: Re: Is a stroke of luck acceptable after a series of unfavorable events? The protagonist sets out on a journey to reach a goal. But the further he gets into the story, the clearer he understands

@Ogunnowo420

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Generic Rules of Thumb
1 Proportionality
No positive act of luck should exceed in value the greatest change allowed by a single negative instance of luck that took things away. That is, if your character loses 0 in small increments of or , they should not have a lucky event that awards them 0 all at once with no strings attached.
2 Reasonableness
A reader should not be shocked by the idea that the lucky event has happened. If it literally comes out of left field, its likely too random for a reader. Dues Ex Machina worked in the past because people assumed Gods fixed things. It's not unreasonable for a God to fix things if you believe Gods fix things. It just may not be as satisfying as the individual fixing things themselves. So, if luck features in your story then the "positive" luck things should be as reasonable as the "negative" luck things that happen. Which means they'd be reasonable happening to anyone in the same situation.
3 Deservedness
Contrary to popular belief bad things happen to good and bad people; but in stories they only happen to people who need to learn something. Good things shouldn't start happening until the character starts learning his lessons. If each good thing that happens at random follows some act that makes us think the character deserves something positive then it might very well be luck, but it will feel deserved and thereby accepted.
It is possible that high marks in any one of the above fields might make high marks in all of them unnecessary. If you've established that a character is rich, does not care very much for his money, and likes your main character; then perhaps after they get to know each other over a drink and your mc becomes likable; your mc might "fall" into a business opportunity or be given a substantial monetary gift. That amount of luck might not be proportional, but if it feels authentic (reasonable) and deserved that's enough. If it doesn't feel authentic and reasonable then it probably needs to have a smaller impact on the story.
Example
The modern movie "My Neighbor Totoro" is a Deus Ex Machina film, but it spends the first half of the movie establishing a spiritual background where forces from the beyond might actually be able to step in and save the day. The first half of the film is full of the children coming to grips with this spiritual realm and working for respect. If the film hadn't done this, the film likely would have ended with a 4-year-old dead in a pond or on the side of a road -or- worse, a unsatisfying "lucky" ending.

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