You've Always Wondered About the Mysteries of Time Travel ...
I'm going to take you into the mind of an author (me) who writes time travel stories. Ready for a trip? Buckle up! Or, hop into the buggy and hope for the best!
Help me make some decisions as I set up my next story world, such as what to about these scenarios:
Running into an old friend, who has grown really old while I've been larking around in the past and am young.
Running into a younger version of myself. Oh, no, running into myself breaks all kinds of story rules. I don't let stories do that. But what if you did it? Would you give your younger self lots of advice, or just throw up your hands?
Dabbling in the future and coming back the present. Since we don't actually know the future, I just avoid this, or call it science fiction. My trips are to the past only.
Getting an automatic change of clothes when I land in another time. Or not, and somebody has to give me some clothes--otherwise I look odd. I've opted for the odd route in my books.
Reliving the same thing repeatedly in either just the same, or slightly different circumstances. I like the slightly different situation best. Just the same could get bewildering and tedious, and hard to manage as a story line. As long as the major event, such as a crime, stays the same, maybe some variation works well. That brings us to:
Changing history. Is history linear? Does it always go back to the same point? Personally I believe that God is in charge of history, and that it is linear. Challenging that thought is the multiverse concept, where someone might say that there are tons of possibilities for any given moment in time, and that each possibility has its own timeline. So timelines are like a bunch of spaghetti, and alternate history takes one of these timelines and comes up with all kinds of steampunk machinery or other creative ideas that never actually existed. Many authors have had a lot of fun with multiverse ideas.
Identifying the agent of time travel. So, how does time-travel happen in this story world? Who is making it happen? How is it happening? There are plenty of imaginative ideas here, from time machines to random situations to walking between standing stones in England. Personally I like an angel to be my agent of time travel, who has an agenda with a particular person. Rather like the Ghosts of Christmas in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." After all, time travel is actually impossible (so far as I know), and so some supernatural action is needed!
How would you set up these time travel details if you were writing a story? Let me know by replying to this email!
(And don't forget to check out my time-travel books for kids and teens at my website, https://www.phylliswheeler.com )
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As a reader of my newsletter, you should have downloaded The Grandfather Clock, the special prequel short story for my Guardians of Time series.
If not, find it here:
Learn more about my Guardians of Time tales for young middle grade, my two picture books about Roland the duckling, and my YA time travel tale. Find them at my website, https://www.phylliswheeler.com .
I hope and pray that your life is full of praise. Keep in touch! I'd love to talk to you, so ... reply!
Phyllis Wheeler, Author
https://www.phylliswheeler.com
Image by unperfekt @ Pixabay
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