  Mystery
This week: Stranger Than Fiction Edited by: Jeff  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
-- Carl Sagan |
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STRANGER THAN FICTION
The phrase, "the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction," to me, recalls all the amazing stories I've heard of remarkable things happening to people in the real world. Mothers who have an adrenaline rush that allows them to lift a car off their pinned child. Or the amazing coincidence (or divine intervention, if you prefer) that happens when high school sweethearts, living a half a world away from where they grew up, manage to find each other on the crowded subway in some foreign country and end up living happily ever after. If you look hard enough at the world and the people in it, there are some truly remarkable things that happen... and absolutely no way they would fly in fiction.
Why is that? In a medium where you are making up everything else - characters, locations, conversations, murder mystery plot points, etc. - why can't you make up these amazing twists of fate and coincidences that happen to everyday people in their everyday lives? After all, if a slot machine in Vegas can hit the jackpot twice in a row, why can't your character be the one who pulls the lever on that one-armed bandit? Why is it that fictional characters and their authors are criticized and called unrealistic when they portray the very events that happen to people every day in real life?
My theory is that it doesn't work specifically because the author has made up everything else. In the real world, these coincidences are one moment in a sea of other non-fabricated moments. But in fiction, these coincidences are one moment in a sea of other invented moments. Since you're making up the rest of the world, it seems contrived or convenient if your character suddenly stumbles across a miraculous occurrence because the author controls every other aspect of that world. If a mother suddenly finds the adrenaline-fueled strength to lift a car off her infant child in a story, readers often see it as the writer's choice which can - as a result - give the impression that it's an easy solution to a problem.
The best way I know to counteract this problem is to avoid doing anything that benefits the protagonist during his or her time of need. When the best possible thing happens to the protagonist at the best possible time, that feels fake. What helps add a sense of authenticity to fiction is when the best possible thing that can happen comes at the worst possible time... or when the worst possible thing that can happen comes at the point when the protagonist needs something good in his or her life. If something beneficial happens to the protagonist right when he or she needs it, there's a more-than-likely probability that the reader will see it as an unearned and therefore unsatisfying resolution to a problem. Real life has the luxury of being mostly real so that the few instances of happy coincidence are seen as rare occurrences. But a fictional creation like a story is mostly fabricated so that yet another happy coincidence is seen as a common occurrence and cheap compared to a resolution that the character has to work for a little harder.
When writing your stories, remember that you need to properly set up every one of your payoffs. You need to make your character earn each of their accomplishments, even if it requires more setup, explanation, and/or work than a similar situation happening in real life. Fiction plays by a different set of rules than real life because with fiction, everything is fabricated. When amazing things happen in real life, people accept them because they don't happen every day. And because of that, the truth can indeed sometimes be stranger than fiction.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  says, "I hear the Winchester House is haunted- Get out. Get Out! GET OUT! Don't worry, that's just the gardener- I stepped on his roses.  "
~SilverMoonCranberry~  says, "Wow! I'm impressed. I liked how you arranged this item and showed the history behind Winchester Mystery House. I passed by this place on the way to San Francisco, during my move up here from So. California. I've not visited it, but would really like to. It sounds like the poor woman was frantic, and what a tragedy to lose her child, but also her husband. I also wanted to mention that I like how you added excerpts of each person's stories in this newsletter. Thanks for this great newsletter. I don't think I have any items in my port which wouid be consider mystery so I won't be including an item number."
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Ẃeβ࿚ẂỉԎḈĥ  says, "I remember touring that place when my kids were young. I think by the time you've finished the tour, you've walked a mile of house!  The tiny-rise, stairs got me. Sarah also had a very short shower hook-up, due to her petite stature. The kids got a real kick out of the place, but feared a spirit would jump out at any moment.  Thanks for taking me down mysterylane, Jeff! WW |
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Mystery: July 04, 2012 Issue [#5137]
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