The Science of Stephen King

Many of us have experienced odd coincidences we can’t explain. Some believe this is the work of God, or perhaps the cosmic wisdom of the universe. Mathematicians Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller took a more scientific approach, defining coincidence as “a surprising concurrence of events, perceived as meaningfully related, with no apparent causal connection.”1 They explain in their 1989 research article “Methods For Studying Coincidences” that given the large number of humans on the planet, “with a large enough sample, any outrageous thing is likely to happen.” More importantly, humans are not able to fully, mathematically appreciate what is truly unlikely. What we feel is a coincidence is rooted in our own personal belief systems. We are more interested in coincidences that have to do with us, rather than other people. In the Atlantic article “Coincidence and the Meaning of Life,” writer Julie Beck uses the example of birthdays:

People can be pretty liberal with what they consider coincidences. If you meet someone who shares your birthday, that seems like a fun coincidence, but you might feel the same way if you met someone who shared your mother’s birthday, or your best friend’s. Or if it was the day right before or after yours. So, there are several birthdays that a person could have that would feel coincidental.2

People who describe themselves as religious tend to believe more in coincidences.

Again, the observation of coincidences are in a way, egotistical, as Beck explains that research proves it reflects more on the person experiencing the coincidence than the actual mathematical likelihood:

Research has found that certain personality traits are linked to experiencing more coincidences—people who describe themselves as religious or spiritual, people who are self-referential (or likely to relate information from the external world back to themselves), and people who are high in meaning-seeking are all coincidence-prone. People are also likely to see coincidences when they are extremely sad, angry, or anxious.

In a strange coincidence, nurse Violet Jessup lived through three shipwrecks! She was a passenger on the RMSOlympicwhen it struck another ship, as well as on the HMHSBritannicas it hit a sea mine, and she managed to escape on lifeboat number sixteen on the tragic voyage of the RMSTitanic.

In the fictional, magical world of Gwendy’s Button Box, it’s hard to say whether Gwendy pressing the button corresponding with South America really did set the Jonestown Massacre into motion, but as we know in the real world, it was no simple button, or coincidence, that caused such a blight on our collective history.

What is a fortunate coincidence (if we do say so ourselves!), is that we had the great honor of interviewing Richard Chizmar, coauthor of Gwendy’s Button Box, as well as the founder of Cemetery Dance Magazine and Publications.

Meg:“Writing fiction can be a very personal creative endeavor. Can you describe howGwendy’s Button Boxcame about, and how logistically you and Stephen King handled writing a book together?”

Richard Chizmar: “Steve and I have been friends for a long time—since back in the early 1990s—and have done a lot of business in the book world, but I never dreamed I would one day write something with him. We email a lot about a variety of subjects ranging from books and movies to sports and family. One afternoon, we were emailing about round-robin books and collaborations. That general discussion led to Steve telling me about a story he had started but had been unable to finish. The next morning, Gwendy’s Button Box showed up in my email along with a note reading, ‘Do what you wish with it.’ And that’s how it happened.”

Meg: “That’s my dream!”

Richard Chizmar: “Logistically, it was a pretty simple process. I picked up where Steve left off with the story, added about ten thousand words or so, and sent it his way. He added a chunk and sent it back to me. And then we played ping-pong with the manuscript, back-and-forth, until we were finished. We each enjoyed total freedom with the direction we took the story and rewrote each other’s work to find one singular voice. It was a blast.”