Actually, in the original Arabic story of Aladdin (just found this out yesterday), the hero found a ring that allowed him to summon a genie. He was directed to a lamp that, whoever held it could summon and control a more powerful genie. When the sorcerer found out (after trying to get Aladdin to give him the ring the first time), he tricked Aladdin's wife (portrayed famously as Jasmine) into trading lamps, and took hold of the more powerful genie. Aladdin still had the ring, however, and was able to use the second, weaker genie to escape with his wife. I'm guessing that the definition of Deus Ex Machina isn't exactly what I thought? Just trying to make sure. Truth be told, I don't recall any stories with a Deus Ex Machina.
THat's not deus ex machina, that's using something introduced before that had been forgotten about. Deus ex machina is more like with the old soap opera serials, where the hero would be in a car that's sealed shut and you see the car go over the cliff, but in the next epi he escapes before the cliff. That's deus ex machina, as it couldn't have happened (and yes I stole it out of Stephen King's Misery, as it fit so well) Deus ex machina is more a case of something that can't happen or can't be there, happening or occurring for no good or valid reason (like a rescue ship in a sea that was empty two minutes ago, escaping from a locked car, or finding bullets for a gun in an empty bullet box)
Ok, I got this now. The definitions I was reading didn't seem to line up totally. I didn't realize it was a plot element. ... crap, now that has me thinking about a story I wrote with a plot twist. Is surviving a suicide similar to deus ex machina?
Depends on how they try and commit suicide and how he survives. If they survived by a means that someone in real life could survive then I would say its not. If its because of a friends intervention and helped them, then I would say no. People survive suicide attempts all the time.
Don't be too afraid of giving your story twists. On second reading you can always evaluate whether it seems too far fetched and unlikely. If it does, you might still be able to keep it in by changing other parts in your story--like adding a foreshadowing of an event or doing some other off-hand mention of a story-object that later becomes important. Just give your readers a chance of saying "Ah, I guess I should have figured that out." basically.
Actually, she shoots herself in the head. If the caliber of the round is small enough (and this one is very small), like a 9mm or smaller, bullets have been known to fail in complete penetration of the skull, and "wrap around" it, thus causing a dangerous other exit wound. In this case, the bullet was able to penetrate, but didn't do enough damage to create a critical enough situation to kill her instantly. She was rescued by a pastor just 2 minutes after the shooting who was already on the phone with 9-1-1, and they quickly brought her to a near-by hospital. Then again, it's not the end of the story. It unfolds into a surprising "part 2" about 3/4ths the way down. I got the inspiration as my grandmother was a 9-1-1 dispatcher, and a police officer got shot in the head and the bullet did this to him (and yes, it was nearly point-blank range!) I was wondering, on topic of it all, survival of a suicide or death deus ex machina? I thought it had to be an object as per the definitions I looked up. I guess not?
It's not a rare thing, not sure the statistics, but its completely possible for someone to survive a shot to the head. It depends entirely on what part of the brain was hit. There might be some problems, but people have lived. This in itself isn't a Dues Ex Machina. Though depending on where she attempts it, a pastor just walking by might be a bit odd. Wouldn't call it a Dues Ex Machina but... you could probably(if you haven't already) mention the pastor before the suicide.
Surviving a suicide or death by means that were completely out of the blue and no one would have or could have seen it coming--that would be a deus ex machina. So like in Stephen King's The Stand, at the end, when all hope seems lost and you wonder how this will end, the hand of God--literally--comes along and destroys all the evil people. There was no prophecy or anything earlier in the story to hint that something like this would or could occur.
