Random Fiction

My groove had turned into a rut, and I was deep in it. Slow. Gray. Blah.

For whatever reason, I decided I needed some fiction in my life. A novel. More so, a novel novel. But how to choose something to help me wake up?

I would not choose! Fate would choose for me. Fate would take the form of a six-sided die (or “dice”, if that is how you roll).

Suddenly life had color. I was super excited to see what would happen next.

Next scene: I am at the public library’s fiction area and cast the die to determine which aisle to enter. Then I do the same to choose which side of the aisle, which set of shelves, which individual shelf, and finally which book.

After working through this process four times I ended up with four books that I never, ever, ever (ever!) would have selected otherwise.

New rule: I only have to read the first 10 pages. If I don’t like it by then, move on. Stupid die.

So far I have been gifted seven books this way:

• Four were mystery novels
• One was a romance novel
• One was short stories
• One was a spy thriller
• Five did not make it much past page 10 (but two did!)

Then life shifted (again) and I was on to something else.

It was a fun ride that I will surely revisit someday.

Appendix 1

You might wonder how I used a single six-sided die to randomize more than six options. Here is what I came up with:

1. Roll to get a number and physically advance that many options.
2. Roll the die. If it’s a 5 or 6, you are already at your choice (don’t advance). If it’s 1 - 4, advance that many options, looping if needed. If you looped, you are now at your choice. If you are not at your choice, repeat this step.

Appendix 2

I’m a big fan of using a random number generator app on my phone, when the bounds are known (e.g. “a number between 8 and 324”). The app I’m using is called Pretty Random. I recently used it to pick three recipes out of a new cookbook. It is weird and hard to describe how soothing I find this.

However, the slow advancement of the die method in Appendix 1 was exciting in a physical space like the library.