Plant the seeds in advance.
It can’t be. I took a second look. Yes, it is. Driving toward me on a two-lane in western Nebraska came four familiar Model A Fords. I pulled to the side and waved as they passed, then followed them a mile into a hotel parking lot.
As soon as they told me,
the facts from several months ago
fell into place.
Were my friends from the Denver Model A Ford Club here for the same reason as I? No, they weren’t. But as soon as they told me, the facts from several months ago about their long-planned tour to Iowa fell into place. We had a good dinner together, and the next morning we each went our way.
What might have been an unbelievable coincidence made sense and set the context for what happened next — for me and the people I’d met. It also got me thinking about novelists who resolve their stories through an unexpected twist.
Do you want readers to accept a big coincidence late in your novel? Plant enough clues to make it credible.
