If your work of fiction involves time travel, there are lots of factors you have to account for to keep the story plausible, and to get the most out of the many opportunities for character development and conflict that time travel has to offer.

I recently wrote a guest article on that subject for A Writer's Path - you can check it out here.

In this article, I explained 3 different models of time travel, explored how to use them to their best effect, and revealed how to avoid some common pitfalls and plot holes that time travel can create.

So if you have a time traveller in your story, or you just want to learn more about this fascinating fictional phenomenon, click the button below to check out the article:

Here it is - the third page of my Undertale fan comic, Just Cause.

If you haven't already seen the first two pages, you can read the whole comic here.

​I can see why some artists do huge dialogue dumps in their comics - it took three pages to do a short conversation. But I wanted to make it pretty, poignant, artsy and atmospheric, so I took my time, and I hope you enjoy the results.

Tune in next time to discover what's inside Sans' little red box, and to see a really cute, sad moment between Sans and Alphys.

I also created a banner for the comic - I hope you like it!
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​Method 1: Identify the factors that made them interesting as a couple, and keep using them.


Did your readers sigh with longing at the way the pursuer chased their beloved? That doesn’t need to stop when they get married – they can still surprise their partner with unexpected and touching gestures of love.

Did the characters have snappy, snarky, witty banter that kept your audience howling with laughter? Just because they’re lovingly married doesn’t mean they can’t keep teasing each other!

Was there a sense of magic and mystery in the way they kept discovering aspects of each other that they hadn’t known before? Now that they trust each other, they have even more reason to reveal those hidden depths, so keep them coming!

Did you and your readers love watching them help each other to surmount their barriers to intimacy? Simply getting married doesn’t instantly heal all of a character’s wounds, or turn everything into boringly perfect happiness.

There will still be insecurities, fears, defences and flaws that can hold the characters back from the full potential of their love, so they can continue to grow, hesitate and discover even after they say “I do”.

After all, there can – and should! - still be growth, conflict and character development after they get married. But while portraying these things, I strongly recommend that you DON’T turn them into a fight that comes out of nowhere, or that makes a once-good relationship nearly unrecognizable.

Remember, conflict that flows naturally from the characters’ pasts and personalities is good. Conflict that’s shoehorned in just for the sake of conflict is a cheap and often implausible plot device, and your readers will probably notice.


Method 2: Give them something to overcome together.


A new villain can rise up, and force them to rise to new heights of power together on order to overcome their new foe.

A problem from one or both characters’ pasts can come back to haunt them, bringing both fresh danger and drama, and a reason for your character to discover new things about their beloved’s past.

A new revelation can make them question their partner’s character, and drive them to learn more about their spouse – preferably without resetting their relationship’s progress back to what it was before they got married. After all, this article is about how to keep them growing as a couple, not about restoring the status quo. ;)

They may have to change their lifestyle to adapt to married life – they can’t just go and do whatever they want without thinking about how it will affect their partner, and if they decide to draw the villain’s ire, now they have to think about the precious person their enemy might target as a result.

They might even have a baby together – which could be a source of heartwarming drama and comedy as an action hero learns how to change a diaper, or a source of excitement and badassery as the villains break into the house and the heroine fends them off with a sword in one hand and an infant in the other.

All in all, there are plenty of ways to add danger, conflict, drama and tension to a story, without splitting up the duo your audience has fallen in love with.


Method 3: Have the marriage itself act as a catalyst for character development.


When people enter a new level of intimacy, especially if they’ve never felt anything like it before, it can be uncomfortable for them. This is new emotional territory, which can cause them to pull back, get anxious, or even subconsciously sabotage their newfound joy.

The safety of a loving, trusting relationship also creates a haven for inner demons to come to the surface and be healed.

People are often drawn to partners who somehow trigger their emotional injuries and draw their buried wounds into the open, so this is a great opportunity to explore hidden hurts in a character who’s never shown those scars before.

Again, this isn’t a recommendation to make your couple spend the entire sequel fighting, or to tear their once-great relationship apart.

While ruining an established relationship CAN be an effective plot thread, it’s also a heavily-overused way to keep things interesting after the “I do”s, and it creates a risk of disrespecting your previous plot and character development by reverting to the previous status quo.


Method 4: Keep the characters in-character.

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This may sound obvious, but have you ever noticed that some characters become less “themselves” once they enter a relationship?

Maybe the action heroine becomes less brave, snarky and badass, or the hero loses his edge and becomes meek and tame.

Or maybe a new trait just suddenly sprang up – the hero turns overprotective in a way that doesn’t match his established past and personality, or the heroine morphs into a raging nag.

If the characters’ personalities suddenly mutate as soon as they’re in a relationship, you can’t be surprised when the audience starts wishing for the days when their beloved heroes were single and themselves.
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