Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It Happened Again

Back in May, I wrote a post about artistic coincidences... those times when two people will accidentally write scarily similar story lines. Or when life imitates art long after the art has been created. If you read that post, you know it's happened to me before.

Well, it happened again.

Back in June, I wrote down a story idea in the notebook I keep by my bed. It was something I thought was fresh and engaging. Flash forward to yesterday evening when I'm watching the news and what do I hear? You got it. My story.

Of course, it wasn't the whole thing. But the basic inciting incident, the thing that sets the whole story in motion, was almost identical to what I scribbled out three months ago. Now, that doesn't mean I can't use it. In fact, it might even work for me. You know how popular those "ripped from the headlines" stories are. But I'm still pretty amazed by the whole thing.

How about you? Have you experienced any stranger-than-fiction moments lately?

3 comments:

Niki Turner said...

At least it was on the news! Not in the latest fiction book you picked up, which seems to KEEP happening to me. : )

Jennifer AlLee said...

Oh Niki, I've had that happen, too! You're right, it's much less painful to have a similiar story on the news than on the book shelves!

Jan Marie said...

I've had it happen more than once. The latest time was when I was reading a book review and the plot was identical to the plot for the book I have been writing for quite some time.