Failure ModesIntermediate
Contrivance
A plot movement that exposes author convenience instead of story logic.
Principle
The reader should feel design, not manipulation.
Takeaways
- Contrivance often appears as convenient timing, behaviour, or coincidence.
- It weakens causality by making the author's need visible.
- Setup can turn apparent contrivance into inevitability.
Overview
Contrivance is the sense that events happen because the writer needs them to, not because character, world, pressure, or prior setup produce them. It damages trust in the story's causal contract.
Examples
- A character forgets an obvious skill only so the danger can continue.
- Two necessary strangers meet in a vast city with no causal bridge.