Time travel is interesting to explore and can bring an obvious conflict to your story. Time travel displaces your character and they need to learn first, how to survive in this new time period they don't know well, and second, figure out how to return to their own time. Or, if they've purposely travelled to a different time period, then they must fulfill their quest.

​So let's look a little at this trope and how to use it effectively.

I ask this question to decide one vital component - how did your character travel through time? If you use anti-gravity forces through space, or a time machine, you've created a science fiction subplot. If you use something such a myth or folklore, like falling through stones in Outlander, then you have a fantasy subplot. So it is important to decide whether you will take the science fiction or fantasy approach to set the tone for your whole novel as it will essentially fall into the subgenre of one or the other.

This is a vital plot question and will determine your story arc. If your character has purposely travelled through time, then they're more likely to be prepared for their journey and have a motive and goal. There may even be a time limit that they're aware of and need to fulfill their quest to return before the portal closes. 

However, if your character accidentally travels through time, then they are going to be very displaced, confused, and unprepared for their journey. As well as likely wishing to return to their own time, they may be caught up in a separate quest when arriving in this new time they also need to fulfill.

Whether the time travel is purposful or accidental will be the first question you need to ask yourself.​

There are many ways in which you may use time travel. Essentially, your time periods include the PRESENT, the PAST, and the FUTURE. So you can choose any of the following combinations for your time travel story:
- Present to the Past
- Present to the Future
- Past to the Present
- Future to the Present
or maybe even
- Future to the Past 
- Past to the Future

No matter which time period you use, you will need to consider the following questions when planning your story:
- What is different for the character - dress, technology, etc?
- What have they lost? Medical advances? Flushing toilets?
- What have they gained? Advanced technology? A new medicine?
- How will your character react to the new time? What concepts will be difficult for them to grasp?

So let's look at the characteristics that need to be considered for each time period.

Contemporary
This is an easy time period for us to use - it's exactly what we know! Generally, 'contemporary' is anything from 1950 to the present day. In this time, we have good knowledge of medicine, good plumbing, the computer technology gets better towards the end of the 20th century, there are telephones, and we have good and quick transport - cars, trains, and planes. Life is also different since the two world wars - monarchy and the aristocracy almost died and the working-class man rose. Women's rights also improved and there is probably a lot more that changed that I have not listed.

Using a contemporary time or character in your story can easily set the tone as we know what this time or person is like and used to. Therefore we can use that knowledge to transport a character from another time into our time, or take a person from our time and displace them elsewhere.

Past
The past is the second easiest time period to use because we have history to tell us what this time period was like. No matter what time period you choose, you can research and find out what that time was like and use this to create conflict for your character. When travelling back in time, there are two important things to consider:
- What has your character lost? This is likely to be some kind of technological advancement. They no longer have instant communication through phones or internet. They may need to travel by horseback for days rather than a few hours in the car. And personal hygiene is probably on the decline too.
- They carry knowledge of the future. How will this impact your story? Is it key that they don't share what they know? Or will what they know be an advantage?

However, if you're using a character from the past, they will have the exact opposite reaction. Suddenly, the character has been transported to a time of modern technology and a different social structure. How will your character react to this and what will they find to be most different?

Future
This is where you have creative license as we know what the present is like, we have records from the past, but we have no idea what the future holds. So what does your future look like and how far forward are you going to travel? But most importantly, make sure your future makes sense. We won't have the ability to live on Mars in ten years time. Essentially, ten years will probably be very similar to now. But in two hundred years? Well, we might be taking regular visits to Mars - or at least the rich might be.

Or do you have a completely different future to the current timeline we're on? Is it an apocalyptic future? Was there another World War and has social status changed again? Did one race take over and are now the more dominant force in the world? Essentially, what is the one drastic change in this future time that you wish to explore?


So as you can see, there is a lot to consider when planning a time travel story, but the best thing you can do is read the trope and get to know it better. So here are some of the time travel stories that I've read.

Outlander by Diana Galbaldon
Claire travels from 1946, where she was a nurse in WWII, to 1746 Scotland where she's taken under the care of a Scottish clan. Claire fell through a stone circle near Inverness, so Diana has used a Scottish legend here to transport her character. Stuck in the past, Claire's initial goal is to return to Inverness and the stone circle to go back to her own time and husband. However, she falls in love with Jamie and remains in the past hoping to help him and his fellow countrymen at the Battle of Collodan, a battle Claire knows leads the Scots to doom.

Time Was by Nora Roberts
In this story, Caleb is a goods carrier between Earth and Mars in the twenty-third century when he gets sucked into a black hole and crashes his spaceship ... in 1980 Washington State. In addition to needing to return to his time, Caleb struggles to not fall in love with Liberty. But of course, it's a Nora Roberts novel so they do fall in love and Caleb wonders if he can remain living in the past, where food takes far longer to cook. I loved how time travel worked in this book and the tension it created between Caleb and Liberty as choosing to remain in the past cannot be an easy decision for anyone to make.

Times Change ​by Nora Roberts
In the sequal to Time Was, Caleb's brother Jacob works out how to time travel and purposely travels back in the past to get his brother and tell him to come home. What differed this book from the first was that, unlike Caleb, Jacob was prepared for the trip and therefore wasn't so lost when he time travelled. The only thing he didn't expect was to fall in love with Liberty's sister Sunny. This was another fun time travel story story that made sense and, like Time Was, probably falls into the science fiction take on time travel more than fantasy as black holes and spaceships were used.

The Secret Runners of New York by Matthew Reilly
In this novel, a group of teenagers from our time use special stones that open a portal to an apocalyptic future, where most of the human race is extinct. Because the stones appear to be of some mythical nature, I'd call this fantasy more than science fiction. Throughout the novel, Skye continues to travel to the future to find out what happens in order to survive the apocalypse that occurs in the present. Also, the 'future' is only a few decades later, so the same characters are used, giving them knowledge of the time travel and the ability to use this to their advantage, which was an interesting addition to this time travel story.

​
So that's just a little bit about some time travel. I haven't read a lot of science fiction or time travel stories, but I think it's an interesting concept and sure can cause your character some problems, especially if they fall through time unexpectedly.

So until next time,

​Rachel

​Thirdly, if your characters are going to fall in love, they need to be attracted to each other. And if the hero really gets under your heroine's skin because they both want different things and he's bettered her in the past, then the fact she thinks he's gorgeous, that he's also kind to her, and her heart flutters uncontrollably in his presence is really going to frustrate her. A woman doesn't want to be attracted to a man who stands in the way of her goal. But the important thing is, your characters need to have that friction from their past or opposing goals that affects the way they feel about each other now, causing them to resist their attraction and snipe at each other, which makes a highly intense and entertaining story.

So that's just a little about Enemies to Lovers, a fun romance trope that can create great heights of tension and humour if you choose to go that way.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Until next time,

​Rachel

Due to the difference between Marriage of Convenience in an historical and contemporary setting, I'm going to discuss them separately. But this trope remains quite popular and is seen as often as many others in the Mills and Boon lines. ​

Marriage of Convenience is often used in historical and regency novels as it was a common thing to do in these times. Often, the heroine may be forced into a marriage of convenience in order to protect or secure herself. Women didn't have the rights they do now in those days and remaining unmarried often posed difficulty. Especially during the regency period (late 1700s to early 1800s). Jane Austen, contemporary at this time, did not use Marriage of Convenience for her leading hero and heroine, rather allowed them to fall in love on their own terms. But as time goes on and we reach the early 1900s and post-war world, women began to have more rights and often remained unmarried longer.

Before you use this trope in your historical novel, consider whether or not it is necessary that your characters marry before they fall in love. If they need protection, they're more likely to agree to a marriage of convenience. If they are self-sufficient, they may not. ​

Captive of Sin by Anna Campbell
Set in the 1820s, Charise is on the run from her abusive step-brothers who wish to force her into a marriage in order to steal her inheritance. Hiding in the stables, she meets Gideon who takes her under his protection to help her escape her brothers. When he learns the truth of her predicament, Gideon offers to marry Charise in order to save her from her step-brothers, who remain her legal guardians until her birthday in a few weeks time. If Charise marries Gideon, her fortune is his and safe from her brothers. Therefore, she agrees to his offer in order to protect herself.
There is a lot more going on in this beautiful story and it is not only a Marriage of Convenience romance, but Charise and Gideon's motives and actions are clear and contemporary with the time period.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Another historical/time travel novel set in the 1740s, Claire is forced into a Marriage of Convenience with the gorgeous Scot, Jamie, in order to protect her from the evil clutches of red-coat Jack Randall. As a British citizen, Claire is expected to submit to the redcoats where she's bound to be mistreated by the evil army officer, so the clan form a plan to marry Claire to Jamie, therefore making her a Scottish citizen and therefore unobligated to submit to the will of the British. 
There are many other problems faced in this novel, but Jamie and Claire's marriage of convenience is very understandable and contemporary to the time, forming the foundation for an epic love story.

Tempted by the Wrong Twin by Rachel Bailey
This is an example of a Marriage of Convenience tied to an Accidental Pregnancy. When Harper discovers she's pregnant not to her boss as she originally thought, but to his twin brother Nate, she's surprised by his immediate decision to marry her. But to Nate, it's the right thing to do. And as Harper wishes for the best for her unborn baby, she agrees to marry Nate for the sake of their child.
This truly is a lovely story as Nate and Harper grow to know and love each other while overcoming their internal conflict and expecting a baby.

Gabriel's Angel by Nora Roberts
A different Marriage of Convenience story again, heavily pregnant Laura finds herself rescued from a car accident by Gabriel while fleeing her former in-laws ... who want custody of her baby! When discovering this, Gabriel offers to marry Laura and she enters this marriage of convenience in order to save her child from her in-laws.
​In this contemporary story, Gabriel's kindness and offer is understandable, as is Laura's acceptance as she wants to protect both herself and her baby from her rich, influential former in-laws. ​

Obviously, if your characters are friends then they have a history together. How long that history is, that's up to you. Your characters could simply be workmates who consider themselves friends but have only known each other for a year. Or they could have been friends since university, high school, or even childhood. ​

There are different levels of friendship and to discuss this, let's look at some iconic friends to lovers stories from TV. How much do your characters share as best friends?

Monica and Chandler from Friends
Before drunk Monica fell into Chandler's bed in London, they were the best of friends, a friendship that didn't suffer even as they began sleeping together and forming a deep, lasting love affair that we know will last forever long after they walked out that door in the final episode. There wasn't much neither Monica or Chandler would share with each other before they became a couple. ​

There are far too many to count! 


​Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern
Even after more than ten years, I still claim that this is probably my favourite book of all time. Even though I hate it to bits and threw it across the room the last and second time I read it. This is the most frustrating story I've ever read as Rosie and Alex, friends since the age of five, struggle through fifty years of attraction and missed opportunities to finally fall in love. This is an epistolary novel (composed entirely of letters/emails/text messages) and a truly gripping read. If you have seen the movie Love, Rosie, but not read this book, disregard the movie and dive into the real story. Alex and Rosie, two best friends who can tell each other (almost) anything, deserve to be in love. But they keep putting other things first and lose their opportunities until they finally manage to admit that they love each other.

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton
Unlike the title and cover implies, I do not consider this much of an 'erotic' novel as eighty percent of this story is very sweet and a little steamy romance. A few nights after Caroline moves into her new apartment, she's awoken by the banging of the headboard and orgasmic moans from next door. Night after night this occurs ... and it appears this man has different women! Finally fed up with little sleep, Caroline marches next door ... where she meets Simon. Long story short, Caroline and Simon start to become friends and despite the fact she's insanely attracted to him and her orgasm has apparently left her, Caroline refuses to become part of Simon's harem. Friends though, she can do.
In this story, I love the close friendship Simon and Caroline form, increasing the tension on the page as you keep flipping until they finally give into their feelings and let themselves be more.

Dear Banjo by Sasha Wasley
This was a truly frustrating Friends to Lovers book that drove me bonkers. Willow and Tom grew up on neighbouring cattle properties and have always been the best of friends and at age 15, made a blood pact to never do anything to ruin their friendship. Willow knew her intentions when suggesting this, but Tom didn't realise she meant never to fall in love. Then, after Willow leaves for university, she and Tom don't see each other for ten years. If only, though, she had opened those letters he sent to her all those years ago ...
When Willow returns home, Tom continues to be hurt from the events surrounding Willow leaving. But when he learns she never read those letters until just now before she returned, their friendship re-blossoms. But Willow remains resistant to falling for Tom ... all because she 'doesn't want to fall in love'.
While it's easy enough to understand Willow's reasoning, Tom is such the lovable hero that you want to shake Willow into her senses! The resistance between these two creates great tension until the novel is unputdownable, which is what every author wants to achieve. This is definitely one of my favourite friends to lovers stories.

As, probably, my favourite trope, I often use friends to lovers in my work. However, one of my favourite manuscripts, Blinded, is what I hope is a deep and beautiful love story of two childhood friends finding love.

Five years after Lorelei left her family vineyard, choosing her rich, pompous boyfriend over her family, she is at the alter about to marry the cheating scoundrel when she realises she's made a mistake. She knows the only place she can go is home as her parents will forgive her anything. But how will she face Bennett, her neighbour and childhood best friend? ​

I have written two Best Friend's Sibling stories.

In the first, my heroine falls in love with her best friend's older brother after discovering he's loved her for many years. In this story there is a strong external conflict as it's a romantic suspense, but she also has internal conflict to overcome. Her best friend is more surprised than anything when she discovers their relationship and is supportive.

In my second novel, my hero declares his love for his best friend's untouchable little sister when she finally returns to town from university. In this story, my hero is very hesitant to tell his best mate about the crush on his little sister. When his mate does discover the relationship, he's pissed but supportive. The brother knew his best mate had a 'secret crush' he was in love with.