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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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Serendipity, coincidence and luck: The role of chance in fiction

18/10/2015

17 Comments

 
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Keep at it! You’ll get there in the end if you try hard enough. How often did I come across such words as I struggled to find a publisher for my novel? And, now I’m published, am I going to regurgitate the mantra to others on the way up? No, I’m not, because – do you know what? – it’s bollocks. While writing a good book, and investing time and money to make it better, and treating each rejection as a trigger to try again, no doubt improve our chances, there’s no magic formula. Success doesn’t happen without an element of luck.

They mean well, those published writers who perpetuate the mythology. After all, the great unpublished are hounding them for scraps of encouraging advice. Looking back on their own rocky road to publication, all they see is hard graft and talent. If that got them through, why wouldn’t others achieve the same result? But history is a story told from the point of view of the victors. The voices of those who worked equally hard without the golden ticket go unheard, save a few brave exceptions. Although his emphasis is marketing, Dan Blank proves himself an ally of the disaffected, picturing success as a function of writing talent, author platform and luck.

It’s human nature to attribute our successes to controllable and/or internal personal factors, to be blind to the part played by luck. It’s the foundation of capitalism, the Great American Dream to believe anyone can make it to the top. In its benign form, it can encourage self-reliance; in its more malign manifestations, it punishes people for the happenstance of being born poor, disabled or black.

We’re a meaning-making species, finding patterns where they don’t exist. Randomness unsettles us. This suspiciousness intensifies when it comes to reading fiction. B follows A does not make for a satisfying plot; we demand that A should be the cause of B, which then creates C, and so forth. We feel cheated by coincidence, partly because it conflicts with our (perhaps mistaken) assumptions about a predictable world and partly because it seems like laziness on the part of the author. So all those problems we’ve been worrying about for the past 300 pages wiped out in a legacy from an unknown relative (although Charlotte Brontë gets away with this in Jane Eyre)? So the protagonist forgot to charge her phone again? Even Mr A, perhaps the only man in Britain not to possess a mobile, won’t stand for that.

But, of course, chance can be an element of successful fiction. Under what circumstances is coincidence permissible?

I think it’s fine at the beginning of the novel when the fictional world is being created. Nevertheless, one agent at a writers’ conference took exception to the setup of my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, in which the narrator “just happens” to meet a man who is going to the very place where her life changed thirty years before. (But it would make for a very boring novel if I listed the many men she might have encountered over the years who weren’t interested in going to Cairo.) Perhaps it’s this experience that’s made me nervous about the opening of what will probably be my second novel, Underneath, where the protagonist announces he’s won the lottery and is about to buy a house. (But people do win the lottery and, relative to many, Steve’s is a modest amount.)

Some fiction makes a feature of Lady Luck, exploring the randomness of life through different versions of the same story, as in Laura Barnett’s debut novel (and a few others to which I’ve linked in that post).

Perhaps I’ll have more to say about this topic when I’ve explored the range of stories posted in response to Charli Mills’s latest challenge to write a 99-word story about serendipity. I haven’t found this easy, flipping between sentimentality and spoof, satisfied with neither. It looks as if I chickened out last time we had this prompt, so can I find inspiration in the stories there? In those I admire, a bad situation turns good in an unexpected but highly credible way. I’m not sure this qualifies, but I’ve spent way too much time on it already:

Ned hadn’t told his mother he called into Kathie’s Kitchen every afternoon. She’d say he’d get better coffee, and cheaper, at home. But Ned lived for Kathie’s smile when she set down his mug. Today, on his three hundredth visit, he resolved to ask her out.
Red-faced, he mumbled his invitation to the countertop. Her response stunned him. How could she be married? Hadn’t he checked her fingers for a ring?
“But my sister might be interested.”
Another woman emerged from the back of the shop. Identical twins, but only Kathie had that smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”


And the significance of three hundred? Yup, this is my 300th post.

Any feedback welcome, but especially your thoughts on when serendipity works in fiction.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
17 Comments
Jeanne Lombardo link
18/10/2015 04:09:16 pm

Very intelligent and thoughtful post Anne. And while your take on snagging a publisher was rather sobering, your honesty was strikingly refreshing--I haven't "heard" the word "bollocks since leaving England 18 years ago :-) . I am afraid I must agree there is no magic formula when it comes to publishing. I think of John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces which was only published 11 years after the author gave up and committed suicide. I will say, however, that positive psychology places higher bets on optimism than pessimism when approaching a nebulous outcome. There's the old idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, and being optimistically realistic at least keeps some doors open that a pessimist endeavoring to be realistic closes. The unpublished must soldier on I guess, trying out all the old tired tricks, till luck comes along.
So much more to respond to here, and I really do have to get down to ordering your book. Now it is the beginning I want to check out. I don't find the opening as you describe it here pushing the limits of credibility too far. I once sat on a plane next to a couple whose son, they said, lived in LA. I live in LA, I said. Yes he lives right near the Ambassador Hotel. I live near the Ambassador. On Alexandria Ave, they said. I live on Alexandria Avenue. No, really. He lived in the Cassandra Apartments. That's where I live! We looked at each other mouths agape. Apartment 301, they said. That was my apartment at the time. So...coincidence yes. By its nature it pushes against credibility. Seems a skillful author ought to make it work in fiction.
Loved this post. So thought-provoking! Thinking of movies and books where luck has made me roll my eyes in disgust now, and where it has been used effectively.

Reply
Annecdotist
18/10/2015 06:55:13 pm

Thanks, Jeanne, these detailed and supportive comments. Love that story of the plane ride – these things certainly happen but you’d never get away with putting that in a novel!
I’m not so up-to-date on positive psychology but of course since the founder was the guy who did the research on learned helplessness (Seligmann) what you say makes sense. But I always thought the research was interesting that showed that depressed (and presumably pessimistic) people were more realistic than those who weren’t depressed – sometimes it’s our illusions that keep us going. I guess with writing, it’s down to how much we want to follow that dream, even if the outcome is a lottery. Dreadful to want it so much that the life isn’t worth living without it.
I’m not sure if you’ve picked up that my novel is about a psychology lecturer – her speciality is adolescent decision-making. I’m guesting on another blog on that subject quite soon.

Reply
sarah link
18/10/2015 04:28:43 pm

I completely agree with this: "Success doesn’t happen without an element of luck."

Glad you didn't chicken out on the flash this time around. :-) Great twist! Love it.

Reply
Annecdotist
18/10/2015 06:56:20 pm

Thanks, Sarah, glad you thought it worked – it took me ages to find a seed of inspiration for this.

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Irene Waters link
18/10/2015 10:01:14 pm

Great post Anne. You have verbalised my thoughts and the reality of getting to a publisher. For an unknown writer to get near a publisher there certainly has to be an element of luck.
Interesting what you say about luck in fiction. I haven't really thought about it although swirling around in the unreachable portions of my brain I know I have read some books that involved serendipitous moments. Just can't quite grasp their titles.
Loved your flash. I felt for him that he hadn't noticed the wedding ring and then elated that she was the twin. Beautifully written.

Reply
Annecdotist
21/10/2015 09:44:21 am

Thanks, Irene. I really wanted to use more examples of novels that hinge on serendipitous events in this post, and I know I've read a fair few, but struggled to bring them to mind. Don't know if that meant that the novels themselves were unmemorable or that I've forgiven them for relying on such plot devices.

Reply
Kate
20/10/2015 02:33:35 pm

Great post as usual. Yep, finding a publisher is a question of some talent, a lot of commitment/work and HUGE dollops of luck. Of course, luck & serendipity comes into fiction as it does in life, though I think there maybe more coincidences in reality than a writer might get away with in fiction?

Reply
Annecdotist
21/10/2015 09:46:31 am

Definitely! "It reads like real life" isn't always a compliment when it comes to fiction, just as "but that really happened" is no excuse for a story that doesn't work. Strange though!

Reply
Geoff link
21/10/2015 12:57:58 am

First congrats on the milestone. Wasn't there a film about 300 somethings? The flash has a nice edge to it. And while luck and coincidence play their part I'm with Gary Player a South African golfer who was asked if he felt lucky to have won a major championship. He replied 'you know the more I practice, the luckier I get'. You've worked hard for your luck.

Reply
Annecdotist
21/10/2015 09:50:32 am

Thanks, Geoff, and I agree there are circumstances in which you can make your own luck through hard work, but in areas where the judgement of who are the winners is more subjective (I'm assuming in golf champion is the one who hit the balls into the holes with the least number of hits, of which there is no real equivalent in writing), luck is more likely to come into it.

Reply
Charli Mills
21/10/2015 06:55:12 am

Perhaps then getting published is a gamble, but more enjoyable if you like the process of writing and all that goes with it. I've been meeting with a publisher the past few week for collaboration on bringing writers to our region and it's interesting to see the other side -- her struggle to find the right fit for what she publishes. I think authors can do better to make their own luck by doing their homework to find good fits for what they write. In some ways, authors use the approach that Luccia wrote about in her flash, hoping out of 500 submission one will love it and offer the break. Better to research 500 publishers/agents and submit to one. Yeah, ask how that's going next year...;-) So glad you gave it a go this time! I like the play on mistaken twins. For the first time ever I mixed up my mother-in-law and her twin at a wedding. I know what you mean when you write, "but only Kathie had that smile." That's so true about identical twins, they each have something unique.

Reply
Annecdotist
21/10/2015 10:04:50 am

Important point, Charli, that writing is not only (or even primarily) about getting published but about doing the thing that we love. And it’s very sad when the frustration at not being published spoils the pleasure of writing, which is when we have to take stock and really think about what we’re doing.
I totally agree that writers need to understand what it’s like from the other side, both publishers and agents, so that it can be a genuine partnership rather than some horror reminiscent of school days and not being picked for the team – or worse.
But I actually think there’s more than a grain of truth in Lucy’s flash and I wouldn’t recommend writers put all their eggs in one basket trying to find the perfect fit. Yes, it’s important to do the research so you don’t waste time submitting to people who don’t take your genre but otherwise I’d say churn them out. My earliest submissions to agents were to those I had researched most carefully and felt more confident they’d be interested in my stuff. A couple did ask for the full but most said no. I think most publishers/agents can’t really define what they like until they see it. If you send something too similar to what they’ve already got they might not want it. Or I might think my writing is like [insert name here]’s but the person doing the selecting doesn’t agree. I think there’s a huge element of chance in this business because, however much we research it, we don’t know what is going through the other person’s mind.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
21/10/2015 11:15:00 am

I enjoyed reading this post, Anne, with its recognition of the contribution of luck to success. The posts you linked to by Laurie and Dan Blank are interesting. You all seem to be saying pretty much the same thing as Malcolm Gladwell in "The Outliers", that the back story is significant and that there's more to the 'rags to riches' stories than is often told or obvious at the surface.
I liked the coincidence of Cairo as a destination in "Sugar and Snails". That was the story. Without that how would there be the hook for the rest of the story. Although Diana's story started long before, this was the impetus for her being able to confront it and comes to terms with it. I certainly would not have considered it impossible or contrived. Don't these things happen all the time "in real life"?
I'm looking forward to reading "Underneath". Wouldn't we all love that pot of gold to get a new chapter (novel) of our life underway?
Your flash is great! Thank goodness for twins! Hadn't he ever noticed before? I hope they don't play tricks on him. But I think they'd be much too nice for that.
Congratulations on your 300th post. I'm not sure how many I've read, but each I have read I have enjoyed. :)
Great comments too - a smashing read overall!

Reply
Annecdotist
22/10/2015 04:25:23 pm

Thanks, Norah, and I've certainly appreciated your support over a fair number of my 300 posts. But I think the big breakthrough was joining Twitter – before that I don't think I had many (any?) readers at all.
I was interested too that we seemed to be addressing similar issues in our serendipity posts. As to the flash, I thought of my character is being rather young and/or socially inept (hence still living with and highly dependent on his mother) so wouldn't have looked very hard – but I also thought the married twin might not have been around very much. I'll be interested to see if this character ever returns!

Reply
Terry Tyler
6/11/2015 09:51:39 am

Ah, I so agree with what you said about much of any success being luck! Another (related) topic that annoys me much, is people saying that if you try and try and work hard at it, you'll eventually find readers. Um... not you won't, if you haven't got any talent for the written word and your books just aren't much good. Used to be that artists, photographers, musicians and writers were thought to be a rare breed who were talented in their particular field; now, there is so much 'anyone can do it' attitude, as if getting the formula and shouting loudly is all that's necessary; re the 'formula' thing, I agree with your comments on randomness, too!

Reply
Annecdotist
6/11/2015 09:52:53 am

Note: this isn't me putting words into Terry's mouth, but the only way I could post her comment.

Reply
Annecdotist
6/11/2015 09:55:39 am

Good point, Terry, that's another layer of the publishing experience where chance plays a big part. Even when you've got a good book, without a big publicity campaign you're dependent on the serendipity of the right person picking it up and loving it and telling everyone else about it. There's only so much you can do on your own, and a recommendation is far more powerful than an author advert.

Reply



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