: Re: What's the difference between Deus Ex Machina and coincidence? I've read 1, 2, 3 and of course, 4. Then I read 5 and 6 and even 7. I was blissfully ignorant about coincidence, DEM and plot-convenience;

@Debbie451

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There is no clear line. If everything else is going well, people won't notice that your coincidence is far fetched. The same plot resolution in another story might be considered "too much" to believe. But, let's try this:

A single action by one person (say, tripping and falling and hitting a lever that wasn't marked and that the person had no way of knowing about) completely eliminates all the problems (the multiple antagonists all fall into the open trapdoor, or all weapons stop working, etc) - too much
A series of actions, all in line with the character's, well, character, and all logical things for a person to do in that situation, leading to a success against strong odds - ok, even if the reader couldn't predict some of those actions.
A certain amount of unreliable narrator, where a character "steps out to chat with some locals" and then at the climax of the story the locals come riding over the hill with 50 of their friends and save our hero, as we're told that the chat was to plan this exact rescue -- it can work, especially if you've shown this character forming strong relationships and understanding the relevant group dynamics of the village or whatever

I think the key is the work you put in. If you get to the end and decide you want someone to push a Big Red Button and fix it, fine, but then go back and put the clues in. Have someone sit up late at night reading old notebooks and manuals. Or learning the ancient language -- and when they get to the room have them grin and say all that study time was worth it. Build up the parts of that character that make it believable they would be in a position to save everything just like that. Don't just say "Oh, did I not mention I was fluent in Ancient and studied all these control rooms for the last 20 years before you met me?" If there's magic in your world, give somebody a lucky talisman that makes even their trip-and-falls work for them, and show it working on a small scale long before the Big Moment.
You don't need to invent all that stuff before your DEM is written. You can go back and add it after you write the DEM. to turn the DEM back into a coincidence or even the only possible way this could have played out, which is what you want it to feel like.

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