Serendipity is one of my favorite words—not to mention one of my favorite things to have happen to me!
In late November, I went to Germany to give a lecture at a university there. Which is a very cool thing in itself. But, serendipitously, I was there the week many of the Christmas markets opened. Even better, my one free day—the day my host planned to give me a tour of nearby Nuremberg—was also the day that the huge Christmas market there opened. I’d always wanted to go to a German Christmas market, so this was wonderful.
The market had also opened that week in the town where I was staying, Erlangen. So I got to visit that too, including watching an enthusiastic bagpipe band and seeing stiltwalkers dance with little kids.
Sometimes serendipity happens in writing too. I’m a pantser rather than plotter, but sometimes the Fates really pull through for me in a way that beautifully advances a story.
For example, a few years ago I was writing a novella called “Summerfield’s Angel.” My protagonist was a former cowboy who goes to New York City to find his roots in 1888. Once I got him there, I needed to find him a job. And by accident, while researching various things about the city during that time, I learned about the West Side Cowboys: horsemen who were hired to protect clueless pedestrians from trains. Perfect!
Another example was from my more recent novel, The Taste of Desert Green. That story begins in a desert town in California in late 2019, where one of the protagonists owns a failing tourist attraction. As the events unfolded over a couple of years, I wanted him in dire economic straits. I’d plotted this much back in 2019. Well, we all know what happened in early 2020, and that would certainly have hurt him financially. But as it happened, also in early 2020, a highway bypass opened in the real town I’d based my fictional one on. Which means that far fewer people stop in town—another nail in the coffin for my poor guy. I don’t know how the real residents feel about that bypass, but the fictional one sure worked out well for me.
What are some examples of serendipity you’ve experienced?
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Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.
After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.
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