Exercise : Time Travel Character Exchange

Best done as an Individual

Steps & Rules

1. Commit to a certain amount of time that you will devote to this exercise. I would suggest starting with 5-10 minutes.
2. Choose a character and a context (who, what, where, when, and why).
3. Chose Option 1 or Option 2 below
4. Set the timer and try to fully commit to believing the scenario is true.
5. No self evaluation or judging. Let yourself inhabit the given situation as fully as possible

Note: Please remember that safety and obeying the law always trumps all. If by doing this exercise you are jeopardizing your safety or the safety of others please adjust the exercise so as to not do so. This should be common sense, I know, but experience tells me that there are those who will really go all in on this and cause themselves or someone else some real problems.

Option 1: You travel to your characters time and place.

The scenario is that you have somehow found yourself transported to your chosen characters time and place. If, for example, there is a microwave in front of you in real life but it wouldn’t exist in your characters world re-interpret that microwave into what would exist in that space in your characters world. Let yourself interact with the world around you in an exploratory mindset still trying to accomplish what you need to get done that day or some other predetermined activity.

Option 2: Your character travels to your present day.

The scenario is that you are your character who has now found themselves transported to your world. Let yourself experience the world through their eyes and viewpoint.

Self Debrief

How successful were you at staying committed to the scenario? 100%? 50%? Less? What did you discover? What holes were there in your knowledge either about their world or about how your character would experience our world? Was there anything surprising to you? Was there anything that helped you engage in the scenario? Was there anything that pulled your out of the scenario?

Moral of the Story

The characters we portray have to be discovered. Like any relationship it takes time and exploration to understand our characters and have them understand you. If that sounds strange think of it this way – have you ever thought that someone else didn’t “get you”. What you are doing is exploring the process a stranger might take to understand and get to know you as a person. This relationship building with your character can help you find common interests and similarities. It can also help you find differences and areas where you need to spend time and invest energy into better understanding them or yourself.