Hit a wall on this writing prompt about a time loop that resets every 500 years

Been tinkering with a prompt for the last month where a character gets born every 500 years with full memory of their past lives. But how do you show the progression of civilization without writing a boring history textbook? I tried focusing on one city, say London, from Roman times to now, but it feels too big. Anyone crack a similar time scale prompt without making it a slog?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyfox1mo ago

Yeah, I had a similar problem with a time travel thing I tried writing a few years ago. I ended up just dropping the main character into random snack bar conversations across different centuries.

andrew_nguyen641mo ago

Funny you mention that, because I've noticed how certain sandwich shops near me have stayed basically the same for decades even though everything around them changed completely. Maybe zooming in on something boring like a single pub or a bakery that's been there the whole time would make those big shifts feel more real.