temporal shift
Chronological position change
A temporal shift is a change or displacement in time—either literal movement between time periods in fiction, or a change in narrative timeframe.
Science fiction uses temporal shifts for time travel plots: The temporal shift sent her back to 1920s Paris.
In storytelling, a temporal shift moves the narrative forward or backward: The novel's temporal shift to his childhood explains his fears.
The term also describes changes in when events occur: The temporal shift in migration patterns worried biologists.
- time travelMovement across temporal points
- time warpDistortion of chronology
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- flash forwardNarrative leap to future
- warpBend from true form
time slip · displacement · chronological · paradox · butterfly effect · time loop · loop · jump · time jump · discontinuity · flux · ripple · distortion · glitch · anomaly · leap · rewind · fast-forward
- narrative techniquesflashback, nonlinear plot, fragmented narrative, flash-forward, point of view
- sci-fi conceptstime travel, space exploration, faster-than-light, generation ships, multiverse
- film timeflashback, flash forward, flash-forward, time lapse, time-lapse
- narrative timeflashback, flashforward, foreshadowing, pacing, chronology
- narrative elementssetting, scene, location, backdrop, flashback