I haven’t yet been tempted to write anything with time travel in it. But I can see the allure it has for my fellow authors that have. It can be an oh-so-handy tool for fixing plot errors, especially in a series. You don’t like where things have gone? No problem! Just have one of your characters time travel back, by magical or scientific means, and change a pivotal action or decision. Voila! Plot re-boot! Time travel can also be highly attractive from the perspective of righting a wrong. Don’t like that Hitler got to choose his death instead of having it handed to him by his enemies? Have a character time travel and get the job done. While doesn’t change anything in our space-time continuum, there is a certain satisfaction to seeing a really bad guy get what’s coming to him at the end of your pen. And from an author’s perspective, it’s awfully handy to be able to get your character crucial information to ensure survival/solve the crime/save the world by having a character from the future show up and share the necessary tidbit. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
So, how come I’ve never been tempted to write time travel? It’s a simple thing, really. I’ve always had the staunch belief that everything I’ve lived through up until this point has contributed to the person I am. If I changed anything, I’d be someone else. And I like who I am. I know I’m far from perfect, but, in my humble opinion, I’m a pretty fun and likable person. I’d be my best friend if I were someone else. And if it goes for me, it goes for my characters too. For example, if Judy goes back in time to warn her mother about the rogue ice cream truck that runs up on the sidewalk and kills her, then Judy and Joe’s mom survives and goes on to live to a ripe old age. Without losing his mom at 17, Joe never sinks into the deep depression that shapes him into a dark and broody adult. Since he’s not a dark and broody adult, he’s no longer attractive to Melanie, who likes her guys dark and broody and unavailable. Joe and Melanie don’t have a baby from a drunken one night stand, so that baby does not grow up into Tim, who saves the world because he feels like he needs to do something spectacular to get the attention of the father who was never there as he was growing up.
So from my worldview, any time you change the timeline, all your characters are at risk for a radical personality change. As an author, it’s my responsibility to mark sure that I capture this and give my reader a true story, with no excuses or shortcuts. Can you imagine how complex that could get in a novel with multiple characters? There would be personalities and relationships changing in the blink of an eye (in book time). And what about echoes? What I mean is, do the characters truly have no memory of what happened in a different time stream, or will Suzy feel a pull toward Billy because they were lovers prior to the time event that changed everything, even though she’s married to Frank in the now and has no recollection of why she should find Billy attractive?
Working out all those characters and plot lines would be really complicated. But it does sound like fun, doesn’t it? You know something, I think I just talked myself into writing a time travel story. Now all I need are a few good plots….
