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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voneth" data-source="post: 595315" data-attributes="member: 1016">Whatever Mr. Author's creditials are, I think it is safe to assume that he is refering to contemporary SF (as in speculative ficiton) lit, as defined in the last century or two. Greek plays and fairy tales are indeed timeless classics that a lot of authors borrow from, but there are certain conventions that aren't in vogue, such as deus ex machina. For a contemporary author to use them outright is considered lazy. Since the true use of deus ex is to wrap up the end of the story when the author had painted himself in a corner and had no way out.And in some cases, some people have confusion between what is deus ex machina and other techniques such as foreshadowing and planting. Both of these are most evident in your TV movies. When the scientist make a big deal about loving to chew gum, and you just KNOW that will be important later, that's foreshadowing. When the camera sits on a can of plant killer that character leaves behind before needing it later in the film, that's a plant. And Tolkein is not completely guilty of deus ex. "Look East on the fifth day ..." the reader knows Galdalf will do something. While Galdalf's magic is not spelled out, it is foreshadowed and we get hints of what he can do. If he can play with smoke, he can certainly play with fire. Tolkein's biggest fault for using deus ex, is not in his "spells" but his summoning of the eagles, they are the true and literal "God in the Machine" that get Galdalf and friends out of situtations that Tolkien had no idea what to do next and in overall effect it is a minor use since the true end abuse is having Gollum make Frodo's decision for him.As for Galdalf "dying" and waking up, he got promoted and replaced Saurman. The implication is that all of the "Whites" in Tolkien's world also go through the same process to get promoted, which makes Sauraman's corruption even more bitter since he must have been a great force for good at some time to be reincarnated.Oddly enough, that's just what Mr. Author was saying. His "writing rule" is that if you construct guidlelines to your fictional magic, you can break the "rules of physics" and keep the reader's suspension of disbelief more intact.</blockquote>

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