The Trendsetter

When I took the Creative Writing IV course years ago for my Malay Literature Studies, our professor taught us the elements of the novel. He advised us to create realistic plots so that your characters can think and act as credible as people do in real life. Otherwise he advised, you will end up pigeonholing your characters and he/she will be unable to extricate themselves of the situation(s), problem(s) or dilemmas they are confronted and you will end up using deus ex machina to rescue them. He said “if I encounter this in your fiction, I will give you a big fat F!”

In hindsight, I think he probably just want to scare the heck out of us and when I started to write my first novel for the course, as a requirement, he surely did. I learned how difficult it is to craft a story with a believable plot without getting entangled with coincidences. I wanted the story to have a happy ending, but due to my lack of experience in how to twist and turn the plot like a pro, I ended-up creating the plot where the main protagonist walks out without a solution. Thank God, he didn’t give me an F!

So what is deus ex machina? In Wikipedia:

The phrase deus ex machina (literally “god out of a machine”) describes an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (e.g. an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems).

If you are just learning or beginning to write, it is easy to get trapped in using a deus ex machina for the plot. It is easily spotted at the climax of the plot when you introduce someone else or use a coincidence to solve the character’s problem instead of your protagonist finding the solution. If you add third parties to solve the protagonist’s problem, or help to move the plot forward, make it as credible as possible. Show through your plot or subplot why the third parties come into the picture instead of making them appear suddenly without an explanation. You need to legitimatize them by preparing the ground for their appearance so the reader will believe the reason(s) why they are necessary to the story.

Sol Stein in his book titled Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies gives an example:

Problem: Sally and Howie are ex-lovers who have not entirely gotten over each other. The author has arranged for Sally to run into Howie in the shopping mall. The reader smells coincidence.

Solution: The reader learns that Sally has been avoiding a particular store she and Howie used to shop in because she’s afraid of meeting Howie there. But Sally wants something in that store – and no other store in the neighborhood – carries. Before entering the store’s revolving door, Sally peers through the window to make sure Howie isn’t in there. She goes in, finds what she wants, and hurries to the revolving door, a smile on her face, only to see Howie in the other compartment of the revolving door on his way in. They both register surprise, then laugh.

It is still a coincidence, but according to Stein, the way the author arranged it with detail – the special store, Sally peering in to avoid Howie, the revolving door – all helps to make their coincidental meeting a true surprise.

No deus ex machina there!