Young Writers Society

Ok, I have been writing a story and about 60 pages in, but have not written for a while. I am not necessarily stuck, but I find myself finding too many connections between ideas in my book and other fantasy-genre'd novels.

One of my main problems is implementing magic in my books. I want it to be unique, and compelling, and unlike other books, but I am sure that is everyone's goal. I just need some help and some thoughts on how to make magic different. How can I "magically" go back in someone's memories without it sounding too much like Harry Potter? Can I have magical type objects in places with no real explanation of how they were formed? Let's discuss!

Taking non-Western magic is a good place to start. Oriental, Indian, Asia in general, Native, African, Central-American and South American magics all provide different takes than the usual witchcraft and wizardry.

I've also found quantum physics can have the odd little quirk that can be applicable to magic. Studies on ESP, brainwaves, and even various universe creation theories can provide twists to magic. Evolution theories (both creationist and Darwinist) also have room for magic getting woven in.

There's also the whole thing about hardly anything being original. After a few thousand years, ideas just get recycled. It's all about finding a little twist to make it look different.

Open your mind to anything and everything. Pick and idea, and don't be scared to try it out, that's the key to originality.

Also, have some faith in yourself. You are unique. Draw from your own experiences and influences, because there's nobody else who will have the same perspective as you, and when you put that in writing, it will be interesting because it's a perspective that nobody else has seen before.

As for magically going into someone's memories... There's the JKRowling way of taking them out with a wand and sticking them in a stone basin. There's the Trudi Canavan way of touching someone's mind and letting yourself enter it. I never found out the name of the writer who came up with the idea of memories existing in orbs, and another person can only see the memory once it has been forgotten by the person to whom it belongs.

Then there's memories being written in their biography, in the library of memories that exists in some other realm. Maybe drinking a foul mixture of Kiwi mould mixed with blood will allow you to read someone's memories. Maybe everyone has some kind of spirit or creature that is invisible to most, but by grabbing hold of it you can explore the intricacies of the mind of the person to whom it is attached.

Okay, so I made that last paragraph up, you get the point. I don't mind them being nabbed if anyone wants to steal one.

As for magical objects with no clue how they're formed, I like to follow the wise words of Balthier:
"It's a contraption you’d find in all but the most rudimentary Ancient Ruin. One touch, and off you’re whisked to you know not where. The finer points of their operation elude me, but they’re handy all the same. What more need a Sky Pirate know?"

In a magical world there would be no reason to investigate how a magical object was formed unless this object was of great discovery or danger, in which case scientists and political figures might investigate, but generally people of the magic world would have the same interest in every day things as we would.

The first thing I think anyone needs to sort out with magic systems is why magic exists in the world. You don't necessarily have to put that reason into the story, but you as the author should know it's history, laws, and uses, even the ones that don't directly effect your plot or characters. That way, it's less tempting to twist the magic to suit the plot, which is never a good plan! So:

~What is magic used for in your world?
~What makes magic work?
~Does everyone know about it or only a select group?
~Is there a "Light" and "Dark" kind or magic or is it a neutral force?
~How is the magic accessed? Is it completely mental or does it require tools? Is the ability genetic or random or something else?
~How dangerous is magic?
~How do different groups of people in your world feel about magic and its use?
~Is there anything that can't be done with magic? (ie: returning the dead to life, time travel, etc.)

There's no way to have a completely unique magic system; there's going to be bits that are similar to "X" system in "X" novel. I agree with Rosey Unicorn. Research some cultures foreign to your own and see how they view "magical" or supernatural things. You can find a lot of inspiration that way!

Hi there,

I just wanted to chime in because I have been having some issues with this myself.

The questions listed in the post above are top notch. This is a really comprehensive list of world building questions - it has some great ones about Magic. http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-wor ... questions/ This is more about working out how your magic will work - but that is very important/

I think you should also have a scan through some fantasy on your shelf. In most fantasy, magic works roughly the same way. Genre does have conventions, and your story's success is much more about your plot and characters than about any ingeniously original kind of magic.

I think so long as you avoid the words "fireball" and "lightning strike" you should be able to get away with a standard system of magic so long as you have an exciting plotline and well drawn characters.

Good luck with the writing!

I think you shouldn't worry too much about it. As long as your plot and characters seem interesting, most readers probably won't care if the magic is kind of cliche. I suppose you could do something like this(although I'm currently using this). In my novel-in-the-works, I have two types of magic: internal and external. Both use energy. However, the soul of a person acts as a buffer between the internal magic and the external magic. If a person draws on external magic too much,the energy usage becomes higher than the rate of replenishment and they wear down their soul. Eventually they'll die and have no chance of reincarnating. However, if a person uses internal magic, the rate of replenishment is higher than the rate at which energy is diminished and they won't wear down their soul. So when they did, they can choose to whether to be reincarnated or not. So, here I'm kinda treating magic like a science. So, you could try something like that.