charlottetheduck - yes - I've said this before - but I think Aristotle had it spot on when he said it's better to have a convincing impossibility than an unconvincing possibility.

Then when we graduated she emailed me to say I was one of only two people in the world she hated, and she never wanted to hear from me again.

That makes me think rather less of her, and much more you.

charlottetheduck - yes - I've said this before - but I think Aristotle had it spot on when he said it's better to have a convincing impossibility than an unconvincing possibility.

Then when we graduated she emailed me to say I was one of only two people in the world she hated, and she never wanted to hear from me again.

That makes me think rather less of her, and much more of you.

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shit - never try to backspace immediately after pressing post.

My favourite plot contrivance had our heroine in Newcastle, exhausted and desperate for somewhere to lay her head for the night. Unthinkingly, she reaches into her coatpocket and finds a long-forgotten matchbook from an inn in Bath. We're told - out of the blue - that our heroine had read and loved Georgette Heyer novels as a teenager and so is irresistably drawn to the Inn. Our exhausted heroine gets in her car and drives from Newcastle to Bath - and guess who she bumps into at said inn? Only the man she has fruitlessly searched the length and breadth of the country for throughout the novel.

How classy is that?

Now that's contrived. A skilfully plotted novel in which the threads are woven together and ultimately brought to a satisfying conclusion? That's just a novelist doing their job.

Andrea

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'and so is irresistably drawn to the Inn as a place to bed down for the night'

our heroine had read and loved Georgette Heyer novels as a teenager and so is irresistably drawn to the Inn as a place to bed down for the night.

I think there is a variation of this story somewhere near the beginning of the New Testament.