What-If? By Gabrielle Meyer
By Gabrielle Meyer
Most books start from a spark of imagination. A compelling “what-if” question. That was how my Timeless Series was born. I was chatting with my sister in my parents’ driveway, and we were discussing time travel fiction. In most time travel books, a character accidentally falls through a portal of time and gets stuck in a different era. For the rest of the story, they try to get back to their normal life, but something holds them in their new era. Perhaps they fall in love or need to win a war. Suddenly, they are faced with a dilemma: Do they go back to the life they knew or stay in the new one?
This begged a question: What if someone was born with two lives, in two different eras? And what if they only have until their 21st birthday to choose which one to keep and which one to forfeit? This “what-if” question led me to write the first book in my Timeless Series, When the Day Comes. Our heroine, Libby, is born with the time crossing gift and has two lives. She’s a public printer in Williamsburg in 1774, at the beginning of the American Revolution, and a wealthy heiress in New York City in 1914, trying to prevent her mother from trapping her into a marriage to an English lord. On her 21st birthday, she must decide which life to keep and which to lose forever. Life doesn’t go as Libby hopes, and the decision is far from easy.
The series was originally contracted for three books, but the reader demand has increased with each installment. I recently released the sixth book in the series, Through Each Tomorrow, and we are currently planning to release books 7-10 in the coming years.
Each story is about a new time crosser (usually the child of the time crosser from the book before) and filled with unexpected twists and turns. I’ve set the books in several different times and places, including the Salem Witch Trials, the Golden Age of Piracy, the Jazz Age, the reign of Jack the Ripper, and many different wars, including the American Civil War, WWI, WWII and 9/11.
For Through Each Tomorrow, the most recent release in the series, I set the book in 1563, in the Elizabethan Court, and in 1883, during the opulent Gilded Age in Newport, Rhode Island. This story was unique because we follow our first male time crosser, a man we first meet briefly in book one. All we knew about him in When the Day Comes is that he was a congressman from Virginia, and his other timeline was in the 1500s. I never intended to write his story, but as the series progressed, I realized he not only needed a first name, but he needed his own book.
Because I had not anticipated writing his story, and he had made an offhanded remark about his other path being in the 1500s, I now had a problem. I knew very little about the 1500s. Almost all the other times and places I had set my stories were familiar to me. I still spent months researching, but I usually started with a basic knowledge. What in the world would I do with a character living in the 16th century?
As I looked at timelines, I quickly realized that the most interesting historical figure of the 1500s was Queen Elizabeth, and her court was full of rumors, intrigue, and secrets. I decided that I needed to place my hero in the middle of it all, as one of the queen’s privy councilors. I also chose to name him Charles.
In 1563, Charles would be 24 years old. Because he needs to be the same exact age in his other timeline, and because he is an older gentleman in the 1914 timeline of When the Day Comes, I did a little math. Charles would be 24 in 1883, and, to me, the most fascinating group of people in the 1880s were the nouveaux riche, or newly rich Americans. They were flooding into New York and Newport, trying desperately to be accepted into Mrs. Astor’s society, doing outlandish things to get there.
From here, I started to build my story.
The Timeless Series is filled with plot twists and big reveals, so I cannot give away too many other details, or it might spoil the surprise for readers. However, I can say that book six has some big payoffs for people who have read the previous books in the series. When people ask me if the books need to be read in order, I always say that each story stands alone—but they are best enjoyed in order.
As the Timeless Series progresses, we will visit the California Gold Rush in 1849, the Golden Age of Hollywood in 1929, the Paris World’s Fair in 1889, and the early days of the Jamestown, Virginia settlement in 1609. There will be many more surprises on the horizon, and several more time crossing heroes and heroines to cheer for.
It always amazes me what one “what-if” question can create. For me, the question I asked myself in my parents’ driveway has turned into hundreds of other questions, dozens of characters, at least ten books, and thousands of readers who inspire me every day. I’m so happy I took a chance on a “what-if” question that has changed my life.
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In 1883, Charles is a poor farmer desperate to secure financial stability for his mother and sister, as he is unsure which of his time-crossing paths he will choose on his twenty-fifth birthday. Posing as the Earl of Norfolk, he enters the opulent circles of Newport’s elite to assist a fellow time-crossing friend, Drew. But suspicions of his identity arise among the upper crust, and his encounters with Drew’s intriguing sister further complicate decisions that could impact a lifetime.
In 1563, Lady Cecily serves Queen Elizabeth while clinging to the hope that her stepbrother Charles will remain with her in this path. As the true Earl of Norfolk, Charles is deeply entangled in the deadly politics of the court. When he brings Drew, a physician in training, to Windsor Castle to help save the ailing monarch, old feelings for Drew rekindle in Cecily’s heart, but her love faces impossible odds under the strict rules of the crown. As their futures hang by a thread, Charles and Cecily race to prevent their web of secrets from unraveling and ensnaring them in an inescapable destiny.
“From opulent palaces to depths of poverty, the rich historical details are immersive and meticulously crafted.”—Booklist starred review of Every Hour until Then
“Propulsive and intricately detailed, this hits all the right notes.”—Publishers Weekly on Across the Ages
Fans of time-travel, dual timelines, and clean romantasy will indulge in this historical romance of family, love, loyalty, and fate from a bestselling and Christy award-winning author.
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Gabrielle Meyer lives in central Minnesota on the banks of the upper Mississippi River with her husband and four children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing fictional stories inspired by real people, places, and events. You can learn more about Gabrielle and her books at www.gabriellemeyer.com.
Find Gabrielle on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/AuthorGabrielleMeyer, and her Website at www.gabriellemeyer.com.
Category: On Writing
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