Susanna Calkins, Author
  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • 17th c. England
  • Writing Resources
  • Nonfiction
  • New Page

Should a coincidence be plausible?

1/28/2012

11 Comments

 
Picture
Can Jung explain coincidence?
_I was reading a mystery today, enjoying the story, when I was brought to a screeching halt. The author had introduced a rather significant coincidence into the story--two seemingly unrelated events--which of course became pivotal to the plot.

I wasn't bothered by the coincidence, but rather by how easily the heroine assumed that these events--a distant relative's death from natural causes and the disappearance of a local person--just HAD to be connected. It felt a bit clumsy, a bit contrived.  
I know that history is full of crazy coincidences, but  as a reader, I wasn't sure that it worked.

I felt a little manipulated by the author.

HOWEVER, my husband, a cognitive psychologist, had a different take.  He said that the character's insistence that the events had to be linked exemplifies two things. First, that people naturally look for patterns, even when no patterns exist. Second, people feel the need to account for extraordinary events with extraordinary explanations, even when a common explanation would suffice (also called the "Spectacular Explanation Fallacy.")


So, for example, have you ever  been humming a tune, and when you next turn on the radio, that same tune is playing?  Or have  you ever dreamed about a friend, and the next day she calls you? Strange, right?

But how do you explain it?   A divine being at work?  ESP? Fate? Alignment of the planets?  Jung's collective unconscious? Producers manipulating your life? (okay, think Truman Show for the last one).

So I'm curious about two things:
Have you ever been thrown off by a coincidence that seemed too jarring to be credible, as either a reader or as a viewer?   Have you ever experienced a coincidence that's stranger than fiction?  So, ultimately, should a coincidence be plausible?

11 Comments
Matt
1/28/2012 11:18:45 pm

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." Alright, maybe this isn't exactly the same, but it's still an awesome line. :-)

Your example sounds like a classic illusory correlation--seeing a connection that doesn't exist. "Hey, weird event A happened and now a short time later weird event B happened. They're both weird so they must be related." This kind of thinking happens all the time.

I can't think of any jarring examples--other than every episode of Seinfeld where multiple unrelated story lines always converge. I'm usually willing to make the leap.

Reply
Matt
1/28/2012 11:27:27 pm

Of course, her apparent 'illusory correlation' ultimately ended up being a real correlation, right? Ain't chance grand?!?

Reply
Susie link
1/31/2012 07:51:50 am

Right--that's why it bugged me. I wish the author had linked the events somehow, so that the reader could go back and say, 'aha!" I felt in this case I was being hit over the head with it. ("Look look you'll see this isn't really a coincidence...pay attention!) I would have appreciated a more subtle approach.

Susie link
1/31/2012 07:28:03 am

Matt, Interesting! I wasn't a big Seinfeld fan, although I may try it again. I know that the unrelated story lines converged, but did the characters see the connections, or just the viewers?

Reply
bekerys
1/29/2012 04:11:15 am

I think someone once referred to that sort of leap of logic as intuition, and as your brain making hundreds of little connections so fast that you aren't aware of it, just the conclusion that the two events are related in some way. I think this was Spock to Kirk, or McCoy to Kirk, in one of the movies, and if they say it, it must be true.

Reply
Susie link
1/31/2012 08:47:05 am

Bekerys, I can't picture Spock taking a leap of logic! McCoy to Kirk, I'm sure! But hey, live long and prosper!

Reply
Jeff Porten link
1/31/2012 07:13:48 am

From a narrative perspective, the main question is whether the reader accepts it as part of the story. You were jarred out of the fictional space, so I'd argue that in that case, the author didn't do a good enough job of presenting it as valid.

Put another way, I was watching a movie with some friends a few years ago, and about halfway through I said, "If he gets arrested for her murder, I'm going to play videogames." Got up around 10 minutes later.

I think the points raised about how we assign narrative and protagonists to our own lives -- presumably "actually" a series of disconnected events -- are interesting, and they're a fertile field for fiction to play in. But if the author doesn't set up the discussion for that sort of thing, then it's valid for the reader to take a disconcerting experience as evidence of bad plotting.

Reply
Susie link
1/31/2012 08:49:48 am

Jeff, I didn't want to give to many specifics about the book, but in this case, the protagonist finds something a short while later that legitimately connects the aunt and the missing person. I'd have preferred her to stumble upon the evidence first, and then make a connection from these seemingly disconnected events. But I'm starting to slowly realize that I can't control the universe...

Reply
bekerys
2/4/2012 04:58:40 am

Well, you can't control the universe we all share, but your own universe in your upcoming novels is totally your playground! And I can't wait to visit!

caroll
2/27/2012 10:30:41 pm

Hi all, I feel the need to tell someone about some things that have happend in my life over the past few years. My husband and I own a petrol station in country victoria . All parties signed the Contract of Sale on 7/2/2005. I still have my copy. The thing is... that the property was destroyed by fire on what is now known as 'black saturday', or 7/2/2009. 'spooky eh' , My most recent cause to wonder happened today. I was previously married and divorced, I have had no contact with my first husband for 30 or so years. I had no idea where he was at all. At work at the petrol station today a man drove in and filled his car up with fuel and came into the shop to pay, he looked at me and said Caroll I said yes and he said his name and I still didnt know him. He then said my first husbands name and then I remembered the man was my first husbands best friend who I also had not seen for 30 years. He told me that he was living in Queensland and had driven down a couple of days previously to attend the funeral of my first husband. He decided to visit a couple whom he once lived next door to and who now live in my town. He realised he needed fuel and so stopped at our petrol station before he continued on his way. I am numb.. and I am in shock at todays events. I feel that my ex husband arranged the visit to let me know and to say goodbye.. What do you think. ?

Reply
Susie link
2/28/2012 02:20:15 pm

Caroll, those are incredible coincidences. And I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your first husband. Please take care.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    1660s
    16th Century
    17th Century
    18th Century
    1910s
    1920s
    19th C.
    20th Century
    21st Century
    A Death Along The River Fleet
    Advertisements
    Alcohol
    Alpha Reader
    Amazon Pre Order
    Amazon Pre-order
    A Murder At Rosamund's Gate
    Anagrams
    Anne Perry
    Anthology
    Art
    Authorship
    Award
    Awards
    Blogger's Block
    Blogging
    Blog Hop
    Blog Tour
    Bloody Good Read
    Bombings
    Book Events
    Book Giveaway
    Booksellers
    Book Trade
    Bouchercon
    Calendars
    Card Playing
    Caricature
    Cats
    Chambermaid
    Characters
    Charles I
    Charles Ii
    Charles Todd
    Chicago
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Cia
    Cockney Slang
    Cocktails
    Coffee
    Coincidence
    Contemporary
    Cover Design
    Covers
    Creativity
    Crime
    Criminals
    Critical Thinking
    Cromwell
    Crossroads
    Csikszentmihalyi
    Cuckold
    Curiosities
    Defoe
    Detectives
    Detectives Oath
    Disease
    Dogs
    Early Modern
    Easter
    Editing
    Edwardian England
    Etymology
    Examples
    Excerpt Marg
    Excerpts
    Fairs
    Fate Of A Flapper
    Feedback
    Female Protagonists
    Female Sleuths
    Fire Of London
    Flow
    Food
    Forensics
    Forms Of Address
    French History
    From The Charred Remains
    Ftcr
    Future
    Games
    Gangs
    Giveaways
    Golden Hind
    Great Fire
    Great War
    Grit
    Guest Blogs
    Guest Interviews
    Guest Post
    Guest Posts
    Guilds
    Hanging
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Mysteries
    History
    Imagination
    Inspiration
    Interviews
    Ireland
    ITW Authors
    Jests
    Jewelry
    Language
    Last Dying Speeches
    Leisure
    Libraries
    London Bridge
    Lucy Campion
    Macavity
    Magistrate
    Malice Domestic
    Maps
    MARG
    Markets
    Masque Of A Murderer
    Matg
    Medicine
    Medieval
    Medieval Period
    Memory
    Merriments
    Merry-making
    Methodists
    Midwives
    Mindset
    Miscellany
    Monsters
    Moonstone
    Motivation
    Murder
    Murder At Rosamund's Gate
    Murder Ballad
    Murder Knocks Twice
    Mysteries
    Mystery
    Mystery Tv Shows
    Newgate
    Newspapers
    New Woman
    Nietzsche
    Nursery Rhymes
    Opera
    Orwell
    Persistence
    Pets
    Philadelphia
    Piracy
    Pirates
    Plagiarism
    Plague
    Poison
    Popular Film
    Popular Press
    Potions
    Printers Row Lit Fest
    Printing
    Private Investigators
    Proactive Interference
    Procrastination
    Prohibition
    Promoting Books
    Pseudonyms
    Psychology
    Publication
    Public Executions
    Publishing
    Punishments
    Puritans
    Puzzles
    Quakers
    Radio Shows
    Reader Questions
    Reading
    Receipts
    Reformation
    Rejection
    Religion
    Research
    Restoration
    Riddles
    River Fleet
    Samuel Pepys
    Scene Development
    Science Fiction
    Scold's Bridle
    Secret London
    Setting
    Seven Things
    Shakespeare
    Short Story
    Sign Of The Gallows
    Sleuths In Time
    Smithfield
    Speakeasy Mysteries
    Speech
    Spying
    Strange Things
    Teaching
    Thank You
    The 1640s
    The 1650s
    The 1660s
    Theater
    Thief-taker
    Timeline
    Titles
    Travel
    True Crime
    Tyburn Tree
    Valentine
    Wilkie Collins
    Winchester Palace
    Witches
    Women
    World-building
    Writier's Life
    Writing
    Writing Prompts
    Young Adult

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • 17th c. England
  • Writing Resources
  • Nonfiction
  • New Page