Luck as a character trait and avoiding Deus ex Machina

[artiestroke she/her]

So one of my character’s magical quirks is being blessed with supernatural good fortune- but I fear straying too close to just writing her into Deus ex Machina after Deus ex Machina. For example- the opening scene that both features this ability and gets the party together involves her being chased into a broken down transportation hub by anti-magic raiders at just the right moment that our Main Protagonist is fiddling with a transportation hub near her own hometown, activating it and starting the plot. Is there a way to write Luck that doesn’t feel contrived?

[Lightning he/him]

Yes, give it a cost.  The cost might be that it won't work again for 3 hours.  Or they have a bit of bad luck afterward.  Or...

[not an Evil Librarian]

The luck doesn't work all the time. at the midpoint of the story, have the main character rely on her luck to solve a problem, and have her fail utterly. 

Perhaps this trait could be tied in with a character arch. for the first half of the story, she could rely on her luck to solve problems. at the midpoint, her luck fails her when it matters most. So for the rest of the story, she is trying to solve problems without taking any chances. during the third act, she could be put in a situation where she must rely on her luck once more. She could go from a character who always trusts the roll of the dice since, more often than not, the odds come up in her favor, to a character who is terrified of relying on luck. In the end, she must come to terms with the fact that sometimes she must rely on chance. 

Just a thought

(Edit) one of the most common and effective ways to take bad writing and making it work is to tie it in with the themes of the story. Shrek and One Punch Man are good examples of this. In Shrek, the protagonist is an oger who has lived a simple and lonely life and is suddenly forced out of it and into the world of fairy tale knights and princesses. so while crude humor is usually a big no-no in writing, it works for Shrek because of the crude humor ties into the story thematically.

One Punch Man is about an overpowered superhero who can defeat any enemy, no matter how powerful with just one punch. while overpowered protagonists are usually bad writing, the show is great because it is more about the protagonist's inner conflict. the main character is bored with life because he does not have any challenges or obstacles that he can't easily solve with a single punch.

Edited September 14, 2019 by not an Evil Librarian

[Kureshi Ironclaw]

I agree that it needs a proportionate cost, otherwise it will get old really quickly. Think about the old faithful 'yes, but; no, and' rule, and how to apply that to the successes granted by the character's fortune.

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

So, If you've ever read The Wheel of Time, there's a character in there (Whom I shall not name, to avoid spoilers) who develops luck based abilities. The way Jordan wrote the story caused this character's luck to always aid in overall character development, but still land the character in tricky situations quite a bit. I think this was a great direction to take these powers, because it doesn't always get the character out of issues, but rather, gets them into issues which to be frank, they'd rather not be in.

[artiestroke she/her]

1 hour ago, Wyndlerunner said:

So, If you've ever read The Wheel of Time, there's a character in there (Whom I shall not name, to avoid spoilers) who develops luck based abilities. The way Jordan wrote the story caused this character's luck to always aid in overall character development, but still land the character in tricky situations quite a bit. I think this was a great direction to take these powers, because it doesn't always get the character out of issues, but rather, gets them into issues which to be frank, they'd rather not be in.

 

1 hour ago, not an Evil Librarian said:

The luck doesn't work all the time. at the midpoint of the story, have the main character rely on her luck to solve a problem, and have her fail utterly. 

Perhaps this trait could be tied in with a character arch. for the first half of the story, she could rely on her luck to solve problems. at the midpoint, her luck fails her when it matters most. So for the rest of the story, she is trying to solve problems without taking any chances. during the third act, she could be put in a situation where she must rely on her luck once more. She could go from a character who always trusts the roll of the dice since, more often than not, the odds come up in her favor, to a character who is terrified of relying on luck. In the end, she must come to terms with the fact that sometimes she must rely on chance. 

Just a thought

(Edit) one of the most common and effective ways to take bad writing and making it work is to tie it in with the themes of the story. Shrek and One Punch Man are good examples of this. In Shrek, the protagonist is an oger who has lived a simple and lonely life and is suddenly forced out of it and into the world of fairy tale knights and princesses. so while crude humor is usually a big no-no in writing, it works for Shrek because of the crude humor ties into the story thematically.

One Punch Man is about an overpowered superhero who can defeat any enemy, no matter how powerful with just one punch. while overpowered protagonists are usually bad writing, the show is great because it is more about the protagonist's inner conflict. the main character is bored with life because he does not have any challenges or obstacles that he can't easily solve with a single punch.

These have actually given me an idea- specifically regarding the “the Luck fails” part of an arc- if it’s only her that is lucky, maybe having the cost of her being too reliant on it gets someone else hurt in her stead- a kind of wake up call that it’s not all about her

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

So, I wouldn't necessarily say that this character's luck 'fails', rather that the character's luck puts them where they need to be, but not where they want to be.

[not an Evil Librarian]

8 hours ago, artiestroke said:

 

These have actually given me an idea- specifically regarding the “the Luck fails” part of an arc- if it’s only her that is lucky, maybe having the cost of her being too reliant on it gets someone else hurt in her stead- a kind of wake up call that it’s not all about her

Great idea!

[Xardan Ta'Caran he/him]

If you're going to continue writing this story you might also want to read the book called "The Redemption of Althalus" by Eddings & Eddings. It's a very different situation, but luck is being granted by a specific god to the main character (Althalus) and is then withdrawn at a specific point to create a specific result (I'd give more detail but I don't want to spoil the book in case anyone wants to read it). This all happens fairly early in the book so you wouldn't even need to read the entire novel, but it gives another take on luck that you can draw ideas from.

On 9/13/2019 at 10:30 PM, Wyndlerunner said:

So, I wouldn't necessarily say that this character's luck 'fails', rather that the character's luck puts them where they need to be, but not where they want to be

I also really like this ideology along with:

On 9/13/2019 at 10:28 PM, artiestroke said:

if it’s only her that is lucky, maybe having the cost of her being too reliant on it gets someone else hurt in her stead- a kind of wake up call that it’s not all about her

Between these two ideas you could have a very well written and well balanced story about a very lucky person who manages to hurt those around them unintentionally. This sounds like an awesome story to me.

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

On 9/17/2019 at 6:23 PM, Xardan Ta'Caran said:

If you're going to continue writing this story you might also want to read the book called "The Redemption of Althalus" by Eddings & Eddings. It's a very different situation, but luck is being granted by a specific god to the main character (Althalus) and is then withdrawn at a specific point to create a specific result (I'd give more detail but I don't want to spoil the book in case anyone wants to read it). This all happens fairly early in the book so you wouldn't even need to read the entire novel, but it gives another take on luck that you can draw ideas from.

I also really like this ideology along with:

Between these two ideas you could have a very well written and well balanced story about a very lucky person who manages to hurt those around them unintentionally. This sounds like an awesome story to me.

Yay! Another Eddings fan!

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

Easy way to avoid Deux ex machina: don't write a book

[Frustration he/him]

14 minutes ago, Somebody from Roshar said:

Easy way to avoid Deux ex machina: don't write a book

I know you're new but generally we don't bring back threads that have been inactive for almost a year for a joke.

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

2 minutes ago, Frustration said:

I know you're new but generally we don't bring back threads that have been inactive for almost a year for a joke.

Ok so... You're also rude here ok then and I don't pay attention to when the thread was posted there's no reason I didn't quote anyone so the only one who got a notification would have been followers and the op and they aren't complaining so why are you?

Edited September 16, 2020 by Somebody from Roshar
Checked info

[Frustration he/him]

Just now, Somebody from Roshar said:

Ok so... You're also rude here ok then and I don't pay attention to when the thread was posted there's no reason

I wasn't trying to be rude, I was informing you of how the site operates,

The most recent post on the topic aside from yours was from September 21st of 2019

it's ok if you have something that adds to the discussion, but just making a joke is generally frowned upon.

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

Just now, Frustration said:

I wasn't trying to be rude, I was informing you of how the site operates,

The most recent post on the topic aside from yours was from September 21st of 2019

it's ok if you have something that adds to the discussion, but just making a joke is generally frowned upon.

Ok then I just got annoyed sorry for calling you rude

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

But hey and the bright side I got this thread like 4 extra posts right?

[Frustration he/him]

5 minutes ago, Somebody from Roshar said:

Ok then I just got annoyed sorry for calling you rude

Your fine, you just joined 8 days ago, you couldn't have learned everything.

4 minutes ago, Somebody from Roshar said:

But hey and the bright side I got this thread like 4 extra posts right?

I guess

But from now on be careful, 

and as a side note there is an edit button on your posts so you can add things there, instead of double posting

I still mess up sometimes on that though so don't feel bad.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Frustration