Is there some unwritten rule that requires DoOver stories to begin with an automotive crash? DoOvers are one of my favorite type of stories, but it seems to me that many of them start the same way - a car or truck out of nowhere crashes into the victim's vehicle - and he/she wakes up as a much younger person. Of course, it could be that, as luck would have it, it's just the stories that I have read and not indicative of the genre as a whole. Or, I suppose, my memory could be faulty.
I remember them being a heart attack.
The one I remember involving a heart attack, was that the old guy driving a truck (green, IIRC) had a heart attack and crashed into the car carrying the MC - who then woke up in the hospital many years earlier.
The one I remember the most started with a lightning strike.
These stories are some of my favorites too.
Plenty of other causes that start a do-over:
aroslav - Not This Time - hearth attack
aroslav - Double Take - aliens(?)
Bastion Grammar Jr - Traveller - magic
Charlie Foxtrot - A New Past - explosion/terrorists
G Younger - Getting It Wrong - time machine
gwresearch - Magestic - time traveler
Gina Marie Wylie - Tangent - travel between time dimensions
Iskander - Through My Eyes. Again. - suicide
Joe J - Twice Lucky - sudden death (medical)
John Wales & Dr. Stan & Wires - Rebirth - lightning
John Wales - Time - lightning
Ken Grimwood - Replay - hearth attack
Lazlong - The Fountain of Youth - hearth attack, body switch
novascriptus - Paul's Redemption - woke up young again
Openbook - Why Didn't I Just... - old age, alien
Phil Brown - Second Time Through - suicide, body switch
PT Brainum - Perfect Choices - accidental brain switch
rlfj - A Fresh Start - Aladdin's lamp
Ronin74 - My Second Chance - rocket, quantum singularity
Sage Mullins - Lightning in a Bottle - flash, lightning
Sea-Life - Echoes - old age, heart attack
Slowride - If This is a Dream Don't Wake Me - electrocution
SmokinDriver - Hindsight2020 - string theory
tendertouch - Building a Better Past - woke up young again
Timm - Again - aliens
Timm - Changing Our Past - micro-wormhole
Wow! Thanks, Keet. I haven't read many of the stories in your list. Thank you for compiling it.
If you haven't read the three he left off that are greats:
Doing it All Over by Al Steiner (sent back by wish)
Ememend By Eclipse by Lazlo Zalezac (death during eclipse)
Don Lockwood's Rewind (oddly, I don't remember the trigger event. also beware, it's unfinished)
Read them.
If you haven't read the two he left off that are greats:
Doing it All Over by Al Steiner (sent back by wish)
Ememend By Eclipse by Lazlo Zalezac (death during eclipse)
Read them.
Yep, definitely should be on the list.
tendertouch - Building a Better Past could be magic, I just did a quick scan for the stories and causes.
Of course I left off the (car)accident do-overs of which there are some very good stories too.
Don Lockwood's Rewind (oddly, I don't remember the trigger event. also beware, it's unfinished)
The MC has the symptoms of a heart attack. I'd call it close enough, but YMMV.
It's tough remembering specific details when suffering a heart attack, as your mind tends to focus on other things (like surviving a few more seconds).The MC has the symptoms of a heart attack. I'd call it close enough, but YMMV.
tendertouch - Building a Better Past - woke up young again
Pretty sure it was magic, someone other than the MC was responsible and also returned.
Charlie Foxtrot - A New Past - explosion/terrorists
gwresearch - Magestic - time traveler
Gina Marie Wylie - Tangent - travel between time dimensions
novascriptus - Paul's Redemption - woke up young again
I believe those were all explained by some sort of high-energy physics experiments? (Not sure about the last, I remember he had done work involving dark matter though)
Gina Marie Wylie - Tangent - travel between time dimensions
all explained by some sort of high-energy physics experiments?
No, GMW had her paratime transfer ala H. Beam Piper had the future Lord Kalvan be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and and got sucked up by a First Level paratime craft.
Cpl Calvin Morrison, Penn St Trpr had to out duel a Paratime cop to survive, while GMW's students van encountered some paratime smugglers ...
Tangent is also not in any way a do-over. The main character started out young, and was not sent back into her own past, but transferred into a less-technologically-advanced parallel universe. It's more similar to the cmsix plot than to a do-over. (Except IIRC the characters were from Arizona, not Texas.)
Tangent is also not in any way a do-over.
The author disagrees with you. She assigned the codes, and they include DoOver. She didn't use the hyphen between the o in Do and the O on Over. Maybe that makes it a different kind of DoOver from your do-over.
"Details for 'Tangent' by Gina Marie Wylie
Size: 1466 KB
Word Count: 270,404
Downloads: 131009
Weekly: 308
Votes: 1631
Score: 9.19
Voted?: Yes (10)
Shanghaied across the time dimensions, middle school student Judy Bondi, her classmates and an extraordinary man deal with a history they never learned in school. Instead of reading history, they're making it! A fanfic set in H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen universe.
Genre: Science Fiction
Codes: Fan Fiction, Science Fiction, Time Travel, DoOver
Sex Contents: No Sex
Posted: 2006-11-06
Concluded: 2007-06-10 (Added Chapter 32 (final))
Not This Time - hearth attack
Man, I hate it when the hearth attacks. I bet the chimney was smokin' mad about it.
Plenty of other causes that start a do-over:
Doesn't anyone just get amnesia after being hit on the head anymore? ;)
Doesn't anyone just get amnesia after being hit on the head anymore? ;)
Lost Memory β a collection from Lubrican
https://storiesonline.net/series/1017/lost-memory
These meet the bump on the head.
'For Want of a Memory' by Lubrican
https://storiesonline.net/library/storyInfo.php?id=57164
'Millie's Western Adventure' by Lubrican
https://storiesonline.net/library/storyInfo.php?id=72799
It's rather ironic. Cancer is frequently used to dispose of a wife to set up a story where a male protagonist meets a new love, but it's vanishingly rare as a means of releasing a protagonist to be a do-overee.
AJ
Cancer is frequently used to dispose of a wife to set up a story where a male protagonist meets a new love, but it's vanishingly rare as a means of releasing a protagonist to be a do-overee.
A brain aneurysm (i.e. stroke) makes a lot more sense and a cleaner end, though you rarely see those in Do-Overs. Not quite as rare as death by peanut butter sandwich (slipping, not anaphylaxis), but it's close.
It's rather ironic. Cancer is frequently used to dispose of a wife to set up a story where a male protagonist meets a new love, but it's vanishingly rare as a means of releasing a protagonist to be a do-overee.
The old chinese dude who granted the MC's wish in Doing it All Over was dying of cancer at the time he gave the MC the ability to make the wish. (And he got to live those years over again himself, oddly with the memories as well.)
DoOvers typically start with the MC's death as a older individual. The two exceptions I can think of are the original (Doing it All Over by Al Steiner - MC tells dying man his greatest wish would be to be 15 again, knowing what he knew as his older self) and I believe one by Coaster2 where the MC hit his head and ended up in the hospital. Also, there was another where someone was allegedly sent back by a genie's lamp, but he did experience a heart attack at the time of transfer.
Ah, it's nice knowing the oldie's are still around, and still golden.β¦ and I believe one by Coaster2 where the MC hit his head and ended up in the hospital.
I admit to being guilty of using a car crash to start mine (followed immediately by a bike crash, on the 'other side'). I considered changing it pre-publication, but was talked out of it by an editor. It's a (pun intended) vehicle to get the story moving, nothing more, at least for mine. The end of the older life is far more important than how it ended.
In some cases the triggering event is critical to the plot (Lightning In A Bottle is an obvious example, or A New Past, or Emend By Eclipse; many others as well). In others, not so much.
It's simple: the authors don't give a bloody fuck about the character's back story, and can't waste time setting up the opening, wanting to dive right into their new lives. Essentially, it's yet another example of lazy storytelling. Though, to be honest, starting with a heart attack of car accident does provide a more compelling opening that several chapters worth of backstory.Is there some unwritten rule that requires DoOver stories to begin with an automotive crash?
The one I remember the most started with a lightning strike.That's cause those stories are the most electrifying!
These stories are some of my favorites too.
I'm highly interested in my character's back story, but didn't want more than a page or two of exposition on how we get to where we are. It's much better if it comes out over the course of the story.
Think about it from a first-person narrator perspective: which is more likely?
"I did this, and this,and this and that and the other thing happened, and this went on for years, then a truck hit me, then all these things happened."
or
"Damn! A truck hit me and I didn't die, I wound up in the past!"
The biggest single event in their telling their story is the triggering event for the do-over. However, it doesn't mean their backstory isn't interesting, it's just "oh, and I'm all screwed up by years of this, that, and the other thing" is bad writing - that should come out in the story, and most likely they don't actually realize how screwed up they are going in.
I probably do too much introspective exposition in the early chapters and pull out some of those things, but, to me at least, the more you meet the MC naturally the better."
That said, and referencing the lightning strike, 'Lightning In A Bottle' does start with a strong, relevant opening. I wouldn't say it's exactly backstory, but it's very important to the plot. That said, the 'rules' for that do-over make it relevant; one that's more open-ended would be hard-pressed to end up anywhere even vaguely similar.
My MC wouldn't be caught dead (pun intended) in a car anywhere near where and when his fatal meeting with a truck occurs, not unless the whole do-over is a colossal failure and he wants a third try, anyway (no, that's not a spoiler!).
That's valid, but too often in many 'magical' do-over stories (ex: where some alien grants someone a new life, for some unknown and unexplained reason) the resulting stories are largely devoid of introspection (ex: CSMix's stories) where the entire point of the story is accumulating sufficient firepower that they can become king of their new (ancient) world. Now that is the ultimate Dues Ex Machina, as the entire story is based on an unexplained, magical 'it just happens' moment, leaving the rest of the story dangling in disbelief.I'm highly interested in my character's back story, but didn't want more than a page or two of exposition on how we get to where we are. It's much better if it comes out over the course of the story.
Has drowning in an industrial vat of hot sauce been done before?
How about a guy on a ventilator with Covid, on his last breath, wishes he was in a time without Covid-19 and finds himself in the middle of the Spanish Flu.
How about a guy on a ventilator with Covid, on his last breath, wishes he was in a time without Covid-19 and finds himself in the middle of the Spanish Flu.
Which would actually help.
The high-risk groups for the two were different enough that he'd probably survive. Especially if it was a typical DoOver and he ended up as a young teen.
Especially if it was a typical DoOver and he ended up as a young teen.
A typical do over resets someone as a younger version of themself at an earlier point in their own lifetime.
Unless the guy starts out pushing 120, he's not going back from 2021 to 1918 as his own teenage self, so the base premise is already outside the typical DoOver.
A typical do over resets someone as a younger version of themself at an earlier point in their own lifetime.
And the ones that didn't, the MC usually woke up in the body of a young teen at some point in the past: Lazlong's Fountain of Youth, Second Chance by Number 7, Phil Brown's Second Time Through, Ahead from the Past by the Purvv/sourdough...
the MC usually woke up in the body of a young teen at some point in the past
I think I remember one where an old guy wakes up as a young girl instead of a young boy. But I'm not sure.
Once More With Feelings. Yeah. And there've likely been others, but that was the one most would know.
Excellent story. It's about time I reread it. Thanks for reminding me!https://storiesonline.net/s/41504/once-more-with-feelings
Sounds like it's time for a Do-Over Do-Over! ;)Unless the guy starts out pushing 120, he's not going back from 2021 to 1918 as his own teenage self, so the base premise is already outside the typical DoOver.
as his own teenage self, so the base premise is already outside the typical DoOver.
I thought the premise for a DoOver story was not to relive your own life, but to relive your younger years. It could be in your younger body or in someone else's body.
Long argument over in 'Lost Stories' over what counts as a DoOver. I agree that it counts, personally.
Long argument over in 'Lost Stories' over what counts as a DoOver.
How'd the discussion end? What was the consensus?
The SOL description is: "Getting to do one's life all over again."
I didn't see that requiring it to be going back into the same body you had when you were younger with your same parents and siblings. Just doing your life over with the knowledge you have as an adult. I even remember a man waking up in a young girl's body.
The SOL description is: "Getting to do one's life all over again."
I didn't see that requiring it to be going back into the same body you had when you were younger with your same parents and siblings.
I read that as as the MC getting to do their own life over, emphasis on their own life, not someone else's life.
On the other thread ( https://storiesonline.net/d/s4/t8087/do-over ) I went back and forth with Grey Wolf. His definition was similar to yours.
He thought mine was too narrow, and I argued his was too broad and would capture the Swarm Universe (lots of age regression, tech based fountain of youth) and fountain of youth type stories.
He finally came up with the required elements for a do-over as: age reduction (retaining knowledge), living life again, but having to pick up mid-stream with everyone expecting you to be a certain person at your now-current age.
And I'll say that I'm not certain nothing else is required - the last part of that ('having to pick up mid-stream...') was a reaction to Swarm / Fountain of Youth etc. I could well be missing something; however, I think many classic 'do-over' stories are excluded.
I'm good with the idea of subgenres (e.g. 'hard science fiction', 'soft science fiction', 'science fantasy', etc). A category of do-over that requires it be exactly the protagonist's life done differently is fine - I just don't see it as definitional of the entire genre.
And I'll say that I'm not certain nothing else is required
Neither am I, but at least you were willing to try and meet in the middle.
with everyone expecting you to be a certain person at your now-current age.
A lot of the stories are like that. The do-over-guy "inherits" a hot mom and/or sister. Strangers to him, but he's not to them.
It's not so much whether there are added characters (mine has an added sister, for instance), but that the do-over protagonist finds themselves playing the role of 'themself' and needs to do it convincingly or face consequences. If the person doesn't have a pre-existing role to fit into, it's not really a do-over. Note that I can envision a do-over where the protagonist shifts timelines by an intentional act and 'does away with' the person who they are 'replacing' (whereas in most, whatever triggering mechanism causes the do-over also handles replacing the 'old self' with the 'do-over self'). Still a do-over, though potentially a sinister one. I can think of a couple of instances where that, or a form of it, happens in existing stories.
The whole thing is to distinguish a do-over from 'Fountain of Youth' or other mechanisms for de-aging. The goal is to allow stories such as aroslav's 'The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins' to count, even though that story doesn't have a backwards time-travel element (otherwise it'd be easy to make the rule that moving to an earlier time is required).
On the other hand, they don't have to be the same person they've been before, to allow e.g. 'Once More With Feelings' or 'Second Chance' to count.
I dunno. I'd say the time-displacement is necessary. Mostly the appeal of a DoOver is the concept "if I had the knowledge then that I have now, what I could do with it..."
There's really only a couple stories where that's not central to the story - one where the MC (and his stepsister) are moved back to shortly before they met, and one where just escaping a hellish existence was the only real goal.
(note: haven't read the Jacob Hopkins stories due to being uncertain about the completeness of the codes, given certain tendencies noticed.)
I'd be happy to play story-code-spoiler, if you're curious.
I wrote more in the other thread, but my feeling is that 'if I knew then what I know now' can result in a great story even if the great bulk of what one passes along that way are purely personal-knowledge things.
I'll mention 'Second Chance' as well. The first 'restart' for the main character doesn't involve a temporal displacement (and most of his other ones don't, either). I'd still lump it into the broad do-over genre.
But, again, I think it's entirely fair to say that stories which lack a temporal displacement (backwards, to a time with which the protagonist is highly familiar) are a small sub-genre of do-over. I just wouldn't kick them out of the genre entirely.
I'll mention 'Second Chance' as well
Second Chance was a combination story. Part DoOver, part iterative immortality/body swap (mostly, when he died he'd jump to a new life... but he did move back in time when he jumped into his original body, and used info from other incarnations he'd lived through)
And amusingly... I'm working on a DoOver - MC used magic to travel, and he prepared in advance... then winds up going more than twenty years further in the past than he intended and ending up in the wrong body. Still, he'd have a number of ways to get rich (including buying Berkshire Hathaway stock early) but a lot of the conflict is adapting to living as someone he always hated.
the appeal of a DoOver is the concept "if I had the knowledge then that I have now, what I could do with it..."
What about the movie "Frequency"? A father and son are connected over a shortwave with a 30-year difference so the son (in the future) knows what's going to happen 30 years earlier and helps his father (in the past) change things. Like the father died 30 years ago but the son tells him how to avoid dying in the fire. Of course, each change causes other changes (like his mother dying instead).
I think that's more like The Butterfly Effect. (One of the more depressing movies, really.) Make one change to the past, see how that change impacts what happened after, repeat. It's sorta a DoOver, but again, a key to the DoOver is actually living the whole time over, not iteratively modifying the past to find the desired future.
Same with 'Groundhog Day'. That's iterative reliving and outside 'do-over'.
On the other hand, a 'Groundhog Day' style do-over, where one repeats the same entire life over and over until it's right... sort of a do-over? And, in my opinion, likely thoroughly depressing. Ugh. As the story indicates, and side notes make even more clear, actually living through 'Groundhog Day' would've made Bill Murray's character thoroughly nuts for a while before he recovered.
I'd say both are outside the genre. Technically 'Groundhog Day' meets the criteria I had, though, so... significant age reduction? One day doesn't cut it. Even a year doesn't cut it; there should be some real experience there to learn from (even if that experience is primarily inward-looking).
actually living through 'Groundhog Day' would've made Bill Murray's character thoroughly nuts for a while before he recovered.
That was kinda shown tho... while obviously you never saw every day he experienced, he committed suicide, robbed a Brinks truck, cosplayed through the Clint Eastwood marathon, maniacally pursued his coworker (who eventually fell for him after he gave up chasing her)...
Then, consider how he chose to build a 'perfect' day - he saved how many lives? How many times would he have unsuccessfully have tried to save some of them before being able to? Yeah, he'd consciously realize that the deaths weren't 'real' because he'd have another chance the next time through, but on a visceral level it would impact him.
Yes - that's what I meant by 'as the story indicates' (I know it wasn't that clear. There was an interview recently where Harold Ramis (and others, I think) confirmed that what's shown are the lighter dark moments.
My characters noted that. After all, most do-overs involve people who 'got it wrong' once. What if they get it wrong again - do they have to try once more? How often? How bad could thatget?
After all, most do-overs involve people who 'got it wrong' once. What if they get it wrong again - do they have to try once more? How often? How bad could thatget?
Now beginning attempt number 10,097:
... and you wonder why crazy people seem to be becoming more and more common.
My characters noted that. After all, most do-overs involve people who 'got it wrong' once. What if they get it wrong again - do they have to try once more? How often? How bad could thatget?
I recently noticed a new film on Netflix where the main character had to relive a particular combat until he got through it in one piece and saved certain people along the way. He also got to remember each attempt so he knew what didn't work last time. It was a futuristic combat scene as well.
Interesting. It's been done a few ways ('Happy Death Day' is Groundhog Day with more death, for instance.
A couple other related ones: skimmed, but Doctor Strange's search of the probabilities in 'Avengers: Infinity War' might count. 'The Good Place' has a sequence (also skimmed) where hundreds of attempts are made at doing a certain thing (if any show deserves respect for spoilers, it's 'The Good Place', but that itself is not enough of one to count).
Yeah, there've been others. ISTR one where the time loop involved preventing a terrorist attack on... a train?
All You Need Is Kill / Edge of Tomorrow in DTP/film, also Kublicon's Play It Again Sam on Lit fit roughly into this trope.
The Spanish Influenza affected particularly the 25- to 34-year-old and 15- to 24-year-old age groups.
So 1918 would be a particularly bad choice for the average do-over candidate.
Mostly true. Although I've seen several where the MC is sent back to 12 or 13. (Granted, this probably will never happen in the 14yo minimum era.)
Not all stories need to be about sex. Coming back as a ten year old, having to deal with childish emotions, lack of freedom, lack of money and facing puberty all over again could make an interesting plot.
Knowing what sexual desire is but not feeling it would be strange. A 10yo going on 70yo would leer at women out of habit and want to smoke cigars and drink scotch. The habits of a lifetime would be there but without the ability to perform.
If you want to go there, why not go all the way back to toddler, or even infant.
Infant could be funny, where the reader gets dialog from the adult mind in the infant body, but all the surrounding characters react like all they hear is normal baby noises.
If you want to go there, why not go all the way back to toddler, or even infant.
There are a few stories that do just that elsewhere.
A 10yo going on 70yo would leer at women out of habit and want to smoke cigars and drink scotch. The habits of a lifetime would be there but without the ability to perform.
John Wales wrote those. (But the 'kid', even though not yet physically equipped completely, still had sex.)
Or even better, back in the medieval Black Plague, where they not only have to deal with people literally shitting in the streets, but the idea of 'invisible germs' would get you laughed out of the town. "Pardon me, but could I borrow a moldy piece of bread, please?" ;)How about a guy on a ventilator with Covid, on his last breath, wishes he was in a time without Covid-19 and finds himself in the middle of the Spanish Flu.
Has drowning in an industrial vat of hot sauce been done before?
Anyone up for writing a Two-Face Harry Dent (?) Do-Over in the Batman universe?Has drowning in an industrial vat of hot sauce been done before?
In Tom Sharpe's The Throwback, the MC replaces one of his adversaries' condom lubrication with caustic oven cleaner...Replacing the cheating wifes lube with hot sauce has been done.
In Tom Sharpe's The Throwback, the MC replaces one of his adversaries' condom lubrication with caustic oven cleaner...
If I was being mean, I'd use ghost pepper paste.
If I was being mean, I'd use ghost pepper paste.
As I recall, the adversary found relief by using a cheese grater to remove both the condom remains and the oven cleaner from his dick.
Deceased pepper paste seems unnecessary like overkill...
:)
As I recall, the adversary found relief by using a cheese grater to remove both the condom remains and the oven cleaner from his dick.
That sounds like it would remove half of his dick.
That sounds like it would remove half of his dick.
Yes.
Which is why I think your suggestion of ghost pepper paste seems like overkill...
Which is why I think your suggestion of ghost pepper paste seems like overkill...
Not overkill so much as questionable, given the existence of Carolina Reapers...
the existence of Carolina Reapers...
Damn! 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU)
The ghost pepper is only a little over 1M.
Getting back to your question, I think it more monkey see monkey do for the vehicle crash trope.
Without going back and counting, the crash is probably the most common, though everything from lightning strikes to science experiments gone bad has been used.
It is the way the MC gets 'recycled' in manga. So common it is a meme; do a search for truck-kun and see.
I Did the search and see what you mean. I'm not much on manga, but the number of hits and individual sites covering it, do support your words.
It was enough to make me wonder how frequently people get hit by buses and trucks in Japan and China.
It does tie into the concept of yΕ«rei which could be the premise for a doover.
the vehicle crash trope.
mainly due to the statistics on how people are seriously hurt but still live have the vehicle crash as the main contender in the area.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
Heart disease: 659,041
Cancer: 599,601
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 173,040
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 156,979
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 150,005
Alzheimer's disease: 121,499
Diabetes: 87,647
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 51,565
Influenza and pneumonia: 49,783
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,511
All unintentional injury deaths
Number of deaths: 173,040
Deaths per 100,000 population: 52.7
Cause of death rank: 3
Source: National Vital Statistics System β Mortality data (2019) via CDC WONDER
Unintentional fall deaths
Number of deaths: 39,433
Deaths per 100,000 population: 12.0
Source: National Vital Statistics System β Mortality data (2019) via CDC WONDER
Motor vehicle traffic deaths
Number of deaths: 37,595
Deaths per 100,000 population: 11.5
Source: National Vital Statistics System β Mortality data (2019) via CDC WONDER
Unintentional poisoning deaths
Number of deaths: 65,773
Deaths per 100,000 population: 20.0
Source: National Vital Statistics System β Mortality data (2019) via CDC WONDER
I'd say more than just a trope. Unintentional injuries are the third most common cause of death over all and motor vehicle accidents are the third most common cause of unintentional injuries.
Suicide, I would almost expect it to prescribe reruns.
Second Time Around - self-inflicted gunshot
Emend by Eclipse - the teacher who'd also experienced a DoOver had committed suicide
DejaVu Ascendency - ok, no time displacement. but the MC got a second chance when his suicide left a copy of his mind in the body of a nearly-identical self so he sorta had a second chance at growing up
You'd think there'd be more possibilities easily named, but I think writers tend to shy away from having characters off themselves, especially if doing so would work out for them... the whole stigma against suicide thing...
Perhaps it's because it's a way to go that allows no time for preparation. If you jump off the Golden Gate bridge, you've probably considered what could happen "afterward", and if you fall off, you'll still have a short time (~4 sec.) to anticipate the outcome.
Perhaps it's because it's a way to go that allows no time for preparation.
Hmm. Wonder if anyone's ever had a DoOver start with watching one's chute tangle, then the reserve chute failing to deploy, followed by the last thing to go through one's mind - the radio tower.
the last thing to go through one's mind - the radio tower
How would a radio tower go through one's mind? Does it have a pointy bit on top capable of piercing a skull?
AJ
How would a radio tower go through one's mind?
Sort of like the old joke:
What's the last thing that goes through a bug's mind when it hits the windshield of a speeding car?
It's asshole.
How would a radio tower go through one's mind? Does it have a pointy bit on top capable of piercing a skull?
Assuming freefall unimpeded by a working parachute, yes, usually. Especially if penetrating the eye socket.
I've been in several total write off MVAs. Subjectively they went on forever. Reaction times also sped up. In two I was able to adjust and tension my seat belt before impact. I guess if an author has never experienced one then they may appear to be instantaneous.
Well, I guess my latest story (and my first actual "Do Over") is quite different. In that it starts with a freak plane crash, and ends with a car crash.