Originally published at: Shani's Tutoring | Creating Great Minds
Deus Ex Machina is probably one of the most frustrating things to deal with when reading a story. It is also one of the easiest traps to fall into as a writer. Learn how to tackle those plot details here!
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I must admit that this term was new to me when I first read the blog post. I knew of this plot device and how annoying it can be. I even admit that I used it when I was a kid, unfortunately, it was a quick bandaid-fix to âimproveâ the story and solve the problem. But I just didnât know the term.
So now as I read this again, I realise I should mention how helpful and informative this blog post was.
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I actually thought the example provided in the post was super interesting to see; since it showed how developing your world can lead to clear answers to problems that are still in line with how you intend your story to be.
Iâve never been particularly good with structuring things, so it was cool seeing a way to deal with that.
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As Caliope said I personally had never heard this term before or knew this occurrence of events in writing actually had a name other than the âmysterious saviourâ. I myself often do not write stories and share them due to the fact that I often fall victim as a writer to the dangerous pull of Deus Ex Machina to finish a story, epesically when creativity and motivation seem to run dry.
However, at the mention of it I can think of a few stories where this almost happens. The first to come to mind is actually The Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare. I wonât share the ending due to spoilers, however, I will say something similar occurs in the resolving of the book, with only a few hints of it a few chapters before. And this also happens once again in the series, not with the ending but rather the major revolution found in books. This being random characters appearing as villains or suddenly new characters that help the protagonist to win in the end.
I think this subject is actually a very helpful and needed for writers and readers to understand the difficulties of this and how to hopefully improve these setbacks and problems that arise.
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Like any method of this variety, this is an extremely easy way to completely mess up a story and leave plot holes, however it can still be a good thing if done really well. There is a very small window of where it can be pulled off, so it has to be a calculated risk and it would require plenty of planning. If you set everything up with the plan of a everything magically being solved, you can give actual reasons as to why. If it is actually reasonable with how your story works and makes sense it can actually work. The best way to make it actually seem right would be to hint at how it could happen throughout the story. (More than just a basic hint at the existence, but hinting at how the outside assistance to the characters could become involved to fix things.) For example you could have a character that often sends a message to someone of great power, begging for help, only to fail to receive a message back every time. By the end the struggle was great enough where the characters had a small chance of success until that powerful individual came to give the characters the boost they needed. Something like that, where you have planned and set up a near failure from the beginning and set up reasons why the help came, makes it to where it can work.
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I never really noticed this in stories I read, but I understand that it can be really frustrating for the readers. From a writerâs point of view, itâs an easy way to end the story and solve everything but I didnât think anyone would really do this now. Iâm glad I finally know what that phrase means and that I shouldnât do that in my stories. I also didnât plan on doing that because whereâs the fun in starting a lot of problems in your story and then just magically letting them be solved? 
If you create many problems for the characters in your story and canât find better way to solve them in the end, maybe there were too many problems? Or just donât give them a happy ending and let the problems take over 
Itâs reminder time again, @Bloggers. Shaniâs fifth blog post. I didnât know this term before I read this blog the first time around and found it super interesting. This is such an annoying thing to happen in a story. Is there anyone who has read this in or written this into a story before?
Remember that if you really enjoyed this blog, feel free to recommend it (itâs similar to liking it). This will help with it being higher in the results of search engines too.
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ooh I donât know what this meansâŚ
guess Iâm about to find out!!
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Iâve heard this phrase a lot while watching Cinema Sins but I never actually understood what it meant. The more that I think about it, the more common this kind of thing is in action movies. I havenât really seen this in books. Itâs definitely made me more conscious about my writing and the endings. I actually have a hard time writing endings because I feel like whatever I write just isnât up to standard.
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I remember learning what the term really meant through reading a series of unfortunate events because itâs explained what the literary device is then it gets applied to the actual story (which is probably one of my favourite things about a series of unfortunate events) I think this is the only example of deus ex machina that didnât frustrate me. I feel like it can be done well though in certain situations but in general it really isnât something I wanna use in my own writing. This blog post is rad as ever 
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OMG! Thatâs right, I vaguely remembered it from something and I couldnât remember what it was.
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whew okay iâm a bit late but still hereâs my two cents
yes, ex-machina is usually a cheap and bland way to solve problems or at least advance the narrative
however, i wouldnât say to âavoid it at all costsâ
letâs take a look at Shakespeareâs Midsummer Nightâs Dream
there, one of the plots is solved by what one could classify now as an ex-machina: a creature uses a magical flower to solve the love tangle while the four characters in that mess are asleep
boiling it down to those terms, it does seem pretty ex-machina to me (Puck ex-machina i guess)
yet, it doesnât take away from the story
if anything, that was what sparked the deepest discussion about this comedy when i took a seminar about Shakespeare
yes, Deus ex-machina can usually seem lazy or bland, but sometimes, when used right, it can give space for a lot of discussion about the charactersâ position in their universe, expand the worldbuilding and sometimes even give way to a new conflict
so if thereâs something youâd like to explore though ex-machina: donât shy away from it, just be aware of how youâre using it
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