How to Use Luck in Your Novel

Have you ever used luck as a plot device in your novel? 

Whether it’s a meet cute with a fated mate or that risky final move against the villain that miraculously succeeds, luck often plays a subtle but powerful role in storytelling.

But how much luck is too much? How can writers utilize luck without making characters feel passive or undermining the stakes?

In this post, we’ll explore the dos and don’ts of luck in fiction, the difference between luck and skill, and how you can incorporate luck into your story without frustrating readers.

The Dos and Don’ts:

I like to compare the use of “luck” to Christmas magic in romcoms. Seriously. Watch any Netflix holiday romance and pay careful attention to the Santa character. They’re sometimes disguised as a playful grandma or winking mailman. They may deliver leading one-liners or directly affect the protagonist in some way. No matter what they’re doing, their Christmas magic swoops in to push the character toward adventure. And that’s the key.  

Luck should create scenarios, but it should never be used to solve them. 

The Difference Between Luck and Skill:

For a character to feel active (and for readers to invest in their journey), a protagonist needs to be in charge of their journey. A protagonist needs to make the decisions and take the risks. If luck plays a hand—such as a character leaping over a precipice and making it to the other side despite odds not being in their favor—we will still see it as the character using their skills to make a calculated decision. That said, I still advise writers to use any obvious moments of luck earlier on in the story, when characters are still growing their skillsets (versus using it later on and taking away from the growth they’ve accomplished). 

A character surviving against all odds can feel like luck, but what keeps readers engaged is their skill. 

How to Incorporate Luck Without Frustrating Readers: 

If you are going to use luck for something significant in your story, it should be a theme and introduced early in the story. Think of Domino from X-Men or the movie Just My Luck (2006). You can also play with the idea of luck. The Death Gate cycle is rooted in manipulation of probability. Similarly, Kakagurui is a gambling anime/manga that explores skills disguised as luck or probability, especially when cheating is involved in the setup of a fixed game.

Luck is the setup, not the resolution. Exploring luck still has stakes. 

Luckily…

There are many ways to approach luck, but at the end of the day, readers invest in characters who use their hard-earned skills.

What about you? Have you ever utilized luck in a story? 

~SAT