novel can take place as soon as a week after DW. So Kit is still 12, but Nita may or may not be 14. Dairine's age is given as 11, and the novel itself spans only a day, or two at most.

• AWAB: This story we know starts out in late July, for Nita says school starts September 9th, and Nita's mom wants her to go to Ireland for the rest of the summer, a "six week" break. This book, however, makes a few statements that lead to serious timeline confusion, but two stand out in particular: First, it states that Nita's been doing wizardry for about two and a half years now. Second, Dairine's age is given as 10. Personally, I think DD was just being a little sloppy here with the timeline. For one thing, the two statements contradict each other. For another, Dairine shouldn't be growing younger as everyone else gets older (unless she somehow figured out how to reverse entropy, which should then lead to the complete defeat of the Lone One and make Dairine the most famous wizard of all time...). Lastly, if Nita has really been doing wizardry for two and half years, she and Kit would be a lot older in later books, and certainly wouldn't be starting ninth grade in the next book.

• TBONWM: Yup, Nita and Kit make an appearance here, so I'll put it in. This is certainly after HW, and before TWD, so it could take place in between HW and AWAB, or AWAB and TWD, but is apparently during the summer. My guess is probably after AWAB, since there isn't a whole lot of room for anything extra between HW and AWAB (remember, Nita and Kit were working with trees for a few days shortly before Nita left).

-Well, so much for summer break!

• TWD: This takes place the September after AWAB, and doesn't appear to contradict any other texts above. Kit is 13 by this time, and Nita likely 14. It takes place in the span of about a week in mid September.

• AWAL: This takes place sometime between December of the given year, or January of the next, over a week or two. No problems here.

• WH: This takes place over spring break of the year after the given year. So Kit and Nita are both in ninth grade, Kit is still 13, Nita 14, and Dairine 12. Spring break can refer to any number of breaks (all during the spring, obvioulsly), and depending on the school, can take place in either February, March, or April. In any case, it's been about a year since SYWTBAW. A lot happens to a wizard in year, no? Tom seems to be starting to show it. Also, DD {cleverly?} never mentions either Nita's, Kit's or Dairine's ages anywhere in this text, so no confusions here.

Well, this is the best I've been able to do, and it comes closest to fitting DD's statement above on Kit. I believe, and as Tui mentioned above, that this was pretty much what DD had in mind for the series. Indeed, one of her statements in the afterword to the 20th anniversary edition of SYWTBAW seems to fit well with this version of events, for she says: "in one book Dairine is hacking away at a wizardly version of CP/M, and in another book, ostensibly set only months away, Kit is wrestling with a mulish DVD player," implying that HW and AWAL are in fact only a few months apart.--Moeen 22:41, 8 Aug 2005 (EDT)

[edit] Timelines

Dai stihó, cousins,

I'm pretty sure the general unspoken agreement is that DD jumped the birthdates and other dates in the previous books up much closer to "now." That would make Kit born in '92, iirc. --Starkruzr 18:28, 12 Jun 2006 (EDT)

Commenting on "Nita's birthday was never explicitedly stated. We do have some frame of reference. Her birthday was a month before the beginning of SYWTBAW.

In HW Dairine is 11 and in SYWTBAW it mentions that Nita is 2 years older than Dairine and 1 year older than Kit, so Nita was 13 and Kit was 12 in HW.