Science Fiction Themes: Time Travel Part1
This article is the second in a series of articles highlighting traditional themes and concepts of science fiction. Each month we will take an in depth look at one of these themes to help you master and incorporate these important concepts in your writing.
When Are We Going To?
It's as old as Wells's The Time Machine and it comes in more flavors than Ben and Jerry's. It's the time travel story. In this article we will take a look at the ingredients of a time travel story, and advice for creating your own time travel tale.
Paradox or Possibility?
I heard someone say once that time travel was completely impossible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Time travel is not only possible, it is reality. At this very second you are traveling through time and the next second, and the second after that, and . . . In fact, every second that we are alive, we are traveling through time.
However, when we talk about time travel what we are really referring to is the concept of moving through time in a different direction or at a different rate than we ordinarily do. This, so far, is not a reality, but to declare it completely impossible may be premature. There once were people who said that human beings could never fly, and now thousands of airplanes take to the skies each day.
One reason many think that time travel would never be possible is the risk of paradoxes. When we start to think about time travel, we encounter possibilities that make our heads spin. What would happen if we went back in time and accidentally prevented our parents from meeting each other like in Back to the Future? What if one little action on our parts prevented a major historical event from occurring? Such things are important to consider when writing a story about time travel. These ideas have been explored numerous times in science fiction stories.
Some of the greatest time travel stories are about the endless paradoxes created by time travel. Others look at what steps would need to be taken to avoid a paradox.
Something Old, Something New
The time travel story is such a popular science fiction theme that countless stories have been written about time travel. Considering this, writing a completely original time travel story may seem like a daunting task. With so many stories already out there, how can we hope to write something fresh?
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