How to show status quo?

[Cli-Fi]

I really want to draw my readers into the fact that "this" (meaning time travel) is how things are done in my universe. And that anybody who screws with it or messes them up will pay. Essentially, if you aren't with us you are against us. Granted the paying part is towards more the end of the book, but how could I build it up more and more and more?

What would you recommend in following chapters that I take into account as I build this time travel society? It is already heavily political and the world the characters are involved in is shady as hell. Is it just enough to have politics in there? Or is more needed?

Some of my inspirations are drawn from TV Shows like Boardwalk Empire and even Breaking Bad or Firefly. It's a pretty gritty story about power.

I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question (as all stories have conflict, but I don't want to put wrong ones in there). Now that I have established, in another thread that something like this to its extent has never been done before, or even perhaps thought of. I am on almost completely new territory and could definitely use the help in order to get it right.

Let's build an industry! What would you like to see in a long standing society, possibly bored with and definitely corrupted by time travel?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You're missing the one thing that gets me - and many - invested and prepared to read on.

The characters. I don't care how cool your sf is, or how murky your politics. I want to know who to care about and why.

 

[Cli-Fi]

You're missing the one thing that gets me - and many - invested and prepared to read on.

The characters. I don't care how cool your sf is, or how murky your politics. I want to know who to care about and why.

But the characters live in the world and they are the reason that the world is changing/going to change. Throughout the story they basically figure out everything they've ever been taught is wrong. So I would like to portray that. Sorry if I wasn't more clear in the first post, but I believe I need to show these particular clashings in my story so that people actually get what's so supposedly bad/wrong about changing things.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

But the characters live in the world and they are the reason that the world is changing/going to change. Throughout the story they basically figure out everything they've ever been taught is wrong. So I would like to portray that. Sorry if I wasn't more clear in the first post, but I believe I need to show these particular clashings in my story so that people actually get what's so supposedly bad/wrong about changing things.

But who are these characters? How they impact on the world is where you need to think about, maybe? The start and end of the idea? Which character sees it when and how?

 

[tinkerdan]

To go back to harping on what @Jo Zebedee said::

You should pick a character that fits best into this story and where you will take the story and look at the world through their eyes. You'd be surprised what the hero can do to improve your vision.

I basically did this same in my first novel. Everything that is known about the way they do things is wrong-shrouded in secret-because of the perceived problems the founders struggled with.

In my first book: my character is sitting on the tip of the iceberg watching it crack while slowly realizing that she's the ice-pick and that is what drives the story more than the cool idea and the politics.

I'm also trying to remember your first post and what might be unique about it because Cage Baker's Company novels have a corporation that runs time travel based on assumptions they have derived and fed to the time travelers and there are many more diverse time travel novels you should examine if you haven't already.

H. Piper Beam has a time travel series.
Andrea Norton has one.

But in all of these the characters are the important piece unless you turn time travel machinery into a sentient being like the computer Mike is on the moon in Heinlein's novel.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Not sure if this would fit into your story, but could you have a person who refuses to use time travel (or a organized group of people who refuse TT; an organization might get the attention of those in power)? They think it is unnecessarily....or against the dictates of Nature. You could have an old curmudgeon 'arrested' by some authority whose job it is to promote time travel; they could try to coerce, and then intimidate him into using TT as (almost) everyone else does. He could tell them "I am a time traveler...I head into the future one day at a time." Or something. These forward-only timers could be shown in little asides throughout the book; maybe they'd even interact at some point with your MC (is that Sharon?) if she becomes disillusioned with the whole culture of TT. Just a thought! But I agree, at some point it would come down to the level of characters, and characterization. Good luck, CC

 

[Brian G Turner]

The characters.

Yep, Jo's right - your character perceptions will shape the reader perceptions. The more you draw readers into the characters, the more you will draw them into your world.

In theory, anyway.

If you're still early into an incomplete draft, then a lot is likely not going to be clear at this point anyway, so just press on and begin to fill in the gaps after your first draft is complete.

 

[Ihe]

All the characterization advice is spot-on. If you want the reader to understand just how commonplace and casual time-travel is in this society (and how rotten), depending on your MC's perspectives to flesh out the world is the right way to go, and gives richness to the story.

But if on top of that, you want an extra exposure of how incredibly routinary and pedestrian time-travelling is (and therefore highlighting the ubiquitous importance it has in this society) and how it holds the whole of society together, you could do a bit of non-standard writing. Think PKD's "Ubik", with the TV ads at the beginning of every chapter. Maybe integrate into your story something like ads for time-travelling equipment or toys for kids, television reporters reporting on relevant time-travelling cases (maybe of a criminal nature?), newspaper article snippets treating time-travelling as just another thing to complain about, mainstream literature like "The Time Traveller's Digest", the existence of an entire police division specialized in time-travel monitoring, etc. Any offhand mention about time-travel peripherals that could make time-travel look like a trivial matter (since people would be sooooo used to it by now). Show how Education deals with training their young in TT--little chants schoolchildren learn to remember better the laws of time-travel, etc. Also remember the historical snippets at the beginning of the chapters in "Dune".

You can do these things independently of what your MC is doing, but it would be better to show all this as part of his/her perceptions. You will have to take care not to overuse this method, because most of this sort of information is 100% irrelevant to plot development (although it is relevant to world-building. The ideal would be to meet the story halfway between plot and world-building, making every world-building reference related directly to the plot, overlapping each other at every turn). I don't know if I'm making sense.

 

[Cli-Fi]

Not sure if this would fit into your story, but could you have a person who refuses to use time travel (or a organized group of people who refuse TT; an organization might get the attention of those in power)? They think it is unnecessarily....or against the dictates of Nature. You could have an old curmudgeon 'arrested' by some authority whose job it is to promote time travel; they could try to coerce, and then intimidate him into using TT as (almost) everyone else does. He could tell them "I am a time traveler...I head into the future one day at a time." Or something. These forward-only timers could be shown in little asides throughout the book; maybe they'd even interact at some point with your MC (is that Sharon?) if she becomes disillusioned with the whole culture of TT. Just a thought! But I agree, at some point it would come down to the level of characters, and characterization. Good luck, CC

I like that idea. Using minor characters to show how the world interacts with TT and how they could challenge the MC (sharon) in little ways. I think I have done this once already. Thanks.

 

[Cli-Fi]

All the characterization advice is spot-on. If you want the reader to understand just how commonplace and casual time-travel is in this society (and how rotten), depending on your MC's perspectives to flesh out the world is the right way to go, and gives richness to the story.

But if on top of that, you want an extra exposure of how incredibly routinary and pedestrian time-travelling is (and therefore highlighting the ubiquitous importance it has in this society) and how it holds the whole of society together, you could do a bit of non-standard writing. Think PKD's "Ubik", with the TV ads at the beginning of every chapter. Maybe integrate into your story something like ads for time-travelling equipment or toys for kids, television reporters reporting on relevant time-travelling cases (maybe of a criminal nature?), newspaper article snippets treating time-travelling as just another thing to complain about, mainstream literature like "The Time Traveller's Digest", the existence of an entire police division specialized in time-travel monitoring, etc. Any offhand mention about time-travel peripherals that could make time-travel look like a trivial matter (since people would be sooooo used to it by now). Show how Education deals with training their young in TT--little chants schoolchildren learn to remember better the laws of time-travel, etc. Also remember the historical snippets at the beginning of the chapters in "Dune".

You can do these things independently of what your MC is doing, but it would be better to show all this as part of his/her perceptions. You will have to take care not to overuse this method, because most of this sort of information is 100% irrelevant to plot development (although it is relevant to world-building. The ideal would be to meet the story halfway between plot and world-building, making every world-building reference related directly to the plot, overlapping each other at every turn). I don't know if I'm making sense.

Thank you for the great ideas. This was the type of answer I was really looking for. I know the characters are important. So that wasn't the question I was asking. I already have outlines for about twenty colorful characters. Yeah I was hoping for ideas about how to show TT being ubiquitous in society. Outside of the character's storyline. This does not mean, I am ignoring the characters. Far from it. Just these little bits and pieces, to me, make the story stand out and makes the reader think about things other than the in-your-face plot. It is part of the reason why I love scifi and I think why we all do.

 

[Toby Frost]

If it's thoroughly embedded in society, people would probably refer to time travel in the same way that they refer to going on holiday or using cars. When someone tells me that they're going on holiday, I don't immediately think of how they'll get there or whether it's a long journey. I might take note if they're going to a dangerous place, or ask what they intend to do when they get there, but that's about it.

Similarly, I don't think about my car much unless it breaks down or I need to get it checked. A mechanic would think about cars a lot, but in a casual, functional way, often considering individual bits rather than the whole process of driving. A few enthusiasts would know a lot about cars and find them intriguing, but usually it's classic or top-of-the-range cars, not standard family models, that interest them.

As for policing it, well, a character could glance at the TV and see someone arrested for dodgy time-travelling. Think of it like drug dealing, taking bribes or some other shifty practice. How do we hear about them now?

 

[jastius]

Thank you for the great ideas. This was the type of answer I was really looking for. I know the characters are important. So that wasn't the question I was asking. I already have outlines for about twenty colorful characters. Yeah I was hoping for ideas about how to show TT being ubiquitous in society. Outside of the character's storyline. This does not mean, I am ignoring the characters. Far from it. Just these little bits and pieces, to me, make the story stand out and makes the reader think about things other than the in-your-face plot. It is part of the reason why I love scifi and I think why we all do.

Have you looked at the Robert Aspirin time travel series?
"The House That Jack Built" comes to mind..

As for status.. This is usually a question of either possessions or place.
Ivana Trumps autobiographical piece in Vanity Fair upon the steps she took to help establish her husbands prestige is an interesting expose upon this subject. As is Martha Stewarts back story. Stephan Spielburg, Tom Hanks.. Even the Robertsons from the television show "Duck Dynasty".. Or Madonna. JK Rowling...
They all have their back story of the climb up in public view... And all have power and prestige.

 

[Dan Jones]

Just another thought to chew on: one thing to help you create your character is to think who would be the best/worst possible person to put in a situation? Ie a cop in a detective story is pretty obvious, but it works. But likewise, the autistic boy Chris in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a very un-obvious character to be put in that situation; both scenarios create conflict.

So... would yourtime-traveller be a disgruntled employee who works in the industry (it could be an engineer, who therefore has working knowledge of the tech, or a corporate wonk who understands the shady politics, or the guy on the shop floor who's just joined and is still figuring things out...or whatever) but choosing a character to fit your scenario is quite important, as it will help to identify their arc and how they change.

 

[Alexander2]

For something like this mostly just use the dialogue. Maybe have important political figures speak of "The importance of responsible time travel."

 

[Warren_Paul]

What would you recommend in following chapters that I take into account as I build this time travel society? It is already heavily political and the world the characters are involved in is shady as hell. Is it just enough to have politics in there? Or is more needed?

Some of my inspirations are drawn from TV Shows like Boardwalk Empire and even Breaking Bad or Firefly. It's a pretty gritty story about power.

...

Let's build an industry! What would you like to see in a long standing society, possibly bored with and definitely corrupted by time travel?

It's always about the characters impressions of the world. If the characters react like some part of society is nothing out of the ordinary, then that's interpreted by the reader as normal. You mention Boardwalk Empire as inspiration, but even Boardwalk Empire with all its insight into the world of bootleggers was still focused around a select few characters whose lives were able to show that world effectively. Boardwalk Empire would never have been the show it was without the characters of Nucky Thompson, Al Capone, Chalky White or even Nelson Van Alden.

Make us love the characters and then their interpretation of the world around them will influence us.

Al Capone is a perfect example. The writers used scenes demonstrating his love for his family to make us connect to his character, they made us sympathise with his son's deafness, but then Capone went out and did some very bad stuff and showed a side of himself that was very influenced by the state of the world at that time.

Look at Nucky Thompson as another example. We could see that he really cared for Margaret and wanted to do good by her, but to survive in the world he had to do some things, make some decisions in his life that she couldn't live with. The writing of the character development makes us sympathise with them as they fought to meet at a common ground.

Nelson Van Alden started off as a man of integrity, trying to put an end to the corruption, but the world swallowed him up and spat out a hollow shell of a man who had given up all he believed in just so he could survive and live on in a world that wanted to keep on kicking him when he was down. His story is a very depressing one that we feel for.

But through the daily lives and struggles of these characters the image of an unforgiving world is fleshed out and made real. We get to see the best and worst of prohibition era Atlantic City and Chicago through their eyes. It was the depths of the characters that made the world of Boardwalk Empire come alive and without them it would have been a flat bore.