Time Travel

1.Choose your model of time travel carefully.
Like anything in fiction, your model of time travel doesn’t have to be possible, but it does have to be plausible and internally coherent. Before you start writing, answer these questions: Can the past be changed? Does a character merely appearing in the past change the future, or does he or she need to change something significant? Is there only one timeline, or does going back in time start a brand new timeline? For Bury the Living, I worked with one particular model (multiple timelines) before realizing that it presented major problems to my story, especially for future books in the series. I changed models, but it meant a lot of re-writing—so choose carefully!

2. Decide how important time travel is to your story.
Is it the centerpiece? Or just a plot device to get the protagonist to a particular time period? This will determine how much time and attention you need spend on explaining the mechanics—and the consequences.

2. Decide how important time travel is to your story.
Is it the centerpiece? Or just a plot device to get the protagonist to a particular time period? This will determine how much time and attention you need spend on explaining the mechanics—and the consequences.

4. Avoid “As you know, Bob” conversations with characters from the historical time period.
Put yourself in their shoes, with their current knowledge of the time period of which they are a part. You don’t go around saying things like, “Barack Obama, President of the United States from 2009 to 2016.” Nor would characters in any time period refer to political leaders in such detail. They’ll use nicknames, slang, and phrases that assume the person they are talking to is fully aware of the cultural/social/political context. But at the same time, you need to get your reader up to speed on what’s going on. This can be tricky, especially when writing about more obscure time periods or situations about which your readers have little knowledge. In Bury the Living, I had to communicate information regarding the Irish Civil War to my readers without putting words in my characters’ mouths that never would have been there in reality. For example, everyone in 1920’s Ireland knew that Liam Lynch was the Chief of Staff of the IRA, and were well informed about the issues surrounding the Anglo-Irish treaty (the cause of the civil war). So they would be unlikely to explain these issues to each other, however helpful that would be for the reader. I had to rely on my protagonist’s vague knowledge of the time period, her bumbling efforts to sort out what was going on, and realistic conversations with and between the people around her—all the while hoping that the reader would be able to piece it all together to form a coherent picture of the political context.Simple, right? Writing quality time travel/historical fiction is not for the fainthearted, but if done well the result can be a wonderful feast of tension, conflict, sensory detail and historical intrigue for your readers.