I've hated time-travel stories in the past, whether it be fanfiction or published fiction due to the inherent contradictions that quickly pile up. Thinking about it, however, I've lately hit upon a different way to do a time-travel fic that doesn't carry with it the normal inherent contradictions and abilities to "change the future" that causes so many of them.

So, I wanted to bounce this idea off everyone

Time Travel Idea

Time isn't a continuum always in existence. Instead, all that exists is the immediate and the memories of the past (something I'll call the "Absolute Present"). In order to then write a time-travel fic, someone gets knocked out of sync with time, and instead of seeing the Absolute Present, they see the following blur. What do I mean?

The passing of time would be much like the passing of a comet with a tail. To get knocked out of sync is to start viewing the tail of the comet, rather than the comet itself. Anything and everything that happens to the tail doesn't affect the comet because it's already past that point in space. But, in the same way, every interaction, and its affects with the tail has no effect on the comet itself.

In the same way, anything that happens in the "past" doesn't affect the Absolute Present(if someone is out of sync), because the Absolute present has already moved through that point. Also, since that period of time has already past, it can't affect any period of time up to the Absolute Present, either. In effect, it breaks cause-effect as soon as the interaction is over.

The twists: time flows the exact same in both the past and the future. So however long the person is out of sync with the Absolute Present, they are literally gone for that period of time, and can never come back to the moment they left. They can only come back to the Absolutely Present (so, if you've spent five days walking about in the past, when you come back to the Absolute present, it's five days later, not the day you went out of sync).

Also, tails of a comet fade, so does the past. If a person is far enough out of sync (too far back in time), they may be talking to someone, and that person literally fades from past existence because that part of the tail has faded. Once they fade (say, 13 year old Malfoy), no one can ever go back to 13 year old Malfoy again because the Absolute Present has moved too far away, so that part of the comet's tail has faded completely.

Finally, each time Bob (random main character) goes out of sync in the Absolute Present, that period of time becomes a hole where Bob simply did not exist. If Bob, while he's out of sync with time, enters such a period (whether by going out of sync a second time, or simply stays out of sync too long), that person ceases to exist completely (dies). It happens because Bob is always in his present time, just, his present time is out of sync with the Absolute Present, so there's no contradiction with the past not affecting the future
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Not sure I'd ever write a fic like that, but I wanted to know what others thought about the concept.


(Since this isn't a plot, I didn't put it in the plotbunny thread, nor necro'd another thread since the idea's pretty different than the ones I saw).

 

Nothing against your plot, Scrubb, but the above is pretty much exactly why I'll never write a time travel fic. It's too big a headache.

 

I mean it's workable but it's the sort of thing that'd be difficult to resolve from a character perspective, and I don't even think it completely resolves the paradox problem.

 

There's no need to complicate things.

All you need to do is to follow very simple rules:

1. The multiverse theory is correct and there is an infinite amount of worlds.

2. Each time you go back in time, you automatically create a new world.

3. If you go to the future however, you're still in the same world.


This means that no matter how many things you change in the past, you are not affecting the future you left. Because you can never reach it again.

This also makes time travel either useless if you want to fix your present or useful only if you're willing to abandon your present in favor of a new one.

 

I've always found the Multiverse annoying, because it provides, whether a character wants to accept it or not, a convenient out. Hey, I screwed up this one, but I can jump to another line and see if I can do it right that time! Also, every single choice by every single person creates a new universe, and then, every choice by every person in all those new ones create more. The end result, for me, is that so many are created that it leaves the entire thing meaningless. (too many becomes too much).

The other problem is that there will only be a few dozen universes among a googolplex of universes that match up to the one you left, as every choice forces differentiation, meaning only the last few hours worth of choices will create a world completely similar to yours.

 

Coincidentally, that's a great way of avoiding canon rehash.

Because, of course, canon rehash is the enemy. Canon rehash has always been the enemy.

 

It'd need to be part of a larger story, rather than part of the main plot line. The more I'm thinking about it, the more I'll probably use this in an upcoming fic that I've talked to a few of you about. However, it'll be used in one or two specific situations, rather than dragged on throughout the entire story.

As for resolving the paradox problem, what are you seeing/thinking? Now that I might include it in a story, I'm thinking it through a bit more, and would be interested in your thoughts.

 

Or you can go with Rowling's time-turner idea. You can't really change the future by changing the past, 'cause it has already happened the way it was meant to. The 'going back' in time is just part of the equation.

 

Wikipedia has entire article about this solution - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_paradox

 

Eh, self-consistency is what's important, and this avoids novikov. So my real concern is the one from my time travel story - reconciling character changes over timeline shifts.

 

Time travel stories should be done with the core principle that Wasteland of Times has.

Harry Potter arrives in the past, better armed than he has ever been before, ready to kick all the arses presented before his mighty, stompy boots. Only to find out that he's now in twice as deep shit as he was previously.

 

Having not yet read WoT, I assume that means the universe automatically autocorrects for the hero being at +7 upon arrival when they had previously lived at +2 in that period by scaling the events of the traveled-to-period +5 for everyone and everything else?

 

Time Travel is simply New Game +

 

Curious theory op, the ffive days in the past = 5 days inthe future thing seems pretty cool; although the way you envisioned time as a meteor leaves no room for travel into the future.

One of my favourite time travel mechanics however is stable time loops (something bad happened so you go back to change it only or you to cause it. Either that or the universe is extremely inclined to have things happen.

 

Exactly.

The idea is that there is no real past or future, as it is all contained in the absolute present. When someone is out of sync with that, they're not actually traveling back within time, but interactively seeing the remnants of what was once the present.

 

I think the only actual time travel that would work would be something that follows the self-consistency principle, to avoid bilking. If you go with the alternate timeline route, that's not so much time travel as it is space travel if anything else (traveling to an alternate dimension). (12 Monkeys is a decent example of this; Prisoner of Azkaban has the same style of time travel)

A lot of Peggy Sue fics take as a premise that the main character is going "back" to fix things. However, if we're working off of some kind of self-consistency principle, the main character won't actually change anything but will at best contribute to the very mess he tried to initially avoid. With the alternate timeline route, the main character isn't actually fixing anything - his actual friends, family, etc are dead. He's just moved to a parallel universe where matter-for-matter duplicates of them are moving in a different direction.

So again, space(ish) travel, not time travel.

By way of analogy, saving your identical twin from falling off of a cliff to their death isn't the same as saving you.

 

Not really. If by time travelling you create a split, i.e. alternative time branch, those people aren't copies (as in some abstract entity, or something less real). Those are exactly the same people that were alive in your original timeline.

Also, there is the reset type of travel. You go back and time resets; and only you have the memories of one of the possible futures.

Also, even if your time travel creates time split, for youmit still is time travel; because you went back in your timeline; and (unless you include dimension hopping), you always can go only back - and the original timeline before your time travel continues without you.

 

I'm not sure I understand this: 'Anything and everything that happens to the tail doesn't affect the comet because it's already past that point in space. But, in the same way, every interaction, and its affects with the tail has no effect on the comet itself.' Do you mean to say that however you interact with the comet tail (the past), it's not going to change absolute present? Also this: 'Also, since that period of time has already past, it can't affect any period of time up to the Absolute Present, either.' Do you mean to say that if you do interact with the part, the changes will only be observed in what comes after absolute present i.e the future?

 

The problem with multiple universes/split timelines is that it completely devalues everything that's going on. If all possibilities are realised, then there are zero stakes to any conflict, because somewhere it turns out fine, and somewhere else it turns out badly. Which universe you happen to witness is just coincidence.

 

^ I wouldn't say zero stakes, because even if you know some other copy of yourself is going to be fine in some other universe, that's not going to stop you from trying your best so that you are that copy that's going to be fine.