 Mystery: April 04, 2007 Issue [#1643] |
  Mystery
This week: Edited by: Tehanu  
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“If you really want something in this life you have to work for it. Now quiet, they’re about to announce the lottery numbers.” –Dan Castellaneta
“I figure you have the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not.” –Fran Lebowitz
“There are multitudes whose life is nothing but a continuous lottery; who are always within a few months of plenty and happiness, and how often soever they are mocked with blanks, expect a prize from the next adventure.” –Samuel Johnson |
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Playing the lottery is a mysterious enterprise. Sure, it may look simplistic – buy a ticket, have a chance to win a multitude of money. However, there are a lot of hidden answers when it comes to this kind of game.
I was in a lunch meeting on Monday when our dialogue turned toward New York State (NYS) lottery tickets. One of my co-workers, who likes to accost our minds early in the workweek, hit us with a brainteaser. The first to come up with the correct answer would receive a reward. The prize I failed to win was a lottery scratch-off ticket. Another fellow manager won two bucks and the opportunity to play again.
After the win, others around the table started to converse about a young man they know who appears expert at winning lotteries.
“It unnerves me, how he just stares at the numbers on a ticket and then makes his choices. He won five thousand dollars last month and five hundred dollars before that ticket.”
“Yeah, and then he spent the five thousand on more lottery tickets, thinking he’d win more.”
“He probably will. Seriously, that guy has an eerie way of choosing winning numbers.”
When I was a kid I had a lucky streak. Yeah, those ten and twenty dollar prizes from the scratch-offs my uncle gave me at birthdays made me feel special. And then there was the time I went to the dog races…green and white ARE my colors…
Rather, were my colors. I haven’t played the lottery since it has been legal for me to buy my own ticket. I’m one of those pessimistic people who feel the lottery is probably fixed, and the money that’s spent on tickets doesn’t contribute as much as they say to help out schools anyway.
Actually, I like to think I’m optimistic. The money I save in not playing the lottery allows me to buy more new books to read. 
But I do remember the thrill as a child of picking what I thought were just the right numbers, or choosing the colors that called to me.
For a few reasons my mind is considering the lottery this week. And WDC is flooded with 50/50 raffles, which is a type of lottery. I participate in these when I feel the causes are important, and if I have extra GPs on hand. I am not surprised when I don’t win – I consider it a donation.
I admit to most enjoying the raffles with prizes that aren’t GPs, but instead reviews or signatures are offered. Some people play the lottery for the sheer thrill of possible outcomes. In my opinion, reviews are the coolest thing a writer can win, so I guess that’s why I enter on-line auctions.
"Season Tickets" was this sort of pick-a-prize raffle/auction.
Which brings me to another reason why I have lotteries and raffles and such on the brain – I offered a prize in "Season Tickets" called, “A Mysterious Moment.” Stiggles  was the winner. She’s been very patient; I’ve fulfilled more than half of the package but today I will finally wrap things up.
One of the prizes in “A Mysterious Moment” was to have some of the winner's work featured in the Mystery Newsletter. Luckily, Stiggles has a mystery in her portfolio, and it’s a good one at that. Alas, it is unfinished at this time. But that won’t stop you all from checking it out, right?
C’mon, take a chance. 
Your Challenge: Each member who reviews one of her chapters, displays it on the public page, and sends an e-mail to me stating they’ve done this will receive 1,000 GPs, free and clear, no purchase necessary.
The odds are in your favor. 
While you are contemplating the challenge, I wonder if your muse is pushing you to write a mystery about a lottery? If I were to write or read a story about luck, chance, and numbers, here are some questions I’d like to see addressed: Is the lottery fixed? Can one have a connection to choosing the “right” numbers? Is there a mathematical way to obtain the winning numbers? What sort of person buys twenty lottery tickets, thirty scratch-offs, or forty bingo cards at a go? If most of us daydream about obtaining large sums of money and plan in advance various ways to spend it, why is it said that most winners spend their winnings quickly and rashly on things they later regret purchasing?
Incidentally, I’ve a new employee who I found out also works for the NYS lottery. Is this luck? Coincidence? Fate? Regardless, some of my questions may be answered…
Until next time,
Tehanu |
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 Last NL's Feedback
arya :
hi! tehanu,
i'm compelled to admit that i am completely PETRIFIED of ghost stories
Well-told ghost stories have been known to give me agreeable goosebumps. So I wonder if you are telling me that you enjoy being petrified, or you try to avoid ghost stories altogether?
darkin:
Thank you for a very entertaining and informative newsletter
Darkin
Thanks for the compliment!
Heart In Africa :
First, I want to say Thank You for these last few Mystery newsletters. You have inspired me to try something with an ending to a story which I otherwise might not have considered! We are agreed on leaving at least some aspect of mystery in the story, and so I have a quote for you on that note: "There is a point, easily reached, where the simplest facts end in mystery, even as they begin in it; just as each day lies between two nights." -R. Turnbull
I am happily surprised that the NLs have helped with your story. And, nice quote! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
likenion:
very informative newsletter with tips to make your story mysterious. life itself is one big mystery and vereything in it has its aspect of mystery around it, that's why i think there should be mystery in every story.
actually i find stories atractive, which have very vague way of telling the tale and in the end a major twist that explains the bid mystery, but creates a new mystery with its resolution.
I like when stories are well-rounded and have sub-genres, so I agree with your thought that there should be some mystery in every story...or at least the story should leave the reader with something to think about and question. Thanks for sharing your PoV!
nomlet :
If a story hinges on a mystery, then some plausible explanation(s) had better be presented by the end of the story, or else the nomlet will be  or  . If more than one explanation is put forward, then I think it can be ok to be left hanging.
A recent example for me is the movie "Pan's Labyrinth" ( ). The story is a mix of "real world" events taking place in Spain at the end of WWII and fantasy elements taken from a fairy tale about an underworld princess. At the end of the movie, it is left up in the air as to whether or not any of the fantasy scenes really happened or if they were just in the imagination of the main character. The story reaches a satisfying conclusion either way, which is key, but it does leave a mystery hanging.
And here is another quote for you: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. -- Carl Sagan.
Okay, I am going to have to put this movie in my Netflix queue. Props to you for sharing another excellent quote. Your feedback always makes me . |
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