# Who said, 'Critics hate coincidences'?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 6, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359 "2020-12-06T02:52:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/1 "2020-12-06T02:52:26Z")

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The question is in the title.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/2 "2020-12-22T18:35:46Z")

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Bumping to see if anyone knows the answer.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/3 "2020-12-22T18:38:17Z")

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Moving to Café Society helps.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/4 "2020-12-22T21:53:56Z")

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As far as I can tell, it’s you. The only Google hits are on this thread.😉

Are you sure you have the quote right?

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**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/5 "2020-12-22T22:05:36Z")

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Which critics?

Art critics? Book critics? Movie critics?

Give us a glimmer.

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**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/6 "2020-12-22T22:18:14Z")

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What is it supposed to mean? My guess was maybe if you’re critical of an A-causes-B mechanistic explanation, you hate it when B follows A by chance?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/7 "2020-12-22T22:21:04Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Are you sure you have the quote right?

AFAIK, it’s correctl

> [@saucywench](#):
>
> Art critics? Book critics? Movie critics?

I don’t remember whether I read it in a book, or heard it in a film.

As nearly as I can recall, someone was writing a book and someone said the critics would hate it because of the coincidences it contained. (‘Critics hate coincidences.’) The counter argument was something about how Charles Dickens’ books are well-regarded, even though they’re full of coincidences. Or something along those lines.

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**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/8 "2020-12-22T22:21:46Z")

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Ah, right. Lazy writing to further the plot type of coincidences.

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**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-critics-hate-coincidences/927359/9 "2020-12-22T22:53:28Z")

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[https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/coincidences-fiction-youre-wrong/](https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/coincidences-fiction-youre-wrong/)