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Seeing the future and time travel



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Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:57 pm
Brooke says...



Im struggling writing a scene of some one seeing the future and traveling in time. how should i write it? Please help. xx 8)
  





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Sun Feb 05, 2012 4:06 pm
Rosendorn says...



Unfortunately, nobody can actually tell you how to write.

If you give us a bit more information about what exactly you're struggling with, then we can give you suggestion for how you might be able to do it. But our advice might not fit with the world you're creating.

Some questions:

-Is seeing the future/time travel commonplace?
-What's the viewpoint character's perception of seeing the future and time travel?
-How is the time travel done? Machine, magic, or something else?
-Is it fantasy or sci-fi?

All these questions are important to think about when you're stuck on how to write any particular scene. Then, you can take all the elements and figure out how to make it yours.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sun Feb 05, 2012 4:26 pm
Dynamo says...



Regarding time travel, you should also think of what kind of time travel you want to do. Believe it or not, there are two theories on time travel that I know of.

The first being the Back To The Future kind of time travel, where you have to be very careful about the things and people you interact with in the past, lest you create a universe-shattering paradox.

The second is time travel in the sense of nothing you do can change the outcome of the future. This is the theory I personally think is the most likely. Regardless of whether or not you travel into the past and try to change something it won't matter because the actions you've preformed in the past already attribute to the future you know, it's just a matter of waiting for time to catch up. As an example, say you wanted to go back in time and stop Hitler, so you do and you shoot him in the head. Problem is, this attributes to what has already happened, except everyone just thinks he shot himself in the head. The history is already how it is because of the actions you haven't performed yet, as confusing as that may sound.

This is something you should consider when putting time travel into your story. If you go for the second theory instead of the first, you have to do a lot of planning before hand so you don't make any contradictions with what's already been established in your plot.
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Take that, science!
  





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Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:58 pm
Stori says...



Another you might want to think about. Some people think you'd have to worry about running into your younger self, which could have dire consequences. Personally, though, I wonder if the time-traveler himself might grow older or younger.
  





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Thu Feb 16, 2012 7:41 am
seeminglymeaningless says...



There are two sorts of time travel that "could actually occur".

Altering future events by travelling into the future, finding out what *could* have happened, travelling back and changing it before it occurs - this is okay, but only if you're changing someone else's future and not your own.

Circular time travel. Events that occur because events occur, such as in Harry Potter - a continuous loop that couldn't exist without the time travel.

You can't travel back into the past because everything there has already happened. And you can't travel to a time where you already exist and alter your own future/past without creating a paradox.
I have an approximate knowledge of many things.
  








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