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Ending to a time travel story

Posted by Mike Jacobs on March 23, 2015 at 9:09pm

I'm hoping somebody might have an idea for an ending to a sci-fi novel I'm wanting to write. It's a time travel novel written from the standpoint of the person in the era visited. The story is that he is visited by scientists from the future who tell him that he and the girl he is dating will marry. He will become a great scientist, but his son will out strip his work, but his grandson does even more, developing time travel, which is used as a weapon, changing the past to change the future, leaving humanity with no history. The end result is that the man visited has to leave the field of science and remain celibate to prevent the development of time travel. The man agrees, ending his relationship with his girlfriend and going into another field altogether, deciding to remain alone romantically. Does anybody have any thoughts on how to end this? Thanks.

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  • Mike Jacobs April 4, 2015 at 8:38am

    Hey! I apologize for not responding sooner (computer problems). Thanks for your input. I think I've got it figured out how to handle the story I have in mind. In the end he follows his heart and risks all for love, realizing the future is in his hands as he follows Christ. It will end with him proposing to his lady love, promising 'great things' of their children and asking her to make the future possible (It's a lot more romantic in my head).

  • Kerry Tarpley March 26, 2015 at 3:36am
    What I was thinking was have the girlfriend that he broke up with go on to have a family with another man. Her grand children end up being the ones who create Time travel. Her great granddaughter will return to visit with the same name and looks of the love of his life he gave up to save earths history problem. Her message will be that GOD doesn't care about the past only the now and then. "Born Again" Only God knows and holds the future not mankind. We are to trust in God not ourselfs Mathew 6:33-34 Can our actions change Gods will? Yes our sacrifices God will honor but doesn't ever story have a satin filled Judist, Bathsheba for David, Delilah for Sampson. satin will not give up because of our choices. God and God alone through Jesus will be the only salvation for mankind. good luck and God Bless
  • Douglas Clarke March 25, 2015 at 6:36pm

    Hi Mike,

    It also occurred to me to say that you might consider trying to write this as a short story. Novels are tricky things and required more than a good idea. You have to be willing to pour your heart into a novel. From what you wrote and where I can see it going this could make a great 3000 to 7000 word short story. Long enough to get into some details, but not so long that you have to worry about story arcs and multiple threads.

  • Douglas Clarke March 24, 2015 at 8:49pm

    Hi Mike,

    Sounds like you already have the end of the story, the man decides to belive and act on that belief.

    As Brien said, the story is the path the man takes from takes from unbelief when some stranger come to him and say they are from the future to the point he decides to believe and change his life.

    What might work is it being a series of visits form someone from the future. How their first visit has some impact, but doesn't change the final result. They could try different ways of convince him - telling him about something that will happen tomorrow, showing him something from the future, showing him something that the've brought back that he will create.

    If you want to stretch your mind, you can tell the story chronologically from the mans point of view, but the visits from the future are not in order, so what they know and what he knows about there "past" interactions are different.

    However, no matter how interesting the paradoxes are, the thing that will capture your readers will be how the man struggles to grow and reach his decision. 

    Another thing you'll have to make clear is why the people from the future don't just kill him. There are lots of good reasons, some of them time-paradox related, but you donned to make it clear because it would be the "easy" answer.

  • Brien Sparling March 24, 2015 at 6:27pm

         A short story can be a comment on a human quirk or foible of nature; a novel ideally is a long comment on the development of a human strength or weakness. The protagonist can be a rabbit(Watership down) or a hobbit(Lord of the Rings) and still the story is still about developing human strengths and/or weaknesses.  Since you have a conflict and its resolution, now is a great time to think about what you want to say about the human condition, and that will determine the end of your book.

  • K.G. Adams March 24, 2015 at 4:06am
    It might be cool to explore how the character doesn't know what God has in mind for him. Make sure he prays about the decision. It might also be of interest to show how the future isn't set in stone (if you can do so in a God-Glorifying way). This might be a good story for a love triangle. Have another female character come into play and have him choose between one girl, the other, or staying single in the end. It might also be a good idea to read 1 Corinthians 7 before you start planning. Hope this helps.
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