Blog #2: The Problem I Have With ‘Time-Travel.

I know Doctor Who fans all around the world are going to criticise me a 'bit' but I can't comprehend the theory of time travel in stories.

In Steins:Gate, I felt that changing the past through messages was quite clever because it doesn't involve actually going there. However, in about every other fiction that features a character physically travelling through time and altering their own timeline, I felt unable to comprehend the 'science' of it.

For example: If you were to travel back in time, you would still be affected by the changes you make in the past unless you're not connected to the future anymore.

The whole reason no one believes Subaru in Re:Zero actually Time-Travels is because he shouldn't be able to remember things that 'did not happen to him in the past'. With a changed past means a changed future, and although you can add some 'science' explaining why he still remembers his experiences from past timelines, it feels kind of like the MC dimensional travelled instead of you don't properly explain the theory.

It's not like I hate any of these stories in general because of the strange 'science' of their MC's remembering pasts that 'never happened', but I personally feel that it would be a lot more interesting if we as the reader could 'see' his past experiences and see how the MC tries to fix the past without 'knowing' it.

You might be thinking that such a thought is illogical since an MC wouldn't be able to experience 'growth' without memories. However, I feel that external things like messages and how the MC's life changed is more than enough of a catalyst to make the MC grow both as a person and further the plot of the story.

If you have watched movies like Memento, you'd know that there a lot more ways to make a time-travel story interesting besides actually 'going back'.

Perhaps you're character receives letters from his future self, maybe there are oddly specific warnings telling you not to do something you are about to do, or you could even just make it an entirely different course of events every time the past is changed and only stop the story when a paradox occurs.

Writing about going to a parallel dimension that seems like the past is a good idea and I personally have no problem with writers using 'science' for narrative purposes to further the plot.

I mean, it's not like I watch Doctor Who because his time travel makes sense anyway. I just love how it's executed.

If you agree or disagree with me, please be sure to leave a comment. I love theory crafting and also love planning stories more than executing them. :p