The Plot of a Lifetime

To deliver a good plot, a writer must find clues that emerge from every landscape. Rich symbols and ideas appear in odd places at strange times. But it's the writer's job to use these signs to enrich the adventures we put on paper and those that drive our lives. Synchronicity is as valuable to a writer as it was for Jung and Sting. (Note: both guys have one syllable names ending in G.)

Jung thought of synchronicity as a "meaningful coincidence" of outer and inner events that are not linked by causality. He encouraged people to pay attention when certain ideas, symbols, or events occurred in clusters. Their occurrence did not suggest that these moments "caused" each other – just that significant ideas tend to occur in patterns. Jung believed that these patterns signaled a new phase in the process of psychic growth.

Creative people have also embraced the concept of synchronicity as one that can help drive the development of a work as it proceeds from inception to finished product. Julia Cameron, who has written extensively about the creative process believes that when we encounter a problem in our lives or our writing, taking a single key action may be enough to make a solution appear. She says, "Synchronicity is like a tap on the shoulder by the universe. It tells us pay attention, that we're on the right path." In lyrics from his bestselling album with the Police, Sting describes it as, "An effect without a cause, sub-atomic laws, scientific pause, synchronicity."

Now, for the I-swear-to-God finale: While writing this piece, I was paging through a treasured volume of Jung's articles and ideas. It’s a nice hardback with illustrations and photos that I got for $8.50 in a used bookstore. While searching for quotes, I happened to look at the inner fly leaf for the first time since I bought the book. Written in pencil on that blank page was the name Jan Price. That is the name of my best friend from elementary school. And this is what happens when you start looking for meaningful coincidences that nudge your work toward the unexpected.