Timeless Honest Trailer

And remember, Flynn has the journal memorized. It says nothing of Jess-1 coming back or being Rittenhouse. If it did, then you know he would have gone after that thread already and dangled that in front of Wyatt. And when the not-dead Jess (Jess-2) appears, he would have called her out. Sure, maybe only Lucy would believe him at first, but it would put everyone on her trail earlier and things probably would have worked out for the better.

Also, since Flynn is in the present when Jess-2 is saved, he believes, like everyone else, she never died. He never dangled her killer in front of Wyatt and must have used some other intel to get him to help with Arnold. And if the journal said Jess-2 had to die because she’s actually Rittenhouse, again, Flynn would have already done something. Even before he stole the Lifeboat. He would have followed her and used her to try to find leads to Rittenhouse operations. Stuff like that.

But Flynn is absolutely clueless that Jess-2 is Rittenhouse and that she has to die.

If the journal is so gung-ho about Jess-2 having to die, as Wyatt seems to think it was, then none of this would have played out like this. You would basically have to say that the journal was massively rewritten between the time he gave it back to Lucy and future-Lucy brought it to them. Which is entirely possible. But you would also think that if it was explicit about Flynn killing Jess-2, then Wyatt and Lucy would be, like, “hey, it says here you kill Jess, so what’s that about?”

The journal never directly states or infers that Flynn kills Jess-2, nor does it mention her death. Wyatt simply sees that there is a lynchpin moment, and the only way to change things is to kill Jess-2, other than the fifty million other options at his disposal. That’s on Wyatt, not Flynn.

Therefore, Flynn can never ‘have always known it was him.’

But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t him, right? Well, let’s look at the rest of the evidence.

Jess-1 was not Rittenhouse. We know this because we’re told by Wyatt that Jess-1’s brother died as a young child. Rittenhouse then goes back and saves the brother, and in return, they get Jess to raise as a loyal foot soldier, aka Jess-2. If Jess-1 is already Rittenhouse, then there is no reason for them to go back and do this because she’s already loyal, dead brother or no.

Instead, they would go back and save Jess-1 so she can finish her mission with Wyatt.

Since Jess-1 isn’t Rittenhouse, Flynn can’t be the killer. He would have no reason to go back and kill Jess-1. He only gains reason to kill her when she becomes Jess-2, after she is saved by Rittenhouse and turned.

And to make things even more confusing, we see in the movie that Jess-2 is told to get out of the car. There an agent is waiting to “protect her.” But like, from who? The simplest way to protect Jess is for her to stay in the car. Or, better yet, she can just not go out that night. Her getting out the car makes no damn sense in this new timeline because it puts her in the firing line.

Unless… Wyatt killed her in a drunken black-out and he maybe doesn’t remember he did it? That’s why she has to get out of the car, away from Wyatt. Moving away from Jess-1’s killer towards Jess-2’s killer? It’s a theory which only holds water thanks to the movie. A movie which tried so desperately to absolve Wyatt of all his guilt, only to make him look more guilty?

Meaning

The title of your story has to give the reader an idea about what they’re getting into. It does this by focusing on one of the following:

A literal Person/Place/Thing –  Percy Jackson, Cheers, The X-Files

The Subject Matter – Friends, Law & Order, The Sixth Sense, CSI

The Genre – Twilight, Star Wars, Friday the 13th, Altered Carbon

The Overall Metaphor/Concept – Game of Thrones, Parasite, Pride and Prejudice

Many of these cross over. The Sixth Sense and CSI could also be considered a literal thing as well as a genre marker. If your title fulfills more than one slot, that is neat, but not a necessity. You might feel like you have to come up with some complex title, but sometimes it’s really just as simple as it’s a show about friends and their relationships with each other.

Take the title Catch-22. The term Catch-22 is a major metaphor and concept that is universally known today. But when Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22, no one called that concept a Catch-22. The title was simply naming the military rule (a thing), which created the situation and therefore drove the narrative. People later co-opted the title to quickly express the concept that the book so masterfully discusses.

Whatever you chose, the title should match the feel of the story you’re trying to tell. It’s part of your promise to the reader, and must make sense by the time they get to the end of the story.  

But how to pick a title when you have persons, places, things, subject matter, genre, and metaphors in your story? You simply work backwards. Ask yourself what your story is really about.

What is the driving force of the narrative?

What do you want your readers to get out of the story?

Is it a story about a person?

Or about the people of a specific group?

Is the story a one-shot or the beginning of a trilogy/series?

Is there a specific name or line of text that sums up your story neatly?

Somewhere in the answers to those questions is your title.

Now, I can make guesses on how some of the above mentioned titles came to be. Cheers takes place in the bar of the same name, and it’s about the patrons of said bar, so it’s the story about a place named Cheers. But I can’t speak for the creators and what thought processes they might have went through in order to choose their titles. So, instead, I am going to give you some of the titles I have come up with and explain how I got there.

Copper and Gold Two words, four syllables. Genre: Urban Fantasy This is the first book of a series based around a singular character, Minni Masterson, whose motif is copper, which plays a large role in the story. Since it’s a series, I need a title that could be formulaic across each one. In the first novel, the “guest character” is a gold dragon (Aiden Drake). So when I say Copper and Gold, I’m really saying Minni and Drake. And in the second book, when I say Copper and Cobalt, I am saying Minni and the Kobolds. Copper and Mercury is Minni and the Werewolves. Etc.

Emperor’s Shadow Two words, five syllables. Genre: Star Wars fan fiction/Mystery/Character Study The story is about Mara Jade who was an Emperor’s Hand. It’s about her coming to terms with the shadow that looms over her from her past and what Palpatine did to her. Instead of going with something much bulkier like In the Shadow of the Empire, I merged her past (Emperor’s Hand) with her current conflict.

The Serpent and the Liar Two words, seven syllables. (This format of “The X and the X” is one that is an exception to the rule, so long as the syllables belonging to X remain low) Genre: Marvel!Loki fan fiction/Pre-Movies Canon Compliant The story is about Loki and the events leading up to the first Thor movie. It also brings in Sigyn to explore that ship, along with some Norse myths, and to explain why she isn’t in the movie. Loki, of course, is known for his serpent motif and as the god of lies. I play on this, giving Sigyn a serpent motif, something to match her with Loki. But on several occasions, I raise the question of who is actually the serpent, and who is the liar? Because the best way to lie, is to tell the truth. So, like Copper and Gold, I’m really just calling the story Loki and Sigyn, I mean, Sigyn and Loki?

Amehrana One word, four syllables. Genre: Timeless Food Truck AU/Garcy Slow Burn The story is about Flynn and Lucy, and the rest of the team, in an AU setting. I named Flynn’s food truck Amehrana because it’s a mix of the word American and Hrana, which is Croatian for food. So the title is both a thing (the food truck) but also another word for Flynn and Lucy because he’s Croat and she’s American. But unlike Copper and Gold and The Serpent and the Liar, there is the added symbolism here of Flynn and Lucy coming together.

Frankenstein’s Monster Two words, five syllables Genre: Timeless Mission Fic for Proposed Season 3 (non-movie compliant) The mission is Mary Shelley, but that doesn’t mean there *has* to be a Frankenstein reference. But you have Flynn who thinks he’s a monster, one created by Rittenhouse. I also go deeper and hint at Lucy herself being a Frankenstein Monster, i.e. created by Rittenhouse for a purpose she doesn’t want any part of. Once again, my title is basically just another name for my main characters.

I want to interject for a moment and point out that we all have our preferences in our writing styles, and titles are no different. If you realized you tend to do most of your titles a specific way, then own it. It’s part of what makes you unique as an artist. And if you occasionally decide you want to go a completely opposite direction for one story, then go for it.

Case in point.

No Accounting for Heroes Three words, seven syllables Genre: Canon Compliant account of the Fall of SHIELD and its aftermath This fic really takes a hard look at what happens to those living in a world with superheroes. The main character, an accountant named Rani, is giving an account of events. My cowriter suggested putting “accounting” in the title which made me think of the common phrase, “no accounting for taste,” which is a concept about how different people like/need different things, and applied it to the story. No Accounting for Heroes means that we all need a hero, but maybe not the heroes we think we do, and we can all be heroes in some way, to someone in need. But also, there is that underlying current that heroes are not held accountable for the destruction that follows in their wake. 

Never be afraid to ask for help with titles. And don’t be afraid to reject titles if they don’t fit. And definitely don’t be afraid to take the suggestion, turn it over, season it, put it in a waffle iron, and see if what comes out is edible.

I have helped others name their stories, and here are three examples:

Remember, Remember Two words, six syllables. Genre: Timeless Garcy Canon Divergent/Angst/Mission Fic The story is about Lucy trying to save Flynn after he goes back to 2012. Emma saves him instead. Eventually Lucy runs into him and she discovers he doesn’t remember her and only knows what Emma has told him. At the end of the story, they have a final confrontation during the Gunpowder Plot. When the author asked my thoughts on a title, well, the Gunpowder Plot has the very famous saying “Remember, Remember, the 5th of November” and the whole story is Lucy trying to get Flynn to remember…

Disavowed One word, three syllables. Genre: Timeless Luciana Canon Divergent/Angst In this Twitter story, Flynn is blocked from returning to the US from Canada because they still think he’s a terrorist. Basically, his own country, whom he helped save, rejected him. When asked for a title, I focused on the idea that this story is about Flynn being rejected/denied entry/etc. I basically flipped through synonyms for rejected until I came across disavowed which is a term often used in spy craft. It’s a heavy word which paired well with the angst of the story.

Only Our Stories Three words, five syllables. Genre: Timeless Movie Canon Compliant-adjacent/Angst/Mission Fic The phrase “only our stories” is said in the fic itself. Future-Lucy writes it down towards the beginning, once she’s returned from dropping off the journal post-Chinatown. All that she has left of Flynn is only their stories, which she writes in the journal. She is eventually able to change things to get Flynn back, but he doesn’t remember her. There is still a connection though… their stories.

Never be afraid to take a line from your story to use as your title, so long as you follow the structure guidelines from the first section. 

At the end of the day, coming up with titles is just as much a skill as any other part of writing. We suck at first, then we figure out what's good, what's bad, and look at the world around us to figure out how to make it better. And don’t be afraid to edit it as much as you edit your novel. Until you publish, no title is set in stone, so it doesn’t have be right the first time.

And now here is where I close out this reference guide by saying something inspirational. Instead, I’m going to name this piece. While I wrote it, the temp file name was “Creating a Title” which is technically accurate but has no umph or style. This guide is meant to be helpful so the title should inspire confidence that I know what I’m talking about. But I don’t want it to sound too clinical either. 

A synonym for “name” is designation which I like but too many syllables because I’ll have to add to it. Synonym’s for “title” don’t give me much either. Instead, I should focus on the concept of the guide rather than its direct contents. Using something like “What’s in a Name?” would be too cliché. “I Suck at Titles” is funny, at first, with it being the exact opposite, but my genre is more educational than satire.

Wait, if I’m not going to reveal the title until the end, as a way to show you the thought process in creating a title, then to the reader, the title both does and doesn’t exist at the same time. It’s what you might call a…

Does the time machine have to return to its current to make the changes, or simply leave the time it has traveled to?

This can be debated either way. I maintain that if the time machine left the time it was in, but did not return to its current, the it would create a "soft change" that can be seen in the timeline by those in the current. Once the time machine returns to the current, then these changes solidify along with any changes their visit to the other timeline might create.

Who is affected by the timeline change?

Anyone who is not outside of their current will be affected by the change.

What happens to people outside of their current when they return?

If someone else changes the timeline via a separate time machine while another person is in a different time in the past, then when the second group returns, they will find a world where both their changes, and the other group's changes, exist.

If the changes of one group affects the changes of the other group, then the second group to return is the one who's changes will take priority and "overwrite" any of the other group's changes.

Example: Emma goes back to kill Mx. Doe. At the same time, Lucy goes back to save Mx. Smith. If Emma returns first, she will see that Doe is dead and this would be a hard change. She will also see that Smith is saved, and this would be a soft change because Lucy hasn’t returned yet. If Emma does nothing, then when Lucy returns, Emma will now believe Smith was always saved, but she will know she killed Doe and changed the timeline.

What if Person A goes back and makes a change that leads themselves to getting killed at some point before their current, do they live?

Yes. They will return to a timeline where they did die. They will be alive much to the surprise of everyone.

What if they change the timeline so they gain a physical wound, like a lost limb?

The physical body will be as healed or as broken as it was in the past when it returns to the current, regardless of what the new timeline says.

Example: If Wyatt changes something in the past where he now losses his thumb in an incident in Afghanistan, then when he returns, he’s going to have a hell of a time explaining to his doctor how he grew his thumb back.

What if Person A goes back and makes changes leading to them never joining the team, and instead Person B does? What happens when they return?

Person A overwrites themselves with memories of being on the team. Their physical body now exists where the time machine is. This will cause confusion to anyone Person A was supposed to be interacting with, but it will not be a blink and they are gone. The timeline change will cause a memory gap where others will have no idea where Person A got off to. Person B will have memories of going on the missions that Person A remembers. Again, there will be a memory gap as Person B should have been on the time machine, but for for reasons they probably can't remember, they stayed behind.

What causes the memory gap?

The fact that the human mind can't comprehend what is happening when the changes are made... so it just, kinda, ignores it. The mind if good at doing things like that.

What if while Person A from 2020 is in the past, Enemy B from 2020 goes to 2019 and kills Person C?

When Person A returns, they will remember a 2019 where Person C existed and all the changes that resulted in. Anyone who wasn't in the past when Enemy B killed Person C will only remember the timeline where Person C died. If Person C was in the past when their 2019 self was killed, then everyone in 2020 is gonna be in for a surprise.

Can someone vanish while in the past?

No. When you are outside of your current, you are safe from being erased. If you make a change that leads to your death before this trip, or your ancestor dies prematurely, then you will return alive and well. But there will be changes to the timeline resulting from you not existing.

Can someone currently dead in the present appear from the future?

No. If you are dead in the present, then you are still dead in the future.

Example: Iris died in 2014, she cannot grow up to return to 2019 to save her father. 

What if that someone is saved and is no longer murdered or erased? Can they travel back in time?

Yes, they could travel from the future into the present. But they would have to be alive in the present. They would not be able to travel onto a timeline where they are dead.

Example: If Flynn believed Iris was dead, but her murder was actually faked, then she could travel back to 2019 to save Flynn. But she would be crossing over her own timeline and would have limited time in 2019 to do what she needs to do.

Why can't someone cross onto their own timeline for more than a few minutes?

Short Answer: The Law of Conservation of Energy.

Long Answer: This post. 

How is it then that the Lifeboat existed for years in San Francisco on its own timeline?

Non-animate objects are not affected by the energy issue. Or if they are, the result is negligible and isn't considered an issue.

How do you get a causal loop inside of a causal loop?

I explain this here. 

How does Jiya see the future?

She doesn't. Jiya is seeing the past. Even if it's hers or Rufus' "future," it still takes place in the past. And as it hasn't solidified yet, each time she looks she will get a different version based on what changes current events might have made.

The important part to remember is that yes, a lot of this is Rinse and Repeat, but it doesn’t have to be. There can be loops where trips were skipped, where extra trips were added, or where North Korea isn’t the end of the loop. The fluctuation in trips can be due to all sorts of factors such as Emma’s “rescue” and Jessica’s involvement... and having crappy writers who don’t understand their own show.

 All that matters is that Lucy goes back to 2014 to restart the Causal Loop. When that happens, all the events that occur afterwards get to ‘reoccur’ which means more changes to the timeline.

 This is how the Lincoln Quandary happens. With all these resets and changes and new timelines, all it takes is for the last person who remembers how it was ‘supposed’ to happen to be in their current timeline when a significant change to the timeline occurs, and there you go. Lincoln “always died.”

 We can also apply this to the characters, such as Jessica. We know it wasn’t always Flynn who killed her because that is impossible since it’s a Causal Loop (not a Closed Loop). Though it is possible that in one of the loops he was involved somehow. In the “Miracle Loop,” as I’m calling it, he is actually responsible for Jess’ death. But, more likely, Rittenhouse had something to do with Jess’ original death.

 Imagine this: The team was giving Rittenhouse hell, so they go back and give the order to murder Jess. Maybe they want to hold that over Wyatt, or perhaps they think it will make him self destruct before he joins the team. For an unknown number of timelines (from none to hundreds), Wyatt knows that Jess was never supposed to die, that it was RH’s fault. Then enough resets occur where Wyatt is in his own current time and therefore forgets this. So now he thinks she always died, and Rittenhouse knows they killed Jess on orders, but no one is quite sure why until 2016.

 Then Emma figures it out, that in a past timeline they tried “Plan A” which didn’t work. So what if they recruit Jess instead? They make sure she doesn’t die in 2012 so she can be a sleeper in 2018. Granted, since Miracle of Christmas went off the rails and was completely illogical, we can’t really apply much of what we saw to actual reality. But you can cherry pick which parts you want to keep and as long as they work together under the timeline rules, then run with it.

 I’ve heard the theory that Wyatt originally killed Jess. The evidence being that strangling is an intimate act, plus Rittenhouse actively asked her to get out of the car to save her when we’ve been told that’s why she died in the first place. So maybe Wyatt did kill her, then eventually forgot that he had done it because of all the resets.

You can pretty much allow for any theory to have occurred in some iteration of the timeline. The only obstacle is that you have to get there following the time travel rules. This sounds daunting, but it’s actually very freeing and full of options. We literally have no idea how many times Lucy has gone back and restarted the loop. 

Mason mentions that in 2014 there was a powersurge that wiped out a lot of data. He was lying about Emma’s pilot logs, but was he lying just about those? This is significant because 2014 is also the same year Lucy goes back to give Flynn the journal. Is this a coincidence? Did it happen before, during, or after Lucy’s trip? Is Lucy responsible? And if so, what was on those records? What information could have been lost to remind people what the real facts are?

Every ‘fact’ as we know it is in question. Hell, we don’t even know if Lucy started the loop in the first place.

 What if it was Amy? She sees what her Mother and Lucy (who could be a bad guy in this timeline) are doing. She writes the original journal. She knows she can’t do this alone and finds Flynn, a man with the skills and the motive. So she goes back to 2014, gives him the journal. Flynn doesn’t hit the Hindenburg in this timeline or the next few. Reset after Reset occurs until now it’s Lucy, being supported by Amy, who starts to write the journal instead and making the loop.

Or, Flynn stole the Mothership first, wrote the first journal and gave it to himself? Or recruited someone to deliver it for him, someone he trusted, like Stiv or Karl? Maybe it was Lorena? Maybe she lived and a timeline change happened when she was in the past where Flynn was the one to live? Enough resets and she doesn’t make it through and now it’s believed she always died.

 Yes, someone can take over the loop. All that is required is that the time machine goes back to the same point to do generally the same thing.

 If you want to keep going back far enough (or forward enough), assume millions of new timelines, then nothing is off limits. 

You could literally have a Time Team made up of anyone you want it to. From supporting characters like BamBam and Noah, to evil characters who may have once been good (Emma perhaps?), to original characters who are either doomed or blessed depending on how their own story changes in the timeline resets.

Your college Garcyatt fic is technically canon.  

Now… to make matters even more confusing: What if someone from the future, say 2056, created a new Causal Loop that either encompasses or overlaps Lucy’s Casual Loop?

Let's first consider the fact that this is a Causal Loop, not a Closed Loop (I know I sound like a broken record by now, but it can’t be helped). Because it’s a Causal Loop, Cahill basically owned himself. When Christopher comes back from saving the Team, time gets rewritten where they never died. This means Christopher, in the new timeline, would have had no reason to go to Cahill and barter with him to get him to help her.

Cahill would get overwritten, not remember the deal. Christopher would remember, but why would she keep it?

How amazing would it have been for Emma to point this out as she’s dragged away, calling Cahill an imbecile. Christopher being all “did I forget to mention that?” with a shit-eating grin on her face. And now, since Christopher will retain all of the intel Cahill gives her by going back and time and not being overwritten, she can use this information to easily take out what’s left of Rittenhouse when she gets back.

Not only does this make Christopher look even more clever and badass, but you have a nice imagery of the WOC getting one over the guy who is probably responsible for Trump. (I have no evidence for that, but, come on... think about it.)

Except... that’s not what the movie wants us to believe happened.

Since they think it’s a Closed Loop, that means the deal Christopher made with Cahill stands. This means that a leader of a White Supremist Group who was trying to subjugate the world, benefits from all the evil he has done. Because that’s what Rittenhouse is, a White Supremist Group. It started with David Rittenhouse who, as we saw, was a piece of work. And with both Cahill and Carol putting so much emphasis on family and bloodlines, we can see that never went away.

Yes, Rittenhouse had POC members, like Doc, but this is not the time to go into the fact that individual POC can be part of the very groups that subjugate them. Also, she wanted out, she was not there by choice.

So, Cahill, doesn’t so much care about “family” but his own bloodline and legacy in regards to Rittenhouse. He then gets to protect his daughter and son (a son that is a clear analog for John Rittenhouse, and we all saw how that turned out).

Even if the show staff try to say “oh, well, that gets overwritten!”, well, for one, you can't have it both ways. But mostly, the fact this is never addressed on screen still sends the message that Cahill wins. His family is safe.

This is made all the worse when you realize that the movie throws the Flynn family under the bus.

Lorena and Iris Flynn are completely innocent characters and they were murdered, right before Christmas. Iris was five years old. Yet, the show says that these two must stay dead. Flynn isn’t even able to sacrifice himself to save them in order to redeem himself. The movie tells us that because Flynn did bad things to stop an even bigger evil (Cahill + Rittenhouse), his family has to pay the price.

And then there is Jessica Logan. Yes, she is loyal to Rittenhouse and she kidnapped Jiya which lead to Chinatown. But the only reason Jessica is Rittenhouse is because she was taken as a child and turned into a sleeper agent specifically to get to Wyatt (regardless if Causal or Closed Loop). They used her brother’s life against her parents. Jessica’s family was put in a horrible situation of wanting their son to live and giving over their daughter to a cult. I’m sure Rittenhouse didn’t sell it to them that way, but that’s what happened.

Jessica’s pregnancy is also conventionally retconned, destroying that possibility of a family. Then she is murdered without the heroes so much as stopping and recognizing that she was put on this path not by her own choosing. They don’t even give her a chance to make the right decision.

To be on the right side of history.

Lucy gave her mother this chance, so why not Jessica? Yes, Jessica hurt Jiya to get away, but she also could have just murdered them all in their sleep, but didn’t. Carol knew Amy existed, but she made sure Amy could never come back, and showed no remorse for her actions (note that Flynn, who caused Amy to disappear in the first place, showed remorse for doing so).

Basically, the message the movie is sending in this scene is that the White Families of Privilege get to benefit, regardless of how evil they have been. All other families should just go ahead and make funeral arrangements. And it sends this message without even giving it a second thought... as if that’s just how things are.