On Time Travel Yarns

Time travel is a narrative trap. It's quicksand.

It's very alluring to use, being able to put a person from one historical era into another and watch as shenanigans ensue, but very quickly, a writer (and often the audience too) discovers that it quickly unravels, and the story collapses.

The most frequent reason for that is plot holes created by the time travel itself. From time paradoxes to time loops that the plot conveniently chooses to ignore, there is something to make your story go belly up at every corner.

You might end up with such troubling things as "why doesn't Marty's mom remember she had a crush on a guy with the same face as her son?" and "why don't you use the time turner to save Harry's parents, or stop Tom Riddle from becoming Voldemort?" and so many more.

Time travel needs an extremely well thought out plot, including interim scenes and even minute progression. Otherwise, it runs the risk of creating such questions in the minds of audiences even while they are watching (or reading) the story, which means they get thrown out of the immersion.

In my opinion time travel is the live bomb an author has to diffuse. (Yes it's apparent why I don't touch it)

There are some ways to go about it, safer ones and less safer ones that I'd like to mention. None though escape the check between 'alternate history' and 'current history', so to speak: why things are not altered enough from a past that has been altered during the story.

So one way to solve this, is to go linear with your time travel. The character(s) go forward in time. Whatever happens there, is still in the future, and doesn't affect the past. If the characters return in their normal timeline, it's still the present, and nothing will have changed.

But usually, we like time traveling into the past. That's where it gets juicy. Culture shock between older era people and our modern protagonists, the capacity to affect (or even jumpstart?) historical events, and so on.

That is where the risks are high. Because changing one thing in history, is usually a domino effect that will change more and more elements in ripple effects that are in many ways unpredictable.

So another way to solve this, is keep your character a minor element in big historical events. Make him fill in the shoes of some John Doe that was there, and let him react to things without being able to affect major (or medium) events.

Don't put him near Napoleon in a way that can dissuade him from fighting in Waterloo.

Don't make her start the great Bus Boycott in the USA.

Don't make him warn Julius Cesar that even Brutus has it in for him.

Let history flow as it already has.

Alternatively, commit to a new Alternate Reality- something like The Man in the High Castle, if it were a time travel thing.

Alternatively, if you feel you can manage it, let history veer off its normal course, only to return to its natural course by other means- if you like some determinism in your tea.

Whatever you do, work out all the details, so the little plot holes in your time travel will be so small, that nobody will notice.

Good luck! I admire your gumption :D

Don’t forget you can now advertise on DrunkDuck for just $2 in whichever ad spot you like! The money goes straight into running the site. Want to know more? Click this link here! Or, if you want to help us keep the lights on you can sponsor us on Patreon. Every bit helps us!

Special thanks to our patrons!!







Justnopoint - Banes - Rmccool - Abt Nihil - Phoenixignis - Gunwallace - Cdmalcolm1 - Cresc - Pauleberhardt - Scruff - Dragonaur - Emma Clare - Dylandrawsdraws - Functioncreep - The D Wrek - Mks Monsters - Eustacheus - Dillycomics - Barrycorbett - Sinjinsoku - Smkinoshita - Jerrie - Chickfighter - Andreas_Helixfinger