Dues Ex Machina?

[Ürei]

Is it still a bad use of Dues Ex Machina if they say at the very beginning, "This is all a dream."?

Edit: Deus ex Machina, Futsy corrected me.

[Reiko]

heh there's nothing wrong with a deus ex machina if done right, sometimes it helps the story, it just leads to unsatisfying endings if you use them too late.

[Ürei]

Well...the worst Deus ex Machina, in my mind, is a story ending with the main character waking up from a dream and thats it. But, if it is said that its a dream, and you will wake up, then is it still that horrible? Thats my question.

[Zook Murnig]

The bigger letdown is the sudden waking up from a dream option. Letting us know at the beginning that it's all a dream just ruins the suspense from the beginning, unless it's done properly throughout.

For instance, in the astral projection solo I'm writing, Caduceus is going into a sort of sleep at the beginning, preparing to project. It's made obvious then that none of it is happening physically, but within his own mind. However, there are dangers to his psyche and the possibility of brain damage should he get waylaid in his journey. I'm hoping that's enough of a danger to cause enough suspense for a good story.

[Lady Anais]

Well...the worst Deus ex Machina, in my mind, is a story ending with the main character waking up from a dream and thats it. But, if it is said that its a dream, and you will wake up, then is it still that horrible? Thats my question.

It largely depends on the story. For example, I plan to use the "wake up from a dream" one quite directly in a solo I'm going to do, but I don't see it as negative since it's an "origin story", meant specifically to show a more detailed flashback of a past event in the character's history. In that case, I think it's very applicable as a vessel for the flashback, but in many cases percieved as present or ongoing situations, it does get silly.

[Elrundir]

I don't think it really counts as deus ex machina in that case, though. It has to be a "miraculous" solution to a problem in order to fit that definition. If it's a flashback that's being told in a dream, then it's really just that, and therefore another plot device on its own.

Anyway, as has already been said, it really depends on how you pull it off. There are good ways to use the "it was all a dream" trick and bad ways to use the "what follows is all a dream" trick. With the former, you need to make sure the reader doesn't feel let down, and as though he'd like a refund on the last hour of his life. With the latter, you need to give the reader some reason to continue reading at all. It's too grey to make a blanket statement on which one is good and which one isn't.

[Ashiakin]

Can you really call it deus ex machina if you directly state it's all a dream in the beginning? A deus ex machina is supposed to be a surprise ending... If you tell people from the outset it's a dream, waking up at the end is not a surprise. So I don't think what you're talking about would be a deus ex machina at all.

As to using them in general, I try to shy away from it. If you're going to do it, it's important that you don't break suspension of disbelief. Like, let's say you've been contracted by the Aleraran army to fight a bunch of zombies. At the end of the thread when you and your companions are surrounded and about to be killed, the army comes in and saves the day at the last moment. That would be fine, because while it's a "surprise" ending designed to make people feel good, it does not break suspension of disbelief. What you should not do is have an army of mystical spaghetti fairies come and turn the zombies into salads--because nowhere in the thread did you make any mention of mystical spaghetti fairies with salad magic.

[Ürei]

Thank you. I'm reminded every day how very little I know about writing.

I hope my idea works out, even if it isn't a deus ex machina [glad about that].

[Silvermaiden]

Ok...please forgive me for being dumb...

I have heard of Deus ex Machina many times before...however I am not really clear on what it actually means and/or is.
Can someone explain it to me?

[Ashiakin]

It's just when you introduce an unbelievable set of circumstances at the end of a story to resolve it neatly. Like a bunch of knights riding in to save the day just before the heroes get killed, or, as was mentioned, the heroes waking up and realizing their whole ordeal was a dream and they were never in any real danger.

[Lady Anais]

Ok...please forgive me for being dumb...

I have heard of Deus ex Machina many times before...however I am not really clear on what it actually means and/or is.
Can someone explain it to me?

Deus ex Machina or "God in the Machine" basically refers to a miracle save pulled out of nowhere, unexpectedly.

Twists of fate when the hero are screwed that make the save refer to this. It can be as localised: Such as a fight in a storm and suddenly a lightning bolt strikes the villian as he is set to deliver the killing blow to the hero. Or the hero is surrounded by a horde of enemies and without warning backup shows up and mops them up with extreme prejudice. It's basically any time you use a surprise "miracle" to either save or undo the events of the story.

[Edit: Ninja'd]

[Sevellus]

A Deus ex Machina is usually described as a bad thing or a let down to the ending of a potentially good story, but it was actually used in greek tragedy to remind people that it was the gods who were in control of their lives, ie: a legendary hero faces incredible odds to find himself in a situation where he can not possibly hope to win. Then, suddenly, and unexpectedly the hero's favored god appears and whisks him away and he lives happily ever after, bringing the conflict to an immediate and completely suprising ending (although somewhat of a let down).

When you use it in the form of a dream, where your hero is about to be slain by a demon, and suddenly, he wakes up in a cold sweat and is completely fine in his hotel bedroom, its effective if you use it to give the impression that the character has some sort of personal demons he's fighting with. and if the emphasis is on what your character is suffering through in his nightmares, and not on the fact that he woke up, then it can still be an effective tool.

for example, if a character suffers unspeakable horrors in his dream, described well and your writing portrays the suffering adequately, and then wakes up, ending his pain unexpectedly, but you went on to describe the shadows in his bedroom, dancing mockingly, and characterizing the darkness, the focus is no longer on the fact that you just suddenly woke up, but rather the nightmare continues on in his/her daily life. A waking nightmare, if you will.

Its all in how you do it.