Tips for Writing Time Travel Narratives

SNAGS IN TIME TRAVEL NARRATIVES

DISCLAIMER: All statements are subjective suggestions based on opinions gathered from the examination of a variety of texts and should not be taken as if they were the words of the Bible.

## INTRODUCTION TO TIME TRAVEL

Time travel literature has been a subject that has piqued human intrigue for over a century, providing quality entertainment for people of all ages.  In this lovely field, writers tend to use the same exact tropes, methods, settings, characteristics, and basic theories that have been seen time and time again. As one sits down to write their first (or second, or third, or twenty-seventh) time travel narrative, it is important to consider the following.

## TIME TRAVEL FICTION: PLEASE STOP THE MONOTONY

Don’t misunderstand—time travel fiction is wonderful. It plays on the fantasies of every human being who has dreamed of a time outside of their own and provides the idea of a way to change fate and the bleak life a person is currently living. However, there are some things that readers and critics alike are just tired of hearing.

## PERSPECTIVE

Writers-- and their own personal styles-- can make or break a character. For example, in H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, the reader is skeptical of the Time Traveller’s story due to the fact that it’s told from a third person. Throughout the entire narrative, the reader is never given any clues or backstory that cements truth in the novel. This secrecy can have many effects on the reader. It can lead them to wonder more about the honesty of the characters than the story, which detracts from the overall experience of the novel. Due to this, readers are unable to empathize with the characters, making creating personal connections with the text a difficulty. On the other hand, they might appreciate the lack of characterization which allows them to focus on the story alone. In Daphne Du Maurier’s The House on the Strand, the first person point of view gives the story an entirely truthful perspective, and nothing about the narrator’s story is doubted until doubt is put into mind. Either of these two styles work for time travel narratives, but one should consider the consequences and how they want their readers and audience to feel about the story before diving directly into their writing.

## CHARACTERS

Characters in time travel literature tend to be relatively similar. They are often intrigued by another time, they have quick thinking skills, they’re somehow special in their society. The truth is, though, these characters don’t always make sense. If a person is to write a time travel narrative, characters like the following aren’t necessary to an original story.

The Valiant Fighter

This type of character is seen as a main character in about half of all time travel narratives. They’re resourceful, strong, and brave. While these qualities are great in human beings, they’re starting to get a little boring in the world of fiction. Bravery and resourcefulness are always useful and convenient qualities for your character to have, but a writer shouldn’t make those the only qualities their characters have. Perhaps make them kind as well as brave rather than stony and cold. Change characters up instead of sticking with older, more boring stereotypes.

The Geek

This character makes up the other relative half of main characters in time travel fiction. These characters are insanely intelligent, almost to the point of improbably so, and they’re all usually socially idiotic. These characters never get ‘the girl’ or ‘the guy’ because of their nerdiness. This character can exist in healthy doses, but it’s wise for authors to make sure that this isn’t becoming the character’s only quality.

The Complete Idiot

Many authors decide-- perhaps without realizing it-- that their characters are idiots. They don’t plan for a journey to another time, they don’t think before acting, and they become unbelievably ignorant in the face of danger. Characters written like this are simply frustrating to read at this point. Before writing a character, one would be advised to think about what materials that character will need later on. Give your character a camera, some matches, a flashlight, and some food, because there is no way to guarantee that necessities will exist in whatever past or future the character is headed to.

General Advisory About Characterization

A few tips to having characters that won’t make a reader roll their eyes are as follows.

Make sure your characters remain themselves throughout the story or change in a logical manner. Don’t give a character an ability simply because they need the ability unless it’s established that they have that ability earlier. The suspense provided by the question of “what will the character do” is often pointless and unnecessary.

If your character wakes up in a totally new world, try to make them come to their own conclusions about how the planet got the way it did. If there is no vegetation or life around, make a character respond accordingly. It is unwise to assume your character has no deductive skill.

Characters who have no real value to the story and only provide exposition should be used sparingly. Characters should have a backstory or a value outside of exposition. If they only tell the main character about the world around, don’t spend any more than a second on them.

Make your characters appropriate. Don’t sexualize a thirteen year old or make an eight year old mentally capable enough to reassemble a time machine, unless completely and absolutely necessary to the plot of your story.  A man with no experience in a scientific field should not be able to fix a time machine by himself after stumbling upon it.

## TIME AND THE ACCURACY ASSOCIATED WITH IT

Many time travel narratives are sometimes inconsistent with the time period in which they’re set. For example, a male character from 1920 would probably not be a feminist who believes in marriage equality. It is understandable that writers would want to steer clear of topics as bumpy as these because they yearn for the approval of their readership, but the truth is, it can’t be avoided.

While the future of society is fluid and moldable, a writer who has chosen to write about the past should make sure that the past is accurate. Major events in history should not be changed or skimmed over. The fluidity of the future should not be an excuse to make your world insane, either; it is important to keep your fantasy grounded in reality as well as original. Many times, a story is about a failed utopia or a set-up dystopia. From a reader’s standpoint, that is the norm. If a writer is at a loss for a plot, just make one up. Don’t go with the standard because it’s easy. The fictional world is the writer’s to create. Originality in literature is priceless and encouraged.

Finally, it is worth noting that oftentimes, a time travel narrative reflects the time period in which it was written. For example, in the 1960s, time travel to the future usually reflected the aesthetic of that time. The future was imagined as very retro. This is not necessarily a deplorable thing. It is simply reflective of a writer’s inability to look into a future that is past their own time.

## PARADOXES: THE DEATH CROISSANT

“Joey Lero\* was having an average morning. His alarm went off at 8:15 AM as it did every day. In his small town of Jorgensburgh, Minnesota, there was only one coffee shop. Every day, Joey purchased a mochafrappelatte. But on this particular day, he was feeling a croissant.

That croissant started World War III.

Joey didn’t know, but the croissant was laced with ipecac. He ate the croissant, exited the shop, and promptly vomited on the feet of the Turkish prime minister who was touring the whole of the United States.

The Turkish prime minister was horribly offended. So horribly, in fact, that he bombed the entire US moments later.”

This is the exact kind of weak and stupid backstory nobody wants to read. As a writer, the best advice that you will ever receive is as follows:

DO NOT FALL INTO THE TRAP OF THE DEATH CROISSANT. Trying to push the ripple effect to the extreme looks silly and unlikely.

\*Names have been changed for discretion

## COINCIDENCES

Many times, in the plot of a story, large coincidences tend to spring up in convenient places. The characters in the story could be experiencing a lot of turmoil, and this large and sudden coincidence happens to fix all of their problems. It would be wise to avoid creating these to solve holes in the plot. Instead, it would be different and refreshing to most readers to have the characters in the story use their intuitive thinking skills to solve the problem rather than placing coincidences everywhere.

## PLOT HOLES

Plot holes occur in a narrative when an obvious piece of the story is missing or when a later event contradicts something that happened in the beginning or earlier part of the story. Many times an author or writer can back himself into a corner, and instead of making difficult choices to get out, they just blur the lines of what can be done. It also happens often that the writer does not follow their own rules. They create rules in their new world, but, when they need the character to get out of something, allow the character to be exempt from them. It is suggested to watch closely how the story is moving, so it does not get stuck in itself. Also, more along the lines of plain plot, not just holes, extremely confusing time loops can take away from the experience of a time travel narrative. While the writer may get enjoyment from seeing their readers think really hard, sometimes is plain frustrating when trying to read about an infinite loop. While simpler time loops are interesting, impossible or brain hurting loops make the readers want to stop reading and thinking (See Science). Lastly, a final part of the plot of the utmost importance is the evolution of the world of the writer. When traveling into the future, its up to the writer how their world has evolved. However, the evolution must be thought through and purposely made. It is a good idea to have the character come to conclusions and make the reader think of why the world has come to where it is. The world will be different in the future, maybe by a lot, maybe not. It is up to the writer to make their new world intriguing.

## Deus Ex Machina

Deus Ex Machina is recurrence in many narratives. This common device happens at the end of a large conflict and involves a greater power sliding in and fixing the entire problem. This was often seen in Greek Mythology, where a god would come in near the end of a large battle and tell everyone to get along, resolving the fighting and any conflict. This device is a punt in the writing world and allows the writer to end their story without thinking too much or evoking thought in the reader.

## METHODS OF TRAVELING TIME

If a character wants to travel time, they need a means to do so. Usually, the character uses a machine, a drug, or some flaw in time-space. One example of this last one is Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. The main character travels to an island and finds a time loop in 1943. He is faced with conflict when deciding whether to stay in the loop or leave. This is a perfectly valid way to create a smaller conflict within a plot. However, as in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, breaking the time machine as soon as it lands is not. It has become predictable and boring to readers. If a character invents a time machine, they should make a test run to make sure it’ll function the same way backwards. Getting a character stuck in time just doesn’t make much sense, and for the most part, readers know that they’ll find the missing part or piece and return home. Having a crystal that powers the machine doesn’t make much sense, either, unless the properties that make the crystal power the machine are explained to the reader.

The chosen method of time travel in a narrative should be explained, but not droned on about. Nobody wants to read a physics textbook, but nobody wants to be questioning how the technology works for the whole book (unless that turns out to be a part of the plot later on.)

Technology

Often times, when characters get stuck in the past, they find that their mobile and social media devices won't work, primarily because the technology that is used to power their phones or other devices has not been invented yet. Obviously, if a character has a walkie-talkie and is traveling to the 1960s, of course it would be able to work; the device had been invented far before then. However, if they were traveling to the 1860s, their walkie-talkie would not work because the technology had not been invented or finalized. Similarly, when traveling into the future, some devices that we consider "high-tech" now might have been surpassed by inventions of the future. The future, however, is not known and has not been experienced, unlike the past, so the use of modern technology in the future is completely up to the author and however they perceive the future. Additionally, if a character is time traveling far into the past or future, they are most likely not an expert on the technology of the time that they are traveling to. For example, it would be more likely for a character to be educated on past technology than future technology. Actually, a character traveling to the future would have no way of knowing the technology of that time because it simply has not been invented yet. Having a character who automatically knows everything about future technology causes confusion when reading the story and could create a large plot hole. Keep in mind that even though modern devices would not work in the past, and possibly future, it is completely up to the author to decide which way they use technology in their time travel narrative.