Serendipity in your writing: Common?

[Venusian Broon]

I'm making steady (but a bit slow) progress through my WiP. However I'm finding that a lot of my spur of the moment ideas, ones that didn't appear to be significant at the time, seem to really be fitting in extremely well.*

I am an inveterate planner of my writing, thus this WiP has a development with ~80 scenes/chapters descriptions. In broad brush strokes the plot is all there. But quite a lot of the descriptions are not particuarly detailed. So to give a concrete example, for my current chapter, the only directions I had put down were: Protagonist A is bullied by her peers and has dreary duties in an insignificant government department.

This chapter was to introduce this protagonist and her situation and when I wrote out the development I left it for my current self to figure out what should happen. I knew though it wasn't relevant for the main plot, and was looking for quite a short chapter. 2,500 words later I have a bed, shower and bullying scene** and the protagonist at the 'Bureau of Adminstration and Records'.

It struck me though with some surprise after I had described a little of the operations of this bureau, that this is precisely the sort of department she needs to be in for a plot development nine and eighteen chapters later. I had really not thought it through or planned it at all.

So my question then for everyone else is: do you find serendipity like this common in your writing? Has one of your characters nonchantly picked up a dagger and that gets them out of serious trouble way down the line etc...? Is it the subconscious hard at work or a bias to seeing patterns in blind coincidence?

I know we've had a number of discussions about how each of us approach plotting and storytelling, so it would be interesting to know if those that take more of a 'just write and see where it takes me' approach also make these (rather wonderful!) discoveries regularly.

My guess is that I've probably been thinking about the WiP too much and have momentarily picked up on a bit of coincidence/luck. I expect in the nth rewrite it will no longer look that good . It's definitely too long as it stands!

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* Note, I'm not patting myself on my back saying how great my writing is - I know there is soooo much work to put into this WiP for it to be even reasonable for a generous and forgiving beta reader...

** Steady...it's not what you think - wash your mind out if you had any dirty thoughts

 

[Esfires]

You're not the only one, this happens to me quite frequently. Though in my case, it seems to be with details more related to character and theme than narrative and plot mechanics. I'll find that a scene I added in the beginning of the book is a perfect metaphor or foreshadowing for a later theme, even though I hadn't even conceived of that theme at the time I wrote the scene.

 

[Fedos]

While I have yet to start writing my novel (I'm yet building the histories and mythologies) I'm noticing this trend develop within my short story writing. I'm working on something now that sits over 10,000 words and in the beginning of the piece there were numerous allusions that have worked their ways into later developments.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Is it the subconscious hard at work or a bias to seeing patterns in blind coincidence?

It's happened to me too often over the years to put it down to coincidence. I always think that it's my subconscious mind running far ahead of my conscious intentions.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm one of the non-planners (I go about 5 chapters and then have to stop and see what's happened) for this very reason - often something earlier in the plot will take me forward. Whether it's subconscious, or just knowing the story so well that there's something to grasp onto, I'm not sure. It might also be about having enough depth to begin with so that that handy spanner is there, somewhere.

 

[Mouse]

I'm also a non-planner and I get this 'serendipity' all the time. I'd be surprised if anybody didn't get this.

It's as you, VB, and Teresa say, it's your subconscious. S'what I reckon anyway.

 

[Glen]

I get it more when I plan. I think it's to do with this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incubation_(psychology)

 

[alchemist]

I get it too, but I wonder if we have selective memories. What about the times you inadvertently paint yourself into a corner? Towards the end of your story, you suddenly need somebody who's really tall but, dammit, you killed the tall character seven chapters previously.

 

[allmywires]

It happens to me, but like alchemist says, it happens both ways too. I'm going back and editing now and so many things in the first few chapters that I thought would be super-duper important later on just aren't anymore, and I'm having to remove them. Yet likewise, small things I wrote in now have huge importance. In fact, one simple title I gave a character is now a huge plot point.

Honestly, I think it's just our adaptability. We need to fill a hole in our story, and hey! There's a nice round-shaped loose end for our round shaped hole.

 

[TomS]

It's actually the exact opposite that happens the most with me. (I think it's the opposite, I don't feel like thinking through the logic of it at the moment.) I start a chapter by writing a short bullet list of Things That Will Happen in this Chapter. Then, as I start writing I usually realize at some point that what I have happen doesn't make sense with what I wrote in earlier chapters, so I have to go back and make a quick fix. So far, it's been quick fixes. Re-arranging a paragraph or two.

What I really enjoy, though, is when I'm writing a descriptive scene through the eyes of a character and I, myself, have no idea what they're looking at until I write it. I can really put myself into it when that happens. A simple generic example:

Joe peered through the mist. Was that a building he saw down here in the valley? Readjusting the straps on his backpack, he continued on to investigate.

The sentence about the building is 100% me and has absolutely nothing at all to do with Joe. It's all me at the moment of creation. I mention this because, even though I suspect it's common, it's my favorite part of the writing process.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Alchemist - yes that's along the lines of what I was thinking. Am I just sweeping all the 'bad' results away out of sight? So far haven't painted myself into a corner, but still early days.

Mouse & Springs - I would have guessed that it's common for everyone, which makes me think it's some form of creative apophenia - but as Glen posts perhaps there's ways to make it more prominent. (Absolutely no idea how to test the planned vs non-planned approach though...)

However even if it is just an artefact, I find it a very positive and beneficial effect for the entire writing process (as well as a bit spooky and slightly supernatural). Especially after grinding through a hard chapter last week and feeling somewhat unsatisfied, this has been a ray of sunshine for me that is saying 'look at how it's all fitting together'! I could do with a lot more of them I'd wonder if there are ways to maximise this effect.

Teresa, as you have a most impressive canon, I wonder if over time your serendipity quotient has gone up, as perhaps it just boils down to a function of confidence in your writing and trusting of your gut instincts?

As to whether it's the subconscious or some effect of memory I don't really know. The subconscious, in the old Freudian manner, kinda freaks me out. What on earth is it thinking about right now? Coming up with some dirty limericks? Oh there you go now it probably will now...

 

[Jake Reynolds]

My favourite one that I had involved a 20,000 strong army of hell coming across the sea in longboats, thirty 'men' to a boat. When I used a calculator work out how many boats 20,000 men at 30 to a boat would be I got an interesting result...

 

[Venusian Broon]

My favourite one that I had involved a 20,000 strong army of hell coming across the sea in longboats, thirty 'men' to a boat. When I used a calculator work out how many boats 20,000 men at 30 to a boat would be I got an interesting result...

Aha, the number of the repeating decimal beast.

 

[RcGrant]

You're not the only one, this happens to me quite frequently. Though in my case, it seems to be with details more related to character and theme than narrative and plot mechanics. I'll find that a scene I added in the beginning of the book is a perfect metaphor or foreshadowing for a later theme, even though I hadn't even conceived of that theme at the time I wrote the scene.

This. I am always surprised when I read back and find I have foreshadowed a major event.

I'm not sure how I would classify my planning style. I usually have an ending in my head before I start, but I don't always have a detailed middle. Once I have an initial idea I spend a while just sitting and thinking about it, and then I consciously put it away to the back of my mind and get on with something else. I used to worry about not working (on paper) during this period, but I have grown to realise this time of mental marination really works for me and I struggle with my story if I don't allow myself this. I think this is why I have a lot of foreshadowing - my brain has already been hard at work without me knowing.

 

[Toby Frost]

Aha, the number of the repeating decimal beast.

"Not seven heads shall he have, not twenty-two, but twenty-two divided by seven. And you shall know him for all people shall bear his number, at least to six decimal points. And lo! The people sought to calculate that number, yet their abacuses did catch alight, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth."

But yes, while I'm wary of attributing any mystic processes to writing (I always think of it like making a chair) I know what you mean. About 5 years ago I read an article on film noir in the newspaper, and suddenly realised that I had written a noir fantasy novel. Consciously knowing that, which my subconscious must have been doing for a while, I was able to go back to the edit with a much better idea of what I was doing.

Nobody's bought the damn thing, though, so I'm not sure whether there's a happy ending to this tale!

 

[Venusian Broon]

What I really enjoy, though, is when I'm writing a descriptive scene through the eyes of a character and I, myself, have no idea what they're looking at until I write it.

Hey TomS,

Yes it's a delicious feeling, creating something out of the 'formless Aether'!

Although I'm quite extreme in my planning* and generally I have a very good idea of what's going where, a good 80-90% of the writing - the details and dialogue, descriptions and character reactions/emotions - for each new first draft chapter is completely new and fresh for me.

Btw hello to Chrons. Look forward to you putting something in the critique section.


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* although I realise nowhere near as extreme in worldbuilding and other parts of the storybuilding then others on this forum - my description of the universe, it's processes and societies is only about 50,000 words!

 

[Venusian Broon]

"Not seven heads shall he have, not twenty-two, but twenty-two divided by seven. And you shall know him for all people shall bear his number, at least to six decimal points. And lo! The people sought to calculate that number, yet their abacuses did catch alight, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth."

of course if the number of the integer Beast is really 616 as scholars appear to be saying now, then the repeating decimal Beast would have order an army of 18,498.498498498...(repeat till infinity) demons into boats. So perhaps 18,498 demons and a hobbit as an approximation?

(Can you tell I'm a bit of a maths nerd?)

Nobody's bought the damn thing, though, so I'm not sure whether there's a happy ending to this tale!

Keep plugging, improving and persevering and who knows what may happen. Fingers crossed.

 

[Toby Frost]

Thanks! It's a long business, writing!

And in the meantime, feed the beast Pi!

 

[chrispenycate]

The first law of warfare (no battle plan survives contact with the enemy: that's why they're called the enemy) cuts both ways, and continues to do so when the battle is on paper. All those times I've sworn at my characters for not being where they ought to be, when they're needed; they still often build the situation better than I can (they live there, I'm naught but a tourist).

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Yes, I have been quite pleased to discover a lot of these instances in my WIP. There are, of course, also things that I have to go back and take out because they are not even faintly important -- for instance, I discovered last night that the cat in the first chapter has not made another appearance and seems disproportionately featured now. I haven't decided if I should go back and put in some other appearances or remove him entirely.

However, it always surprises me when I go back and find that I had foreshadowed something very neatly -- I should like to believe, as Teresa says, that my subconscious is running ahead.

I would advise watching out for those things when going back to edit. I had not touched this story in a year when I picked it up again recently, and I started whacking out things that didn't make sense, only to find that a page or two later there was a reason for that thing back there, and I had to go and put it back again. Read the whole thing before you start whacking, or you run the risk of removing your lovely, unforeseen foreshadowing!