Intentionally writing a Deus Ex Machina?
I'm in a bit of a dilemma. At one point near the end of my story, I intentionally pulled a huge Deus Ex Machina that has no previous explanation, hint or even justification. In fact, I could (and may or may not) completely remove that plot point and the story would remain the same. This plot point is some problem that is suddenly introduced, and almost immediately resolved. However, it does have a purpose. Two, actually:
- Create a tense and shocking twist at the end of a chapter, and;
- Hint at a larger plot/universe.
The second point is the main reason why I'm keeping it currently. The reader doesn't know there is a larger universe/set of linked stories, but the Ex Machina explains a few major events in other stories, such that it no longer is an Ex Machina. That only happens after this current story is wrapped up and finished, though. For someone reading this story, and this story alone, this plot line doesn't have anything to hold on to.
In order to not make this primarily opinion-based, let's assume I follow through with keeping this plot line:
How would an intentional Deus Ex Machina influence the quality/credibility of my story?
Additionally, an insight into what the reader might think of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere Ex Machina, would be appreciated. I had a read at this related question, which was the closest to my question I could find. From what I've gathered, an Ex Machina is more easily forgiven if there is merit in it. I believe the plot point merits the Ex Machina (without its consequences, the story would have a rather unsatisfactory conclusion. Without it altogether, the story would be much the same, save an intense moment).
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/34293. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
If you could remove that plot point and the story would remain the same, then it is not a deux ex machina. It is only deus ex machina if the entire resolution of the plot depends on an intervention of some force entirely outside of everything that has happened in the story before. In other words, it refers to a story in which the hero does not merit the outcome of their quest.
A Deus Ex Machina is about the overall resolution of the whole story. A plot point that is suddenly introduced out of nowhere and almost immediately resolved is a distraction. There is a progress to stories and elements that are not part of that progress are like being stuck in a traffic jam. Suddenly the reader is not making progress anymore. So much of the craft of storytelling comes down to this: keeping the story moving. Whatever else it is you want to get in, it has to also function to move the story forward. It must up the ante. This is what makes storytelling hard.
So what you actually have is something from outside the story crashing the party toward the end but not influencing the outcome of the story. That is not DXM, but it is almost certainly not going to work either. Stories work within a set of rules about what is physically and morally possible. These rules don't have to have a lot to do with what is physically and morally possible in the real world, but they have to be consistent in the story world or the reader won't know what is really a stake.
If you want to suggest that the story that the reader has just read in fact took place in a terrarium on the desk of a superbeing and that in the next book the heroes will have to escape from the terrarium and battle the god, that is fine, but it comes after the denouement, so that the story world remain intact until its moral and emotional arc is complete.
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