Time travel AU question

[conuly]

Or poll? IDK.

Let's imagine somebody is actually planning to go back in time mentally, into their own younger body, and fix things. And I guess for the ease of simplicity we'll assume they have no intention of returning to their current time except by the usual way, that is, going through it all again. (Except not, because if they fix it, it'll be new and different and better in some way.)

But they're a screw-up, because that's more interesting, and everything is going to be much harder now.

So for any given value of somebody, who are they, when do they want to go, and when do they actually end up? No fair suggesting that they end up in their own infant body - they can't go anywhere earlier than a short period before canon - whatever canon it is - picks up the camera.

(Also, to keep this from being depressing, no self-inserts in RPF. Sure, we'd all like to go back in time and give a witty comeback to whoever and then assassinate or at least punch our least-favorite world leaders, but we just can't. Fiction only!)

Comments

[siliconshaman]

I met John Lennon in '79. I dunno why he was in the Alhambra hotel in Liverpool. I ducked into a quiet closed off bar, and he was there reading a newspaper. We had an exchange of nods, and I confessed there was too many people outside for me, and he said 'Same man, same'...

I guess if I was going back in time, that's when I'd aim for, and tell him to stay away from the Dakota hotel, and watch out for nutcases carrying "Catcher in Rye".

[conuly]

Ack, no, nooooooooo, real world stuff, I'm melting, I'm meeeeeeltiiiiiiing....!

Also, listen, don't beat yourself up over it. Clearly anybody carrying Catcher in the Rye and, more importantly, a gun is just looking for trouble, and sooner or later they're bound to find it.

[siliconshaman]

Point.. sometimes the timeline is immutable. Fixed point in time and all that...

[gingicat]

I'd like to go back to when younger kid was around 3, to make sure that both kids' mental health and physical health got taken care of properly. (And make sure that husband and I would find our amazing therapist earlier.)

[conuly]

Well, not that that wouldn't be great, but I'm confused. I thought I was talking pretty clearly about fiction, not reality-land?

[gingicat]

I did in fact think you were talking about reality!

[conuly]

Well, clearly this one is on me.

[readerjane]

I imagine a sort of Groundhog Day story, in which our heroine tries repeatedly to overwrite her younger self with the consciousness of her current self to fix That Big Mistake she made… well, that Other Big Mistake… *okay*, This Pretty Big Mistake… only it turns out her younger self is very tough-minded and resilient, and strenuously resists being overwritten. And every time Current Self fails, she gets locked out of that particular year and has to pick a different event to try to change. And how come Current Self can’t easily outwit that twit Younger Self anyway?

Not sure how I would resolve it. Gotta avoid a too-pat ending at any cost.

[conuly]

Does Current Self actually understand what's going on? Or does she think she's just been unlucky, that perhaps she doesn't understand the magic properly?

[readerjane]

Good questions. Current Self is certainly missing something.

It might be that Future Self, being older and wiser, is blocking her from changing certain key points in their shared history. But it feels like that approach would lend itself to a treacly "what's important is the self-discoveries we made along the way" ending, yech.

I think Current Self doesn't understand how the elasticity of the timestream works.

[archersangel]

the only thing i can think of is harry potter's father going back & not making someone else the secret keeper for him & his wife.

[conuly]

LOL. Wouldn't really work, not once a prophecy was in play.

[archersangel]

i guess that could be part of the story, that he goes back to change it but it happens a different way.

[ioplokon]

is sports rpf? bc i feel like it is a discrete event generator that is kinda perfect for time travel fixes. like goose gossage goes back to walk kirk gibson in the 84 world series, but in the moment he's convinced that THIS time he can strike him out... so everything unfolds the same. Or Carey Price avoids Chris Kreider wrecking his knee, except thinking that then this goes wrong is too sad & stressful.

[conuly]

I don't even know anything about sports.

[acelightning73]

I'd think you'd pop back to that period of your life where you started really seriously thinking about "what do I want to be when I grow up?" and "how do I get there?". (Possibly early pre-teens or middle school. Before the grownups start pestering you about it.)

If I go back there knowing what adult-me knows, there are a few things I might have been able to do differently before the point where my choices made my life go n-dimensionally pear-shaped. I might have become Wiccan earlier. I probably ought to have studied chemistry, not physics, for my I-need-to-become-such-a-brilliant-scientist-that-they'll-have-to-make-me-an-astronaut plan.) I might have been better off if I discovered sex and drugs and rock'n'roll sooner than I did.

[conuly]

I really thought I was clear that I was asking for ideas about fictional people in fictional settings? Like, if Luke Skywalker wanted to change things, or if Princess Peach did?

[low_delta]

I'm not sure it is clear what you're asking for. Do you want suggestions for specific fictional people? Or just general ideas? You mentioned RFP in your last paragraph, but it seemed parenthetical.

[conuly]

It wasn't parenthetical at all. I said specifically "no RPF" and "no self-inserts". Obviously everybody here is a real person, and obviously anything about yourself is... well, about your self.

I'm not sure how multiple people could think that *is* parenthetical.

I simply wanted to know if anybody had any thoughts about any fandoms that they're interested in.

[conuly]

(Even if it was literally in parens, of course.)

[gingicat]

For fiction, I really can't top this Star Wars AU.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/8543680/chapters/19586203

[silveradept]

This sounds like an idea of "Harry Potter goes back in time and makes sure he's delivered to an anodyne wizarding family instead of the Dursleys, with all the familial protection magic involved, only to find out that all of his childhood friends become Death Eaters and he had to still do all seven years at Hogwarts again, but this time from the heart of Slytherin and without any of his allies."

[fred_mouse]

I have no ideas, but i might well be interested in reading time-travel break-it fics. Hmm. 'The darker timeline' for something that is cheerful. Xander Harris could be an in-universe example of the trope though, given how frequently I think they are part of the problem.