: Re: How do you determine if a plot device is too coincidental? I see lazy plot devices as anything that is too coincidental. Person One just so happened to be in the 'area' when Person Two was

@Carla500

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If you feel like your plot elements show too much of the author's deus ex machina, then go back and figure out a way to make them more organic.

Sometimes this may mean backing up several scenes, or possibly halfway back into the book, to put your pieces in motion. If Sherlock needs to run into Molly late at night at the morgue, you have to establish early on in the storyline that Molly keeps long hours and has no life so it's not unusual for her to be at the morgue at 2am, on Christmas Eve, etc. This is less contrived than "Molly happened to forget her purse at the morgue and went back to get it because she needed her phone and just happened to run into Sherlock."

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