: Re: How do you determine if a plot device is too coincidental? I see lazy plot devices as anything that is too coincidental. Person One just so happened to be in the 'area' when Person Two was

@Barnes643

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I think the solution is to ask - and answer - "why"? Why did this person happen to be in the right place? How did they obtain that information that led them right to the villain? Has there been a rainstorm brewing for a few days - is it even the season for storms ( in the UK, the answer here is always yes ).

Events should never be random. However they can be the result of good fortune, as a pay back to hard work. The reason these particular people have become involved is also important - why was it Fred, not Joe who received the phone call? What marks them out as the appropriate person?

My short story linked in my profile tries to address this, as my only example. But the point is that I had to ask these questions, and the answers were sometimes a challenge. I had to make sure that the reader could get these answers, and know why a certain person was involved in something, why things happened in their favour.

Looking at why people make decisions they do - what drives them to one side rather than another - is fascinating, IMO.

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