Coincidence?

RHYS BOWEN: Do you read online reviews? I know I shouldn't, but I do. And then I'm miffed if someone says something snippy about my books, especially when I feel it's unjustified.  This happened to me the other day when I read a review of Murphy's Law, which is now an eleven year old book, which said the plot relied on coincidence. Apart from the fact that this book won four awards, the only coincidence in the story is that the false name my character is using becomes a prime suspect in a murder on Ellis Island. 

We're often told that coincidences are a no-no in writing, and I agree that we can't use coincidence to solve major plot points. However I'm always amazed how often coincidences happen in real life. Amazing coincidences.  Here are a couple from my own experience:
My daughter goes to Europe. She happens to be in Germany, looking at the Brandenburg Gate when she hears a voice behind her that she recognizes. She turns around and there is my good friend's mother. Neither knew the other would be in Europe.
Or how about this. We go to Ashland to the Shakespeare festival. We're waiting in line to get to our seats when we are tapped on the shoulder and our next door neighbors are standing there. What's more they have seats next to ours.
Or this. I'm in e-mail correspondence with a person who runs a book review site. We are getting along well and become chatty. Where do you live? She asks. In California. So do I. Where abouts? Just outside San Francisco. So do I. Where. San Rafael. So do I. We're neighbors.


And at Left Coast Crime two weeks ago I had to interview Guest of Honor Jacqueline Winspear. I started by quoting all we had in common: grew up in Kent, worked in London, moved to California, married someone called John, write about feisty young women in 1930s England, live five miles apart. Talk about about coincidence!

So my real life seems to abound with coincidences, but I'm not allowed to put them into books. Is that fair?

How about you? Can you remember any amazing coincidences in your life? Do you feel you are allowed to bring coincidence into your stories? And readers, does it annoy you when we do?


HALLIE : Rhys, you do live a charmed life! And yes, I allow myself ONE coincidence in a book, and it's got to be in the first act.

I do remember once we were camping in Shenandoah National Park and one of my husband's college students came walking out of the woods. Very unexpected. We ran into Another one of his students on the beach in Tangiers. Those Curry College students -- they do get around.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We go to the grocery store. There is ..oh, gosh, I can't remember, but someone Jonathan went to law school with. Random, random. They just happened to be there. Couple days later, we're there again, and the person is there AGAIN. I literally said to Jonathan: If I put this in a book, no one would buy it.

At a convention in Florida a few weeks ago, Sleuthfest, a person came up to me and said: are you from Indianapolis? I said--yes, that's where I grew up. Long back and forth ensues, which I will spare you but it was hilarious and adorable. The upshot: she is the cousin of my first husband's first wife. Now I ask you--in a book--would you believe that?

LUCY BURDETTE: No I would not! And Hallie certainly wouldn't...Writing about three different amateur sleuths over the years, I am always struggling with coincidences. Why in the world would one food critic find two bodies in succession? I would freak out if I found even one...but figuring out another way to introduce the main conflict and draw the character into the mystery is not that easy. Sigh...I'm going to be working on this today so if anyone comes up with a good idea, please send it on!

Of course not--you'd say-aw, that could never happen. And yet...

JAN BROGAN- My husband and I went to a wedding in San Franscisco a few years back, and who was playing the piano for the band? My high school flame. From New Jersey. I had been absolutely crazy about him, but he was lukewarm.  The band did this really cool thing where they came around at cocktail hour and you got to sing a cappella  with them.  I wound up having a great time singing with his bandmates.  They started heckling him, the way guys do, refusing to believe I'd ever "waste my time"  going out with him.  It was perfect.  Later he even apologized for the way he had treated me (leading me on, mostly) It was a female fantasy come true!

I kept thinking it was like an opening to a movie it was so bizarrely coincidental. Which I think goes to Hallie's point. You can have a co-ocidence in the first act - in fact, most first acts probably DO have some coincidence  to get the story rolling. You just can't resolve the story with a co-incidence.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: The most bizarre thing I can think of in real life?  A couple of years ago we were invited to a 4th of July party by friends, held in an airplane hanger in a Dallas suburb that has one of the biggest fireworks shows in the country.  We sat out on the runway to watch the show and it was a great party, but afterwards the traffic was so terrible that a group of us stood around in the parking lot, visiting, until we thought it might actually be possible to drive.  A guy asked me if I wanted to share a seat on his beer cooler.  I said, "Sure," and sat down. And in that instant we really looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Oh, my God."

It was my first really serious boyfriend.  I was madly in love with him when I was fifteen and sixteen, and he dumped me for my best friend.  I hadn't seen him in more than thirty years.

It turns out it was not that bizarre.  He was a mutual friend of the friends who invited us to the party, but I didn't know that. (Did I still hold a grudge, you may ask? Not really.  Still like him?  He aged well:-))

In fiction, I'm always trying to write around coincidences.  You can't make them as obvious as the ones that happen in real life, so I think the key is misdirection.  Or at least I hope so, as I have more than Hallie's one in the WIP...

So dear friends who are readers--does it annoy you when you come across a coincidence in our books?

Marathon Day

JAN BROGAN - Tomorrow is a big day in Massachusetts. Patriots Day. That is our celebration of Paul Revere riding through town and alerting everyone that the British were coming and, of course, the first shots of the Revolutionary War. 

 Once, I celebrated the holiday by actually going to the reenactment of the battle on the Lexington Green, which was followed by a fabulous brunch (Thanks Cynthia), but mostly I celebrate the way everyone else around here celebrates: By going to the Boston Marathon.

Yes, tomorrow is Marathon Day in Massachusetts, a holiday I hold dear to my heart because during college  I worked at the Eliot Lounge, formerly "the running bar."  I always made a lot of tips in Marathon Day and once I even often got free sneakers.

Today I'm going to celebrate Marathon Day at the blog by explaining how I used a running book to help me write.

Recently, I did an interview for the Boston Globe with Catharine Utzschneider, a professor of competitive performance at Boston College, running coach, and the author of MOVE!: How Women Can Achieve Athletic Goals at Any Age.  

Anyway, in our interview, she mentioned that a number of her  friends  had used her structured approach to motivation to tackle the marathon of writing a book. So I thought, okay, what the heck? I used to run. It's almost as grueling as writing. 

Turns out there are a number of really good suggestions that applied, including breaking goals into short term and long term goals, re-assessing, picking yourself up after injury, and keeping motived by enlisting the help of a buddy who will push you on days you don't want to be pushed.

I will talk about the two points that most helped me.

First  was keeping a "training" journal. I've  had a journal for  each novel I've written but it was mostly space to work out character traits or plot points. Now  I started a daily calendar journal - to keep track of how much time I was spending actually writing and where I was frittering time away.  It was illuminating. I frittered less than I thought, but certain projects took more time than I realized.

Most importantly though,  I  stumbled upon  a new trick to help fight my Internet/email addiction. (which, by the way, I learned last night at a panel discussion at Mass General Hospital, is considered a serious problem in China, so I have LOTS of company).

As part of keeping track of the where I'm spending my time, I forced myself to write down every time I check my email or the Internet.  And viola! It works the way keeping a journal about  how much food you eat keeps you from eating so much.  

In other words, it's really sort of embarrassing when you see in your own handwriting just how often you click on that MAIL icon in the corner. Shame is a really good incentive NOT TO DO IT.

My buddy Barbara also suggested jokingly that I award myself little gold stickers for every day I work uninterrupted for four hours. We laughed over that.  Little gold stickers - hah! -  like we used to give the kids

On the way home from the gym that day, I stopped at CVS.

It may not be as exalting as running through the finish line, but you might be surprised  how satisfying a little gold sticker can be! 

On Lying

JAN: Because I believe some things never change, I've reposted this 2009 blog.

"And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but The truth in masquerade"

Lord Byron

JAN: Do people really lie three times within 10 minutes of meeting someone new? That's a popular statistic circulating the web. Even as a journalist, always searching for lies, I found this tough to believe.

But then I realized. Hey, It's true. I probably lie a minimum of three times within the first ten minutes of a cocktail party. At least by the way the study defines lying.

Included in the definition are things like falsely agreeing with others and the misrepresentation of feelings. Ever choke back the way you really think?? I do it all the time.

Let me explain. Politically, I'm probably to the left of 80 percent of the country. Personally, of course, I think I'm dead center, with some surprising views on various issues that keep both the conservative and the liberal action groups sending me mail. But I live in Massachusetts, so by local standards, I'm a raging conservative. And because I'm a writer, people take it for granted that I'm liberal. They make statements presuming I agree with them. Do I jump into it?

It would mean a verbal fist fight, and because I believe that no one has ever really swayed anyone's political beliefs by cocktail conversation, I smile and say nothing.

For me, it's politics. For others it's religion, music, or whether they actually enjoy the ballet. I know people who have to lie to stop people from shoving a cocktail into their hands. Sometimes we just keep our mouths shut because it just doesn't seem right to tell your best friend her new hairdo looks like straw or that her new drapes are making you dizzy.

So come on, fess up: What do you LIE about??

HALLIE: Here's what I don't lie about. My age. Or what I paid for the outfit you just complimented me on, bless you.

But yes, if someone starts in on anything political, I don't so much lie as refuse to engage. My politics are my personal business, thank you very much. Besides, it seems like I rarely meet anyone who is genuinely interested in engaging in a discussion on issues--they just want to be clever and dismissive and yell. So I shut down. Is that lying?

JAN: Yes, according to this study's definition: You are lying about your feelings, God forbid.

RO: My first instinct was to protest that I never lie, but reading your definition of lying I guess I do. I went to a reunion recently...and definitely dropped a few omissions/lies there. And Bouchercon is coming up...oooh I'll probably do a bit of fibbing there. (e.g., "It's an honor just to be nominated!") I try not to make a habit of it, though, because I'm really a terrible liar. My mother always used to say that and I think she did it just to spook me into always telling her the truth. She said she could always tell when I was lying and now I think everyone else can too.

So Hallie...where did you get that wonderful black shoulder bag you have...the small one with the metal clasp? Was it fabulously expensive? (This is a test.)

HALLIE: Ooooh,isn't it great? Italy! At a factory outlet...gorgeousness for less than $50.00. Unless you count the cost of the trip. Those Italians really know how to make gorgeous handbags.

HANK: I guess...I do...I always feel SO GUILTY,though. Social excuses, mostly.(Oh, so sorry we can't make it, because...but most often I don't give a reason.) And I actually do lie about the cost of things. Actually, I don't lie, I just don't tell. And in political discussions, I generally just try to prevent the other two guys from fighting.

There's a person I see from time to time, and if you ask her a question, she'll often begin her answer with "I'm not gonna lie to you, but..." I just instantly decide whatever she's saying is not true. (And RO, it IS an honor to be nominated for an Anthony. No lie. Congratulations!)


JAN: Okay everyone, what do YOU LIE about?