It was Groundhog’s Day 🦫 again this past Sunday, Reader. Yes, that weird holiday based on a German tradition using a…badger? 🤷🏻♀️
However, in the 3 decades since the release of the beloved American cult classic of the same title, the plot of Groundhog’s Day has also become a storytelling device used in numerous books, TV shows, and movies.
So what is this famous plot device? Basically:
Your Legendary Character is stuck in a time loop repeating a particular frame of time or situation over and over until something specific is achieved. However how and when the reset happens and what the achievable goal is varies from story to story.
Looking for some examples beyond the titular Groundhog’s Day?
Here are 5 stories with a unique take on the time loop story device I highly recommend:
1) THE MAP OF TINY PERFECT THINGS
By Lev Grossman
Mark has been stuck repeating the same day in his idyllic small town. Doing his part to—more or less—make people’s lives a little bit better when he runs into Margaret, another teen also stuck in a perpetual time loop. The two then devise a plan to break out of the loop by mapping out all the perfect moments that happen in their loop.
What’s Unique?
2 characters stuck in a time loop + The story starts with Mark already well into being trapped in the time loop
2) SUMMER TIME RENDERING (SAMĀ TAIMU RENDA)
By Yasuki Tanaka - Available in both English dubbed and Japanese subtitled
Shinpei Ajiro returns to his hometown of Hitogashima Island for the funeral of his friend and adoptive sister Ushio. Details surrounding her death lead Shinpei on a quest that ends in his murder. But instead of the afterlife, he wakes to find himself on the ferry pier once again on the day of Ushio’s funeral.
What’s Unique?
Even though Shinpei is trapped in a time loop the starting point of the loop moves forward a little more each time he loops + the end of the loop is death not a specific time of day such as midnight.
* If you’re looking for another example of this type of Time Loop check out Re:Zero which is available in both English dubbed and Japanese subtitled
3) THE 7 LIVES OF LÉA (LES 7 VIES DE LÉA)
Available in both English dubbed and original language with English subtitles
While at an outdoor party by a river in June 2021, Léa stumbles upon a dead body. She wakes up the next day, thirty years in the past inside the body of Ismaël—the person she found dead. For the next 6 days, she inhabits the bodies of the 6 people that contributed to the death of Ismaël all while trying desperately to save him from his grisly fate.
What’s Unique?
Freaky Friday meets Groundhog’s Day + a murder mystery + time travel
* If you’re looking for another example of this type of Time Loop check out The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
4) TOKYO REVENGERS (TŌKYŌ RIBENJĀZU)
By Ken Wakui - Available in both English dubbed and Japanese subtitled
On the day that 26-year-old Takemichi Hanagaki learns that the Tokyo Manji Gang killed his middle school girlfriend and her little brother, Takemichi is pushed onto the train tracks. However, instead of the afterlife, he wakes to find himself in the body of his 14-year-old self. His following actions alter the past creating a paradox that allows him to jump back and forth through time within his own body as he tries desperately to prevent their deaths. And then the deaths of others he meets along the way.
What’s Unique?
The time loop’s reset point moves forward as time passes + Time looping is an ability of the character + murder mystery + time travel
* If you’re looking for another example of this type of Time Loop check out Erased Boku dake ga Inai Machi “The Town Where Only I Am Missing” by Kei Sanbe which is available in both English dubbed and Japanese subtitled in both anime and live action format.
5) RUSSIAN DOLL
Nadia is trapped as the guest of honor at her seemingly inescapable 36th birthday party. The loop always starts at the same moment in the party and ends—quite frequently with her death. And then she meets Alan who is also aware he’s stuck in a loop and weirdly also shares the same birthday.
What’s Unique?
2 characters stuck in a time loop + the end of the loop is death not a fixed time like midnight
* If you’re looking for another example of this type of Time Loop check out 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
Well, I hope these Time Loop recommendations will help you write your own Groundhog’s Day-style story. Until next week, Reader, this is your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat wishing you a wonderfully creative week.
Your cohort in storytelling,
Kat Vancil
🐱
PS 👉 Here are even more Time Loop examples to check out:
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Yasutaka Tsutsui (adapted into an anime movie in 2006)
- All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (adapted into the movie Edge of Tomorrow)
- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (adapted into the movie by the same name)
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
- First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Catherine Webb
- Premonition (Time is looping backward and forward so the main character experiences a series of days out of order over the course of a week)
- Sea Sick by Iain Rob Wright (Groundhog’s Day with zombies on a cruise ship)
- Kaleidoscope Century by John Barnes
- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- By His Bootstraps by Robert Heinlein
- One Fine Day by Leon Arden
- Dark (Available on Netflix in both English dubbed and original language with English subtitles)
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Steven J Morris
SJMorris Writes
Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing. |
