One of the main characters in my book is a time traveller who has limited interaction with the present. I'd like to develop her a bit more. Any ideas?
I'd make her very suspicious of other characters, since she is a time traveller she might have difficulties in dealing with others. That would make your character a tad lonely though.
What does that even mean? Limited interaction how? Does the character not have the ability to speak to people in the present? Do they have some scheme to complete in the present but they have to do it without changing the timeline? Are they invisible to people in the present? More details necessary.
@Mike Hill I couldn't agree more. Not that I think it is all bad, but the revival certainly gave birth to one intense fandom. It is however, for better or worse, one of the more mainstream examples of time travel. Offhand, I can't even name another immediate work that focuses on time travel, outside of H. G Wells "Time Machine". Just not my thing. Without knowing more (or really understanding what S Raven is looking for) it all I've got. Just my two cents.
She should definitely have consistent difficulty with any sort of interface. Buttons, touchscreens, dials, handles. Technology has changed so fast, that even today, children are confused when presented with something from "our" era, like a VCR. Also, I'm thinking that there would be some weird quirks and "modern conveniences" that she might miss. (You mean you don't have a bev-matic in every home? That's how make coffee these days?!) Socially, I'd suggest that you either consider we are going to either be more or less socially insulated. Either we "stop using social media or we use it to the point that all relationships are filtered through profiles. Either way, her cultural touchstones would be alien to people today.
Considering you've designated her a main character, you've given us a remarkably blank slate here. Character and plot are normally so intertwined, I feel we're getting quite close to 'tell me what my story is' territory. I think that it would be most useful to list things you can ask yourself to develop the character yourself. What is her motivation for coming to this particular time? Is she intended to aid or hinder (or both) the other characters? Is she stuck here? Can she return to her own time? Does she have relevant knowledge of things to come? Is she allowed to impart it? What are the rules on minimal interaction? Are they physical constraints or are is she worried about timeline breakage? Does she have interesting future tech she can use? How do you envisage culture has changed by her time? Do they have different values? Morals? Idioms? Entertainment? I'm sure there's some good questions I've not thought of.
A few more questions Does she change as a character over the course of the story? Is there stuff she can learn from the present to help her grow. Does she have preconceptions about the present? Does she have general traits,strengths, weaknesses, fears etc which don't apply to everyone from her time period.
Dr. Who and Lord of the Rings have done that to 'pop' SF/F. There is a ton of work out there in SF/F that doesn't even remotely follow these trends, of course. I've enjoyed a fair amount of Dr. Who, but there are some really terrible episodes - often written by Moffat. I pretty much cringe when his name pops up as writer at the beginning of an episode.
Worth pointing out that a character is not going to be completely ignorant about how "the past" works - in the same way that you are vaguely aware that the technological development of washing clothes (for example) went from scrubbing them in the river and pegging them out, to communal wash-houses, to mangles and crank-operated washing machines, to electric washers, to modern washer-dryers, but you couldn't for the life of you tell anyone exactly what stage was when. Trying to wash your clothes for the first time in the mid-1700s, then, would have you entirely unsure which of those technologies was the one used in that era, rather than completely baffled that modern washer-dryers aren't used. Too many time travel stories, in my experience, fall into this trap, of assuming that people from the future would be completely confused at the lack of laser weapons on modern battlefields, rather than simply not being sure which "era" of weapons are used now; muskets? flintlocks? gatling guns?
I didn't mean it had ruined the genre. I meant that it has had a negative impact on it. People shouldn't make anything some sort of rule book.
I didn't consider my point profound. I attempted to express my thoughts in a shorter form because I think everyone has seen what impact Lord of the rings has had on fantasy.
By internet forum standards, I suppose it is a retort. Not a particularly thoughtful or substantive retort, but maybe you can't have cat gifs and consistently thoughtful discourse coexisting on the same network.
I believe they're a Dr. Who fan and thought that the Dr. Who/LOTR comparison was a compliment, not an example of mundane standardization. ie: it's cute you thought that Dr. Who was so legendary and genre defining, but all us Dr. Who fanatics already know that. Doctor Who sucks, btw. Boring as fuck.
