When I read aspiring writers' stories, I often encounter the up-to-now plucky strong investigator who runs pell-mell into a burning building. Why? Because the author needs her to run into that building because a big fat CLUE (or victim) is waiting just inside.
Never mind that no one in their right mind runs into a burning building (certainly not a smart, plucky sleuth/protagonist). Sane people call 911. (Unless they know there's a mama dog nesting in one of the bedroom closets and giving birth to a brood of puppies (see my novel "There Was an Old Woman" in which two characters, decades apart run into two different burning buildings... and live to tell about it.))
I get a lot of wonderful ideas from the news. Stuff that would be hard to make up because people (in real life) do the most outrageous things that would never pass muster in a work of fiction.
Just this week, for instance, there's the story of the enterprising folks who staged fake bear attacks on their luxury cars (think Rolls-Royce) in order to collect over $100K in insurance payouts.
The best part of this story is the HOW.
It involved a person getting into a bear suit (yes, bear suits are available on Amazon), climbing into a fancy car, and scraping away at the interior with sharp kitchen utensils leaving scratch marks. Then filing an insurance claim.
The mind boggles at that clever ways one could work this scenario in a mystery novel. (What do they find when they pop the trunk??) (What happens if the horn gets stuck blaring while the "bear" is at work) (What happens if (real) bears emerge from the surrounding wood...)
But, as my reviewers comments taught me, Reality is no excuse. For a plot point to work in a novel, it has to be credible. The characters' actions need to be believable.
Most authors know: Just because something really happened doesn't mean readers will swallow it.
Are there moments have you encountered in REAL LIFE that, if someone put it in a book, no one would believe?
Wow . . . I can't say that I've had any real-life moments that would be unbelievable in a book, but that whole bear thing would absolutely top my list of things I'd never believe if they were written into a story . . . .
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, I think it could work in a movie...
Delete“Are there moments have you encountered in REAL LIFE that, if someone put it in a book, no one would believe?”
ReplyDeleteSeriously?
This happens every time I turn on the news or pick up a paper or listen to the conversation in the booth behind us. How trite is is to say you can’t make this stuff up, except it is true.
From Drumph starting a war in the Middle East to a jar of Nutella floating around in the Orion, life is busy imitating art.
And columns, serious or numerous, write themselves.
Who knew our daily prayers would include thanking our gods that be for Heather Cox Richardson!
You said it, Ann!
DeleteAmen, Ann!
DeleteAmen
DeleteI so agree, Ann.
DeleteI saw that report and smiled. The person-in-a-bear-suit -- actually skin -- storyline was used by both MASTER AND COMMANDER author Patrick O'Brian (in his second book of the series) and in one of Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER novels. It wasn't believable either time. I think it only might work in carefully staged still photographs. If you've ever watched bears, they move in an idiosyncratic way that a human could never match.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a number of tough moments in my life when I've said, "This is unbelievable!" but sadly the only thing that felt unbelievable at the time was that the events were happening to ME. (Selden)
This is a riot Selden, I had no idea it had been used that way--twice!
DeleteGood spot, Selden - I didn't know, either.
DeleteThat bear story is nuts. I cut out a short news squib years ago and finally used it in my book that came out last August; the real story was two women propping their recently dead friend in the front seat and driving him through the bank to take money out of his account, then leaving him at the hospital. I haven't gotten any complaints from readers!
ReplyDeleteEdith, I love how that fit so perfectly into your mystery! Such fun to read!
DeleteThank you, Judy!
DeleteI have one of those folders of news story bits that I think I might use in a plot. I call it "Compost"
DeleteThat is a strange story!
DeleteFrom Celia: i love finding these bones motes too but i have also lived them through them thinking do I actually believe what I'm agreeing too right now? Because I'm currently on yet another plan with yet another fall, goodness why is it so easy to fall? I think I want my money back for poor coordination or something. It's ok I
ReplyDeleteKnow it's mine to be responsible. But on the side - Heated blanks are the best.
Heated blankets for the win!
DeletePlease stay upright, dear Celia, and feel better soon.
Celia, I hear you.
Delete"Just because something really happened doesn't mean readers will swallow it." The same holds true for many voters.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope.
DeleteWe can only hope.
DeleteIn my life, chance encounters are the most worthy of putting into stories, nothing heroic.
ReplyDeleteAs far as things in the news globally, those things will eventually turn up in historical novels and mysteries. One day, many authors will use this "error" (pun intended) in their mystery series.
Articles like the one about the criminal use of a bear suit will spark someone's imagination and could end up in fiction. Why not? "Stranger than fiction" is an everyday occurrence somewhere.
All those books with people discovering they have a twin when their paths cross ... Right.
DeleteWhen I worked at 9-1-1, we had any number of crazy calls. One of my favorites was a person who called complaining of abdominal pain because they had eaten a piece of the space shuttle that had fallen from the sky. When the ambulance crew told me on the radio that they were enroute, I asked if they were familiar with the details. Their reply, "We found it a little hard to swallow."
ReplyDeleteSnort! too funny.
DeleteMy daughter the nurse told me about incredible swallowing examples from her years in the ER, including one woman, a "frequent flyer" to the ER, kept swallowing (how? no idea) open safety pins.
Karen... OUCH!
DeleteKaren, my sister and I were doing a sewing project and she kept about 4-5 pins held in place by her teeth. Something happened and she suddenly swallowed them! She turned out fine, I can't remember the details now as it was so long ago, but I think we went to the med clinic.
DeleteI do NOT want to be a human pin cushion! This reminds me of my husband's family's story about the time he put a dime up his nose and had to go to the ER to have it reminded. When they took it out they also found an orange pit.
DeleteOmigod, Hallie! That's so funny.
DeleteAnon, when I taught sewing, especially to kids, pins were absolutely forbidden anywhere but in the fabric/pattern or on the magnetic pincushion. I had nightmares about someone swallowing one!
We also had a 9-1-1 call about a kid who had put a cheerio up his little sister's nose. It turned out just fine, but callous 9-1-1-ers joked that if the outcome had been bad, the older kid would have been a cereal killer.
DeleteOuch! This reminds me of when I was three years old. I watched my dad, who struggled with sinusitis, putting tissue paper and swirling it around to clear his sinusitis. I did the same thing. Unfortunately the tissue paper got stuck in my nose and my Dad had to drive me to the ER!
DeleteSo true, Hallie! Not too long ago, the story of the raccoon found passed out by the toilet in a liquor store bathroom made headlines. I could see this story sparking some writer's imagination.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... it's already got me thinking.
DeleteThat reminds me of a story about someone giving their dog beers to drink and the dog got drunk! I was surprised because I thought the dog would be repulsed by the smell and not drink beer at all!
DeleteIt's simply too early for my old brain to come up with any examples but I do know that I have said more than once 'if this happened in a book no one would believe it.' Maybe later something will come to me, something beyond what we hear in the news every day.
ReplyDeleteLet us know if you have a brainstorm.
Deletethere has been occasions when I saw something and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
ReplyDeleteIt's why we love our cell phone cameras.
DeleteThat really happened to me! I’ve seen things in real life that surprised me. I encountered my first hologram at a museum in Vienna. Luckily I had watched Star Trek the next generation so I knew what a hologram was.
DeleteDuring a zoom about poisonous plants, I asked the speaker if she had a problem with Giant Hogweed in her area. She laughed and assured me that she did, a nice big patch just over the fence.
ReplyDeleteGiant Hogweed and wild parsnip contain sap that causes phytophodermatitis, nasty skin burns when exposed to sunlight.
My husband and I used to joke about ridiculous names to give children. Like Linoleum. Or Spinach. HOGWEED would be a good one. Margaret your post had me scurrying to see what it looks like. It's quite pretty so good thing I don't have any or I'd have probably encouraged it.
DeleteEvery day, Hallie. Every darn day.
ReplyDeleteMORE every day.
DeleteI think the biggest coincidence I experienced myself was when I was in high school. A teacher and her husband took a couple of us down to Indianapolis for some event and on the way home wanted to stop at Purdue and take their daughter out to dinner. I had a friend down there visiting her sister that weekend. We pulled up to her dorm and I thought, “Huh, same dorm as Debbie lives in. Wouldn’t be weird if I saw them?” Then we went up to the same floor (in a ten-story building) so I got to pop in and surprise my friend and her sister. Purdue had about 36K students and one of the biggest dorm systems in the country, so the odds of this were quite staggering.
ReplyDeleteIt's like the summer I was in Paris and ran into the guidance counselor who worked at the school I worked at in Manhattan. What are the odds?
DeleteThis happened to me in a writing class where I wrote about a real event that took place in my house one evening when I arrived home from work. My son was pouring out his father's beer in the sink and his father was just sitting there watching. One other writer said that would never happen because she was from an alcoholic family and it wouldn't be tolerated. My son had joined Teen Alanon.
ReplyDeletePeople bring their "baggage" to our writing. It's especially fraught when you're talking about addiction or other behavioral/mental problems. *Beta readers* - so crucial.
DeleteI was reminded of a scene from the little rascals. The last scene showed the little boy spanking his tall father. My Dad was watching this scene with me and he said that would not happen in real life.
DeleteI once read about a woman who faked her death then came back as her glamorous twin. I don’t think I’ll ever use it in a plot
ReplyDeleteWas that a movie with Stefanie Powers?
DeleteYeah, it certainly sounds like a movie plot. And a juicy role for an actress. That whole TWINS thing in general always seems ridiculously contrived to me.
DeleteI actually met twins who looked alike. One was born deaf and one was born hearing!
DeleteIdentical twins look exactly the same! In fraternal twins some look alike and other do not.
DeleteWhen my now hub (I'll call him H) and I were dating, I invited him to my parents house for Thanksgiving. As we drove up, H said what is my ex-wife's car doing parked in front of your mom's house? A little cautiously we entered the house. But, of all the millions of people in LA, H's ex-wife had sold her car to my cousin - who had parked in front of my parents home.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE IT!!!
DeleteToo funny
DeleteMy first husband bought a car in 1970, a red and white convertible Ford, that many years later I realized had been Steve's mother's car. Steve and I did not meet until 1978.
DeleteThat is a great one!
DeleteYesterday Jenn wrote about data centers - Jenn if you check in today you might be interested in this NPR story
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2026/04/20/g-s1-117729/data-center-disputes-local-midterms
Thanks for the pointer...
DeleteI wonder how many, when far away from home on vacation or travel run into someone they know? We were in Florence, Italy and stopped into a laundromat (not a popular travel spot!) to wash clothes when we heard our names called out. Turned out our close friends' son and his friend were traveling in Europe.
ReplyDeleteSo much fun when it happens!! Because what's the likelihood??
DeleteHallie, this happened in CA and I used it in my upcoming Golden Motel Mystery, ALL ABOARD FOR MURDER! I have a real bear as a character - he's on all the covers - so how could I NOT use this scam, at least in a subplot? Yup, I can't reveal too much but in addition to a regular appearance by Bud the Bear, there is someone in a bear suit trying to shift the blame of a crime on my beloved side character!
ReplyDeleteEllen, I will look for that in your book!
DeleteEllen, that's completely hilarious! We'll ALL be looking for ALL ABOARD FOR MURDER... I wonder if someone could write a mystery with Bud the Bear as the sleuth?!?
DeleteHallie, was there a scene from the Brady Bunch where one of the brothers put on a bear costume to scare the sisters?
ReplyDeleteThought of “stranger than fiction “. Right now I cannot think of a real life incident where it would not be believed in fiction. However, I see many videos on social media. There was a Deaf person signing to their cat and the cat actually signed ! I gave no idea if it was real or AI! I’m thinking of videos where we see amazing feats and I wonder if they are AI generated?
It does seem like something AI could pull off.
DeleteMy BFF knows so many people I’m sure it numbers in the thousands. One morning we were sitting in the ladies room, when she said, “Hey, I know those shoes. Is that you …” I don’t recall the name. The shoe wearer said, yes, is that you …? We were 300 miles from home sitting in the ladies room cubicles in a department store in a huge indoor mall. I can’t go anywhere with that woman without running into somebody she knows. But, by the shoes????? Awesome BFF.
ReplyDeleteBathroom stalls: So many possibilities! I had a dear friend, a very proper guy, who went into the bathroom stall at a conference and, as he was sitting there, heard people coming into the bathroom and realized he'd inadvertently gone into the Ladies. He raised his feet so no one could see his shoes and waited until they left. Poor guy.
DeleteOne of my sisters had the same first and last name of another woman in the area, and almost the same date of birth. They were born three days apart. The other woman owed lots of money to lots of people, medical offices, and even a jewelry store. Creditors were constantly confusing my sister with her, and calling my sister to demand money. One time my sister received a call from a state prosecutor asking her why she didn’t appear in court that day. The other woman had apparently witnessed a murder in a barroom brawl, and that was the day she was supposed to testify. My poor sister was in shock! The caller soon realized that my sister was not the right person, and gave her some advice on how to make it harder for her to be confused with the other woman.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Deb, now you've got us all brainstorming, What could that advice have been??
DeleteI don’t remember all of it. He told her to consider ALWAYS signing her full name: first, middle, and last, because the other woman had a different middle name. My sister was single, and another thing he said to consider was
DeleteDebRo changing her last name to our mom’s maiden name. She didn’t do either. Things eventually calmed down. Then the woman died; I think that she had been too sick to get into too much trouble after a certain point. (Her obit stated that she died from cancer.)
Sorry; the above message got scrambled when I was trying to edit it. But I think you can figure it out.
DeleteDebRo
Once I was asked to write an obituary via zoom and when I tuned it, an entire family was surrounding a young man who was on life support (so his organs could be donated.). They each proceeded to tell their story about him and all the while, he was there physically, but of course gone mentally. It was a very bizarre experience and touching in its own way. Not sure believable--all those people in a hospital room (step parents, parents, step sibs, cousins, friends, partner, and dog.) I often think that truth is stranger than fiction.
ReplyDeleteAnd last week I was just reading about how people who appear to be unconscious may actually be able to hear and think and... (And I can just imagine how moving that must have been. )
DeleteSorry to say that the only "life stranger than fiction" experiences I can remember are coincidental meetings in foreign countries with people I know. However, all I have to do is read the Darwin Awards, and I know that real people do things that I could never put in a novel because no one would find them credible.
ReplyDeleteSigh, the Darwin Awards... The competition these days must be fierce.
DeleteYou make me laugh, Hallie--great comment.
DeleteHallie, my mom liked to 'help' with possible research ideas by clipping crime stories from the Syracuse Post-Standard and mailing them (along with recipes and cartoon strips) to me. One time she had a whole series of stories about a bear that had mauled someone to death remarkably close to the metro area. At the time, I told her the only way that would work in a mystery novel was if someone trained the bear to kill, but now I'm rethinking the whole scenario...
ReplyDeleteSo this has me wondering what happens to circus bears when they get put out of business by animal rights.... or when the circus closes...
DeleteI fell like the daily news would be absolutely UNBELIEVABLE in any novel I read, so I'd say you're 100% right. But the bear suit is a capper - I mean, that's...wow, just wow.
ReplyDeleteThe daily news would be super depressing in any novel...
DeleteSo here's a coincidence I don't think I've shared here. Steve's first wife was killed in a car accident, just a couple months after they got married, after dating for eight years. He was only 27. I met him two years later, and he didn't tell me until we had dated for awhile that #1 had lived in the same apartment building I lived in. In fact, I had moved into #7 the same week she had move out of #6 to marry Steve (I did not meet her). Also, she had been friends in high school with my best friend Barbara, and they had double-dated once with Steve.
ReplyDeleteThat isn't even the coincidence part. When I was moving in I went out to the trashcans out behind the building to put stuff in a can and found that someone had left some stuff next to it: a floral print, a framed piece of needlework, and a pair of pheasant feathers. Instant decor for me!
A couple years after that I was sitting in the living room of one of Steve's hunting buddies, talking to him about insurance (I was an agent at the time). I noticed a tankard full of pheasant feathers on the mantle and remarked on them. He said "Steve should have a pair (each pheasant as two tail feathers). He's only shot one pheasant." Then he said, "What's wrong?! You're as white as a sheet!" I suddenly realized that two years before I had even met Steve, I plucked something he had given his first wife from the trash.
And yes, I still have them, 48 years later.
Whoa - that's pretty amazing ... "super small world."
DeleteI'll have to go back to the story I've already shared here several times. After my parents had both died and I was back in their home to settle some estate matters with my siblings, my family (husband, two kids, and me) spent the night sleeping in the living room on the floor in the emptied house. Sometime late, after midnight, I felt an evil presence that meant me harm. I had a sense of my dead father arguing with the evil force to leave me alone. It was all too much for me, and I told my husband we needed to go to a hotel for the rest of the night. Interestingly enough, he didn't try to dissuade me from us leaving, and I could tell he was uncomfortable, too. So, we gathered up our belongings and moved to a hotel/motel. My husband would have normally told me that it was ridiculous to spend money to stay somewhere when we were already settled in my parents' house. Oh, and these evil vibes seemed to be coming from the basement, which I need to mention because one of my sisters was in the house alone one night working on a paper for one of her Masters in Education classes, and she felt a strange vibe she said that seemed to be associated with the basement. She went back to her apartment. Now, I think if a writer used my experience in a book, readers would believe it was a psychotic break and not a real experience. Of course, that wasn't the only scary experience I had in that house.
ReplyDeleteI think readers would be willing to go anywhere your storytelling took them. I'm already wondering...
DeleteI do love the craziness of the bear story. I've been seeing the headlines, but no time to read the story, due to studying for a final exam. The summary here is hilarious. I can't help wondering what happens now with the bear suits? Costumes for 2027 Halloween? Evidence in court? And how embarrassing now to face their friends.
ReplyDeleteI saw that story! Now, I ask you, who leaves a Rolls (or any auto) unlocked in bear country, and why were the bears supposed to be attracted to the cars? A need for speed? Hum.....
ReplyDeleteSO hilarious!How about my husband's client, who was quickly apprehended by police after committing an armed robbery. How did the police now where he was ?Because he not only had he left blood at the scene, but he was still wearing the electronic ankle bracelet they put on him when he was let out on parole after being convicted of a previous crime. #peopleunclearontheconcept
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working for the Bureau of Forestry, one of our claim checks ended up in my brother's completely different department! Also, my dad's sisters had children on the same day, who years later lived in the same city. Lots of weird stuff happens.
ReplyDeleteHank my husband is an appellate defense attorney similar to what your husband must do. He says so many criminals are not the sharpest knife in the drawer and they rarely think about the consequences.
ReplyDelete