I’ve come to realize that there are two things that make me irrationally angry when I’m reading a book, watching a movie/show, anything that involves me following a story. The first is an obvious Mary Sue character. This is something I’m sure I’ll discuss in length later, but the second thing (and the one I want to go in depth on more now) is coincidence.

Aside from a Mary Sue, nothing turns me off to a story more quickly than heaps of coincidence. For example:

In JJ Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek, there’s a scene where Spock maroons Kirk on an ice planet that has a Star Fleet installation on. After landing, Kirk is chased by a giant monster thing into a cave where he is miraculously saved by Old Spock, at which point we get a massive bit of exposition that basically tells the backstory of the movie.

First off, what a massive coincidence. That Spock not just happens to be on this planet, but that Kirk just happens to end up right near where he is. You can give some explanation, “Well Nero, left Spock there to watch his planet die, which is why he was there,” but why leave him there? Why not have Spock watch from his ship?

Now, this isn’t a point in the movie’s favor, but really despite these both being coincidences of considerable size, they aren’t really that bad. Arguably, it’s just as reasonable for Nero to send Spock to die on the ice planet in the cold, while watching his planet blow up as it is to have him watch the planet die from his ship. What just kills me though, is what comes next.

Kirk makes his way from Spock to the Star Fleet installation. He has to get back to the Enterprise to warn them what they’re walking into. He arrives at the installation and who does he find? Scotty, who as it turns out is literally the only person in the galaxy who knows the secret to transporting Kirk from the installation to the Enterprise. Literally the only person within thousands of lightyears who has the capability of doing this.

How about that for coincidence? It just makes my blood boil. This is introduced as ground breaking technology that Scotty is capable of and he’s exiled to this ice planet because he what, transported an Admirals dog? You mean to tell me that Star Fleet doesn’t give him a slap on the wrist, when he’s done something that literally changes the way they view their technology? Of course not, because Scotty needs to be in the Star Fleet installation for Kirk to meet so he can go to the Enterprise!

That my friends, is called lazy writing. And it irritates me beyond belief.

On to other things, Penumbra is slated to be sent out to beta readers in just over two weeks. I’ve got a ton to do before that happens, but I’ve got marathon session planned for next Thursday and I’m really thinking/hoping/praying I can get it all done. And while it’s out there… I’m going to take a break!

Haha… no that was a terrible joke.

From there, I need to figure out what to start on next. I’m still unsure. But it’s time to get to work. Until next time!