Shoe-string Technology: Serendipity
SNAP!
A few days ago I made a wonderful discovery. I've always found it quite inconvenient when in the morning while tying my shoes, the lace breaks. I sit there and stare at the short piece in my hand, and then the rest of it laced up my shoe, and I know I have to figure out how I will 1) tie the shoe and 2) not look like a three-piece hobo.
So last week I reach down and tie my right dress shoe and just as I draw the two strands tightly--snap!--it breaks. I decide I'll scavenge a lace from another shoe in my closet and turn to my left shoe. I pull gently on the two strands and feel my shoe tighten against my foot. And then--snap!
I sat there stunned. The lace on both shoes broke on the same wearing! Instead of getting ticked, though, I was elated! I was elated, because I realized that without anyone knowing about it, the shoe-string industry accomplished what no shoe, boot, sock, ski, or rollerskate manufacturer had: to design their product so that both entities broke at the exact same time. As it is now, those other failed businesses simply sell you a whole new pair of their product when only one of them breaks.
Since China produces more shoe-strings for global distribution than any other country, I'd like to thank them for their diligence to make a product break the way it should.
So what's this got to do with writing?
When my shoe-strings broke at the same time, instead of reacting in my usual way (throwing the shoe against the door), I thought: Serendipity!
Serendipity is finding something nice while looking for something else. I find serendipity poking its pointy little head into my writing all the time. But I "find" it. Serendipity, by definition, is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated. In fact, it happens while writing this blog all the time. I begin with an idea and write a bit, click to some research on some point, and there in front of me is a piece of glorious new information I did not know before, wasn't looking for in the first place but can use to transform what I'm writing into something more entertaining, enlightening or educational.
As a veteran private investigator, I know that finding something accidentally has to start with the act of purposefully looking for something I don't yet have. If I don't look for anything unusual, different and off topic, I won't discover anything. This isn't about "deep research"; it's about exploration outside the bounds of what I think I need to know. It's about self-education while I'm writing. And in that process--time and again--I have discovered great anecdotes for stories, from which I can trim and shape characters. I've uncovered mysterious facts that enhance my view of the world--and, thus, my approach to writing about it.
Self-education during my writing process widens the roadway on which I'm journeying to tell a story. Like a jack-in-the-box, the intriguing facts, philosophies, life-styles, and geographical wonders, jump out at me when I simply stop, save, and climb aboard a search engine to Serendipity.
I'll admit that these rabbit-trail trips slow the journey down, but I do it because I've seen what happens when I take the time to look for serendipity. To put myself in a place where serendipity can find me.
Even in my daily inconveniences, serendipity can suddenly appear. As I write, I've learned that my frustrations at finding just the right piece of information, the right word, the most intriguing angle, the most unusual place can serendipitously leap into my writing like the snap of a shoe-string. And these "expectations" of surprise make writing richer for me.
Snap!
Posted by Tom Eubanks at 2/28/2011 8:04 PM 
Categories: Inspiration and Perspiration, Profiles in Guile, On Writing
Tags: Essay Huh Storytelling Working It
Categories: Inspiration and Perspiration, Profiles in Guile, On Writing
Tags: Essay Huh Storytelling Working It
Tom, I love the way you always lead into your piece with an amusing anecdote. But, I do think you might be pulling too hard on your shoe laces.
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I'm behind on replying to my comments, but I wanted to thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the blog still.
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