k-frances:
For part one in which I provide an in depth explanation of what Deus Ex Machina means and...
How can I tell if I’ve written a Deus Ex Machina, and how can I fix it?How can you tell if your own ending is Machina-y, because it’s easy to see it in the over the top examples I gave in part one, but not always so obvious to us in our own work. So here’s what to do and what to look for.
Examine the ending. Machinas come at the climax when the plot is being resolved. It’s not really an issue to use a Machina on a tiny side sub plot most of the time, because if the stakes aren’t high anyway, the reader won’t really care or feel like the character cheated their way out of trouble. So mainly, just worry about the climax.
Ask yourself:
-How does the resolution come about? If the answer to this question has nothing to do with your main character’s actions (not just their existance, but something they actually worked for or did), then you may have a Deus Ex Machina on your hands.
-Could the reader guess the ending? If there was illusion to or mention of your ending as a possible ending, then it’s probably not a Deus Ex Machina, because it didn’t come out of nowhere. Ex: “The ingredients the Evil Doctor is using are so highly explosive, we could just blow them up!” Even if the main character doesn’t do it, and someone else blows up said ingredients in a surprising manner, we still knew it was on the table, so it’s probably not a Machina.
-Does the character deserve it? Even if the main character didn’t create the ending, if they have been actively working toward a goal that has ever eluded them and the reader feels like they deserve that ending, giving it to them even through a god coming down from heaven won’t feel as cheap, because the character earned it, even if none of their actions amounted to anything. On the other hand, if you have a very passive character who is just being moved about by the plot, giving them an easy out will probably feel like a Machina in most cases.
-Is there any foreshadowing of this possibility? If you drop hints, even metaphorical and vague hints of a certain ending, that ending coming to pass won’t surprise the reader so much that their going to go, “Oh, how ‘effing convenient” and shut the book and walk away.
If you don’t meet the majority of these criteria, you probably wrote a Machina. That almost rhymes.
Anyway, you should meet most of these criteria with your plot climax/resolution. If you found you were coming up short in two or three of these areas, you might have a Machina-y ending. But don’t quit now! You can fix it! Here’s how!
-Make your story as character driven as possible. This is probably the most straightforward and sure-fire cures of a Machina, but it’s not always doable. Some of us write plots that are very large in scope and sort of out of the character’s hands, like an alien invasion for example. But do your best to have the character drive the story to the resolution, even if that resolution isn’t all their doing. Even if this won’t work for you because your plot must end in a way that wasn’t driven directly by your character, you can do all or some of the following other things to help it feel less Machina-y.
-Give the stakes. Be your own judge, but if stating the stakes doesn’t totally ruin the tension of your story, it might seriously help your reader believe the ending. State at some point some of the possible ways this story could end, so that when one of them happens out of your character’s hands, the reader sort of saw it coming. For example, if you know there is One Big Bad that will stand in the way of your resolution, maybe mention their Greatest Weakness, so that when that weakness ultimately defeats them, the reader won’t call last minute Machina plot fix.
Make your character worthy. I might just be a sadist, but this usually means suffering. If your character gets a happy ending that they themselves didn’t cultivate, you need to prove to the reader that they at least deserve it. Put the character and the reader through hell attempting to reach the resolution and failing. By the time your character is handed the resolution they’ve been working for, it will be more of a relief for the reader, and less of a cheap cop out.
Foreshadow that bitch. If all else fails, foreshadowing is your saving grace and can probably fix just about any Deus Ex Machina. Well at least, let me put it this way, if you can’t foreshadow your plot resolution, then it’s probably not a good resolution. Remember, foreshadowing isn’t just telling the reader upfront what’s going to happen. It’s more like whispering a sensual what if in their ear through the subtext of the book. If the villain’s gun is going to be out of bullets, foreshadow that bitch by showing the henchman forgetting to load the guns in previous scene. Cheesy example, but you get it.
Machi-NotsTo drive this point home, I’m going to do what I always do, which is blatantly disagree with popular opinion.
There are many plot resolutions labeled as Deus Ex Machina’s that really aren’t. Remember, a Deus Ex Machina comes out of no where and has nothing to do with the skills, personality, or existence of the main character. The villain is standing on the sidewalk, about to kill our hero, and they’re hit by a car before they can pull the trigger. Here are two examples I always see referenced as Machinas that I don’t agree with:
Sword of Godric Gryffindor in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: It’s true, when Harry pulls the sword out of the sorting hat, and we get Phoenix tears healing wounds, it is certainly borderline Machina-y. However, we are told that the sword only appeared to Harry because of his actions, a claim that is relatively backed up by the rest of the story. We also feel that Harry at this point as earned a saving grace, or most people would. He actively figured out the Chamber of Secrets and went through a lot of trouble and failures to do so. It wasn’t made easy for him. He’s also a child, and this is a children’s book, so the convenient ending matches the tone better than if this were adult fiction. There is also foreshadowing of this ending, because we know about the sword, we know about the Phoenix, and we see that the cover of the fucking book is a Phoenix literally carrying Harry so come on, if you were too slow to put the two together, don’t blame J.K. Just sayin’. But, I will agree, it’s treading on a fine line.
The Bacteria that killed the invading aliens in War of the Worlds: What?! Certainly you can’t be suggesting that aliens getting colds is an acceptable ending to a alien-war movie. I am. I am suggesting that. This is an example where the metaphorical meaning of what’s happening is more relevant than the character’s actual actions or causation of the resolution. The viewer might never be told that the aliens might catch a cold, but that ending shouldn’t feel too unfamiliar to us… because that’s the story of American colonization. And this was an American film, so it’s assumed that the viewers know the story
(like in traditional Greek Machinas which were never considered a bad thing, that the viewers know the Gods)
. An invader comes in, impossibly strong and undefeatable, and for their imperialistic cockiness, they catch the Montezuma’s Revenge! So it’s not out of no where, and it’s almost foreshadowed in the terminologies used in the movie. Furthermore, in this unusual case, the literary beauty of what’s happening makes the ending feel fair. The aliens (inherently an undeserving villain, because hey were’re all rooting for the humans) were killed by the very earth they were attempting to destroy. “By the toll of a billion deaths, Man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet’s infinite organisms.” (and Morgan Freeman says it, so like… come on.) Now, could this have benefited from some stronger foreshadowing, perhaps evidence earlier on that the aliens were getting sick, sure. But all and all I would call this a successful Machi-Not.There’s plenty more that I don’t agree with, but take these examples simply to mean that, despite what you might have heard, Deus Ex Machina-like endings are not a death sentence. It can be made better by a few easy steps, and sometimes can be an even better ending than one where the main characters defeat the bad-bad by their own hands.
I hope this was informative. Please feel free to open the dialogue if you agree/disagree with something I said!
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