time travel short stories ideas

Not Your Usual Time Travel Story Ideas (2024)

Looking for unusual time travel story ideas and writing prompts? You’ve come to the right place!

Read on for ideas like a world where time flows differently in different regions, a person with an ability to travel in their dreams, and more!

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The time travel trope.

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Time Travel Story Ideas & Writing Prompts

Time travel has long been a captivating concept in storytelling, transporting us to narratives of endless possibilities. Now, let’s explore some unique and unconventional story ideas!

Please note that the genders in these prompts and story ideas are just placeholders and do not mean to enforce any hurtful stereotypes nor offend anyone.

Story ideas

From unexpected time travelers to unconventional methods of traversing through time, embark on a thrilling, time-bending adventure with these exciting ideas.

• Lost Time A group of explorers stumbles upon an alien-made, time-traveling elevator that can transport them to different moments within their own lifetime, at the cost of reduced longevity.
• Reversed A scientist makes a mistake in their time travel machine, which sends them spiraling into an alternate reality where time operates in reverse.
• Past and Future Memories In a post apocalyptic world, a person finds that they can jump into the past as well as potential future memories of others. Then, they navigate through different people’s experiences in the hope of finding a way to undo the effect of the apocalypse.
• Time is Money In a world where time flows differently in different regions, a society formed where time travelers exist and time itself can be a commodity. (Originally appeared in my post The Most Mesmerizing Fantasy World Ideas (2023) )
• Chronicler of Lost History A person wakes up every day in a different time period, with no control over when or where they’ll end up next. As they try to find out why, they realize that their purpose is to witness and document crucial moments in history that have been erased from collective memory.
• Time-Traveling Detective In a time when time travel is possible, a time-traveling detective agency specializes in solving crimes and incidents that occur across different points in time.
• Network of Selves There’s a new invention that allows people to split their consciousness into multiple timelines, creating a network of parallel selves.
• Tour Across Time Time travel is a regulated industry, and a tour guide accidentally takes a group of tourists to a time period that never existed, causing a ripple effect that alters the course of history.
• Time-Traveling Companion There’s a peculiar type of animals that have the innate ability to traverse time. Once they form a unique bond with a human, the bond will allow that human to time travel along with said animal.

• The Time Capsule After unearthing a long-forgotten time capsule, a tight-knit group of friends is transported back to their younger selves. (A similar concept appeared in my post Beyond the Mundane: Captivating Slice of Life Story Ideas (2023) )
• The Time Thief A physicist accidentally creates a device that allows them to move between parallel universes. They exploit this power to commit crimes across dimensions, staying one step ahead of authorities.
• The Reversed Time Traveler A time traveler’s machine malfunctions, causing them to experience life in reverse. Frustrated by their reversed existence, they seek to disrupt the flow of time itself.
• Cheering Through Time An alien with the ability to explore different time periods gets stranded on earth and befriends a cheerleader. But as the two jump between time periods, they unwittingly start a chain of event that might spell catastrophe for both of their home planets.
• Happy Days Specific emotional triggers can create a quantum leap, launching individuals through time to a moment in the past or future when a similar emotional event occurred.

Here are some time travel picture prompts, because a picture speaks a thousand words! What kind of time travel prompt or story jumps out at you when looking at the picture prompts below?

The concept of time travel has fascinated storytellers for generations, offering endless possibilities and narrative intrigue, allowing writers to explore the complexities of cause and effect, challenge the boundaries of linear time, and delve into the profound impact of altering the past or glimpsing into the future.

In time travel stories, protagonists often find themselves in paradoxes and moral dilemmas as they attempt to correct past mistakes, change the course of history, or prevent catastrophic events where the smallest alteration can have far-reaching repercussions.

Time travel narratives also provide a fertile ground for exploring themes of identity, self-discovery, and the relentless march of time, prompting characters and readers alike to ponder the nature of free will and the fragility of existence.

If you need more story ideas and prompts, please browse our Story Ideas & Writing Prompts category!

Have any question or feedback? Feel free to contact me here . Until next time!

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10 Ideas for a Time Travel Story

Here are 10 quick ideas for a time travel story, including everything from colonies in the distant past and future, to time traveling Jews, Jesus, and jealous husbands.

If one of these ideas inspires you to create a time travel story of your own, let us know and we’ll share it with out community!

1. Future War

A future dictator invades the past. He sends giant war machines into 19th Century London, Paris and Washington, and he demands that all world leaders surrender to him. It’s up to a team of time traveling heroes to stop him.

2. As Time Goes By

A scientist discovers that he can slow down time in a localized area. He can use this to visit the future (and stop off anywhere along the way), but he can never go back. At first, he uses the device to prolong his own life, spending a day inside the time-bubble as a month passes outside. Later, curiosity compels him to travel into the distant future in search of new wonders and a fresh start.

Our protagonist finds a future world full of wonders, and he begins to build a new life for himself. But when things start to go wrong, he finds himself traveling forward yet again. Eventually, the urge to travel forward becomes irresistible as he searches for perfection. Is he really searching for something, or just running from his own past?

As our traveler comes to the end of his life he realizes that, while he has seen more than most people, he hasn’t really lived at all. He’s spent his whole life running.

3. Doing Time

Using a time machine, a penal colony is established in Earths distant future – a future in which humanity is extinct and the sun is approaching the end of its natural life-cycle. When the end finally comes, do the guards evacuate the prisoners or leave them to their fate?

4. The Man You Used To Be

After his wife leaves him, a scientist travels back in time to be with her again. He’s determined to get it right the second time around, and thinks he knows what to do to keep her happy. But when he travels into the past he comes across an obstacle he hadn’t counted on – the past version of himself.

SEE ALSO: Travelling in time but NOT space

Desperate to be with his wife again, he plots to do the unthinkable – he plans to murder his past self and take his place.

There are two obvious ways in which this story could end, each equally as ironic. 1) He kills his former self and is happily reunited with his wife, but after spending one perfect day together the time paradox begins to kick in and he vanishes into oblivion. 2) He kills his former self, but his wife recognizes that he is not the man he used to be. Because of what he’s been through and what he’s done, he’s changed, and his wife can see it in his eyes. She leaves him again.

5. Future Tense

Fearing the extinction of humanity is on the horizon, a large group of humans travel into Earths distant future to avoid the catastrophe. They arrive in a time in which the Earth has recovered from the disaster, and in which all traces of human civilization have disappeared. Many animal species have evolved beyond recognition. In this new wilderness, they attempt to build a home.

Knowing that the end of human civilization is near, people are desperate to travel to the future colony. With a limited number of places available, people fight for the last remaining passes. Eventually, the future colony finds itself with too many mouths to feed.

6. Past Participants

With the destruction of Earth imminent, humanity begins colonizing the distant past. The colonization effort slowly begins to interfere with the timeline. Each group of colonists that arrives from the future has experienced a different version of history, with increasingly interesting results.

One group of time travel colonists is from a fascist timeline in which the Nazis won the Second World War, and they try to take over the colony. Another group reports having found the remains of the colony during a future archaeological dig, indicating that the colonization effort will eventually fail.

7. Populating Zion

A team of scientists rescue Jews from Nazi extermination camps by transporting them forward in time just before the moment of their deaths. Nazis are confounded when they open the doors to gas chambers and find that their victims have mysteriously vanished. In the future, thousands of rescued Jews struggle to understand what has happened to them, and they begin to hail the lead scientist as their Messiah.

8. Time Me Up, Time Me Down

After inventing a time machine, a scientist travels into his own future where he meets his beautiful future wife. Back in his own time, he meets his future wife for the first time (for her at least), but she isn’t interested in him. He tries his hardest to impress her but fails. How can this be when they are meant to be together?

Determined to win her heart, he travels back to their first meeting over and over again, trying something different each time. He even visits her past in an attempt to learn more about her, but nothing works. Becoming increasingly obsessed, he eventually resorts to kidnapping her. He takes her forward in time to show her their future life, but his actions have drastically changed the timeline.

9. Final Interview

A time travel agency sends a man to interview famous historic figures just hours before they die. The interviews are not only important to historians, they have also become a form of popular entertainment. After interviewing countless historic figures over a long and distinguished career, our protagonist has become something of a celebrity himself. One day, a younger man arrives at his home insisting that he be allowed to interview the protagonist. The protagonist realizes that the younger man is his future replacement, and that he himself is soon to die.

(Thanks to  Jorgen Lundman for this idea, the full version of which can be read here )

10. Jesus vs The Time Police

The technology needed for time travel exists, but it has been outlawed by most of the world’s governments. A special police unit or federal agency uses specialist equipment to track down illegal time travelers and prevent them from damaging the timeline.

Some of the time travelers are attempting to alter their own past for personal gain, others are rich tourists seeking a thrilling but illegal encounter with the past. One day, however, they track down a time traveler who has managed to evade them for several years. He has been living in the past for all this time, and he claims to have become an important historical figure. Doing a little research, they determine his claims to be true. The time traveler has had a profound effect on the timeline, and undoing his actions might have profoundly negative consequences. He has written himself into history – a history that the time-police have always accepted to be true.

The illegal time traveler might be a famous general, monarch, or president. He might even be a religious figure, such as Jesus (as such, he may not have had an entirely positive effect on history, but a profound one nonetheless). If the illegal time-traveler is Jesus, might his ascension to heaven actually be his forced return to his own time, staged by the time-police?The time-police are faced with a dilemma – set the timeline straight and undo his actions without knowing what the result might be, or allow him to continue living in the past.

This article was written by Mark Ball . With thanks to Jorgen Lundman.

Use our Random Story Idea Generator for inspiration for more stories.

Summaries, Analysis & Lists

Time Travel Short Stories: Examples Online

The short stories on this page all contain some form of time travel, including time loops. Some of them contain time machines or other technologies that makes the trip possible; in other stories the jump in time doesn’t have an obvious explanation. They don’t all involve obvious trips to the past or future. Sometimes, the story simply contains an element that is out of place in time. See also:

Short Stories About Time Travel

“caveat time traveler” by gregory benford.

The narrator spots the man from the past immediately. The visitor identifies himself. He’s surprised to find he’s not the first visitor from the past. He wants to take something back to prove he made it.

“Caveat Time Travel” can be read in the preview of  The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF.

“Absolutely Inflexible” by Robert Silverberg

A time traveler in a spacesuit sits in Mahler’s office. He’s informed that he’ll be sent to the Moon, where all visitors from the past have to go. The man tries to get out of it, but Mahler explains why no exceptions are possible.

“Absolutely Inflexible” can be read in the preview of  Time and Time Again :  Sixteen Trips in Time.

“Yesterday Was Monday” by Theodore Sturgeon

When Harry Wright wakes up on Wednesday morning he realizes that yesterday was Monday. Somehow there is a gap. He notices that his environment doesn’t quite seem complete.

“Yesterday Was Monday” can be read in the preview of  The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century.

“Death Ship” by Richard Matheson

The crew of a spaceship is collecting samples from various planets to determine their suitability for human habitation. While nearing a new planet, Mason spots a metallic flash. The crew speculates that it might be a ship. Captain Ross orders a landing to check it out.

“Death Ship” can be read in the preview of  The Time Traveler’s Almanac.

“The Third Level” by Jack Finney

The narrator has been to the third level of Grand Central Station, even though everyone else believes there are only two. He’s just an ordinary guy and doesn’t know why he discovered this unknown level. He relates how it happened.

“The Third Level” can be read in the preview of  About Time: 12 Short Stories.

“A Touch of Petulance” by Ray Bradbury

Jonathan Hughes met his fate in the form of an old man while he rode the train home from work. He noticed the old man’s newspaper looked more modern than his own. There was a story on the front page about a murdered woman—his wife. His mind raced.

This story can be read in the preview of  Killer, Come Back To Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury.

“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving

Rip Van Winkle is lazy at home but helpful to, and well-liked by, his neighbors. He’s out in the mountains one day to get away from things. With night approaching, he starts for home but meets up with a group of men. He has something to drink and goes to sleep, which changes everything.

This story can be read in the preview of  The Big Book of Classic Fantasy .

“Twilight” by John W. Campbell

Jim picks up a hitch-hiker, Ares, who says he’s a scientist from the year 3059. He says he traveled millions of years into the future, but came back to the wrong year. Life in 3059 is trouble free, with machines taking care of everything. Future Earth is in trouble, with all life extinct, except for humans and plants.

This is the second story in the preview of  The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Vol 1 .  (49% into preview)

“The Man Who Walked Home” by James Tiptree, Jr.

An accident at the Bonneville Particle Acceleration Facility decimated the Earth’s population and severely damaged the biosphere and surface. Decades later, a huge flat creature emerges from the crater at the explosion site and promptly disappeared. There are other sightings in the years that follow.

This story can be read in the preview of the anthology  Timegates .  (18% into preview)

“An Assassin in Time” by S. A. Asthana

Navy Seal Jessica Kravitz recovers from the effects of the time jump. She’s done it before, but there are always side-effects. She’s on a highly classified, very important, and expensive mission. Previous jumps have familiarized her with the grounds. This time, she should be able to reach her target.

This story can be read in the preview of  AT THE EDGES: Short Science Fiction, Thriller and Horror Stories .  (17% in)

“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang

Fuwaad, a fabric merchant, appears before the Caliph to recount a remarkable story. While looking for a gift, he entered a large shop with a new owner. It had a marvelous assortment of offerings, all made by the owner or under his direction. Fuwaad is led into the back where he’s shown a small hoop that manipulates time. He also has a larger gateway that people can walk through. The owner tells Fuwaad the stories of a few who did just that.

This story is on the longer side but doesn’t feel like it. Most of “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” can be read in the Amazon preview of  Exhalation: Stories .

“Time Locker” by Harry Kuttner

Gallegher is a scientist—drunken, erratic and brilliant. He invents things but pays them little attention after. His acquaintance Vanning, an unscrupulous lawyer, has made use of some of these inventions, including a neuro-gun that he rents out. During a visit he sees a locker that is bigger inside than out. Fascinated with the item’s possibilities, he offers to purchase it.

Some of “Time Locker” can be read in the preview of  The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century.

Time Travel Short Stories, Cont’d

“All You Zombies” by Robert A. Heinlein

A young man explains to a bartender that he was born a girl. He (she) gave birth to a child and there were complications. The doctors noticed he (she) was a hermaphrodite and performed an emergency sex-change operation.

A lot of this story can be read in the preview of  “ All You Zombies—”: Five Classic Stories .

“The Hundred-Light-Year Diary” by Greg Egan

The narrator meets his future wife, Alison, for lunch exactly when he knew he would. His diary told him. Everyone alive is allotted a hundred words a day to send back to themselves.

Most of this story can be read in the preview of Axiomatic .  (Select Kindle first then Preview, 57% in)

“The Dead Past” by Isaac Asimov

Arnold Potterley, a Professor of Ancient History, wants to use the chronoscope—the ability to view a scene from the past—for his research on Carthage. The government maintains strict control over its use, and his request is denied. Frustrated, Potterley embarks on a plan to get around this restriction, which is professionally risky.

Some of this story can be read in the preview of  The Complete Stories, Vol 1 .  (6% in)

“Signal Moon” by Kate Quinn

Working with the Royal Naval Service, Lily Baines intercepts radio communications to enemy vessels for decoding. One night, everything changes when she picks up an impossible message—a plea for help from another time.

Preview of “Signal Moon”

“Journey to the Seed” by Alejo Carpentier

An old man wanders around a demolition site, muttering a string of incomprehensible phrases. The roof has been removed and, by evening, most of the house is down. When the site is deserted, the old man waves his walking stick over a pile of discarded tiles. They fly back and cover the floor. The house continues to rebuild. Inside, Don Marcial lies on his deathbed.

“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury

In the future, a company offers guided hunting safaris into the past to kill dinosaurs. Extreme care is taken to ensure nothing happens that could alter the present.

Read “A Sound of Thunder” (PDF Pg. 3)

“That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” by Stephen King

Carol and Bill, married twenty-five years, are on their second honeymoon, driving to their destination. Carol experiences déjà vu; voices and images keep coming to her mind. Their drive comes to an end and she finds herself at an earlier point in their trip.

“The Clock That Went Backward” by Edward Page Mitchell

The narrator recounts the discovery surrounding a clock left to his cousin Harry by his Aunt Gertrude. As young boys they witnessed a strange event. Late one night Aunt Gertrude wound the clock, put her face to the dial, and then kissed and caressed it. The hands were moving backward. She fell to the floor when it stopped.

Read “The Clock That Went Backward” 

“Soldier (Soldier from Tomorrow)” by Harlan Ellison

Qarlo, a soldier, is fighting in the Great War VII. He doesn’t expect to be able to go back. The odds are against it. Qarlo anticipates the Regimenter’s order and gets warped off the battlefield. He’s not sure where he is but his instincts kick in.

“The Men Who Murdered Mohammed” by Alfred Bester

Henry Hassel comes home to find his wife in the arms of another man. He could get his revenge immediately but he has a more intellectual plan. He gets a revolver and builds a time machine. He goes into the past.

“Cosmic Corkscrew” by Michael A. Burstein

The narrator is sent back to 1938 to make a copy of a rejected story by an unnamed writer. Unknown to Dr. Scheihagen, the narrator adjusts his arrival to three days earlier. He wants to make contact with the writer.

“Time’s Arrow” by Arthur C. Clarke

Barton and Davis, geologists, are assisting Professor Fowler with an excavation. The professor receives an invitation to visit a nearby research facility. Barton and Davis are curious to know what goes on there. The professor says he will fill them in, but after his visit he says he’s been asked not to talk about it. Henderson, from the research facility, returns the visit. Something he says starts the geologists speculating about a device that could see into the past.

“The Final Days” by David Langford

Harman and Ferris, presidential candidates, are participating in a televised debate. Ferris is struggling to connect with the audience while Harman relishes the attention. The technician signals Harman that there are fourteen watchers. His confidence increases.

Read “The Final Days”

“Hwang’s Billion Brilliant Daughters” by Alice Sola Kim

When Hwang is in a time he likes he tries to stay awake. Hwang jumps ahead in time when he sleeps. It could only be a few days; it could be years.

Read “Hwang’s Billion Brilliant Daughters”

“Fish Night” by Joe R. Lansdale

Two traveling salesmen, a father and son, get broke down on a desert road. They sit by the car and talk about how hard it is to make a living. The father tells his son about an unusual experience he had on the same road years ago.

Read “Fish Night”

“The Fox and the Forest” by Ray Bradbury

William and Susan Travis have gone to Mexico in 1938. They’re enjoying a local celebration. William assures Susan that they’re safe—they have traveler’s checks to last a lifetime, and he’s confident they won’t be found. Susan notices a conspicuous man in a café looking at them. She thinks he could be a Searcher, but William says he’s nobody.

“A Statue for Father” by Isaac Asimov

The narrator tells the story of his father, a theoretical physicist who researched time travel. He’s celebrated now, but it was a difficult climb. When time travel research fell out of favor, the dean forced him out. He continued the research independently with his son. Eventually, they succeed in holding a window open long enough for the son to reach in. He brings back some dinosaur eggs.

“The Pendulum” by Ray Bradbury

Layeville has been swinging in a massive glass pendulum for a long time. The people call him The Prisoner of Time. It’s his punishment for his crime. He had constructed a time machine and invited thirty of the world’s preeminent scientists to attend the unveiling.

Read  The Pendulum

“Who’s Cribbing?” by Jack Lewis

A writer has his manuscript returned by a publisher. The story he submitted was published years before—he obviously plagiarized it. They warn him against doing this again. The writer has never heard of the author who first wrote the story and claims it’s an original work.

“Who’s Cribbing” is in  Time Machines: The Best Time Travel Stories Ever Written.

I’ll keep adding short stories about time travel and time machines as I find more.

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Past, present, paradox: writing about time travel, crafting a believable time travel story requires careful consideration of the logic at play. let's crack the temporal code on traveling through time in fiction.

Table of Contents

Time travel in fiction can open your story to infinite possibilities. Ever wondered what it would be like if somebody taught the Romans how to make a nuclear bomb? Do you need to retcon an event in your story? Time travel!

It may seem simple for your time-traveling characters to hop in Tony’s Terrific Temporal Transport and whiz through time, but there are many hurdles to overcome when writing about time travel.

Chief among these is dealing with time travel paradoxes, so let’s look at those, discuss how you can write convincing time travel stories, and explore how some popular stories handle it.

The Problem With Time Travel

Consider an ordinary day in your life. It follows a sequence of events where one thing leads to another. This is called causality , the concept that everything that happens results from events that happened before it. The problem with time travel in fiction, especially travel to the past, is that it often breaks the rules of causality.

This can lead to time travel paradoxes and unforeseen results , including:

• Continuity paradoxes: The act of time travel renders itself impossible.
• Closed causal loop paradoxes: Traveling to the past creates a condition where an idea, object, or person has no identifiable origin and exists in a closed loop in time that repeats infinitely.
• The butterfly effect: Even the smallest action can have massive consequences.

With all that in mind, let’s embark on a journey through time and explore these further!

Grandfather Paradox

This thought experiment posits the idea of somebody traveling back in time and killing their grandfather before their parents were born. Because the grandfather never has children, the time traveler—his grandchild—cannot exist.

However, if the time traveler never existed, they couldn’t kill their grandfather, so he would go on to have children and grandchildren. One of those grandchildren is the time traveler, though, who might go back in time and kill their grandfather. If that seems confusing, it’s okay—it’s supposed to be.

The bottom line is that if somebody travels to the past and changes something that prevents them from ever traveling to the past, they have broken the timeline's continuity.

Polchinski’s Paradox

American theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski removed human intervention from the time travel equation.

Imagine a billiard ball travels into a wormhole, tunnels through time in a closed loop, and emerges from the same wormhole just in time to knock its past self away.

Doing so prevents it from ever entering the wormhole and traveling through time, to begin with. However, if it does not travel back in time, it cannot emerge to knock itself out of the way, giving it a clear path to travel back in time.

Bootstrap Paradox

The Bootstrap Paradox is the first closed causal loop paradox we will explore. This presents a situation where an object, idea, or person traveling to the past creates the conditions for their existence, leading to it having no identifiable origin in the timeline.

Imagine sending the schematics for your time machine to your past self, from which you create a time machine. Where did the knowledge of how to create the time machine begin?

Predestination Paradox

The most nihilistic of paradoxes explores the idea that nothing we do matters, no matter what. Events are predetermined to still occur regardless of when and where you travel in time.

Suppose you time travel to the past to talk Alexander the Great out of invading Persia, but he hadn’t even considered this until you mentioned it. By traveling to the past to prevent Alexander’s conquest, you caused it.

Butterfly Effec t

Less of a paradox and more an exploration of unintended consequences, the butterfly effect explores the idea that any action can have sweeping repercussions, no matter how small.

In the 1960s, meteorologist Edward Lorenz discovered that adding tiny changes to computer-based meteorological models resulted in unpredictable changes far from the origin point. In traveling back in time, we don’t know what effect even minor changes might have on the timeline.

How to Write Convincing Time Travel Stories

Time travel can be pretty complex at the best of times, but that doesn't mean writing about it has to be a challenge. Here are a few practical tips to craft narratives that crack the temporal code.

Ask Yourself, "Why Time Travel?"

If your story has time travel, to begin with, it likely plays a pretty significant role in the narrative. Define the purpose that time travel has in your story by asking yourself questions like:

• How and why is time travel possible in your setting?
• What does it mean for your story and your characters?
• What are your characters meant to use time travel for?
• Is the actual practice of time travel different from its intent?

If you can't be clear about time travel's purpose in your story, how can you convincingly write about it? To get crafty with time, you first need to master its relevant mechanics.

Keep a Record of Everything

You're asking your reader to potentially make several mental leaps when time travel is involved in a story, so it's imperative to have all of your details sorted. Do the work of planning out dates and events ahead of time by creating a time map for yourself—like a mindmap, but for a timeline.

You'll be able to keep a birds-eye view of the narrative at all times, be more strategic about moving the order of events around, and ensure that you never miss a detail. You may even want to have multiple versions—a strictly linear timeline and a more loosely structured time map where you draw connections between events and in the order they appear in the narrative.

In Campfire, you can do both with the Timeline Module —create as many Timelines as you want by using the Page feature in the element. You can also connect your Timeline(s) to a custom calendar from the Calendar Module for extra fun with time wonkiness in your world.

If a new idea pops up while writing, don't stress! You'll have your handy time map already laid out so you can easily see if a new scene or chapter makes sense, as well as where it will best fit into the narrative.

Never Forget Causality

I mentioned this concept earlier in the article, but it should be reiterated: The most important rule of time travel is that every action results in a consequence. Remember cause and effect : an action is taken (your character time travels to the past), and causes an effect, the consequence (the timeline is forever changed).

"Consequence" doesn't have to be a negative thing, either, even though the word has that connotation. The resulting consequence of a given action could be a positive effect, too.

Regardless, seek to maintain causality so you don't confuse your readers (or yourself, for that matter). Establishing clear rules for how time travel works in your setting and sticking to them will help you keep your time logic consistent and avoid running into narrative dead ends or plot holes.

Tips & Tricks For the Time-Traveling Author

Now that we’ve examined several obstacles you can encounter when writing about time travel, let’s see how you can either avoid them or exploit them. That’s right! Even time travel paradoxes present opportunities for superb storytelling.

Focus on the Future

Fortunately, all the named paradoxes here involve the past, so the easy way to avoid them is to not go there! Thanks to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, you don’t even have to invent a clever way to travel instead to the future.

An aspect of Einstein's theory is time dilation , in which the faster an object moves through space, the slower it moves through time. With this, you need only zip around at near the speed of light for a few weeks or months, and when you come back to Earth, years or centuries will have gone by.

Create a Multiverse

A popular trope in science fiction today, and a theory gaining popularity among theoretical quantum physicists, is the multiverse concept. According to multiverse theory, whenever an event occurs, every possible outcome of the event happens simultaneously, splitting the universe into parallels that each contain differing outcomes.

Since all these realities exist, perhaps changing the past is simply a way for time travelers to travel between realities, shifting their perspective to a timeline where things occurred differently than in their original reality.

Get Creative With Consequences

Instead of avoiding paradoxes, maybe you want them to occur. Leading to some fascinating stories, this can be approached in a variety of ways. Perhaps you want to examine the unintended consequences of the butterfly effect, create a time-traveling police force that enforces the laws of time travel, or simply break time itself and revel in the chaos that ensues.

Just be sure to remember the action-consequence rule and keep your timeline handy for easy reference—especially if you're toying around with multiple timelines!

Best Time Travel Stories

What follows are what I think are some of the best time travel stories. As you will see, the first two fall victim to time travel paradoxes, while the other two do a great job of exploring various elements we’ve discussed.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The corporation Cyberdyne Systems has remnants of the Terminator from the first movie, which they use to create an artificial intelligence system called Skynet. Skynet then actually creates the terminators and sends one back in time. Thus, it gives humanity the technology to create itself in a classic example of a bootstrap paradox.

Back to the Future

In this film, Marty McFly travels to the past and inadvertently interrupts the event where his parents first meet. This causes a chain of events where Marty’s parents never get married and have children, threatening to erase Marty and his siblings from the timeline.

Some argue that the McFly offspring ceasing to exist is a great exploration of the consequences of time travel. However, they would never have been at risk had Marty not been in the past to impede their parents’ romance. And if he ceases to exist, he’ll never go back and get in the way, thus creating a grandfather paradox.

War of the Twins

In this second volume of the Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the mage Raistlin Majere travels into the past, kills a wizard named Fistandantilus in a battle for power, and assumes his identity. Throughout the book, Raistlin unwittingly follows the historical fate of Fistandantilus, in a wonderful exploration of the predestination paradox.

It’s hard to talk about time travel in fiction these days without mentioning Loki. The show explores two suggestions from my list above: the multiverse and policing the timeline. In this series, varying outcomes of events lead to branching timelines, creating a multiverse of possibilities. However, an agency called the Time Variance Authority exists to prevent this from happening, and they set out to eliminate any branches separate from what they consider the Sacred Timeline.

Bon Voyage!

I hope this exploration of time travel leaves you prepared to tackle these obstacles and opportunities that naturally present themselves when playing around with time.

Just knowing about the complexities of time travel and the paradoxes it can bring about is the best way to avoid trouble and create innovative storytelling moments. So, dust off your DeLorean, polish your paradox-proof plot, and get ready to write your adventure through the ages!

Learn more about making a timeline with Campfire in the dedicated Timeline Module tutorial . And be sure to check out the other plotting and planning articles and videos here on Learn, for advice on how to plan your very own time travel adventures!

DraftSparks ✨

158+ ‘Time travel’ Writing Prompts

Time Travel Dilemma

You invent a time machine but it only makes one round trip. Where and when would you go and why?

Time Travel Destination

If you could time-travel to any era in history, which would it be and why?

The Time Travel Calendar

Imagine you have a calendar that can time travel to any date. What dates will you choose and why?

Adventures of the Time Traveling Carolers

Create an adventure story where a group of Christmas carolers accidentally time travel while caroling.

Christmas Journey Through Time

Detail an imaginary Christmas journey through different historical periods.

Transcendent Tyranny

Write about a villain who aims to harness time travel, potentially altering history to favor their reign.

Time-Travelling Bloodlust

In a world where time travel is possible, a vampire is chasing victims through different eras.

Time Travel Tales

Create a story about a time machine that allows you to travel anywhere in history.

Time Travel Daylight

Imagine waking up on the day of daylight saving time change and finding out you’ve traveled to a different era.

Historical Time Traveller

If you could go back in time to any historical epoch during your 7th grade history lessons, which would it be and why?

Time Travel Tourist

Imagine you can time travel to any historical event or period. Write about where you would go and what you would do.

A Way Back Into Time

Imagine your character has the ability to travel back in time to a period and place, where and when will that be and why.

Treaded Eternity

Design a story where deceased souls must time travel to atone for their sins in life before they can pass on.

Dystopian Restoration

A superhero born in a dystopian future uses their time travel abilities to prevent their world from descending into chaos.

Accentuate the Positive

Write about a time-traveller who uses his power to spread positivity by preventing negative events from happening in the past.

Grandfather Paradox

Write a story in which a time traveler meets his own grandfather back in time and their actions directly impact the present.

Dinosaur Days

Your protagonist has the ability to time travel back to the prehistoric era.

Your protagonist is part of a special task force that goes back in time to prevent crimes that have yet to happen.

Epochal Time Travel

Describe a chase scene across different periods of history as both the protagonist and antagonist can time travel.

Historic Time Travel

Write about a time-travel journey to a significant event in history.

Sands of Time

Imagine a beach bonfire that has the mystical power to show the past or future. Write a story revolving around a character who discovers this power.

Ghost Words

Construct an epistolary short story where letters from the past mysteriously appear in the present.

Journey Through Time

Imagine navigating various epochs of human history with the aid of a time machine.

Time Travel by Virtual Reality

Imagine using a virtual reality headset that can transport you to any moment in history. Which period would you choose to go to and why?

Puppeteer of the Past

Create a scenario where time travel allows individuals to alter historical events for personal gain.

The Inevitable Horizon

Imagine a future where time travel is possible and document an adventurous expedition a group of explorers undertake to witness the end of the world.

Borrowed Time

A character has found an artifact that allows them to time travel, but each trip shortens their life.

Journey to the Tomorrow

Write a suspenseful story of a time-travelling detective who prevents future crimes.

Chase through Time

Create a suspenseful cat-and-mouse chase between a relentless detective and a criminal with the ability to time travel.

Time Travel Summer Disaster

Write a funny tale of a time traveler who miscalculates and ends up in the middle of the hottest day of the year.

Time-Traveling Diary

Write a story about a diary that allows you to time travel whenever you write in it.

Caverns of Time

Write a story about a group of adventurers who find a mysterious cave that leads them back in time.

Time-Traveling Train

You’re the conductor of a steam-powered locomotive that can travel through time.

Time Turbine

Imagine a steampunk mechanism that could transport its operator through time.

The Timekeeper’s Paradox

Spin a tale about a master clockmaker who invents a time-traveling pocket watch, but everything goes awfully wrong.

Time Travel Agents

Time-traveling teens who work as secret agents to preserve the past.

Rewrite History

Choose a historical event and reimagine it with a speculative element, such as alien intervention or time travel.

Time-Travel Tourism

Imagine a future where time-traveling is just as ordinary as going on holidays.

Time Terror

Picture a teenager who finds a time machine, but every jump into the future reveals something terrifying.

Across The Time Continuum

Your story’s setting isn’t in a physical place, but across different periods of time.

The Paradox Experiment

Write about a scientist who makes a breakthrough in time travel, but creates a paradox that alters reality in unexpected ways.

Time Traveling Santa

In a world where time travel exists, Santa Claus uses this technology to deliver presents. How does he manage it?

Love Transcending Time

Write a romance story where one of the characters can time travel.

Time Travel Target

Imagine a detective with the ability to time travel who must solve the murder of their future self.

Lost in Time

Write a narrative about someone who has discovered a time machine, which only travels forward.

Sleeping Beauty and Time Travel

Sleeping Beauty wakes up not 100 years later from her own time, but in the 21st century after a scientific experiment goes wrong.

Jingle All The Way Back to Past

You are sent back in time to the filming of a classic Christmas movie. What happens, and how does it change the movie?

The ‘What If’ Scenario

Imagine if you were able to travel in time for a day. Where would you go and what would you do?

Time Travel

If you could time travel only once, would you go to the past or the future? Write about your decision and what you hope to see or do.

Back In Time Travel

If you could travel back in time, what era would you go to and why?

Time Machine Adventure

Write a story where you have the ability to time travel.

Imagine you have a time machine, describe where you would go and what you would do using new vocabulary words.

The Space-Time Anomaly

You encounter a space-time anomaly that sends you back in time upon contact. Describe the adventures you experience in the universe’s past.

Love Through the Ages

Compose a poem that traverses time, detailing a love that has lasted throughout centuries.

Images in Time

Write a poem that captures a specific moment from your past.

The Time Machine

Compose a poem about time travel, describing the era you’d love to visit most.

If you could time travel to the future, what age or era would you choose to visit, and why?

Time Machine Mix-up

In their first-ever time travel, a novice time traveller misinterprets the controls and ends up at a dinosaur-themed amusement park.

A Paradox In Time

Describe the dilemma of a time-traveler who accidentally altered the course of history.

Time-Travelling Phantom

Write about engaging in a mission with a time-travelling ghost.

Time Machine Journey

Write a story about finding a time machine and deciding to travel to a period in history.

Space-Time Slip

You accidentally find a device that transports you to different timelines. Write about your time-travel adventure.

Time Travel Mishap

Accidentally, you have landed in the wrong era due to a time machine error. Write about the wonky adventures you’d have.

The Time-Travelling Diplomat

Write a series of dispatches from a modern-day diplomat who has accidentally time-traveled back to ancient Rome.

Time Travel Tourism

You run a time-travel tourism company in the future, write about an average day in your life.

Time Travel Tour

Choose a historical period and pretend you are a tour guide for time travellers. Write a journal entry about it.

Chrono Travel Device

Write about a superhero who exploits a cutting-edge time-travel device.

Adventures with an Ancestor

Pen down the exciting adventures you could see yourself having if you traveled back in time to meet an adventurous ancestor.

Each person chooses an era, and together, write a story where characters time travel between these selected periods.

Artistic Time Travel

Choose a historical painting or sculpture. Write a fictional story about what was happening when the artwork was created.

Travel Through Time

Imagine you have a time machine. Describe a journey to a past or future era, detailing the sights, sounds, and experiences.

Musical Time Travel

Choose a period in history and create a song that would be a hit during that time.

Time-Travelling Adventures

What if you could time travel? Where would you go and what would you do?

The Tenses Time Travel

Write two short stories of the same event, one using past tense and the other using present tense.

Nightmare of the Time Traveler

Your protagonist can time travel, but every time they do, they see horrifying premonitions.

From Fiction to Fact: A Science Perspective

Choose a piece of science fiction technology or concept and discuss the feasibility in reality.

Time-Traveling to the Past

If you could time travel, describe a day in the life of your parents (or grandparents) when they were your age.

Unexpected Superpowers

Imagine waking up one day with a superpower of your choice, what would it be and how would you use it?

Journey to a Different Era

If you could travel to any time period, when would it be and why?

Fourth of July Through Time

Imagine you have the ability to time travel and attend any Fourth of July celebration in the history of America. Describe your experience.

Time Travelling Adventure

Imagine you have a time machine, write a comic strip about the different eras you visit.

The Time Travel Watch

Imagine if you invented a watch that could teleport you to any time period. Which period would you choose and why?

School Time Machine

If you had a time machine and could travel to any time in the school day, where would you go and why?

Maccabean Time Travel

Marry past and present by writing a time-travel story that involves characters from the original Hanukkah story arriving in the present day.

Tales Across Timelines

If could have a conversation with your future 25-year-old self, what would you ask or discuss?

Secret Door in the Basement

Your character discovers a hidden door in his basement which leads to a world he never knew existed.

Time Travel Love

Write a narrative involving one character traveling across time to find their destined love.

Time Travelling Musician

If you were a musician whose music could transport anyone to any time period, what songs would you play and why?

Time Travel Adventure

If you could travel back or forward in time, where would you go and what could you do?

Craft a narrative as if you’ve just arrived at an ancient version of today’s modern cities. How is it different? How is it similar? How do you feel about it?

Comic Time Travel Hypothesis

Compose a tale about a scientific experiment gone hilariously wrong, leading to an unintentional time travel mishap.

Hero’s Timeless Quest

Design a story where the hero embarks on a quest that transcends time.

Chronological Conundrum

Travel forward in time to uncover a secret that could save humanity.

A Timeless Easter

Craft a time-travelling adventure that throws the protagonist back to the first Easter.

Imagine traveling back in time, only to realize you are being haunted by a vengeful ghost that insists you amend a mistake from the past.

Time-bending Love

A lover returns in a time where their partner has aged, but they haven’t.

Time-Traveler Chronicles

Imagine if an elder in your community had the ability to time travel — detail their journey.

The Time Machine Invention

You have invented a time machine. Write about where you would go, what you would do, and who you would meet.

The Time Travel Letter

You find a letter written by you in the future. What does it say?

Write a story imagining you’ve traveled back in time to an important historical event.

Fiction Writing , Writing Prompts and Exercises

Time travel writing prompts, by lisa  •  may 3, 2019  •  0 comments.

What if you could travel back in time and live your life over again starting from the point you went back to? Would you do it?

To sweeten the deal, what if you retained the memories of everything that you had lived through and experienced in the future? Now you could avoid all the stupid mistakes you had made. Everything would turn out better, right? But would it?

Every decision we make, whether good or bad, sets into motion things that will happen. Each decision we make, the bad ones as well as the good ones, helps to form us into who we are.

The following quote is from Towards Zero , one of my favorite books by Agatha Christie: When you read the account of a murder – or, say, a fiction story based on murder – you usually begin with the murder itself. That’s all wrong. The murder begins a long time beforehand. A murder is the culmination of a lot of different circumstances, all converging at a given moment at a given point. People are brought into it from different parts of the globe and for unforeseen reasons. […] The murder itself is the end of the story. It’s Zero Hour.

That quote pertains to murder, but the same can be said for just about any other circumstance in our life. If we had the ability to go back in time to relive parts of our life over, it would change the future and maybe not for the better.

Writing Prompts:

Look at your own life and choose a decision you made in the past that you would like to change. Now pretend that you’re able to go back in time while retaining all of your present memories and change that decision.

How is your future affected? Since you remember what your life was like before you changed a decision you made in the past, you can see how different it is now. You can see the ripples that were put into motion by that one changed decision.

What is different?

Is your family life the same? Is it worse? Or is it better?

Do you have the same parents? How has you changing the one decision affected them? Do any of the family members you once had no longer exist? Are there new ones?

If you were married, are you still married to the same individual? Do you have the same children?

What about your job? Do you have the same job or do you have a better job?

Do you have the same circle of friends? Do any of the friends you had no longer exist?

Has your financial situation changed?

I’m sure there are many more ways you can think of that your life would have been changed by that one changed decision. Make notes on all of these things and write a story.

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Time Travel Stories That Explore What It Means To Be Human

Holly smale recommends kate atkinson, octavia butler, and more.

The inspiration for Cassandra In Reverse came—as art sometimes does—from heartbreak, or something quite like it. A short but intense relationship that unravelled so quickly, and so unexpectedly, I was left reeling. What had gone wrong? Was it my fault? What could I have done differently?

Caught in a familiar, never-ending thought-loop, I spent months trapped inside my own head: obsessively re-running the entire relationship in enormous detail, looking for clues, searching for the point where it all went wrong. If I could just go back and tweak it—say the right thing, understand a facial expression I completely misinterpreted—would it have had a different ending? Would it, perhaps, not have ended at all?

As I worked through this familiar yet confusing process—carefully editing a memory and allowing my imagination to play out the consequences in detail—I slowly realized it was an idea for a book: a woman, gifted with the power of time travel, who initially uses it to try and fix her relationship. But, when I pitched it to my agent, she had a few understandable questions. Why would anyone become so hyper-fixated on a short-term relationship like that? Why obsess, and repeat, and re-run? Why not just… let go and move on?

The answer to that question came with my autism diagnosis, a few years later. As I grappled with understanding my own neurology properly for the first time, I realized that the way I thought and behaved was tied, inexorably, to the fact that I was autistic. The need to repeat, to loop, to hyper-fixate, to obsess, to examine, to study, to analyze: I did it because I was autistic. Thus, rather than being a time-travel book with an incidentally autistic protagonist, this was a protagonist who time travelled because she was autistic: because the very act of time travel was, on a macroscopic scale, a narrative version of what goes on in her brain anyway.

I think there’s a part of every human who wonders if editing a part of their life would make a difference to where they ended up. But, in using time travel to reflect my character’s internal workings, I was able to give Cassandra a way to show her distinct neurology, instead of just telling us.

So much of being autistic is in attempting—and often failing—to connect to the world around us, and time travel allows Cassie try, over and over again. It allows her to explore what it’s like to carry time with you—blessed, and cursed, with an intense long-term memory—and to see what life is like when you get a dress-rehearsal first. It allows her to search for love, just as I have searched, and to try to understand those around me, as I have also tried. And it allowed me, as the writer, to repeat, to loop, and to undo and redo, to my heart’s content.

My favorite books are those where character and plot become one and the same. And, while time travel has been done so many times, Cassandra in Reverse is, in many ways, simply autistic neurology writ large, which felt like a slightly new perspective worth bringing to the table.

The best time travel stories, for me, allow the writer to essentially explore what it means to be human, and the incredible books I have picked below do exactly that.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

In this beautiful novel, Kate Atkinson uses a form of time-travel to investigate the fragility of being alive in a warm, luminous and witty way. Ursula is consistently dying and being re-born—with each life repeating until she uses her memories (and often instinct) to send it in slightly different directions and make alternative choices. One of the biggest issues of writing a time travel book is making sure that the repetition isn’t boring for the reader, and this book does that sublimely. Every sentence is so beautifully and clearly observed, and its companion book ( A God In Ruins ) plays with an off-shoot of the same basic idea: where would we all end up if we got another chance?

Kindred by Octavia Butler

An incredibly powerful novel, Kindred centers on the lives and experiences of slaves through the eyes of Dana—a Black woman living in 1976—who finds herself repeatedly pulled through time to the slave plantation of one of her ancestors in 1815. Time travel is used with enormous poignancy to explore race, gender and power dynamics through the eyes of a woman with modern sensibilities: a woman who cannot escape the time she has been thrown into, or the inevitable pain and struggle that comes with it. Every character feels alive, every story is explored and compassion is woven into every line: even for the brutal white plantation owners, who also seem caught in a time they cannot escape from. An astonishing book, as well as a vibrant and fascinating narrative that pulls the reader backwards in time along with its heroine.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

No list about time travel would be complete without a nod to what is generally considered the first book to popularize the concept, as well as the first to coin the term ‘time-machine’. In his novella, H.G. Wells uses the eponymous Time Traveller—never given a name—to question the “fourth dimension,” and a human’s ability to travel through time as well as space. He uses time travel to move only forward, thus the book becomes a searing social dystopian examination of what human society—and the earth itself—will eventually become if it continues on the same path, and peers at the living standards of the working class through the lens of the underground Morlocks. Weird, dark, morbid but brilliant, this book opened up a brand new genre and still has enormous power.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger

The focus of The Time Traveler’s Wife is love, predominantly from the perspective of the person who doesn’t time-travel: who is, essentially, left behind with the consequences. The connection between Henry, a man with a genetic condition that causes him to time-travel, and Clare—the woman he falls in love with—feels so real, as does the heartbreak, but it is the impact of waiting that really stands out: a sense of longing for a person, or a time, that has been or yet to come.

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

An incredibly entertaining and poignant novel, Oona is a unique character: one gifted—or cursed—with experiencing each year of her life in the wrong order: hopping forwards and backwards in time, and attempting to piece it together into one cohesive whole. It’s a novel that explores the impact our life choices have on us, externally and internally, and allows the characters to develop organically on the inside, even as her outside jumps around. It also has immense fun with technology, the use of ‘seeing the future’ to financially profit, and how foresight doesn’t necessarily prevent it all happening again, but this is a book that predominantly focuses on the importance of making mistakes, as well as embracing every age of being human.

__________________________________

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale is available from MIRA Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

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How to Write a Time Travel Story Without Paradoxes

The concept of time travel has long been a popular theme in fiction and film. Traveling back in time to alter the course of history is an alluring idea that has enthralled not just fiction writers but scientists as well. Yet, if you've ever seen or read a time travel story, you're aware that time travel is a tricky concept to grasp. It might be challenging to stay faithful to your worldbuilding concepts while simultaneously incorporating suitable temporal paradoxes.

For this reason, we will explore different paradoxes and go through various tips to help you write a time travel story without the risk of paradoxes.

Where does the idea of time travel come from?

Traveling across time is a shared universal dream. But where did the fascination with time travel begin, and why does the concept appeal to so many people? The lure of time travel has deeper origins. Appearing in some of our oldest stories , it is woven into the very fabric of our language and imagines a world without constraints of time and space. Its roots may be traced back to ancient tales of time travel found in numerous civilizations throughout the world, giving the notion its distinct characteristics derived from different cultures.

We come across time travel stories in ancient cultures throughout the world , although we cannot claim to know where the concept originally came from and who pioneered it. However, we can observe that the genre rose to prominence in the nineteenth century. From this time period comes Charles Dickens' classic novella A Christmas Carol , in which Ebenezer Scrooge travels both ahead and backwards in time. Around the same period, H.G. Wells popularized time travel in literature with his timeless novel The Time Machine , which featured the concept of a "time machine," which featured a vehicle that could travel purposefully and selectively in time. Inspired by this emblematic icon, many beloved time-travel stories published after this have incorporated some form of the time machine. Such is the famous TARDIS in the long-running BBC classic series Doctor Who , a blue box that can transcend time and space. Doctor who interestingly explores time travel paradoxes, with time paradoxes taking a center stage for many of its episodes.

Time travel paradoxes

There are many logical contradictions when it comes to time travel. Here are some of the major paradoxes:

Bootstrap paradox

The Bootstrap Paradox is a theoretical paradox of time travel that arises when an object transported back in time becomes locked within an unending cause-effect loop. This occurs as the travel in time takes place as a response to a specific event.

Consistency paradox

Consistency Paradoxes , such as the Grandfather Paradox , or the Hitler paradox , a type of timeline mismatch that arises from the prospect of changing the past. These paradoxes change history in such a way that time travel into the past, which caused such action in the first place, is no longer possible. To simply illustrate the paradox, in the film The Time Machine , a protagonist builds a time machine to travel back in time in order to save his fiancé from death. Her rescue, on the other hand, would lead to a future in which the machine never existed since her death was the direct motivation for its creation. But then, how is it you can go back and save your fiancé if her death hasn't given you the push to create the time machine? It results in a paradox. The timeline is no longer self-consistent.

Butterfly effect

The Butterfly Effect is based on Chaos Theory , which states that seemingly minor changes may have massive cascade responses over extended periods of time and that even minor changes can fundamentally reshape history. The name "Butterfly Effect" originates from Ray Bradbury's short tale " A Sound of Thunder ," in which a character in prehistoric times walks on a butterfly, causing massive changes in the future.

How to avoid these paradoxes

The self-healing hypothesis.

Writers seeking to escape the paradoxes of time travel have devised a variety of inventive methods for presenting a more consistent picture of reality. The self-healing hypothesis is one of the most basic solutions to any time travel paradox, implying that no matter what is changed in the timeline, the principles of quantum physics will self-correct to prevent a contradiction from arising and sustain the existing flow .

Because events would adapt themselves, a paradox would not occur. So, changing the past will trigger another alternative chain reaction that will keep the present unaltered. This effectively states that the likelihood of a paradox arising in any given circumstance is zero. The self-healing hypothesis simply indicates that no matter what a traveler has done in the past, the end outcome is the same in terms of global conditions. This does not rule out the possibility of changing the past, but it does eliminate the prospect of minor changes having the power to generate massive ones. Most crucially, as an author, you are not obligated to describe the particular events that repair time. It is enough to affirm that they take place and ensure that your event sequences and their conclusion are consistent.

Time traveling monitor

Another way to avoid temporal paradox would be creating the time traveling monitor that would follow the timeline protection hypothesis , which posits that any attempt to create a paradox would fail to owe to a probability distortion. The monitor would adjust the probability in order to avert any damaging events occurring, which would also give you free rein to come up with creative scenarios. Nonetheless, to prevent an impossible event from taking place, the universe must favor an improbable event occurring.

Balancing the timeline

The paradoxes themselves are intertwined and they can as well occur simultaneously. No one knows if a real-life paradox would result in a large-scale timeline alteration, or if the closed-loop is kind of automatically self-correcting since everything works out equally in the end. Going back to the Consistency Paradox, yet another approach to avoid it is to acknowledge, regretfully, that you can't and shouldn't attempt to change the past. That is unless you can rule out any chance of a bad domino effect as a result of your activities. In this manner, you can attempt to alter the past while keeping the chronology intact. This means following up the time-change event with another change that balances out the activities and ensures that the outcome remains the same despite the intervention.

The notion of a time loop is one of the most prevalent strategies to get away with time travel in science fiction. You may travel through time here, but any changes you make are predetermined. For example, suppose you were pushed out of the way of a car one day. You return to your timeline from the future and realize that that person was in reality you.

Paradoxes are avoided with this method of time travel, but everything is predetermined. If you wish to prevent a tragic incident from occurring in your past, there's nothing you can do since even if you could, it would still happen in the time loop. Whatever you did, the key events would just re-calibrate around you. This could be the solution for the Grandfather Paradox — that would mean that the event propelling you back in time would happen regardless of your actions, providing your younger self with the incentive to go back and stop it. To put it another way, a time traveler could make adjustments, but the original conclusion would still occur — perhaps not exactly as it did in the initial timeline, but near enough.

Parallel universe

There is also another possibility: creating a parallel universe . The future or past you visit might become a parallel reality. Consider it as a huge fortress where you may construct or demolish as many castles as you like, but it has no bearing on your primal stronghold. When you travel back in time, the future is gone, it never happened, and the universe will evolve anew, even if you do nothing to influence it. It does not affect the future you experienced, but it does affect the future of the reset world. That can entail creating a scenario in which the protagonists travel to the past and discover themselves in a parallel world or multiverse, with no change to their original chronology.

Countless science fiction stories have examined the conundrum of what would happen if you could travel back in time and do something that would jeopardize the future. Please note that you are free to make your own rules for it. This is your work of fiction. The universe will be as you will design it in your story. If the paradoxes do not exist in your story, then you may make up your own rules around it. You can as well bypass the rules your worldbuilding has established if you have a valid cause for doing so and if this is what your writing demands.

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• A Beginners Guide to Time Travel

by technesis · May 3, 2021

Time travel is a curious tool in the sci-fi genre . Authors can use it for amazing, mind-bending stories. However, more often than not, it just confuses the audience. Avengers Endgame was a masterpiece, but scrutinizing the time travel too closely leads only to headaches. This guide to time travel for beginners should acquaint any sci-fi enthusiast with the basic tropes, mechanics, and principles of time travel.

Three Main Types of Time Travel

Overall, there are three main types of time travel in fiction. These three different types are open-loop time travel, closed-loop, and parallel-dimensions. Each type has its use, and each lend themselves towards different kinds of stories. In this beginners guide, we will cover each major type of time travel in turn.

Open-loop time travel is what most people think of when they think of time travel. Here, going into the past can change the present and future. The further you go, the more profound the effect. These stories are best when writing about changing the present. One example, albeit an odd one, is A Christmas Carol. In this story, Scrooge sees a future in which Timmy dies. It is stated that this is all because of Scrooge’s greed. So, if Scrooge changes his actions, Timmy will survive. Scrooge’s actions matter.

Closed-loop

Despite open loop being more well-known, closed-loop time travel is more common in stories. This may be because closed-loop time travel is similar and is a whole lot less confusing. In a closed-loop, the past cannot be changed. Instead, there is one consistent timeline. If you went back to the past, you already went back. So, your presence can’t change anything.

That felt complicated even to me. So, let’s use an example: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the gang are assailed by dementors. All fall unconscious, except for Harry. There he sees his father cast a spell and save all their lives. Then, they go to the hospital wing and grab a time-turner for some time-travel shenanigans. In the woods, Harry tries to see his father. He then realizes he saw himself and cast the patronus spell that had been beyond his power. The time travel in Prisoner of Azkaban is closed loop because the effect of Harry’s time traveling actions were already fully incorporated into his prior experiences.

So, in a closed-loop, time-travel can have an effect. However, when someone returns to the present, the past will not have been altered. Closed-loop time travel causes the fewest headaches.

Parallel-Dimensions

In the parallel-dimensions type of time travel, when someone makes a change while in the past, it spawns a parallel dimension. So, there will be two dimensions: one where someone went back in time and changed something, and another where this didn’t happen.

A notable example- in fact,  the  notable example- is Avengers Endgame. In Endgame, time travel isn’t exactly consistent, being a blend of all three main types of time travel. Still, parallel-dimensions defiantly play a role. In the movie, the Ancient One states that the Infinity Stones anchor the timeline. If a time stone is removed via time travel, then another dimension will spin-off. And it will be a much darker future.

Time Travel Subtypes

Of course, most time travel stories are very complicated, using multiple types and subtypes. Time travel is messy, a confusing mess filled with an author’s ideas and random garbage they found on the street. In all its complexity, it seems that time travel, like time itself, is fluid. And of course, there are many more types and subtypes and the like. I found this video very illuminating. So, next in this guide I’ll briefly cover time travel tourism and time-loops.

Time Tourism

Time-tourism is a subgenre of closed-loop time travel. This subtype is characterized by going into the past and often meeting famous characters. These stories are different from most others as people don’t go into the past to change anything. They go into the past to learn about and watch people.

There are two other differences. One, the characters rarely meet alternate versions of themselves. And two, oftentimes, time travelers can’t make any changes. This is in contrast to most other closed-loop time travel. There, time travelers can have an impact on events. Their actions just won’t cause any changes in the present. In time tourism, the effect of characters’ actions is neglected.

In contrast, time-loops are a subtype of open-loop time travel. And, this is a pretty well-known trope. It’s the main gimmick of Groundhog Day, makes an appearance at the climax of Doctor Strange, and appears as a one-off in many other pieces of fiction. Essentially, in a time loop, characters will repeat a scene or a day until they find a way to ‘fix’ their problem and find a solution.

The Butterfly Effect

The butterfly effect is a common idea and essential to cover in any time traveling guide. The belief goes that any small act can have far-reaching impacts. If a character goes back in time far enough- and if they are in the right type of time travel- then their future can be radically altered.

This often leads to characters being extremely, sometimes absurdly, cautious when in the past. One wrong move could send everything into a disaster. Take Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as an example. This play is, for some inane reason, open-loop even though the rest of Harry Potter was closed-loop. In the Cursed Child, the main characters jump back in time to save Cedric Diggory. But every time they go back, the future that they come back to is radically altered. 

With the butterfly effect, the characters are always striving to keep reality as it is while changing one specific thing. This is impossible as history is but a tangled tapestry, and pulling on one thread tugs equally hard on many others. The characters almost always come back to an alien world. And they are always unsatisfied.

Grandfather Paradox

The Grandfather paradox is quite well known. It follows thusly: A time traveler goes back in time to kill his grandfather. He succeeds. But, how is this possible? For, if he successfully kills his grandfather, then he is not born and therefore not able to kill his grandfather.

Let’s analyze it from the point of view of the three main types of time travel.

1. Closed-loop

The person will be unable to kill their grandfather. There are a few possibilities, including the time traveler somehow being physically unable or simply being adopted.

2. Parallel dimension

If someone goes back in time and kills their grandfather, then this will only be true in one dimension. One will have the grandfather and time traveler, and the other won’t. Here, it’s simple.

3. Open Loop

This is where we run into problems. What happens most often is that this doesn’t change anything. The paradox has no effects. To explain how this works, I’ll just use some of my own ideas that I’ve drawn out of the ether.

When someone goes back in time and changes the past, things change in the present/future (in an open-loop). This means that everything happens differently. So, if everything happens differently, what reason would the person have to go back in time to change time? As much as it is casually known, authors seem not to actually use it or think about its ramifications.

Of course, there are other things authors can include, from changing memories to breaking reality, or the timeline correcting itself. Time travel is complicated.

Consistanty & Complexity

I’ll close out this beginners guide to time travel with complexity. Complexity is the bane of time travel. After all, time travel involves messing with the continuity of the story. It is far too easy to bend the rules of time travel or make them so convoluted that it’s hard to follow along. For example, I can’t quite explain how time travel in Endgame works. This isn’t to say that the movie wasn’t good, just that it was confusing.

The two Harry Potter time travel stories handle traveling back in time differently. And don’t get me started on the Cursed Child. I’ve used it as an example above, but it completely ruins time turners. Prisoner of Azkaban was closed-loop. But, the Cursed Child depends on it being open-loop.

Really, writing about time travel is hard. It opens up a can of worms that can’t really be closed. It is a dangerous tool and one that should be wielded carefully. I hope this discussion of time travel for beginners helps you do just that.

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10 Great Time Travel Stories: Part I

April 6, 2016.

Time travel has intrigued people for as long as, well, time. There are no hard and fast rules, but for over a hundred years writers have given us their take on how it works. Time travel allows us to imagine what it would be like to experience other worlds and consider what we would do if we could influence history or see the future.

We’ve picked out ten great ten time travel books take us through our own time – from Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court published in 1889 to Audrey Niffenegger’s Time Traveler’s Wife published in 2003.

Here are the first five on our list; stay tuned next week for five more time warping classics!

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain (1889)

social satire, humor

Twain’s special gift for satire makes this story hilarious, fantastical and to the point. His comparative study and social commentary exposes his dissatisfaction of the romantic ideal of King Arthur’s world and faith in the scientific and social progress of his own time.

Twain starts by sending Hank Morgan, a self-reliant New Englander and engineer, back in time to King Arthur’s Court. Things go bad quickly and he is sentenced to death by Merlin. When Hank uses his knowledge of the nineteenth-century to save himself, he convinces the people, the King, and himself , that he is a magician greater than Merlin. He begins to transform King Arthur’s world where he transforms into the Boss.

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Time Machine, H.G. Wells (1895)

science fiction, fantasy, Darwinism, socialism

A forerunner of the science fiction genre, this classic novel popularized the concept of time travel and introduced the term “time machine”. Written in 1895, it is couched in a Darwinian and Socialist parable about a time traveler who is sent into the year 802,701. The traveler finds himself in a society of two races, the Eloi, peaceful dwellers who live above ground and the Morlocks, ape-like creatures who live below ground. It is a cautionary tale taking on the themes of evolution, capitalism, and social class division.

A Sound of Thunder, Ray Bradbury (1952)

science fiction, fantasy

Time travel, safari hunting and the opportunity to take down a Tyrannosaurus Rex. That’s what Time Safari offers its customers when it sends them sixty million years into the past. But there are strict rules and real dangers to anyone who breaks them. All travelers must stay on the designated Path provided by Time Safari. Anyone stepping off of it could create a ripple in time that could alter the future, the concept known as the “butterfly effect”. Bradbury asks us to consider our actions and how they effect the world. (In The Stories of Ray Bradbury and A Sound of Thunder and other Stories .)

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The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov (1955)

science fiction, romance

Considered his best by many, this short fiction novel places time travel outside of linear reality. The non-linear world, Eternity, is a location outside of time and place where an elite few, the Eternals, monitor and alter time’s cause and effect relationships. Andrew Harlan is an Eternal. On one of his assignments, he falls in love with a woman who lives in linear time only to find out she will not exist after the next change. He risks everything to bring her to Eternity with him, but his actions create a paradox that threatens the existence of Eternity. To fix the problem, he is given his next assignment. He must kill the woman he loves.

The Door into Summer, Robert A. Heinlein (1957)

This short fiction book is one of Heinlein’s lighter novels and uses time travel in a limited way. It begins in 1970. Dan Davis is the successful inventor of a household robot, an automated “cleaning lady” called Hired Girl . With the help of his fiancée, Belle and their friend Miles, his new company is thriving beyond his wildest dreams. But Belle and Miles betray him, steal his patents, and trick him into spending thirty years in suspended animation. They thought that was the end of Dan.

What they didn’t expect was that time travel exists in the year 2000. When Dan wakes up from thirty years of sleep, he is able to go back to 1970 where he recovers his research and then returns to the year 2000 with his reputation, invention and fiancée.

About the Author

IVY BRUNELLE is a Reference Librarian at PPL. She accidentally became a sci-fi geek in college. But if you asked her about it, she’d deny the whole thing, then silently slip through a portal of ancient standing stones.

Best time travel books 🕰️

Curated by our reviewers this week

FRIDAY 19th APRIL, 2024

Time travel.

The finale to the Syd Brixton trilogy is a continuation of the fast pace and action of the others in the series, leading to a s...

Reviewed by Rachel Deeming

The Movement (Time Corrector Series Book 2)

A sequel just as lyrical, engaging and beautiful as the original volume

Reviewed by Adam Wright

The Timepiece and the Girl Who Went Astray

Ollie Simmonds

An exciting book with in-depth characters that demonstrates a great written narrative mixed with an interesting and original st...

Reviewed by Daniel Crocker

The Normandy Club

Bill Walker

A German blitz brings war to Avalon. Can two imperfect heroes erase an alternate history to restore the past?

Reviewed by Abby Lane

Sunder of Time

Kristin McTiernan

Sunder of Time by Kristin McTiernan was such a pleasant surprise that's perfect for fans of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

Reviewed by Lauren Stoolfire

The Whisper

Jared Millet

If you're a fan of classic Hollywood film noir, Flash Gordon, The Shadow, and Back to the Future, I have a feeling you'll enjoy...

Outsmarting Time

Laura Hanks Kline

OUTSMARTING TIME does exactly what a sci-fi should do; it messes with your head and feeds you pieces of information in a race t...

Reviewed by Alexia Chantel

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Apply to become a reviewer.

Lauren Stoolfire

Time travel.

I am completely addicted to reading and I particularly enjoy fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and YA. I love the fact that being a blogger (and a librarian) helps feed my addiction and allows me to interact with other book lovers on a daily basis.

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Adam Wright

I am an avid reader. I love books and discovering something new to recommend to people. I love epic fantasy and horror the most but I will read anything as long as it is good quality.

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Exploring History's Greatest Adventures throughout time!

25 Time Travel Novels and series for Children, Middle Grade, and Young Adult

Time Travel Is An Exciting Science Fiction/Fantasy Genre Where The Plot Possibilities Are Truly Endless And They Can Sometimes Be As Educational As They Are Entertaining. Of course, not all time travel books are a set up to teach kids about a specific time period. Many are simply a fun fantasy. They’re the perfect gateway to historical fiction – especially if the child enjoys the time period.   Here are our picks for kid-friendly, time-travel books – some old, some new – including series and stand-alone novels.   A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. This book only makes the list because people would expect to see it. But the brother and sister characters do not travel “back” in time. Instead, they travel through space and time, from galaxy to galaxy in search of their father – perhaps to future worlds? For ages 9 – 12.   Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. There are over 60 books in this series where siblings Jack and Annie go on adventures throughout history experiencing dinosaurs and sabertooth tigers, Vikings, Egyptian Pharoahs and more. These make great early reader books. For ages 5 – 8.   The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls by M. J. Thomas is an adventure-packed chapter book series that follows siblings Peter and Mary and their dog, Hank, as they discover ancient scrolls that transport them back to key moments in biblical history. For ages 6 – 9.   Rescue on the Oregon Trail (Ranger in Time #1of 13) by Kate Messner. Ranger is a time-traveling golden retriever who has a nose for trouble . . . and always saves the day! For ages 7 – 10 years   World’s Worst Time Machine (Volume 1) by Dustin Brady. From the bestselling author of Trapped in a Video Game series, Brady’s laugh-out-loud sense of humor and daring adventure will keep even the most reluctant reader wanting to turn the pages of this new series. For ages 8 – 11.   The Secret Lake by Karen Inglis. Siblings Stella and Tom go back 100 years from their London home to solve a mystery in this page-turning instant classic. For ages 8 – 11.   George Washington’s Spy (Time Travel Adventures trilogy) by Elvira Woodruff. Ten-year-old Matt Carlton and six friends are accidentally swept back in time–to Boston in 1776! The British now occupy the city, and redcoat guards are everywhere! For ages 7 – 10.   One if By Land, Two if By Submarine by Eileen Schnabel. When Paul Revere is kidnapped by a time traveler determined to change the outcome of the American Revolution, thirteen-year-old Kep Westguard is sent to Boston, 1775, to take his famous midnight ride. For ages 10+.   Displaced: Both Feet in the Game by JJ Carroll. Seventh grader Nikola and his friends travel back 100 years and must travel over 4,500 miles with no money, no means of transportation and a sinister FBI agent on their heels. For ages 8 – 12.   Laurella Swift and the Keys of Time by Allison Parkinson. Laurella Swift and the Keys of Time is the first in a new series of Laurella Swift adventures. The historical fantasy takes middle-grade readers on a rip-roaring escapade to the court of Cyrus the Great. For ages 7 – 12.   The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs. On a family trip to Paris, Greg Rich’s parents disappear. They’re not just missing from the city—they’re missing from the century. So, Greg does what any other fourteen-year-old would do: He travels through time to rescue them. For ages 8 – 12.   Anachronist : The Infinity Engines series (Book 1) by Andrew Hastie. Travelling into the past using the timelines of ancient artefacts, the Oblivion Order explore the forgotten centuries, ones that never made it into the history books. They make subtle adjustments to the past – saving us from oblivion in the future. Young Adult.   Glitch by Laura Martin. Glitchers are people who travel through time to preserve important historical events. Regan Fitz finds a letter from his future self, warning about an impending disaster that threatens him and everyone he knows. For ages 10+.   The Rhythm of Time by Questlove. Seventh grader Rahim Reynolds goes back to 1997 and learns what every time traveler before him has: Actions in the past jeopardize the future. For ages 10 – 12.   Stealing the Sword (Time Jumpers series Book 1) by Wendy Mass. Aimed at newly independent readers with easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page. For ages 6 – 9.   Justice for Joe by Dianna Dorisi Winget. When twelve-year-old Birch first learns the rare clock gene she inherited from her grandmother enables her to time travel, she’s not excited–she’s terrified. For ages 8 – 12.   The Hat, George Washington, and Me! By Gregory O. Smith. Part time travel, part crazy school, full-time fun! “Hey Mom, there’s a patriot in my cereal box!” A fast-moving mystery adventure for children ages 8-14.   The Eye of Ra by Ben Gartner . For readers graduating from the Magic Tree House series and ready for intense action, dive into this middle grade novel rich with meticulous historical detail. For ages 8 – 12.   The Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution : A Handbook for Time Travelers by Jonathan W Stokes. If you had a time travel machine and could take a vacation anywhere in history, this is the only guidebook you would need! For ages 8 – 12.   Hot on the Trail in Ancient Egypt by Linda Bailey. Book 1 of the series. All twins Josh and Emma want to do is get out of the creepy Good Times Travel Agency where their little sister, Libby, has led them. But the peculiar shop owner encourages them to open one of his guidebooks first — and they suddenly find themselves transported back in time.   The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Everyone thinks it’s just a game until strange things start happening. Has the Egypt Game gone too far? For ages 8 – 12.   Greg’s First Adventure in Time (Book 1 of 5) by C. M. Huddleston. Archaeology, time travel, and a moose hunt combine to force 12-year-old Greg to face his fears and find his strengths. Greg explores a world that existed more than 3,000 years ago with his new Native American friend Hopelf. While Greg learns about Native American ways of life, how to hunt and fish, and just to survive, he is always searching for a way back home. For ages 10+.   The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer. Gideon, Peter, and Kate are swept into a journey through eighteenth-century London and form a bond that, they hope, will stand strong in the face of unfathomable treachery. For ages 8 – 12.   Found (Book 1 of 8) by Margaret Peterson Haddix. One night a plane appeared out of nowhere, the only passengers aboard: thirty-six babies. As soon as they were taken off the plane, it vanished. Now, thirteen years later, two of those children are receiving sinister messages, and they begin to investigate their past. Their quest to discover where they really came from leads them to a conspiracy that reaches from the far past to the distant future–and will take them hurtling through time. For ages 10+.   The History Mystery Kids: Fiasco in Florida (Book 1 of 10) by Daniel Kenney. Professor Abner Jefferson is missing. His children watched him get sucked into a book. Now they must find him. By going back… through History! For ages 8 – 10.

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Bookstore Curator

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Reading Pennsylvania, USA

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Best short novels for a classic quick read in 2024

Time is precious, but so is knowledge.

In allowing ourselves to get lost in a story, we’re exploring one of our most vulnerable states. Suspended between reality and fiction – whether on the tube during the morning commute, in the back of a coffee shop or on the sofa at home – we’re exposed to romance, philosophy, religion, heartbreak, devastation and unadulterated joy through as little as a singular A5 page.

While losing oneself in a hefty novel such as Hanya Yanagihara’s simultaneously beloved and reviled A Little Life is all well and good, there’s something incredibly special about racing through a novella and feeling as though our personal world has shifted on its axis in the space of a few hours.

On a personal note, I once sat in my darkened university library and read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in a singular, unbroken sitting until dawn broke. Mind you, I had a tutorial the next morning that I hadn’t prepared for. Though born out of my own lack of preparation, I felt unequivocally changed by my experience, and will never forget the closing, frost-bitten scene of Shelley’s 288-page magnum opus, nor the embarrassing tears that flooded my eyes in a very public space.

That’s not to say you simply must read a shorter novel in one sitting in order to feel its full effects – far from it. Dipping in and out of a sub-300-page masterpiece will fill pockets of your life with a spectrum of imaginative possibilities and sheer inspiration.

No matter your day-to-day profession or how you tend to pass the time, short novels allow you to take a break from the quotidian without fighting your own memory to understand just where you left off, which character you’re now following, and where the plot has taken you.

In keeping with this article’s theme, we’ll keep its introduction short. Keep scrolling for a curated selection of some of the best short novels of all time.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

As you may well know, the story behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus was crafted when she was just 18 years old during one fateful stay at Villa Diodati near Geneva, with a motley bunch including the likes of Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori in tow.

What began as a scary story competition between a group of renowned authors and a teenage girl resulted in one of the most emotionally moving, Icarus-like moral tales about flying too close to the sun. Shorter than you’d expect, the 288-page marvel is a piece of literature everyone should read at least once in their lives.

Buy now £7.29, Amazon

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The entirety of Woolf’s seminal novel reads more like a series of oil paintings. The reader feels as though they are perpetually perched on a windowsill, looking in on the lives of the Ramsay family at their holiday home in the Isle of Skye through each sunrise and sunset. While visitors come and go, we remain captivated – watching over the ancestral house surrounded by sea and sky, learning of the intricate inner workings of family life.

Buy now £3.49, Amazon

My Face for the World to See by Alfred Hayes

A 128-page treatise on the dark side of 1950s Hollywood, the story begins when a disillusioned writer saves an aspiring young actress from a drunken suicide attempt. As their seemingly casual relationship unfolds, Hayes reveals the falsity of the American Dream with every turn of the page.

Buy now £7.65, Amazon

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

While Pynchon’s distinctly post-modern and wildly satirical style may not be for everyone, The Crying of Lot 49 is a highly accessible piece of literature filled with his signature humour, sharp wit and bizarre happenings.

The story begins when Oedipa Maas learns that she has been made the executrix of a former lover’s estate, the duties of which send her on a maddening expedition which requires her to put on a detective’s hat.

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

Written by Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon, The Lonely Londoners offers an incredibly moving, yet wonderfully humorous depiction of immigrant life in London in the 1950s. The story begins when an increasingly homesick Moses Aloetta meets Henry ‘Sir Galahad’ Oliver and teaches him how to survive in the city.

Buy now £8.27, Amazon

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

Published in paperback in January 2024, Cecile Pin’s debut novel has already been met with rave reviews. Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023, this heart-breaking piece of contemporary literature begins just after the last American troops leave Vietnam.

A trio of siblings, separated from the rest of their family and utterly alone in the world, navigate a series of perilous journeys which see them take refuge in camps and resettlement centres until they find themselves in Thatcher-era Britain.

In a poignant, sweeping narrative that oscillates between the world of the living and the dead, this haunting story nevertheless tells the tale of unmoored Vietnamese children in the UK with an emphasis on heritage and hope.

Buy now £8.49, Waterstones

South and West by Joan Didion

Even though South and West is only really a collection of notes and musings about Didion’s travels throughout the American deep South, her incomparable insight and ability to delve into the deepest corners of societal prejudices and idiosyncratic behaviours shines through as though this text is the polished final edition of a novel that has been worked on for decades.

Writing of the sticky and often sickly heat which encompasses the vast majority of towns and cities in the South, Didion at once reveals the sense of claustrophobia she feels not only because of the weather, but also the strange flat contentedness that its citizens feel in their unenviable positions. This, followed by her musings of California, makes for a strangely complete reflection on the polarities of the United States that is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s where the book is set.

Buy now £6.72, Amazon

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The year is 1953, and Esther Greenwood has just begun an internship at a prestigious New York magazine. Ecstatic that she might finally be on track to reach her goal of becoming a famous writer, Esther’s hopes become convoluted and out of control as she grapples with the societal expectations of womanhood.

Plath’s fig tree analogy continues to serve as a consciousness-shifting moment for women across the globe who delve into her magnum opus. Unwaveringly brilliant, the narrative moves from moments of sharp humour and wit to a desperate excising of mental illness in the wake of 1950s misogynistic society. Plath delivers a fictionalised account of her struggles as a writer through the ‘distorting lens of a bell jar’ – as she told her mother when explaining the influences behind the novel. Yet we as readers feel her pain through Esther Greenwood with razor-sharp clarity.

Buy now £9.99, Waterstones

Franny and Zooey by J.D Salinger

No one writes coming-of-age stories quite like J.D Salinger, and while Catcher in the Rye remains his most famous novel, Franny and Zooey is a wildly underrated classic. It follows the relationship between the titular characters, a pair of well-off siblings who hail from a highly sophisticated family full of oddballs. We encounter two journeys into adulthood, from two different perspectives which converge with comedic and emotional splendour.

Piranesi by Susanna Clark

From the best-selling author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clark’s Piranesi is a mystical, contemporary marvel which explores a narrative and structure so unique that it is almost unfathomable just how Clark has conjured it into being.

Our titular protagonist Piranesi has always lived in the House. He is a scientist, who each day records the marvels of his celestial home – its endless labyrinthine halls and staircases leading to nowhere, its changing ocean tides and half-submerged colossal statues, its generous fruits and marvellous creatures. But when scratched-out messages begin to appear in faraway halls, Piranesi takes it upon himself to discover what might be hiding beyond his heavenly marble walls.

Buy now £6.29, Amazon

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Translated from Japanese, Kawaguchi’s beautiful novel follows the stories of four separate individuals who enter a mystical coffee shop in Tokyo which has been serving meticulously brewed coffee for over one hundred years. Warm, caffeinated beverages aside, this shop also offers customers the ability to travel back in time to confront their past.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Baldwin’s groundbreaking 1950s novel continues to serve as a vital literary voice for queer representation. In a first-person, obscurely present-tense narrative, an American ex-pat named David tells us the story of his life from his home in the south of France. In under 200 pages, we learn of the breakdown of David’s marriage to Hella and his subsequent romantic entanglement with an Italian waiter named Giovanni. Forced to confront his concept of morality and a suffocating case of internalised homophobia, the level of raw candour in Baldwin’s novel was – and continues to be – monumental.

Buy now £7.09, Amazon

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10 New Time Travel Story Ideas

• Posted on 10 Dec, 2022
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The Time Traveler and the Soldier

A young woman named Sarah, is chosen to be the first test subject for a time machine. She is sent back in time to the year 1945, with the mission to observe and gather information about the past without interfering with the course of history.

But when Sarah arrives in the past, she finds herself drawn to a young man named Jack, who is fighting in World War II. Against her better judgement, she begins to develop feelings for him and struggles with the ethical dilemma of whether or not she should reveal her true identity and risk changing the course of history.

But when he’s suddenly killed in the war, she finds herself in a never-ending loop of trying to travel back in time to save him, failing each time.

Time Traveling To Save Us From Aliens

In a distant future, humanity has been enslaved by a hostile alien species, and the only hope for freedom is a group of rebels who have discovered a time machine. They travel back in time to the present day, where they must team up with human rebels to overthrow the alien overlords and save humanity. Only, what they find in the past completely changes what they thought they knew about their future. They’re the aliens. And this is not Earth.

Baby Hitler and the Time Traveler.

A young woman name Jessica, is chosen to be the first test subject for the time machine. She is sent back in time to the year 1945, with the mission to observe and gather information about the past without interfering with the course of history.

But when Jessica arrives in the past, she finds herself in the middle of a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Baby Adolf Hitler. She is faced with a difficult decision: should she intervene and prevent the assassination of a baby, or should she stay true to her mission and let events play out?

Rogue Time Travelers

In a distant future, time travel has become a common occurrence and is used for everything from tourism to criminal investigations. But when a group of time travelers arrive in the year 2022, they discover that something has gone terribly wrong with the timeline.

The world they find is a desolate wasteland, with no trace of human civilization. As they search for answers, they uncover a sinister plot by a group of rogue time travelers who have been altering the past in order to secure their own power and wealth in the future.

The Time Travel Bus

In a world where time travel has become a common form of transportation, a company called Time Bus has created a fleet of buses that can transport passengers to any point in history.

As the newest driver for Time Bus, a young man named Alex is excited to embark on his first journey through time. But when he and his passengers arrive at their destination, a bustling city in the year 1900, they are shocked to discover that the city has been completely abandoned.

As they explore the empty streets and abandoned buildings, they begin to uncover clues that suggest that the city was abandoned suddenly and without explanation.

As they dig deeper, they realize that the city was abandoned because of a catastrophic event that occurred in the future and somehow caused the city to be erased from history.

In a race against time, Alex and his passengers must find a way to prevent the disaster and save the city before it’s too late. But just when they think they have found a solution, they are shocked to discover that the true twist of the story is that they are actually the cause of the disaster and must make a difficult decision to sacrifice themselves in order to save the city and the timeline.

The Time Traveling Android

In a distant future, humanity has created advanced androids that are capable of time travel. One of these androids, named Ava, is tasked with traveling back in time to observe key events in history and gather information for a massive database.

As Ava travels through time, she begins to question her own existence and the meaning of her mission. She starts to feel emotions and develop a sense of self, something that was not programmed into her by her creators.

When Ava arrives in the year 2035, she is shocked to discover that humanity has been devastated by a global disaster. She finds herself in the midst of a war between rival factions that are fighting for control of the remaining resources.

As Ava navigates the dangerous world of 2035, she must decide whether to continue with her mission or to use her time travel abilities to try and prevent the disaster from happening. But just when she thinks she has found a solution, she is faced with a shocking revelation that changes everything.

The Time Traveling Smiths

The Smith family was an ordinary family living in the 21st century, until they discovered that they had the ability to time travel.

At first, the Smiths were excited by their newfound ability and used it to explore different time periods and learn about the past. But as they traveled through time, they began to realize the dangers and responsibilities that came with their abilities.

One day, the Smiths received a message from their future selves warning them that a catastrophic event was about to occur that would destroy the timeline and erase their existence. The only way to prevent the disaster was to travel back in time and prevent it from happening.

In the end, the Smiths were able to prevent the disaster and save the timeline. But their victory came at a high cost, and they were forced to confront the true nature of their abilities and the consequences of their actions.

Time Travel On Mars

In a world where time travel has become a reality, a group of Mars-based scientists are working on a top-secret project to create a time machine that can transport humans back in time to the earliest days of the Martian civilization. But when their experiment goes wrong, they find themselves stranded in the past and must fight to survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

The Time Travel House

The Johnsons spent years designing and building their dream home, and when it was finally completed, they were amazed by its incredible features. The house was equipped with state-of-the-art technology, and had the ability to transport the Johnsons back and forth through time.

As the Johnsons explored their time-traveling house, they encountered many incredible sights and experiences. They met historical figures and witnessed events that they had only read about in books. But they also faced many challenges and dangers along the way.

The Time Travelers and the War Between Mars And Earth

In the year 2050, humanity has made incredible advances in technology and has colonized Mars, establishing a thriving society on the red planet. But despite their many achievements, tensions between Earth and Mars have been growing, and a full-scale war between the two planets seems inevitable.

As the war between Earth and Mars rages on, a group of scientists and soldiers are selected for a secret mission to travel back in time and prevent the war from ever happening. They are equipped with a state-of-the-art time machine and set off on their journey, filled with hope and determination.

As the time-travelers travel back in time, they encounter many challenges and obstacles, and must use all of their skills and knowledge to succeed in their mission. But when they finally arrive at the moment when the war began, they are shocked to discover that the cause of the war was not what they expected.

In a surprising twist, the time-travelers learn that the war between Earth and Mars was actually caused by a group of time-traveling aliens from the future, who were trying to manipulate history for their own gain. In order to prevent the war and save the timeline, the time-travelers must team up with their enemies and work together to stop the alien threat.

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