Posted by Alan Hakim on December 18, 2000 at 19:28:15 from 195.44.15.103:
In Reply to: Re: Coincidences posted by Jon on December 18, 2000 at 14:32:47:
It is always a problem for authors to tone down real life to make coincidences acceptable to the reader. I felt that "Doctor Zhivago" overdid it, but the coincidences that have happened to me far exceed the acceptable bounds of fiction.
The alternative is to take Shakespeare's brash approach, and have a character say, "If this were played upon a stage, I would condemn it as an improbable fiction." (Twelfth Night, just as it overflows credibility.)