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 . . . .
ReplyDelete“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!
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!
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!
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.
"Just because something really happened doesn't mean readers will swallow it." The same holds true for many voters.
ReplyDeleteIn 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.
When 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."
ReplyDeleteSo 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.
ReplyDeleteIt'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.
ReplyDeletethere has been occasions when I saw something and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
ReplyDeleteDuring 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.