I always found it wildly unrealistic when a main character is immediately believed when they time travel to another era, especially to ‘warn’ people of a chilling event they need to escape for survival – I would be interested to read about a modern person going back to a historical era, and being psychologically analysed or maybe their ancestors become protective of them because they’re very clearly vulnerable and don’t know what they’re doing in that era? Like I assume if someone’s clumsily forgotten every single social norm and is bumbling around in an almost childlike state of confusion, that would raise some alarm, wouldn’t it?
Similarly, if the modern character’s mind is transported into the mind of someone from their past and they’ve also seemingly forgotten everything in just one day, I would still like to read about how the people around them cope with that and their general rambling.
I just find time-travel where everyone instantly believes the main character really boring, as well as them meticulously saving the timeline in a predictable way. I need the consequences, the tension.
As for eras – I really love Ancient Egypt/Greece/Rome, Medieval era, Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, The Russian Revolution, World War I/World War II, the Tudors, Vikings – open to many different eras. Not a huge fan of the late 20th century, but I can be given a push to read something in that era too if the writing is good enough.
by rivendellevenstar