Guest Article on Writing Time Travel by Author Janet R. Stevens

Welcome to the JL Buck mystery blog!
T​oday we're turning the blog over to guest author Janet Raye Stevens for her tips on writing novels that involve time travel.
Good morning, Janet! Take it away…

JRS:  Thanks, I’m happy to be here talking about the pitfalls to avoid.

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​Five Simple Rules of Time Travel

So, you’ve time traveled to the past via time machine or some kind of magical stones and now find yourself back in time. What happens next? As you navigate a strange new era and place, you’ll meet all kinds of interesting people and see wonders of the ancient world (or not-so-ancient world, depending on how far back you’ve travelled), but there’s also a ton of risks to taking a jaunt through time.
 
If you don’t want to commit a temporal faux pas right out of the gate, follow my advice and adhere to these top 5 rules of time travel:
 
1. Don’t kill your own grandpa. I know that sounds silly, but the way fate and destiny work in the time travel business, chances are good you’ll run into an ancestor who’s pretty important to the future, particularly yours. So, if you don’t want to wink yourself out of existence, keep sharp and don’t accidentally drop an anvil on Grandpa’s head.
 
2. Don’t change a famous person’s destiny. If chances are high you’ll run into your own grandpa in your trip to the past, the odds are even better you’ll hobnob with a famous person. Like, 100%. Fate and temporal destiny won’t toss you into the path of an ordinary person. You’ll more likely end up hanging out with Elvis the day he cuts his first demo record or Queen Victoria when she’s deciding which of the many princes vying for her hand she’s going to marry. Don’t make Elvis late to the recording studio, and don’t advise Victoria to choose that hottie from Lichtenstein instead of stuffy old Prince Albert.
 
3. You cannot change fixed points in time. Every time traveler finds that out the hard way when they attempt to fix what once went wrong, only to screw it up royally. For instance, if you decide to tweak the Titanic’s course settings, thinking you’ll save everyone on board, you will inevitably discover the ship was going to miss the iceberg all along—until you steered it on a collision course. So, don’t. Just don’t.
 
4. Don’t create a paradox. I’m not sure what a paradox even is, but all the time travel experts say it’s very, very bad. For every Back to the Future paradox, where Marty McFly’s bumbling around in 1955 actually changes his family’s timeline for the better, there’s a hundred killing your own grandpa screw ups. So, take my advice and keep the paradox creating to a minimum.
 
5. Don’t fall in love. Well, actually, maybe do. Because that’s what happens to Beryl Blue when she visits 1943. Her time with Sully is brief, but life changing. A romance with someone from the past might be the ultimate long-distance relationship, but that’s one risk Beryl decides she has to take.
 
Follow these golden rules next time you vacation in time and you’re good to (time) travel!

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​About the Author:
 
Meet award-winning author Janet Raye Stevens – mom, reader, tea-drinker (okay, tea guzzler), and weaver of smart, stealthily romantic tales.
 
A Derringer Award and Silver Falchion Award finalist, Janet’s work has been recognized multiple times, including winning the Daphne du Maurier award for the WWII-set paranormal A Moment After Dark and RWA’s Golden Heart® award for the holiday romance Cole for Christmas. Janet writes historical mystery, time travel, paranormal, and the occasional Christmas romance with humor, heart, and a dash of suspense.
 
She lives in Massachusetts with her handsome better half and their equally impressive children.
 
Something unique/unusual that isn't in my regular bio: I had the singular pleasure of meeting the Three Stooges when I was six, and was presented to the Queen of Bhutan much, much later. The Queen wore a gorgeous gown of colorful Bhutanese textiles; the Stooges wore goofy grins and costumes smeared with pie from their antics performing at the Shrine Circus.

Author Links:
JRS Website: https://janetrayestevens.com/
JRS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetrayestevens/
JRS BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/janet-raye-stevens
JRS Linktree: https://linktr.ee/janetrayestevens
JRS Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/j9d9u0

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Beryl Blue, Time Cop – Book I Beryl Blue’s Adventures in Time
 
Her mission: save the soldier, save the future. Even if she loses her heart.
 
Somewhere in Time meets Terminator as feisty librarian Beryl Blue is hurled from 2015 to WWII, tasked with stopping a time traveling assassin from killing a soldier on leave and changing history forever.
 
Dealing with the bad guy’s easy compared to the trouble his target puts Beryl through. She’s stunned to find herself falling for the sexy, stubborn Army sergeant Tom “Sully” Sullivan, who makes it abundantly clear he can take care of himself.
 
With an assassin on their heels and all of history on her shoulders, Beryl scrambles to figure out how to protect a man who refuses to be protected—and keep her heart intact.
 
Beryl Blue, Time Cop Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/md1DJw

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