The following is an excerpt from The Time Traveler’s Guide by Simon Rose.
Time travel stories involving journeys into the past generally feature eras that readers will be familiar with.
The world in which the story takes place, as well as the actual timeline of events in the story, whether used as part of the plot or just as background, needs to be accurate.
A number of different factors are involved in the selection of a setting.
As well as the time and place, you might want to select a period that’s interesting to you.
If you choose something that seems to be popular but in which you have little interest, the whole writing and researching experience could be a lot less enjoyable.
Having said that, it’s sometimes advisable to select a well-documented period so that the research is a little easier.
In terms of location, the best place to start is to think about an area of the world that you’re interested in.
It could be the town, city, or country where you live, or perhaps you’ve always been fascinated with England, Egypt, China, India, Scotland, France, Japan, Ireland, South America, the Middle East, it’s really up to you.
Is there a particular time period that you’re interested in? Ancient Greece or Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Vikings, the Middle Ages, the Aztecs and Incas, the Renaissance, the Tudors, Victorian London, World War I, for example, are all popular time periods.
Most of these are very well-documented.
This means that there’s a lot of information available to use in a story, but it also means that you have to be very careful in your research and can’t deviate too far from historical facts.
Learn more about The Time Traveler’s Guide and all Simon’s other books on his website at https://simon-rose.com/.
Simon also offers a variety of coaching services for writers and his Writing Historical Fiction online course.
