Advice on time travel story wanted

t0dd · May 8, 2012

In the middle-grade fantasy I'm writing, the MC (a twelve-year-old boy) goes back in time to a castle in medieval Wales. He has to stay there a month, since he won't have an opportunity to return to his own time until then. He's decided to keep as low a profile as he can, especially since the nature of his arrival has made a lot of the people in the castle suspicious about him and wondering if he's a sorcerer or worse (for example, his modern-day clothes). But as the story progresses, he sees many situations where he could help out (often making use of his modern knowledge), and does so, even though by doing so he's feeding the suspicions of the locals about him.

What I'd like is a few ideas for specific things he might use his modern knowledge for. He has only a general scientific knowledge (he's better at history and English than science and math), and only two modern objects with him (a digital wristwatch and a flashlight). (Which rules out trying to start the Industrial Revolution several centuries ahead of schedule, a la Hank Morgan.) Anybody got any suggestions?

GingerGunlock · May 8, 2012

You could have him know nifty boy-scout-y/army survival things like tobacco curing worms, digging next to a river so the hole fills with "filtered" drinkable water, that kind of thing. Trying to think of simple, but modern, things that I may or may no have known a 12; unfortunately, the Girl Scouts were pretty useless for me.

Sage · May 8, 2012

What about solar system-related stuff? Like can he make use of the knowledge of how the sun and moon work? That an eclipse is not the end of the world, for example?

victoriafoyt · May 8, 2012

you could do something similar to back to the future... thinking the Chuck Berry guitar stuff! Loved that!

Obviously he won't have a guitar but if he's good at english and history he might be able to say some really profound quote (from Shakespeare or what have you) or something that we take as common knowledge these days and win a girl over with it or something.

That's a fun concept, sounds really cool!

Britwriter · May 8, 2012

My first thought would be to pick up the Horrible Histories books or dvds, and see what sort of things people believed in medieval times. Kids love those books, so they'd be a good starting point to begin thinking about what misconceptions and weird beliefs your MC could straighten out back in the past. The more weird, and often revolting, something in history is, the more kids love it. Certainly, that's true for all the kids I know.

ruecole · May 8, 2012

Basic hygiene.

Hope that helps!

Rue

blacbird · May 8, 2012

Write it yesterday. I assume you've already submitted it tomorrow.

caw

t0dd · May 9, 2012

blacbird said:
Write it yesterday. I assume you've already submitted it tomorrow.

caw

I'm afraid I don't get that part. Could you explain it, please?

Thanks for the advice, everyone. (Kind of funny about the Shakespeare quote suggestion - in a past draft, the resident bard, who's one of the teachers for the children at the castle, asks the MC to offer up a song, and he, looking for something desperately, sings one from "As You Like It" - that bit was inspired by, when I was a boy, my school did a production of the play, with the music teachers setting the songs in the play to music, and one of the songs got firmly lodged in my head. I wound up having to cut that part for length during the last rewrite, though.)

Britwriter · May 9, 2012

blacbird said:
Write it yesterday. I assume you've already submitted it tomorrow.

caw

That's a fabulous idea! t0dd could get agented last month, and save all the trouble........

Now, if only I could have thought of this idea. Maybe I can think of it next week, do it last year, and skip all that rejection part.

Advice on time travel story wanted

t0dd

GingerGunlock

paralibrarian

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

victoriafoyt

Britwriter

ruecole

Chronic Lurker

blacbird

t0dd

Britwriter