Deus Ex Machina VS Taking Opportunities

[Spacescifi]

In a fiction setting imagine the main characters are put in a bad situation and need to get out of it.

Either deus ex machina can happen....as in someone or something unexpected saves them.

Or they take an opportunity as it presents itself which does save them in the end, although not necessarily right away.

I currently prefer taking opportunities because it is far more realistic. In real life how often do we get saved from bad results? Not often....usually quite rare.

 

I read a Tron fanfic that I thought did a better job than the Tron Legacy sequel.

It was a scenario where Quorra failed to save Sam during his lightbike duel with CLU.

While the story can include a bit too much character thought at times, it shines when it comes to problem resolution. Often characters flat out admit they do not know how to solve the problem at hand. Other times they have an option but are afraid it will make matters worse because it could.

In the end risks are taken and lives are risked, resulting in a version of Tron Legacy that would have earned a PG-13 rating given some bloody injuries Sam sustains.

But they succeed, all because they took opportunities as they presented themselves to take.

There was virtually no deus ex machina at all to the story's credit, since even when the bad guy spared lives he did so for reasons that actually fit his character motivations.

 

Spoiler

For Want Of a Voxel fanfic

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by Spacescifi

[Shpaget]

Spoiler

when they don't know what to say

and have completely given up on the play

just like a finger they lift the machine

and the spectators, next slide please, are satisfied.

— Antiphanes