The question, as always, is how to begin a story. This question is further complicated by the time-travel genre. One way or another, narrative threads will overlap. A character hurled into the past, intentionally or accidentally, is aware of a future. Some element of the narrative is inherently retrospective, even if that character’s current circumstances are unknown. He or she may be aware of the broad arc of history, and perhaps is aware of more local history, but the consequences of his or her new actions (or inaction) are not known.

One might guess about the consequences of interfering with landmark moments in history, but who is to know what impact small and seemingly trivial actions also might have on history? Furthermore, interfering with landmark moments in history, like an assassination, could have disastrous results. It is hard to escape the moral and philosophical quandaries of time travel.

I have decided to begin my story in the middle. My protagonist has already traveled into the past, quite by accident, and he can only guess at his circumstances. He has unverifiable suspicions about what caused the time travel, but, more importantly, he must figure out how to adapt to his new time (Boston in the 1940s). He has little reason to think that he can return to his own time.

Deciding on what the character can and cannot know is important to storytelling. Does the character have access to future technologies or is he or she limited to the tech of the past (new timeline)? I am going with the latter, which, in some respects, simplifies his moral dilemmas. If you were hurled into the past, how much detailed history would you recall? What were specific people doing at specific moments? Where exactly were they? If your character did have such knowledge, would he or she really be able to alter the course of events?

First draft of first paragraph for untitled story: