Introduction

I find the backstory of Time Scope interesting, and decided to share it with my readers. So, this is how the original post of Time Scope Part 1 and this sequel came to be written.

I did not post my first story to SOL until March of 2014. Prior to that, I spent many years as a Technical Writer, Training Instructor, and Logistic Support Analyst for a couple of R&D Defense Contractors.

During a brief break, while sitting at my desk back in the early eighties, I decided that since I was a capable Technical Writer, I should try my hand at writing a fiction story. If I recall, the thought of the added income for selling the story was a motivating factor. I immediately ran into a problem that is common to most new writers - what to write about? Perhaps, I did things backward in that often the idea of what to write about comes before the decision to become an author.

Realizing that I needed inspiration, I opened my desk drawer and poked around in it. I recall thinking, “I can write about almost anything. Surely, there is something in here that if it were modified could be the starting point for a story.”

My attention was drawn to a small, white, thin-walled plastic cylinder. It was about an inch long and five-eighths of an inch in diameter. I picked it up and looked through it; as if it were a telescope. I recall thinking, “What if this cylinder was like a telescope, but it allowed me to view what happened in the past? That could be the focus of a story.” I later added looking into the future to its abilities.

Now that I had the starting point of a story idea, this little cylinder wouldn’t support my story. I started envisioning it as something different; a cylinder that was around a foot long and about two inches in diameter. Since I wanted the view through the cylinder to be adjustable for time, I imagined a series of knurled rings along the outside of the cylinder that could be rotated to make adjustments. That is the backstory of the device Jeb inherited in Time Scope Part 1.

Over the next few days, during my lunch breaks, I started to write the story Time Scope on my work computer. Back then, privately-owned computers (PCs) were not common. The words just wouldn’t come to me. When I looked at the few scenes that I had struggled to write, I saw they were awkward and a total mess. Disgusted with my inability to craft a story, I set it aside until I was in a better mood and had sufficient time to work out the difficulties I was experiencing as an author.

Several years later, I moved on to a new company. I had forgotten about my initial effort at writing, so my original Time Scope files were left behind. I don’t know who inherited that computer or what they did with my story files, but I suspect the files were deleted. The virtual trashcan is a good place for those files, and I hope the person who put them there immediately emptied the trashcan.