Any ideas on how to think up an accident? Hello, folks. In my latest literary pursuit, I've got to have a character kind of "stumble in" to a machine. I'd like to keep this brief, so suffice it to say that my character is not overly curious, nor is he very ambitious. You see, he's a reporter. He had to interview the scientist, which is how I got him into the lab in the first place. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a way to get my character inside the machine by accident. It has to be an accident because the scientist would not benefit from pushing him into the machine, and he would never step into it by his own free will. I might also say the machine is something a bit like a time machine. I know that's over done, but it's not a time maching per-say, and it's a book for younger folks as well. If anyone has any opinions on this, I'd love to hear them. I'm flexible on what's already happened. Thanks!
Maybe something malfunctions, and he sees an opportunity for a story, so he goes to check it out. People are panicing and one of them bumps into the reporter causing him to stumble into the machine.
How about this, the reporter does possess something valuable when he is there. Somehow, that thing ends up being there by "accident".
I like architectus's Idea, but then again YOU stated that he wasn't too ambitious so he wouldn't really be wandering into things looking for a story that he wasn't sent there to report. hmmm. Whats the reason he needs to interview the scientist? is it about the machine that he needs to fall into? If so, maybe the scientist offers a closer look and he accidentally leans on a button or something. or if not, maybe they can be talking on a cat walk above the machine and he gets hit off by machinery or trips into it. or OR hes grown tired of living and when he hears, "its still in its testing stages and hasn't been tested on humans yet. Don't want people losin' their heads now do we. haha" then he runs into it but it DOES work and it inspires him to live again. IIIIIIIi dunno lol. OOOR whats the size of the machine? maybe he walks into the building holding the machine and he believes hes entered a hall way with a single door but the door in the 'hallway' (which is the giant side of the machine) is really the entrance to the machine, unknowingly he goes in to look for the scientist and BAM gone.
In these situations, its usually an accident that propels them into the machine. Like in the first episode of futurama, Fry falls off his chair while rocking backwards and falls into the cryogenic thing, and that's how they get him to the future.
I don't believe Iulia was referring to physically colliding with the machine. I think she meant discovering it by accident, without any prior suspicions or hints of its existence.
Since he is a reporter, what about it being in a lab of a scientist he is sent to interview that he really doesn't want to do because of some personal vendetta and it appears to be something ordinary at first (i.e. a walk-in storage unit, etc).
I would think something being on the floor would be the easiest way for him to fall into something. Maybe he's wandering around while waiting for the scientist to finish something, maybe a scientific crisis? There can be anything on the floor that rolls or causes it to be slippery. While he's wandering around touching stuff, picking up beakers, and being nosy, he could not notice the object on the floor and step right on it. Then in a sprawling flail he could grab a hold of the machine as he is falling into it and activates the buttons. Just an idea.
The reporter has a thing about collecting pens. As he is leaving the interview he glances into the machine, and there on the floor is a bright new pen. He can't resist picking it up, intending to take it home and add it to his collection.
