1. Toomanypens

    Toomanypens Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2015
    Messages:
    77
    Likes Received:
    40

    My new plot (still needs work) time travel

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by Toomanypens, Mar 5, 2016.

    Ok,
    Backstory:
    Main character is from a parallel universe
    He worked for a technology company
    He invented time travel and the company blew up his home (burning his wife and daughter alive while he watched from outside) in an assassination/coverup attempt (so they could take it and tie off all loose ends and knowleedge of its existence or replication)
    He fought with this company in his grief and anger and took back all the time travel technology
    Then went back in time to try to undo the past, but he didn't fully understand time travel so had to spend his life travelling around and perfecting his knowledge
    He became a drunk, his anger grew over the years stranded in other times and parallel universes
    He eventually thought he had mastered time enough to save his family, but couldn't and so got revenge

    After his vengeance his pain remained, and as he stepped through time once more, the universe collapsed
    He becomes stranded in a parallel universe, knowing he destroyed his own, because he misused time travel and messed up the world

    He becomes a drifter, and lives out his remaining years... and on his deathbed, he cannot rest, so he performs a brutal proceedure on himself that restores his youth. He vows, to find the remnants of that lost universe and to bring it back, because he cannot die having erased its existence.

    He winds up on earth 2055
    Where 5 companies rule the civilised world through a much weakened democracy

    The story:
    You don't learn about the main characters origins for a while, it is only alluded to. He appears to be a 30 year old guy, he gets a job in fast food making fries, and has one friend who isn't all that bright.
    Secretly however he is designing all kinds of things in his apartment, and attempting to find his universe.
    He fails to find it, its gone for good, and right at the start he is confronting it.

    He decides to keep pushing on in life even without answers, and meets a scientist/woman who is on the verge of inventing time travel for her corporate sponsors. He warns her of the danger and is roped into the problem against his will.

    The plot:
    After she is kidnapped and forced to finalise the equations for time travel, the main character finds her "watcher", or the spy in her science team that told the bosses that this woman knows the formula but is just "too smart for her own good" and is hiding it. They threaten this woman's family, and the main character knows, these people are already marked for death either way cuz he's seen it before so finds her family and saves them.

    In doing so, these corporations learn of him, and turn on him, making him a fugitive of their crooked justice.
    They own the world basically so there is nowhere to really escape... except space.
    No one except him is capable of creating space craft, so he takes them to a hangar where his self built spaceship is, and takes them to Mars.

    He then returns to save the scientist from the torture she is likely under now that they KNOW they can't get at her family.

    The main character then sets off distractions such as huge rioting mobs of unsatisfied citizens (steering an uprising/revolution and giving it the edge it needs so that their oppression no longer can hold it down).

    He sets the companies against each other, so their resources spread thin.
    And he starves the CEO's of new technological progress, to unsettle them deeply.

    He then infiltrates the base where they are holding her, and all the companies start cannibalising against each other bringing the world to the brink of utter societal collapse. He tries to stop it but he can't, so he ships millions of people to mars.

    And as the revolution is at its peak, cities are nuked by the ceos in order to silence the uprising and destroy the worst cities, because they believe that "only they" (with control of resources) can rebuild. Most of earth is destroyed, not to the point of Nuclear winter, but it is close.

    Our main character wonders if this is the sacrifice of greed that time travel brings. And if he could have stopped it from this outcome, but stays for many years to help everyone rebuild both Mars and Earth..

    He comes to learn, that while he cannot stop disaster, he can fight the greed that destroys worlds, and he eventually travels to the next universe to lessen its consequences.

    The point is... he cannot truly turn back time, because entropy always persists. It just opens him to a larger world, and a larger responsibility. He grieves loss, he fears the future, he knows he is flawed.
    And he comes to accept who he has become, which is basically a guy stopping the abuse of time travel and trying to remove the greed of those who seek it.



    Thats what I got for now :/
    Any good? Comments?
    *scratches head*

    Sorry for my horrible formatting, I'm just in a super frazzled mode trying to figure this out and my writing gets all over the place when I'm confused.
    But thats basically the plot, he can't save his wife and daughter, and neither can he truly save the next world, but he COULD HELP and does, because he hasn't given up on life. Even though the next world suffered immensely, he stopped it destroying itself entirely and that is something.

    Its meant to be a gritty, dark, somewhat comical scifi drama, with tons of technology, that describes the feeling of grief and disillusionment. "Its all bad, but it gets less bad" is kind of the comical/dramatic conclusion.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2016
  2. Raven484

    Raven484 Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Messages:
    643
    Likes Received:
    364
    Location:
    Philadelphia
    I like your plot. I am doing something that involves time travel also. Its hard because you need to make everything seem like it is possible to happen. My advise if you get stuck with something that doesn't make sense, walk away for a bit, usually I found a basic common sense answer to the problem, even if it seemed to be a very complicated situation.
    Hope it works for you, looking forward to seeing some of it come to life in the future.
     
    Toomanypens likes this.
  3. Parker101

    Parker101 Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2015
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    23
    Location:
    Paignton, England
    I love the concept of your main character accidentally destroying the fabric of his own universe by misusing time travel, I'm sure it'll be fascinating to write. Also, the concept of 5 mega corporations controlling the future world creates a tonne of possibilities for world building. I wish you the best of luck writing this, it has loads of potential as an idea.
     
    Toomanypens likes this.
  4. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2010
    Messages:
    6,541
    Likes Received:
    4,776
    He takes the family to Mars? That sounds a little random like it came out of nowhere - other than the time travel, this sounds like a more or less real-life-based kinda thriller/drama. Mars sounds a little... weird.

    Considering the realistic setting, I'm not sure how believable it is for your MC to have a convenient space ship in his basement (or wherever it is he built this). Why would he even have one in the first place? And how has nobody found out? How can the corporate guys who are after him not know about something this big? Where does your MC get the money to get all these parts to build one in the first place, considering you say he works at some fast food joint? How can he afford the fuel??

    However, I do like the concept of how the past can't be changed etc and the character development arc :)
     
    Toomanypens likes this.
  5. Toomanypens

    Toomanypens Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2015
    Messages:
    77
    Likes Received:
    40
    You are dead right about the randomness of Mars... (strokes chin)
    I wouldn't have suggested that route, but I'm trying to punch my way out of my mental block on HOW ANYONE can beat a rigged system while suffering as much guilt and grief as this guy does (without violence).
    But the arc, the corporations, the universal consequence of time travel seem on point.

    Hmmm
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice