Sarcastic “Laws”

I recently read a fun blog post from novelist Nicholas Rossi, about Cippola’s Basic Laws of Human Foolishness. I won’t steal Rossi’s thunder here, so I encourage you to read his article.

While reading, it made me think of various other sarcastic “laws” that we have in modern culture. Like Murphy’s Law (“If something can go wrong, it will”) and the Peter Principle (“If you get really good at your job, you’ll be promoted into a position with a totally different skill set”). My favorite, which I can’t seem to pin down, is “It will cost more than you think.” Maybe I’ve mixed it up with Murphy’s Third Law, “It will take longer than you think.”

What struck me while reading Rossi’s post is how useful these “laws” are for fiction writers. Do you feel like things are going too easily for your characters? Or you need a side arc that will allow the rest of the plot to develop? Why not pull in Cippola’s First Law, “A person always underestimates the number of fools around him.” Cippola has a specific definition of fools, so it really is worth reading Rossi’s article, above.

Now you have something to work with. Who is the fool in this scenario? It could be a minor antagonist, or it could be the main character themself. What kind of mischief could be caused by a moment’s foolishness? Could this foolishness illuminate character, while also building suspense?

Or reflect back to Murphy’s First Law, above. Say your characters are racing across country to prevent some sort of disaster, and then a stirrup breaks on someone’s saddle. Or a flat tire, or a flight is over-booked — you get the idea. They have to fix this problem, but then you can bring in Murphy’s Second Law, “Nothing is as easy as it looks.” This can go on as long as you need for your plot to develop or your characters to grow.

So have some fun with “laws” in your plotting. Just be aware, it may take longer than you think!

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