Hi, Friends:
As a multigenre author, I always want to tell stories that pull at me to write them. I don’t care how intriguing someone else’s suggestion might be, if a story doesn’t beg me to be written, it lingers in oblivion.
As writers, we want to tell exciting stories. I’m a character-driven author, so I enjoy colorful characters who may be a bit outrageous.
Allow me to be a little gross, if I may. About 20 years ago, I was walking into a Wawa market (in Pennsylvania) with a friend, when a woman leaving the store walked past us with literal thick streams of snot flowing from each nostril like dueling waterfalls. Yeah, really. I turned to my friend and said, “I’m going to put that in a book one day.” She smiled and said, “I bet you will.”
Now, after having published thirteen books, that woman has yet to be seen. Why? Not so much that she was gross, although that is a factor, but I came to the conclusion that she sounded too outrageous to be believed—even in a work of fiction.
I’ve written two romantic comedies. In my first one, Molly Hacker Is Too Picky!, feisty Molly and her best friend run into Molly’s nemesis in the ladies room at the local mall. Of course, hilarity ensues. As the book is set in a fictional town, not a large city, the chances of that happening are not all that unusual. Yet, in a review, some woman wrote how improbable that sounded to her. (And yeah, this was comedy, not literary fiction.)
Many decades ago, here in Los Angeles, during my lunch hour (can’t even remember where I was working), I decided to go to the Beverly Center as I desperately needed some Lancôme moisturizer. For those who don’t know, the Center is located at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. It’s huge. It’s a place where many of the rich and famous go to shop.
I can’t even estimate how many thousands of people are in the mall at one time, but as I stood looking down at the products in a display case at Bullock’s, the saleswoman asked if she could help me. I looked up, and before I could ask where I knew her from, I realized it was one of my dearest friends from junior high school back East. We’d lost touch when her family moved to California, and this is how we found one another again after ten years. This day, my trip to that particular store was the one and only time I’ve been there.
So, what if I wrote that in a book? Would it be plausible? I bet not.
Many years later, living in Los Angeles, I was trying to get together with a friend on the East Coast. She said she was taking a cruise leaving from Long Beach, CA and would have twenty minutes to spare before boarding the ship. No way was I going to drive that far for twenty minutes, especially in LA traffic that’s impossible to rely on. While I was planning a trip back East, where I was staying was nowhere near where she lived. So, we basically gave up and forgot about getting together.
One day, months later, I’m getting on a plane to go East, and for the first time in flying history, I needed to use the facilities immediately. The ones near my seat were occupied, and the flight attendant told me the one in back was free. I walked to the end of the plane, and in the very back row was the friend with whom I’d been trying to get together with. There was an empty seat next to her. So, I retrieved my carry-on items and moved to the back of the plane. We had five long hours to catch up. If I told that story in a book, I’ll bet review after review would claim that scenario ruined the book for being so implausible. And P.S. years prior to this, I’d run into this same person on the streets of New York City.
Believe it or not, I have more stories exactly like the two I just told. I’m certainly not alone, I’m sure, in hearing stories and seeing things in real life, good, bad, and horrible, that would have once seemed too unreal for fiction—and many that still do.
Novels, stories, and movies are often considered “places” where anything can happen. And I’m not debating the veracity of that. But for me, there are many times when truth is stranger than fiction—so strange that I hesitate to use it.
What are your experiences? Have you had real-life experiences too improbable to read or write?
I agree with you. Years ago, my husband took his children to Normandy and from the top deck of a bus spotted his sister-in-law, eating ice-cream, strolling along with her children. The next day, he walked down a side street and heard someone calling his name. He turned to see his sister and her boyfriend on a motorbike. None of the family knew they would all be away in France at the same time.
Like you, I could quote lots if incidences that would appear contrived if included in one of my novels.
That’s really interesting, Brenda. Thank you for sharing that.
Yes, indeed we could put many truths in our novels that would appear outlandish and contrived to readers.
Very interesting. Love hearing about your experiences !
Thanks so much for stopping by, Sheri. I really appreciate it.
This blog was well worth waiting for, Lisette! You got me thinking about similar flavored encounters. What forces are at play for the orchestration? I remember skipping school to go to the beach and thinking no way will my girlfriend and I get nailed fifteen miles from home. Wrong! Please don’t make us wait so long for another entry.
Thanks, Tonya.
You mention something that’s so important: what forces are at play for the orchestration? That is so important and it’s fascinating to think about it.
Oh, no, nailed going to the beach. How dare that have happened to you. lol. Girls just need to have fun.
I’ll try not to wait so long for the next blog!
Ha. I love this. I haven’t had many instances of bumping into people like that, however, I met a woman in my apartment complex who I became friends with. After 2 years of friendship, while enjoying a wine at a pub on a Sunday afternoon with friends, a topic came up in conversation that triggered a memory for my friend. She asked if my ex.mother-in-law’s name was … It was!!! Turns out they were best friends at the time and that she had attended MY wedding 30 years ago. I located my wedding video and panning across the guests there she was 😆 Bizarre. Cool Blog.
That’s such an amazing story. And I truly believe these things happen way more frequently than one would think. I’ve never yet heard of someone meeting a new friend to find out that person attended their wedding. So fascinating. Thanks so much for sharing!
Love the blogpost, Lisette. Here’s a story that happened to me that I’d add to the truth is stranger than fiction file:
Twenty years ago when my son was 13 he was big into playing little league baseball. He liked his coach but felt he might be a bit biased since he always let his son pitch in the games. I told him that happens a lot In little league and then shared a similar story from when I played baseball as a kid back in Syracuse, NY. I told I’m how I talk like the coach but he always let his son pitch in all the games. That Fall, we were at a rural county field days in Cabarrus County near our home in Charlotte, NC. We were watching the pig races and I looked across the track into the crowd and saw my old coach, his now grown son and his family. It turns out that they moved to Charlotte a few years before. I hadn’t seen them in 30 years and there they were at the same field days a couple months after I told my son the baseball story letting him know that the little league coach I had from my childhood acted the same as his coach. Nobody would have believed it so I never talked about it to anyone because it was such a weird coincidence.
I love this story, Joe.
As many say, “there are no coincidences.” It really is a small world, and I believe far fewer than six degrees of separation among us.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
Great blog! Thank you so much for sharing! I’d believe any of those things could happen in “real life” that others would say implausible ~ and definitely no coincidences. People that have included such things in their reviews must be so unaware, oblivious, or just too narrow-minded(?) to not know such things can and do happen.
Anyway, a scene that immediately came to my mind while reading your blog was a time when I was having lunch with my dearest friend and describing (in a “nutshell”) a most convoluted, bizarre situation and how (“looong story short”) a certain name would pop up at any time and then a van went by the restaurant at that second with said name on it. Just as if on cue and totally expected.
Hi, PattiAnn:
Thank you so very much for stopping by.
That story sounds so funny! I can really visualize it as if I were there.
There are probably way more “coincidental” things happening around us than we even realize. But true life is 100% stranger than fiction. That’s a given. 🙂
Very cool coincidences!! I’d say there is an element of the Universe directing you – both in your life and writing. That’s special!!
Thank you so much, Paula. I absolutely believe the Universe is directly me — and directing most of us. Many believe there are no coincidences, and I’m pretty much in agreement.
Love this – of course you know I believe everything you tell me (or write, for that matter). 😊 I’ve had a few odd things happen, one that sticks with me is when I stopped at a convenience store on the way home from work and a young man came in and insisted my name was Sunday and wanted to know where I’d been hiding myself? All the while he was talking he had one arm slung over my shoulders slowly ushering me toward the door. He was kind of a surfer dude, all smiles and blond hair so at first I wasn’t afraid. All at once, I realized he really was trying to take me with him so I rudely pushed his arm off my shoulders while loudly proclaiming he was mistaken. It took some doing, but I planted my feet in front of the checkout counter (and camera) and told him in no uncertain terms he was badly mistaken. To this day I’m not sure if he was high or if he really thought I was someone named Sunday.
Wow, Ann. That’s quite a story! I see a book in that story for you. And if anyone could do justice to it, that would be you!
Fascinating blog, Lisette! I couldn’t help but laugh at the gross incident you mentioned in the beginning. Coincidentally, I was blowing my runny nose as I read it. Thank you for sharing some of the serendipitous events that you’ve experienced. Such occasions are an almost magical reminder of just how small our world can be. I still remember how you and I met years ago via a tweet when I was at my wits end, trying to cope with horribly noisy neighbors.
As for real-life experiences that are too improbable to read or write, as a lifelong New Yorker I wouldn’t know where to begin. 😂
Thanks for stopping by, Shykia. Yes, that incident was SUPER gross, and I tried to describe it as minimally as I could, though I could have done a much better job. I’m laughing at you reading that while blowing your nose. Having lived in NYC and now in Los Angeles, I’ll have to completely agree with your last statement. 🙂
Great blog, Lisette. I know exactly what you mean. I once sent a short story to a publisher who offered critique and was told ‘no that wouldn’t happen.’ Err, yes it would. It had happened to me!
Hi, Tricia:
What you just said is exactly why I wrote this. I think many of us could write a book (or more) about all of the stranger-than-fiction things we see in life.
There’s so much that I dismiss while writing for exactly the reason of it sounding implausible — even though it happened!