THREE
MOST POPULAR FORMS OF TIME TRAVEL:
THE
LOOP, SCOOT AND BOOGIE
Before I begin
this article I’d like to clarify one thing: Time travel is not an exact science
at this point. The only form that is scientifically possible is that of Time
Dilation. Don’t believe me? Look it up, you skeptics. You know who you are.
Because the subject of time travel is not based on fact, writers have the license to make up their own
rules. Even then the rules they make up
must hold true throughout their story as much as the complexities of time
travel will allow.
For this
exercise, I have chosen to focus on the three of the most common forms of time
travel used by writers; otherwise, we will be here all day and I’m sure you
have better things to do… like eating… or sleeping… or watching an episode of “Firefly”.
1) THE LOOP
Like the word depicts, this is a closed circuit
of time where the character is connected to a point in the past, either in his
own, or further back in history. This timeline is fixed. Any action by the time
traveler will not change it. In fact, his actions may have caused the ‘event’
to happen that led to ‘the loop’. Paradoxes are usually at a minimum since the
problem is fixed by the action of the character. An example of this scenario
can be found in Michael Crichton’s Timeline.
Or the loop can remain continuous as in Robert
A. Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold.
Sometimes the loop is intertwined with a
Predestination Paradox (or causal loop) such as found in “By His Bootstraps”, a short story also written by Heinlein where the
main character interferes with his past self in a twist of loops to create the
person he is to become in the future. Complicated? You bet.
2) THE ONE WAY
TRIP (THE SCOOT)
This form is
pretty much self-explanatory and the easiest to write. Once the trip is made,
there is no going back. (Pun intended) Paradoxes and other complications don’t
come into play. You can find the one-way
trip in romance novels where the beautiful heroine gets transported back in
time, falls in love with the Scottish Laird and decides to stay. The end.
In Science
fiction the Scoot happens mostly in a forward motion.
One example of this is found in John Varley’s Millennium.
Although the female protagonist travels back and forth through time
(after all that is her job), the male protagonist, and those that are rescued
travel in one direction, to the future.
3) THE ALTERNATIVE TIMELINE (THE BOOGIE)
The Boogie is the most common form of time
travel used in writing and the most complicated. Here the time traveler, by his
actions or even by his appearance in the past, can alter the future and create
a whole new scenario for himself and the world he lives in.
A good example of this is the “Back to the Future” series where the
main character interferes with his parents past and returns to find an
alternate future, a better one, only to destroy it by going back a second time
and altering the past again. Does this mean his former timeline has been
erased? Or did he create a parallel
universe, and both are running side-by-side? Don’t think too hard. There are no
real answers.
Also worth
mentioning are the following: The Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlein, Thrice Upon a Time by
James P. Hogan, and Replay by Ken Grimwood. There are many more great novels out there.
I’m sure you have your favorites, but time and space do not allow me to list
them all here. I apologize for this.
4) IN THEIR OWN
CATEGORY
I’ve added a
fourth category because in my research for this article, I came across a few
novels that fit no particular form or rule of time travel. It took me by
surprise, for anyone who is a science fiction buff knows that there are certain
rules that need to be followed. Well, no more. We have a few rule-breakers out
there who have shown us that anything can work if it is well written. One of
these is The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. She dared to
write with no rules and no consequences and achieved this with great success.
Slaughterhouse-Five also deserves a
spot in this category. In this 1969
novel, Kurt Vonnegut wrote a strong cocktail mix of time travel, aliens, and
the fourth dimension. He served it on a platter of controversy that is still
felt forty-four years later. Odd as it
sounds, Varley’s mix worked. This again
proves that writers can break the rules as long as we are careful to stay
within the framework we create for our time traveler characters.
Now that you
have learned the steps to the Loop, Scoot and Boogie of time travel, go out and
practice the dance on the pages of your mind. Mix them up together, or just
concentrate on one form. Or better yet, throw them out the window and create
your own set of rules. Whatever the case, have fun with it, and let your
imagination take the lead on a merry dance through time.
Remember, anything is possible in the world
of science fiction.
Cheers.
Jean
