Rules for [Writing About] Time Travel
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Time Travel is definitely cool. Fooling around with the time line is also cool. Not having a clue what you're doing when you're doing either is bad, very bad. So I've decided to write guidelines for using time travel and all of its perversions:
1.) Above all else, never ever EVER forget that time fits together like a puzzle and that it's everything but a straight line.
2.) Never disobey rule #1.
3.) Never let your reader or audience realize rule #1 until the end of the story.
4.) The past is in stone, and nothing can change that.
5.) Revised rule #4: It is highly unlikely that a single changed event in the past will change ALL of the present.
6.) Revised rule #5: Rule #5 is not always true.
7.) It is not impossible to travel to the future.
8.) The future is also set in stone, but the stones change in accord with the present.
9.) Don't be afraid of paradoxes, because they're only paradoxes in three-D; in four-D and above they make perfect sense.
10.) When dealing with alternate time lines, never use the "total self-destruction" option to fix everything. It get boring and might not always work.
11.) Only disobey rule #10 when it works better for the story's plot.
1.) Above all else, never ever EVER forget that time fits together like a puzzle and that it's everything but a straight line.
2.) Never disobey rule #1.
3.) Never let your reader or audience realize rule #1 until the end of the story.
4.) The past is in stone, and nothing can change that.
5.) Revised rule #4: It is highly unlikely that a single changed event in the past will change ALL of the present.
6.) Revised rule #5: Rule #5 is not always true.
7.) It is not impossible to travel to the future.
8.) The future is also set in stone, but the stones change in accord with the present.
9.) Don't be afraid of paradoxes, because they're only paradoxes in three-D; in four-D and above they make perfect sense.
10.) When dealing with alternate time lines, never use the "total self-destruction" option to fix everything. It get boring and might not always work.
11.) Only disobey rule #10 when it works better for the story's plot.
