Time Travel Stories - Do They Have to Suck?

[Tensleep]

You know, the moment it says time travel I avoid it. They tend to have no imagination and are a dime a dozen.

Now, the boys going back in time would be an interesting spin no one has done before.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

Tens

[Ryker]

I always think the author is trying to take the easy way out when doing time travel stories. It seems that they can't be arsed to research the time period so they bring the boys to the future or take themselves back with all their modern junk, to make life easier.

Now, the boys going back in time would be an interesting spin no one has done before.

Now that sounds cool. You planning to send them back to live with Cowboys and Indians?

[Keira]

I agree with Ryker.

I was thinking about plotlines and originality the other day - quite in depth actually. I have personally never been a fan of the romance genre (stories that include romance are okay - stories based on romance don't do it for me) and I have never been able to explain WHY. And I figured it out. It's the same reason I don't care for Time Travel stories or Mary-Sue's or others such as those.

It's because when I look at it, I see a blatant lack of originality. As years have gone by and zillions of authors have published stories, it's become increasingly more difficult to come up with an original idea, or to put an original spin on an old classic. Time Travel stories have become glossed over and seem to need to stick to the same basic plot with only different characters and names in place.

But no, Time Travel fics don't have to suck. Of course they don't. That's like saying that all New Sibling stories suck or all OC stories suck. It's all matter of how it's brought about and how it's written. As for me - I will only read a Time Travel story if it's been personally recommended to me, by someone who knows my tastes. That has yet to happen, so for now I ignore them, lol.

[Tensleep]

Ryker: Now that sounds cool. You planning to send them back to live with Cowboys and Indians?

Maybe....I have thought of it off and on since the whole Time Travel fad started. I just haven't had the time to do it with everything else and a very pushy Stu...

So we'll see. I don't think I would write one any closer to their own time than 1914-1917 with WWI. So there are many possibilities.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

Tens

[Nittanylizard]

cough*MT*cough

If we ever get around to finishing it, some of us are working on a time travel story that I think progresses much differently than the other ones out there. I'm pretty sure it doesn't suck, but hey, we're only, what, two chapters in?

But I'm up to my limit on three-girls-go-back-in-time etc. Has anybody noticed that "The Gang" ALWAYS appears on the scene in its entirety within minutes, as if they spend their day shuffling around tied together at the ankles? Come to think of it, that happens in almost every other mary sue story, too...

[Keira]

*Scratches head and looks innocent* Hehe... Does that *really* count as a Time Travel? Ah, well, I guess it does... Okay, so that just kinda goes right with what I was saying, right? Of course they don't all have to suck Haha.

Yeah, I actually forgot about MT while seeing this discussion - what a terrible author I am But alas, that is going to be one kick-butt story! ... If I do say so myself.

[Tensleep]

Aww, Liz! You knew I couldn't classify MT as a time travel story! I mean it is, but it isn't. Next time I will defend it's honor!

[printandpolish]

What is MT?

Signed,
Nosy McNoserton. ;D

I don't think they have to suck -- I think good writing can transcend a lot of things. But I do agree that those stories that are just written for the sake of being cutesy generally have little substance.

Who did the parody where the guys came to the future .. one of them ran across a tampon, they couldn't figure out what a CD was -- that was hysterical. Well done, I thought.

[Nittanylizard]

MT ==> Midas Touch

What a wonderful gift it would be to suddenly find yourself back in the midst of a defining moment in your life, knowing what you know now, and therefore able to do things right the second time around.

Wouldn't it?

[printandpolish]

No, that would scare the crap out of me. But I'd love to read about it!

[Ryker]

printandpolish said:

Who did the parody where the guys came to the future .. one of them ran across a tampon, they couldn't figure out what a CD was -- that was hysterical. Well done, I thought.

Hahaha, I wrote that crap. I'm glad people liked it though.

[printandpolish]

ryker said:

printandpolish said:

Who did the parody where the guys came to the future .. one of them ran across a tampon, they couldn't figure out what a CD was -- that was hysterical. Well done, I thought.

Hahaha, I wrote that crap. I'm glad people liked it though.

Definitely not crap! It was hilarious.

[latch22]

Usually, the time travel plot is especially lazy self-insertion. As opposed to the whole run-around of attempting even a basic Mary-Sue plot, it's a simple, "Look, I'm in the book! Hi, Mum!"

But if it's well-thought out, then I say go for it. It's difficult, and so it's not for beginners or those unwilling to think/do research, but there can be so much intense emotion/reaction involved if done carefully.

Think about it. If you were to find yourself in another time, with little to no reasonable explanation at first, wouldn't you be terribly confused, even frightened? You would want to know more. You would probably make a bit of an idiot of yourself. The differences between what you left and what you entered would be enormous and fascinating to explore, once you got into it. How much did you really know versus what you learned?

So, would you attempt to fit in? And would you? (How awkward does *that* sound?) How often would you nearly out yourself? Would you feel the need to confide in someone eventually? Would you choose your confidante wisely? Or would you simply break down, out of sheer stress?

What about returning to your own time? Would you find out, eventually, how to? Would the measures to do so be convoluted and perilous, or was the answer staring you in the face all along? And if you did get back, how would you view your own time afterwards?

So many possibilities, but tread carefully.

(Now there's a scene in my mind of someone ending up in a previous time, and being a history buff, but knowing little to nothing about that particular time, because their area of interest was a generation or so before. Thinking, Am I doing this right? only to have someone wonder why you were acting like their parents or something...)

Cheers!

[hahukumkonn]

artemisrex said:

I would read a story that threw the gang back in time; I think that would be highly interesting to see how they would react to a time that was 40 years before, instead of all the Sues traveling 40 years back to the sixties.

Plus, the twenties is an incredibly interesting time period.

Even better. Have them (or one of them) jumped back into the midst of the Great Depression. Oklahoma was real dust-bowl country back then, and there's a whole mythology and history surrounding this great migration.

www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_06.html

Plus, for Sodapop or Steve, the Damocles sword of being drafted into Vietnam would ring echoes for them if they got zapped back, to say, 1936 or 1937, knowing the USA was going to get suckerpunched in 1941 - and since they're 16, they'd be only 20 or 21 when wartime hits... the perfect drafting age. Or take Ponyboy. Since he's 14, zap him back to 1934. Fast forward 7 years, boom, he's 21.

But they'd be fighting in a different kind of war, and there's still the risk they'd accidentally change things for the worse if they reveal they know what'll happen.

[hahukumkonn]

Hooboy. I think I'd be out of my depth on that one - see, this is the perfect example of a history buff getting dumped into the wrong era If I got dumped into the 30s and 40s I'd be mostly at sea. It's the 50s, 60s, and 70s I tend to know in more detail.

But I'll gladly read and review if someone takes up that plot bunny.