Sometimes when an author over uses coincidence to move the plot along, things can start to feel a bit contrived. If any random thing can happen (or worse, have already happened in the past) in order for the plot to move forward, the reader loses faith in the characters’ agency in the story. Zeus showing up and blowing the enemy to bits with lightning makes the hour long battle scene seem pointless. On the flip side, if coinciding events play no role in the story, the reader might lose faith in the rest of the world the story takes place in. If there is a piece of the world that should be moving on its own, and should impact the characters, then having no coinciding events at all can make the story feel sterile and unnatural. Great authors can make coincidence play an important role without becoming a nuisance that the reader has to suspend their disbelief to accept.

How do you balance coinciding events to avoid these two pitfalls? Well I can’t tell you really, because I struggle with this myself. I like having coinciding events because it makes the world feel BIG, but like I’ve already said, it can damage the sense of agency the characters have. It’s a very complicated, plate-spinning balancing act that often comes crashing down at the slightest critical thought. I’ve noticed however that this whole problem can be avoided with a simple trick. When a coincidence would help the protagonist, it is much more likely to be interpreted as Zeus showing up and saving the day. When the protagonist is hurt by a coincidence, it’s just life. If you go watch or read just about anything, you’ll notice that coincidence is more often used this way, and to great effect. Obviously it can still be taken too far. The protagonist slipping on a banana peel during the climax and ruining everything would turn the story into a absurdist comedy in one fell swoop. Maybe it says something about our cynical society that we can’t accept characters who are noble enough to deserve the help of a higher being, but I think there’s a bigger reason why this works. Generally, a harmful coincidence increases the stakes, or at least makes things more interesting for the protagonist, while a helpful coincidence does the opposite. Bigger stakes usually means higher tension and juicier conflicts and more emotional investment from the reader. Overuse of helpful coincidence damages all of that and reduces the reader’s interest.

Hopefully you find this tip useful if you haven’t heard it already. Using coincidence effectively is difficult as an understatement, and I’m certainly no master myself, but with this tip I think I and other writers can avoid the majority of the pitfalls that come with using coincidence in a story.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley