by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell
“You can observe a lot just by watching.” — Yogi Berra
Serendipity is a word derived from a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip (an ancient name for Sri Lanka). The story tells of an eminent trio making happy discoveries in their travels, through accident and observation. The English writer Horace Walpole coined the term serendipity to describe this combination of chance and mental discernment.
Recently I mentioned the first modern detective story, credited to Edgar Allen Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Poe was inspired by a rendition of the Serendip story by the French writer Voltaire. Poe called his story “a tale of ratiocination…wherein the extent of information obtained lies not so much in the validity of the inference as in the quality of the observation.”
In short, stuff happens, but if you keep your head about you, observe, and are ready to think anew, you can come up with gold. That applies to writing our stories, too.
As Lawrence Block, the dean of American crime fiction, put it, “You look for something, find something else, and realize that what you’ve found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for.”
Doesn’t that describe some of the best moments in your writing? I once had a wife character who was supposed to move away for a time, to get out of danger. That’s what I’d outlined. But in the heat of a dialogue scene with her husband, she flat out refused to go. From Can’t Stop Me:
“This doesn’t change anything. I want you and Max out for a while. I’ll keep in touch and—”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, Sam. I’m not leaving. This is my home.”
“And I’m your husband.”
“And what does that make me, your property?”
“You’re talking crazy now.”
“I’m not going, Sam.”
Turns out she was right and I was wrong, and the story was better for it. It took some adjustments to the outline, in the form of new scenes, but on I went.
A friend of mine, a #1 NYT bestselling writer, once remarked to me, “I didn’t plan on killing this character. I started writing the scene and found him dead.”
Can we ramp up serendipity as we write? I think so. Here are a few suggestions.
- Don’t just be about imposing your plans on the story to the detriment of happy surprises. Be ready to shift and move. This applies to all types of writers. A planner might resist changing the plans, while a pantser might resist going down a rabbit trail. What do you do in a situation like this? Think. Do some ratiocination. And then…
- Write first, analyze later. It is in the heat of production that diamonds are formed—a striking image, a line of dialogue, a new character. But you have to be prepared to go with the flow, to play it out and see where things lead. After you write, step back and assess. Where is this new direction taking me? Shall I keep on going?
- Write what you fear. Go where there are risks in the story. The crew of the Starship Enterprise discovered new worlds by going “where no man has gone before.” It’s often here that a deep, rich vein of story is found.
- Research. When you delve deeply into the areas you’re writing about—by reading, talking to experts, or doing something in the field—you inevitably come up with gems that will enliven your story or even change it into something other than what you had planned. And that’s not a bad thing. I once wrote a scene about a SWAT team, doing as much research and supposing as I could. Then a chance conversation with an LAPD police captain at a neighborhood meet-and-greet led to my having to revise the whole darn thing…but in ways advantageous to the novel as a whole.
- When in doubt, add a character. (Remember Raymond Chandler’s advice to bring in a guy with a gun?) Whenever I’ve come to a “thin middle” the first thing I do is add a character. A minor or secondary character who shows up, with an agenda and a backstory, is the fastest way to fight second-act drag.
The way of serendipity is open to every writer, be ye outliner or pantser, or anything in between. It’s just a matter of showing up and being aware. And the nice thing is that the more you write, the more you’ll recognize serendipitous moments when they happen. Then pounce!
Tell us about a serendipitous moment you have experienced in your writing.