20 MP Lesson 2.4 Abandoning Lady Luck and Chance
Jul 6, 2021 13:54:09 GMT -6
Post by ScienceGirl on Jul 6, 2021 13:54:09 GMT -6
Leave Lady Luck and Chance Behind
I've used this word a couple of times, so lets define it a little deeper here.
To say that an ending is contrived is basically saying that it's too good to be true, or something way to coincidental to be believed. Tobias says, "Life is chaos puctuated by short periods of order."
Isn't it though? If any of you have mastered the art of things working out perfectly, please let me know, because I sure haven't figured it out.
This concept always drives my mind back to my wedding day, December 16, 2000. (And yes, I know I've been married longer than some of you have been alive, but don't rub it in LOL. I digress).
THAT is life. When does anything in life EVER go fully to plan? So, why would you write your characters into situations that go perfectly to plan? I know Marlon Brando sings about her so beautifully in Guys and Dolls, but Lady Luck is a mythical being. It's purely coincidental that we EVER get from point A to point B!
Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here, but to me, it's a whole lot more interesting to be dramatic than it is to be contrived. Readers will put your books down and not finish them if they don't believe your story. At the same time, real life doesn't always work as fiction, either. That wedding day is pretty incredulous.
Tobias calls contrivial fiction the "hand of God" paradox. If you are god of your world, he argues, you can do anything, at least in the world you create? Right?
Not right. He gives us a few restrictions to this idea.
1) You must create a world with its own set of rules which are consistent from beginning to end.
2) When something happens in this world, it must happen for a reason
3) Good fiction, because of that cause and effect relationship, leaves nothing to chance.
Don't take your readers on a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat ride only to whip them up a miracle solution at the end. They'll feel cheated.
According to Tobias, this is one of the fundamental differences between "old fiction" and "modern fiction." He points out that both Shakespeare and Dickens let their characters be in the right place at the right time so they hear conversations and witness scenarios at the most opportune or inopportune times. He wraps this section up by saying,
I've used this word a couple of times, so lets define it a little deeper here.
Contrived: deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously (Oxford)
To say that an ending is contrived is basically saying that it's too good to be true, or something way to coincidental to be believed. Tobias says, "Life is chaos puctuated by short periods of order."
Isn't it though? If any of you have mastered the art of things working out perfectly, please let me know, because I sure haven't figured it out.
This concept always drives my mind back to my wedding day, December 16, 2000. (And yes, I know I've been married longer than some of you have been alive, but don't rub it in LOL. I digress).
I am NOT making this up LOL. Admittedly "telling" for time's sake.
My husband and I had planned to get married on August 5th. But I was a first-year high shcool science teacher, newly hired, and I couldn't mentally handle the anxiety of planning a school year and a wedding at the same time. When I had my mental breakdown, we postponed the wedding a few months and let me wrap my mind around life again.
So, December 15-16, 2000, in Richmond, KY, was an interesting weekend for a wedding. We decided to have our 7:00 pm rehearsal dinner at the Bluegrass Army Depot, which is kind of out in the middle of nowhere. So people coming in from out of town had to take the Interstate and then follow several backroads to get there. Around 6:30 pm , a semi overturned on the Interstate, blocking traffic in both directions. There were two other accidents on a couple of the side roads. We didn't end up eating until 9:00, and by then we were so tired we didn't do too much rehearsing.
At 8:00 am on the 16th, the temperature was 80 degrees. By 8:00 pm, it had dropped to 28 degrees. There were tornado warnings. The power went out everywhere, although the church had generators. (Welcome to KY. If you don't like the weather, wait an hour and it will change).
My generous aunt had volunteered to handle all the food preparation. I decided not to do a big meal because we were having our Christmas dinners in a few days anyway. So we did finger foods and snacks. We'd set everything up at the church the night before, so all she had to do was come in and place everything on the tables and set up the drinks and stuff. Except, SHE NEVER MADE IT TO THE WEDDING. She had car trouble, and my grandmother loaned her car, but rode off with my uncle and the keys.
My husband and his friends were caught in the torrential downpour and almost ended up being late to the wedding. Sheesh!
But it doesn't stop there. The wedding finally started, by candlelight! Should have planned that from the get-go! Some of my guests graciously jumped in and handled the food. We managed to say, "I do," but we were all freezing. Including my sister, the maid of honor, who sang a song between the vows and the ring ceremony. She was wearing my husband's ring on her very frigid thumb, and since it was so cold and the ring was so loose, in a moment of drama, it went flying over everyone's heads across the church. We had to stop the wedding for a second to find it!
When we were finally pronounced Mr. and Mrs., the preacher took off and forgot to sign our marriage license. And, the torrential rain started turning into a three-day historical ice storm, so we had to cancel our honeymoon travel plans and stay in our completely empty apartment. We were fortunate that some of the wedding guests had brought blankets so we could at least sleep on the carpeted floor. We took our cash gifts, headed to Walmart, and made a quick run-in for essentials before being trapped in the apartment for days.
My husband and I had planned to get married on August 5th. But I was a first-year high shcool science teacher, newly hired, and I couldn't mentally handle the anxiety of planning a school year and a wedding at the same time. When I had my mental breakdown, we postponed the wedding a few months and let me wrap my mind around life again.
So, December 15-16, 2000, in Richmond, KY, was an interesting weekend for a wedding. We decided to have our 7:00 pm rehearsal dinner at the Bluegrass Army Depot, which is kind of out in the middle of nowhere. So people coming in from out of town had to take the Interstate and then follow several backroads to get there. Around 6:30 pm , a semi overturned on the Interstate, blocking traffic in both directions. There were two other accidents on a couple of the side roads. We didn't end up eating until 9:00, and by then we were so tired we didn't do too much rehearsing.
At 8:00 am on the 16th, the temperature was 80 degrees. By 8:00 pm, it had dropped to 28 degrees. There were tornado warnings. The power went out everywhere, although the church had generators. (Welcome to KY. If you don't like the weather, wait an hour and it will change).
My generous aunt had volunteered to handle all the food preparation. I decided not to do a big meal because we were having our Christmas dinners in a few days anyway. So we did finger foods and snacks. We'd set everything up at the church the night before, so all she had to do was come in and place everything on the tables and set up the drinks and stuff. Except, SHE NEVER MADE IT TO THE WEDDING. She had car trouble, and my grandmother loaned her car, but rode off with my uncle and the keys.
My husband and his friends were caught in the torrential downpour and almost ended up being late to the wedding. Sheesh!
But it doesn't stop there. The wedding finally started, by candlelight! Should have planned that from the get-go! Some of my guests graciously jumped in and handled the food. We managed to say, "I do," but we were all freezing. Including my sister, the maid of honor, who sang a song between the vows and the ring ceremony. She was wearing my husband's ring on her very frigid thumb, and since it was so cold and the ring was so loose, in a moment of drama, it went flying over everyone's heads across the church. We had to stop the wedding for a second to find it!
When we were finally pronounced Mr. and Mrs., the preacher took off and forgot to sign our marriage license. And, the torrential rain started turning into a three-day historical ice storm, so we had to cancel our honeymoon travel plans and stay in our completely empty apartment. We were fortunate that some of the wedding guests had brought blankets so we could at least sleep on the carpeted floor. We took our cash gifts, headed to Walmart, and made a quick run-in for essentials before being trapped in the apartment for days.
Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here, but to me, it's a whole lot more interesting to be dramatic than it is to be contrived. Readers will put your books down and not finish them if they don't believe your story. At the same time, real life doesn't always work as fiction, either. That wedding day is pretty incredulous.
Tobias calls contrivial fiction the "hand of God" paradox. If you are god of your world, he argues, you can do anything, at least in the world you create? Right?
Not right. He gives us a few restrictions to this idea.
1) You must create a world with its own set of rules which are consistent from beginning to end.
2) When something happens in this world, it must happen for a reason
3) Good fiction, because of that cause and effect relationship, leaves nothing to chance.
Don't take your readers on a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat ride only to whip them up a miracle solution at the end. They'll feel cheated.
According to Tobias, this is one of the fundamental differences between "old fiction" and "modern fiction." He points out that both Shakespeare and Dickens let their characters be in the right place at the right time so they hear conversations and witness scenarios at the most opportune or inopportune times. He wraps this section up by saying,
Such conventions were accepted at the time, anyway, and that's not the case now. We demand more from fiction. We don't want plot contrivances.
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