Time loop plot device

[JAFCritic3]

Can be used with any genre.

You wake up next to your partner, they role over looking tired and defeated and say, “I’m in a time loop.”

What do you do?

 

[ThanksForAllTheFish]

As an exhibitionist and voyeur writer, I know that my characters would use a time loop as an excuse to engage in some risk-free public nudity, knowing that anyone who saw them would forget about it the next day.

My latest story actually worked on a similar premise, where two friends found a way to reset people's memories. They then gave each other increasingly risky naked dares to do, until things eventually caught up with them.

I could see a similar thing happen with a time loop, where you get a little too comfortable messing around with people, before you accidentally break the loop and have to deal with the consequences of your actions. Could be a fun mechanic.

 

[LupusDei]

Can be used with any genre.

You wake up next to your partner, they role over looking tired and defeated and say, “I’m in a time loop.”

What do you do?

I would ask, what have we already done today in previous iterations, and what she would want to do next. Suggesting it's consequences free experience only she would remember if it resets again.

Having the looper's buddy as the POV seems exciting innovation at first. However, they would have legitimate memories only of one -- the last iteration to tell directly. All information about previous iterations would only be accessible as told by the "player" character, and not necessarily be reliable.

Interesting twist could be however, if the POV character too learn to retain their memories through the iterations, or discover having them, perhaps gradually.

 

[LupusDei]

You wake up next to your partner, they role over looking tired and defeated and say, “I’m in a time loop.”

What do you do?

I would ask, what have we already done today in previous iterations, and what she would want to do next.

All information about previous iterations would only be accessible as told by the "player" character, and not necessarily be reliable.

Borderline case, they suggest something profoundly crazy, seemingly laden by prescience, and it all works, but it's still nothing more than inventive manipulation, there was no time loop. At least, the POV character may remain in doubt there never was.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Can be used with any genre.

You wake up next to your partner, they role over looking tired and defeated and say, “I’m in a time loop.”

What do you do?

I'd have them watch Groundhog Day which would cause a singularity, completely destroying the space-time continuum. The big bang in reverse.

 

[LupusDei]

cause a singularity, completely destroying the space-time continuum.

Philosophically, I don't see short circuit time loop scenarios as genuine time travel. It's almost perfect proof of simulation hypothesis however, being a saved state reset with limited information transfer -- the "player" character memory is updated. By, presumably, information they gathered in previous iterations, but not necessarily complete or limited to such.

How to break the cycle?

It could be a glitch in the program. Somewhere, anywhere in the (simulated) universe a "prohibited" condition arose, prompting a reset. That error would need to be corrected or worded around.

It could be a cheating god hell bent to roll certain desired outcome, or at least avoid certain likely outcome(s). The freedom is limitless in interpretation of such.

The deliberate adjustments made, the information implanted in the aware actor's memory, presumably could contain key or hint to achieve exit conditions, but not necessarily have to. That memory record may or may not be the only change made to the reset state of the world, in theory there could be all sorts of arbitrary divine interventions made between iterations (as the darn cheater is going over the save file in a hex editor).