Hello everyone
Last month, I talked about how fiction doesn’t need to tell the truth and doesn’t need to be accurate. But, to stay engaged, the reader needs to believe a novel is truthful and accurate.
Facts don’t matter—what the reader believes does
This email prompted a question from a reader—thanks Edward!—about coincidence. In short, and I paraphrase, Edward asks: when do we, as readers, believe coincidences?
What is a Coincidence?
On one level, a coincidence is a simple matter to describe:
when two or more similar or related events occur at the same time by chance and without any planning
So, for example:
Tom quit his job on the day the bank was robbed
The difficulty with coincidences is that they jar.
When we notice a coincidence in real life, we are slightly disconcerted by the occurrence.
When coincidences occur in fiction, often—but not always—we find the coincidence implausible. And it’s not just an odd feeling—often an awkward coincidence, badly dropped into a piece of fiction, will undermine the whole piece of fiction.
Let’s look at some coincidences in fiction. And before I go any further, I should warn that there are some spoilers here (although these two films are from 1942 and 1994, so if you haven’t already seen them, then I’m not sure I should be too concerned about spoiling).
Casablanca
Perhaps the ultimate expression of coincidence comes in Casablanca when Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart) utters the classic line:
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine
Approximately one-third of the way through the movie, Ilsa—Rick’s former lover—has walked into Rick’s Bar in Casablanca. Her appearance is a coincidence (as Rick expresses in his famous line).
So Why Does the Casablanca Coincidence Work?
While Ilsa and Rick’s reunion is definitely a huge coincidence, somehow it doesn’t catch us—indeed, it seems perfectly plausible. And I think there are three main reasons why—in the context of the story—this coincidence doesn’t trouble us.
The first reason for the coincidence not jarring is that the story is set at a time of turmoil when many people are being displaced. The displaced are being forced through several choke points, one of which is Casablanca. In other words, it feels quite reasonable for two displaced individuals to be in the same city (even if being in the same bar is slightly more of a stretch).
Secondly, this coincidence occurs toward the start of the story. The coincidence of two former lovers meeting is the incident which propels the story. In other words, we’re not seeing a problem being resolved by an improbable coincidence. Instead, the coincidence is what leads to the central question of the story (what would you do for a former lover?)
Thirdly, as viewers, we need to believe the coincidence. Without the coincidence, there is no story—there’s just a man running a bar and a husband and wife trying to get to Portugal.
I could also add a fourth reason why the coincidence works in the context of the fiction: Rick acknowledges the coincidence (with his famous line) and this goes a long way to avoiding (or, at least, softening) any jarring.
Shallow Grave
Where Casablanca has its coincidence early in the story, in the movie Shallow Grave, (directed by Danny Boyle), there’s a fairly crass coincidence which occurs about three-quarters of the way through the movie.
The story is about a group of roommates. For various reasons, three people end up dead in the apartment and the roommates find it expedient to bury the three dead bodies in the shallow grave of the movie’s title.
One of the room mates, Alex (played by Euan McGregor), is a journalist. In a somewhat hard to believe coincidence, Alex is assigned to cover the story of the three dead bodies…the three dead bodies that he helped to bury.
While the coincidence is fairly crass, it doesn’t distract from the story for two main reasons:
First, in the context of the story, it is plausible that the three dead bodies would be found. And further, it is plausible that Alex’s newspaper would be covering the story—it was a big local story, so all the papers were covering the story. Therefore, it is fully believable that Alex would have some involvement in the story, even if him being sent to the shallow grave is rather tenuous.
The second reason why the coincidence doesn’t distract is that the other roommates find out about the three dead bodies independently (they see the news on TV). There is therefore no new information that flows from the coincidence and the coincidence doesn’t change the arc of the story.
The coincidence could be avoided altogether—the story thread with Alex being assigned to the story could be cut. However, removing this small element of the story would remove some of the drama of the story.
Are All Coincidences Acceptable?
I’ve chosen two examples where coincidences work in the context of a story (in my opinion).
However, many coincidences do not work. One of the most obviously implausible types of coincidence occurs if a plot point is resolved because of a coincidence, and not because of effort made by a character. These “magical leaps” by which a problem is solved detract from the story.
Generally, coincidences at the start of a story (such as the one in Casablanca) where the coincidence drives the story, will work better than coincidences occurring later. However, if the coincidence (at any time in the story) feels ridiculous or contrived, then the reader will not buy the coincidence.
Until October
And that’s me for this month. I’ll be back in October.
Until then.
All the best
Simon