Tag: science

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

the eight types of time travel

Time travel is a stable in science fiction. Countless books, comics, movies, and TV shows have used it as their main plot device. Even more have incorporated it into a key moment of the story. Over the years, eight major types of time travel logic emerged. Recently, YouTubers Eric Voss and Héctor Navarro examined all eight types, and looked at which one gets it most correct in term of the real world science behind science fiction.

Type 1 Anything goes

Definition: Characters travel back and forth within their historical timeline.

This approach frees you to have fun and not get lost in the minutiae of how time travel works. Usually, there’s a magical Maguffin that to quote the great Dr. Ememett Brown, “makes time travel possible”. Writers have used a car, a phone booth, and a hot tub, among other options. This approach leads to inconsistent limits on the logic of the time travel, but this doesn’t mean the story is poorly plotted, won’t be enjoyable or won’t be an enormous hit. This approach is more science fantasy than science fiction with no basis in real-world science.

Examples: Back to the Future, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Hot Tube Time Machine, Frequency, Austin Powers, Men In Black 3, Deadpool 2, The Simpsons, Galaxy Quest, Star Trek TOS, Doctor Who, 11/22/63 by Stephen King.

Type 2 Branch Reality

Definition: Changes to the past don’t rewrite history. They split the timeline into an alternate branch timeline. This action does not change or erase the original timeline.

As authors got more familiar with the science behind time travel in theoretical physics, this type, based upon the many worlds theory in quantum mechanics, emerged. When the character travels back into the past and changes events, they create a new reality. Their original reality is unchanged. Branches themselves can branch leading to a multiverse of possibilities.

Examples: The Disney Plus series, Loki, used this extensively. See also: Back to the Future Part II, Avenger’s Endgame, the DC Comics multiverse, the Marvel Comics multiverse, Rick and Morty, Star Trek (2009), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

Type 3 Time Dilation

Definition: Characters traveling off-world experience time moving more slowly than elsewhere in the universe, allowing them to move forward in time (but not backward).

This type is the based upon our scientific understanding of how time slows down as you approach the speed of the light. This is a forward-only type of time travel. There’s no going backwards.

Examples: Planet of the Apes, Ender’s Game, Flight of the Navigator, Interstellar, Buck Rodgers.

Type 4 This Always Happened

Definition: All of time is fixed on a predestined loop in which the very act of time travel itself sets the events of the story into motion.

This one can confuse and delves closer to the realm of theology than science. It feels gimmicky, and has become something of a trope making it hard to pull this off in a satisfying way for your audience. This type also invites the audience to question if your protagonist ever had free will or agency in the story.

Examples: Terminator, Terminator 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Game of Thrones-Season 6, Twelve Monkeys, Interstellar, Kate and Leopold, The Butterfly Effect, Predestination, Ricky and Morty-Season 5, Looper.

Type 5 Seeing the Future

Definition: After seeing a vision of their fate, characters choose to change their destiny or embrace their lot.

We’re stretching to call this time travel, but it provides your story with built-in conflict and stakes. Will the hero choose to walk the path knowing how it will end, or will they choose a different path?

Examples: Oedipus Rex, A Christmas Carol, Minority Report, Arrival, Next (Nicolas Cage), Rick and Morty-Season Four. Star Trek:Discovery-Season 2, Avenger’s EndGame with Dr. Strange and the Mind Stone.

Type 6 Time Loop / Groundhog Day

Definition: Characters relive the same day over and over, resetting back to a respawn point once they die or become incapacitated.

This type gained popularity after the movie, Groundhog Day, became a tremendous hit. Most of the other examples take the Groundhog Day idea and put a slight twist on it. Like Type 4 “This Always Happened”, the popularity of this type can make it harder to pull off in a fresh and innovative way.

Examples: Obviously, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Edge of Tomorrow, Doctor Strange in the ending battle with Dormammu, Russian Dolls (Netflix), Palm Springs, Star Trek TNG.

Type 7 Unstuck Mind

Definition: Characters consciousness transport through time within his body to his life at different ages.

Nostalgia for the past and dreaming of the future are core parts of the human experience. This type runs more metaphorically than scientific.

Examples: Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Desmond in the series Lost.

Type 8 Unstuck Body

Definition: A character’s body or object becomes physically detached from the flow of time within the surrounding universe, becoming inverted or younger. Only certain objects or bodies are unstuck from time. Also called Inverted Entropy.

This one will blow your mind if you think about it for too long. Like Type 2 “Branch Reality”, this one comes from the realm of quantum mechanics and theoretical physics. Scientists and mathematicians have all the formulas worked out to make this de-aging a reality, but currently lack the technology to control all the variables in the ways needed. It would like scientists working out than an object could break the speed of the sound in 1890. It would look inconceivable, given the technology of the day, but I wouldn’t put limits on human ingenuity.

Examples: Dr. Strange (the Hong Kong battle). Tenet, briefly in Endgame with Scott Lang and Bruce, Primer.

If you’re writing a time travel story, you’ll need to decide which one of these types you want to deploy. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. In many ways, its similar to designing your magic system, especially if you go with a Type 1 time travel story. The most important thing remains to have relatable characters and to tell a great story while being internally consistent with the rules and logic of your story world.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted has a quarterly newsletter which you can join here. You’ll get the latest on his writing and publishing as well as links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

advances in rocket propulsion to inspire your science fiction

There’s an important difference between Science Fiction and Scient Fantasy. Scient Fiction is based on real world science, even if that science is theoretical. Science Fantasy looks and reads like Science Fiction, but it’s not based on real world science. Science Fiction spends more time explaining how the technology in their created world works, while Science Fantasy treats it as akin to a magic system. The classic delineation is Star Trek is Science Fiction, while Star Wars is Science Fantasy.

Known and mundane

Chemical rockets have been powering human spaceflight for decades. Every rocket used this type of propulsion. Whether the fuel is liquid or solid, it’s burned with an oxidizer to create rapidly expanding gas. The design of the rocket gives the gas only the rocket’s nozzle as an outlet and thanks to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, all the force going out causes a reactive force pushing the rocket to the stratosphere and beyond.

SpaceX, one of the leading innovators in space travel, has begun tests on The Raptor, a full flow staged combustion (FFSC) engine. It’s still a chemical reaction, but it’s more fuel efficient and generates more power.

Are you telling me that this sucker is NUCLEAR?

Nuclear fission reactions recall visions of mushroom clouds and destruction, but much like how we can use fire or electricity for both destructive and constructive purposes, this potent reaction is being tested as a possible propulsion source. It works like a chemical rocket. Gases are heated and given the nozzle as their only escape.

The problem with fission engines is size. The current fission reactors are too large for a space faring vehicle, but research and experimentation continue. The other issues is launch failure. It’s one thing when a chemical rocket explodes, but a nuclear rocket could spread radioactive material over a large area. That is not ideal.

It’s electric

There are few sounds more iconic than the Twin Ion Engines of a Sienar Fleet Systems T.I.E fighter. This technology is getting some real application. The drives ionize particles and fire them out a thruster. They are fuel efficient and can even be solar powered. Real-world applications include Esa’s SMART-1 mission to the Moon and Bepi-Colombo mission headed to Mercury.

The major issue with ion drives is speed. They are too slow for any manned mission, but NASA is working on more powerful versions for a proposed moon mission.

Solar sails

Versions have of Solar sails have appeared in popular Science Fiction and Science Fantasy. The real-world versions rely on catching photons emitted by the Sun. They propel the sail through space. There is an inverse relationship between distance from the Sun and speed. The Japanese IKAROS spacecraft and the Planetary Society Lightsail-2 project have both employed this technology. Unfortunately for solar sail enthusiasts, these engines make the ion engines look fast.

Scientist continue to push the boundaries of our technology, chasing the dreams birth in them by writers of great science fiction. The writers inspire the scientist to reach new heights and the discovers the scientist make inspire greater and more fantastical stories from the writers. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic relationship.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted has a montly newsletter which you can join here. It’s a roundup of links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel with brief commentary from him.

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi Uncategorized

Unlocking Science Fiction, the Secret You Need to Know

There’s something about a good sci-fi story that pulls me in and doesn’t let me go. In those moments, I’m completely satisfied as a passive observer, forgetting all the rules of how we should write active characters, strong plots, and keep the story moving.

I just want to be drawn in (passive), forget the rules (what?!) and let the story take me where it will.

What is it about truly great stories that draw me in this way? There’s a key answer to this question. As writers, if we realize what details in a story bring us to the point where we’re willing to become passive readers—simply for the sake of engaging in the story—it will make us better, active writers.

Here’s the key—find the science in the fiction.

Stories that focus on believability (however unbelievable the plot may be in real life) allow readers the safety net of realism. When realism is built into a story, the fiction aspects can stand on their own.

For instance, take the book Maze Runner.

The situation is something that would (hopefully) never happen in real life: put a bunch of kids in a walled garden, or glade as they call it, and watch them fend for themselves as they try to survive alongside creepy monsters.

There’s nothing relatable about that fiction. The fiction can’t stand on its own because we, as readers, have this thought in the back of our minds: It’s so far-fetched, that would never happen.

But throw some science into the story. Watch them figure out the details of the day and how to survive alongside other teenagers they would never be friends with in whatever used to be their day-to-day lives. The author draws on the psychology of humanity, of teens, and then uses that to drive the plot.

At its core, Maze Runner is a survival story.

What goes into survival? Science. Grab your psychology textbook from freshman year and in it you’ll find Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It’s a simple pyramid structure showing what we need as individuals, from a basic need for food and water, all the way up to self-actualization.

Maze Runner focuses on the second level—safety needs.

Adding relatable, scientifically proven aspects to a science-fiction book goes a long way in helping readers engage with the story.

We’ve all felt the desire to be safe.

So, when we turn the page and monsters come out of the maze, attacking our favorite characters, we don’t mentally stop to think, would they really want to be safe from monsters though?

No way! The author already established the credibility of his work, basing it in actual science. When the fictional aspects come along, we’re already drawn into the story.

The fiction stands on its own, because it’s rooted in science.

That’s what makes great science-fiction.

That’s believable.

And believable sells.

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Writer, working with brands to grow their audience reach. She studied Strategic Communications at Cornerstone University and focused on writing during her time there, completing two full-length manuscripts while a full-time student. Currently she trains under best-selling author Jerry Jenkins in his Your Novel Blueprint course and is actively seeking publication for two books.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

Categories
The Afterword

From STEM to Story

A discussion of the future of words

How can students and other readers learn about the cutting-edge of popular science through the art of stories?

To talk about that, we invited Jenny Dehlinger and Thomas Locke (Davis Bunn) to join the podcast. Jenny serves as an instructional coach at one of the largest elementary schools in upstate South Carolina. She’s a former science teacher who graduated from Mississippi State University.

Thomas is an award-winning novelist with total worldwide sales of seven million copies. He serves as Writer In Residence at Regent’s Park College, the University of Oxford. During the podcast, he discusses his novel Enclave, a young adult science fiction work exploring questions of science and technology in a dystopian future.

Listen to Episode 4, Part 1 here.

Listen to Episode 4, Part 2 here

Meet the hosts

Holland Webb is a full-time freelance writer and editor. He spends his days writing about higher education, B2B technology, and nonprofit organizations. His clients have let him write for U.S. News & World Report, The Learning House, The Red Lantern, and Sweet Fish Media. Holland’s favorite writers are Malcolm Gladwell, Olive Ann Burns, and Flannery O’Connor. In his spare time … are you kidding, what spare time? You can reach him through www.theafterwordpodcast.com or on Twitter at @WebbHollandLyle.

Amy Bowlin is a veteran teacher. She works with 6-year-olds in literacy intervention and shares with college seniors the art of teaching literacy. Balancing both worlds involves commuting which allows her to listen to her favorite podcasts, “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me,” “This American Life” and “Revisionist History.” When she is not traveling to Greece to work with refugees, she likes to write, hike, kayak and spend time with family and friends. You can reach her through www.theafterwordpodcast.com or on Twitter at @albowlin1.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

The Science Fiction Behind Science Fiction

Since the release of Star Trek and Star Wars, viewers of space-based science fiction have had certain expectations of what a space battle should look like. As a result, most authors have followed suit and written their space opera in the same vein as these examples. But how accurate are these space battles we’ve come to expect? Here are a few surprising differences you would need to make as a writer if you wanted to have a more realistic space battle.

Communication. Currently, our communication can only travel at the speed of light. This means ships communicating to nearby planets or other ships very likely will have a significant time delay between messages. The discussions would not be instantaneous, like they are in the movies. This would probably make the battle long and drawn out, as each side awaits the next order from their Communications Officer.

Ship design. We often see space ships that are built similar to our own aircraft here on earth. However, a ship meant only for travel within deep space would not need wings. Wings are meant only for lift when encountering air, therefore, they would be useless on a space ship since there is no air in space. It’s quite likely the ships would look boxy and plain.

Also, because of the extreme G-force that would be applied within the ship as it moves through deep space, even the smaller ships would have a difficult time utilizing stick-shift style controls. Therefore, control panels would likely be flat touch screens that could be controlled with the touch of a fingertip.

Lack of air in space. As I mentioned before, there is no air in space. With no air, there can be no carrying of sound waves. This would make for silent battles. Gone would be the high-pitched screech of the small fighter ships as they pass by the mother ships. And the massive echoes of explosions would disappear, as well.

Speed. Again, with no air, there is no way for a vehicle to slow down without intention. It would take just as much energy to decelerate, as it would to accelerate. Because of this, there would not be battles in “close quarters.” A ship that got too close to another, unable to slow down in enough time, would cause a collision that would damage both ships, resulting in their demise. Therefore, they’d want to do battle at great distances, to assure there would be no collisions.

The speed of an object in space also affects the type of ammunition used during a space battle. Faster moving ammunition would be best, since the distance between ships would give plenty of time for the targeted ship to move before the strike hits. Therefore, laser weapons would work better than torpedo-type weaponry.

The reality of space battles is that it wouldn’t look like a WWII dogfight—or a battle seen in the movies. The question is, how realistic do you want your sci-fi space opera battle to be? Do you want to write a story that lines up with the majority of other tales, or are you the type of writer who wants to take a chance and write something different, but much more accurate? Take a moment to consider just how real you want to portray your space battle. Your decision just might make your story out of this world.

Laura L. Zimmerman is a homeschooling mama to three daughters and a doting wife to one husband. Besides writing, she is passionate about loving Jesus, singing, drinking coffee and anything Star Wars. You can connect with her through Facebook and Twitter @lauralzimm and at her website Caffeinated Fiction.