#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 11 “point”
(a Billy Joel song from the future is played at an open mic night in 1969)
My favorite was an extended number told from the viewpoint of a psychic arsonist justifying his crimes by predicting worldly events.
Tacker!
Whenever I try to plot it gets thrown out the window like this. I’ve evolved into a slalom-er. I’ll plot a few flags along the mountain but have freedom to improvise my way to/through/around them as I go. Ski-pantser? Snowsuitor?
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 23: Something that surprised you about your story.
Local Boy Done Gone was supposed to be a retelling of Timely Persuasion through a different character’s eyes.
That lasted exactly one chapter until a familiar time traveler showed up to change things.
#Pantsing
Just submitted my @nycmidnight.bsky.social 100-word Microfiction Challenge first round entry with an hour plus to spare!
GENRE: Fairy Tale and/or Fantasy
ACTION: Bailing water
WORD: stress
Congrats!
I mean this helpfully and not snarkily: Is “Predludes” a typo or intentional?
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 9: explain your time travel method with emojis
TP: 💉🧠🎵🫥🧬
DG: ⬆️➕🚐 🌫️ ♊️ 🔂
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 7, quiet
(Conversation as news of Jim Morrison’s death leaks. Fun fact: headline got his age wrong!)
“Paris. In a bathtub.”
“Heart attack, maybe heroin.”
“Young, like the others.”
“Last week. They kept it quiet so the burial wasn’t a circus.”
“CIA hit. Had to be.”
#5debutalbums0509
1. A Love Extreme — Benji Hughes
2. xx — the xx
3. Monsters of Folk — Monsters of Folk
4. Up From Below — Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
5. Volume 1 — She & Him
The original BTTF is still my favorite movie of all time, but I think the scenes from part 2 set in 1955 are the best part of the whole trilogy.
Wild you saw them out of order!
#TimeTravelAuthors Day 23
The narrator of Timely Persuasion refers to Quantum Leap a couple of times.
Cousin Jimmy in Local Boy Done Gone watches The Time Tunnel.
WIP Nelsonification opens with two characters watching Back to the Future Part II on VHS the night before Part III is released.
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 21: “listen”
You pick up different things when you read a book again. It’s a lot like appreciating a song more on subsequent listens. The story of the lyrics, the rhythm of the chords, the whispered secrets of the background vocals low in the mix.
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 17: Butterfly effect
Local Boy Done Gone chapter “A Wife, A Butterfly” has the titular LB get married twice due to butterflies.
Back in 2008 when I accidentally hijacked a LOST ARG I was accused of ripping off a butterfly effect film…
blog.timelypersuasion.com/blog/arghhh/
“If Nick Hornby wrote The Time Traveler’s Wife it would look a lot like this book.” — from M. Wehm’s Goodreads review of Timely Persuasion by JL Civi
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 15: Comp Titles
From my favorite review:
“If Nick Hornby wrote The Time Traveler’s wife it would look a lot like this book.”
I’d also call both TP & DG comparable to Glimpses by Lewis Shiner or The Other Times of Caroline Tangent by Ivan D Wainewright.
#5debutalbums0509
Easy #1 since it’s my favorite album of all time regardless of debut year.
A Love Extreme — Benji Hughes (2008)
From an old Vulture article:
“Very few people have heard A Love Extreme…but some inordinate percentage of those who have adore it.”
www.vulture.com/2014/04/benj...
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 9: Does your story get political?
Part V (set in 1976) is subtitled “All The Way With LBJ!” to reference Local Boy’s new band he forms with his cousin, so it has a touch of politics.
Since I’ve always referred to my Benji Hughes novel L Extreme by the abbreviated LX, figured it was worth digging deep in an un-foot-ball-y book for tangential references as long as #LX was trending for the #SuperBowl
Consider this a pregame show…
buy.bookfunnel.com/ebedtdfe7p
1. None of this happened. 2. All of it is true. 3. Teach your kids to love music. 4. I have a plan. Trust it! —Daphne the 4th Excerpt from Local Boy Done Gone by JL Civi
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 7: excerpt with “love”
A handwritten inscription from the paperback (left by a character in a different paperback)
#WrongDisneySong
Day 6: Peter Pan
“Stay Young” by Oasis
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oWHn...
![Comic. [Person talking to person with black hat.] PERSON 1: Historically, it refers to a ceremony to predict the weather using a rodent. But nowadays people often use it to mean “a time loop experienced by one person.” PERSON 2: …What. [caption] Easily our weirdest holiday.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreidknpywgj44ox6nphuyzs6si6lozn77jyx75nbh7v67wsjr6dssl4)
Comic. [Person talking to person with black hat.] PERSON 1: Historically, it refers to a ceremony to predict the weather using a rodent. But nowadays people often use it to mean “a time loop experienced by one person.” PERSON 2: …What. [caption] Easily our weirdest holiday.
Groundhog Day Meaning
xkcd.com/3202/
#WrongDisneySong
Day 5: Alice in Wonderland
“Rabbit Hole” by Jenny Lewis
m.youtube.com/watch?v=EytP...
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 3: Standalone or series?
Both!
Local Boy Done Gone & Timely Persuasion are designed as read-in-any-order standalones in a sequel/prequel/timequel sort of way.
There’s a third in progress in the same vein, with each order giving a slightly different experience.
#WrongDisneySong
Day 2: Pinocchio
“Pinocchio in Vegas” by James McMurtry
m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwb-...
#WrongDisneySong
Day 1: Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
“7” by Prince
m.youtube.com/watch?v=4OUK...
The riff in the middle of the “Wormslayer” title track by Kula Shaker reminds me of “April Fool” by Soul Asylum.
open.spotify.com/track/3OIx2J...
❤️
#TimeTravelAuthors
Day 27: medical care
Her doctor’s office was testing one of those newfangled ultrasound machines and offered a snapshot. The sonogram wasn’t clear enough to identify gender, but clearly indicated companionship. A reservation for two in the womb.
#5debutalbums9094
1. Weezer (Blue) — Weezer
2. Slanted & Enchanted — Pavement
3. Ruby Vroom — Soul Coughing
4. Leisure — Blur
5. Shame — Brad
Close: Breeders, Reverend Horton Heat, G. Love
My time travelers only deal with 27 year old musicians, so John unfortunately died too old despite dying too young. (28IF on the Abbey Road license plate was a false clue—Paul was in the 27 club)
Have you seen “Yesterday” the film? Without spoiling it might have what you’re seeking…
He gets to see a future beyond the “Paul is Dead” years (which was true and not just a rumor in the original timeline), so sorta?
