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I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place. This board is so big and I've only barely begun to look through it all - have only just discovered Share Your Work. And I wasn't sure whether to post this here or there.
But I'm having two issues with my WIP that both involve huge coincidences to become effective twists. I'd love to hear other people's opinions.
Location - In my WIP, I've got two characters who meet on a website. One tracks the other one down. And it turns out they both live in the same city (a small fictional city in the Midwest). If the book was set in a big area - like LA, New York, or somewhere - maybe this wouldn't be a big deal and the reader wouldn't notice. But the fact that both characters live in this same small city and just happened to meet on a website (which is not a local website, but a big global one) is tricky. Now, it is a psychic website, and it is mentioned by the characters that the coincidence is probably fate leading them to each other. But - I don't know. I'm worried that a) it's too big a coincidence and b) I've highlighted it too much in the narrative, drawing reader's attention to it. Any suggestions or ideas?
Motivation - The second thing is about a character's motivation. I have a character working on the aformentioned website and another character -- a work colleague of hers -- who initially suggested the website to her. But it turns out this other character runs the website in secret and didn't want my main character to know. Another huge coincidence, even moreso as I'm having a hard time figuring out the character's motivation for keeping this secret.
Some of these coincidences will be necessary for suspension of disbelief, and they seemed to work well in the TV show LOST - but at times, I found myself shaking my head with that show. Really? Libby owns the boat Desmond arrived at the island in? And I felt the writers brushed all of this aside and wrote it all down to fate too easily. In a way, I'm starting to do the same thing. As a reader, how much of these type of coincidences would turn you off? And does anyone have any ideas or tips for how you could make twists less coincidental, blending them into the plot more effectively?
Forgot to mention - the WIP is a thriller with supernatural elements.
Thanks in advance, and I hope I'm posting this in the right section.
But I'm having two issues with my WIP that both involve huge coincidences to become effective twists. I'd love to hear other people's opinions.
Location - In my WIP, I've got two characters who meet on a website. One tracks the other one down. And it turns out they both live in the same city (a small fictional city in the Midwest). If the book was set in a big area - like LA, New York, or somewhere - maybe this wouldn't be a big deal and the reader wouldn't notice. But the fact that both characters live in this same small city and just happened to meet on a website (which is not a local website, but a big global one) is tricky. Now, it is a psychic website, and it is mentioned by the characters that the coincidence is probably fate leading them to each other. But - I don't know. I'm worried that a) it's too big a coincidence and b) I've highlighted it too much in the narrative, drawing reader's attention to it. Any suggestions or ideas?
Motivation - The second thing is about a character's motivation. I have a character working on the aformentioned website and another character -- a work colleague of hers -- who initially suggested the website to her. But it turns out this other character runs the website in secret and didn't want my main character to know. Another huge coincidence, even moreso as I'm having a hard time figuring out the character's motivation for keeping this secret.
Some of these coincidences will be necessary for suspension of disbelief, and they seemed to work well in the TV show LOST - but at times, I found myself shaking my head with that show. Really? Libby owns the boat Desmond arrived at the island in? And I felt the writers brushed all of this aside and wrote it all down to fate too easily. In a way, I'm starting to do the same thing. As a reader, how much of these type of coincidences would turn you off? And does anyone have any ideas or tips for how you could make twists less coincidental, blending them into the plot more effectively?
Forgot to mention - the WIP is a thriller with supernatural elements.
Thanks in advance, and I hope I'm posting this in the right section.
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