: Re: Is it a deus ex machina if the alternative is illogical? Background: I know to avoid Deus Ex Machinas - meaning to me a sudden and unexpected solution arriving out of nowhere to save an otherwise

I'd say for this to work, there should be sufficient information before this point for the readers not to see the antagonist as a bad guy. Machiavellian perhaps, but not evil.

Then, for the antagonist, it should indeed be the logical solution to let your protagonists go. I mean, they fought against him. It isn't logical to send a message that "fight me, and you will be generously rewarded". It also makes sense that if the antagonist chooses to let them go, he would make sure to render them powerless to ever oppose him again.

And finally, you would need to address how your protagonists feel about getting what they wanted handed to them on a silver platter by the antagonist. Are they suspicious, expecting some treachery? Remorseful for having fought a guy who turned out not to be so bad after all? Angry at getting "pity", rather than having won their rewards?

It wouldn't feel so much as an ugly Deus Ex Machina if all the implications are addressed, I think.

Load Full (0)

: How to evoke wonder in the reader, when there isn't an incredulous character? A "fish out of water" character can serve as a reader proxy: whether it is a wondrous view, an unusual custom,

@Deb2945533

Load Full 3 Comments

: How to make documentation accessible to vision-impaired audiences? Nowadays, governments and corporations alike are putting an ever-increasing number of accessibility laws in place to ensure that

@Deb2945533

Load Full 3 Comments

: Short answer: definitely, absolutely, wholeheartedly 3. Long answer: Sir Terry Pratchett wrote somewhere that since he was reading a lot as a child, when he was little there were many words

@Deb2945533

Load Full 0 Comments

: What you're looking for is beta readers. Beta readers would read all your work, and look at exactly the things you are unsure about: general flow, plot holes, etc. Who can be beta readers?

: Re: Is it a deus ex machina if the alternative is illogical? Background: I know to avoid Deus Ex Machinas - meaning to me a sudden and unexpected solution arriving out of nowhere to save an otherwise

More posts by @Deb2945533

: How to evoke wonder in the reader, when there isn't an incredulous character? A "fish out of water" character can serve as a reader proxy: whether it is a wondrous view, an unusual custom,

: How to make documentation accessible to vision-impaired audiences? Nowadays, governments and corporations alike are putting an ever-increasing number of accessibility laws in place to ensure that

: Short answer: definitely, absolutely, wholeheartedly 3. Long answer: Sir Terry Pratchett wrote somewhere that since he was reading a lot as a child, when he was little there were many words

: What you're looking for is beta readers. Beta readers would read all your work, and look at exactly the things you are unsure about: general flow, plot holes, etc. Who can be beta readers?

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top