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Sunday, February 16, 2003

 

Writer's Tip # 654108

Dues ex Machina

(God in the Machine)

The term Dues ex Machina comes from Greek theater. It refers to a common (if cheap and amateurish) technique of solving a character's intractable dilemma by injecting a god. In example, we last saw our hero, Larry, tied to barrel that's heading towards a 10,000 waterfall with a pool full of venomous alligators at the bottom, and then, right at the edge, up pops Poseidon (for the first time in the story) with an offer of a helping hand. Voila, Dues ex Machina.

In more relevant terms, Dues ex Machina crops up in many insidious ways. I see this in fantasy stories most often, but it happens in hard science fiction also (I have dubbed this the Gordy LaForge Effect. "The trilithium pan-dimensional gakaflow is just enough to counter transtemporal flux radiation. We're saved!"). Fantasy's ability to bend reality through magic makes Dues ex Machina tough to avoid sometimes. Unless you've carefully thought your magical physics through, and planted the rules firmly, it's damn easy to just whip out the old +9 spell of save-our-hero's-ass.

For many writers, it is far simpler to invent a perilous situation than it is to extricate one's character from it. Care should always be taken to justify a character's escape--both motivationally and practically. Would our hero, as already described and developed, be able to do this thing? And is this means of escape plausible given the constraints of the narrative world you've built? I usually try to pre-shadow any important means of escape early in the story. This technique is best if kept subtle. From the previous example, if we let slip in previous narrative that Larry once learned a minor spell of Reverse River, and make it a believable part of Larry's World, and even demonstrate it in a way that doesn't reveal the peril to come.... Well, let's just say to hell with it. I never much liked Larry anyway, and those 'gators are getting hungry.

Class dismissed.

posted by Max E. Keele 10:41 AM

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