“Every book is a time capsule.”
That’s how Ashley Poston starts off the Reader’s Guide at the end of her novel, The Seven Year Slip.
And, wow—that struck a chord with me.
As a person who has always been obsessed with the idea of time travel and time slips—both for my own entertainment and also in my writing work—I often think about the concept of time, what it means within the human experience, how it changes our perceptions, the possibilities outside the realm of “realistic.” But I had never really analyzed why I like books and reading so much before. I think Ashley nailed it, though—a story is like another time slip.
A writer puts so much of themselves and their experiences into their work. Every piece of writing has a bit of the author somewhere in it. It could be through a character or an experience based on something from their real life. Or, it could be a problem or concept they were struggling with when they began writing the story. Every author changes during the course of time it takes to finish a novel. Who they are at the end of the process is always altered from who they were at the beginning.
And the same goes for readers.
We are constantly changing and evolving (for better or worse). But that novel remains unaltered. The meaning might change a bit for us depending on our newest life experiences, but the story is the same. The pages are the same.
No matter where we are in life—or when—we can always come back to that story with the knowledge that it will be exactly the same.
It’s a time slip.
From the instant we pick it up, we are right back to that same adventure all the way until we close the cover again.
And those time slips are extraordinary occasions in our lives. They give us moments of peace in a scary and uncertain world. They allow us to experience so many emotions in a safe place. We can travel and have adventures beyond our wildest dreams without ever having to leave our homes.
We can once again remember who we were the first time we read it and connect with that person in a moment that is suspended in magic—beyond time.
In spite of time.
I’ve always liked playing with the concept of time in my writing and in my imagination. The thought of slipping through a portal for a little while and experiencing a different era is tantalizing.
But I get to do it each day I open a book or pick up my pencil. A little piece of my soul is captured and preserved in every story, held forever in a time capsule, waiting for someone else to discover and explore.
Time travel in the real world.
That’s a cool thought.
May all your time slips be joyful escapes as we enter in the next era of our lives.
Happy Reading and Writing!