THE CHEEKY FELLOW
  • Home Blog
    • Contact
    • About Jason
  • Books
    • First Login
    • Mixing It Up
    • You're Going Down
    • Helping A Friend
    • Flight
    • Destiny
  • Articles
    • Self-Publishing with Amazon
    • On Writing
  • Links
    • Alexander Edward Trefethen
    • Graphic Artist Link for DLeoBlack
  • Store
  • Old Posts
  • CREATING THE COVER FOR YOUR BOOK AND GETTING IT "PRINT READY" FOR SELF-PUBLISHING ON AMAZON
  • CREATING THE COVER FOR YOUR BOOK AND GETTING IT "PRINT READY" FOR SELF-PUBLISHING ON AMAZON

Thoughts on creating your own magic system

10/14/2014

0 Comments

 
Late again with posting, but the only excuse I have is Columbus Day! I chilled out, watched Wolverine X-Men for a second time and just relaxed for the day while writing on and off.

A couple months ago a bud of mine sent me a link on “Magic Systems with Rothfuss, Butcher, Wells, Cole, Sykes, Blackmoore - Phoenix Comicon 2014”. You can find the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9H7NSqJsnM (It's the same link attached below too.) Before you click on the link let me warn you. Although this is a really great clip with some really useful information, watching it messed me up in all kinds of ways for about two weeks before I got my head straight once again on my own magic system in The Last Paladin Series. 

I really found a lot of what Jim Butcher was saying in this very interesting, which compared to everyone else on the panel wasn’t much. For me the most important thing he noted was how magic was done in Lord of The Rings. How you knew Gandalf was a wizard and that he worked magic, but there was an unknown quality to his actual skills and abilities. It’s on this topic I would like to expound on in today’s blog. Another consistent topic from each of the panelists that I thought was extremely important was that whatever it is you choose for a magic system, make sure you consistently apply it throughout your story.

I noticed that Jim Butcher in his Dresden Series follows some rules for general magic use in some regards, while each wizard is unique in their own skills and talents that make magic … well magical. It’s not 100% spelled out. You have an understanding of the general rules the world and magic follows, but there is some wiggle room … some play that Jim uses within his stories that in the end fit the magic system in place, or at least doesn’t go against it. I forget the specific book in the series, but I remember the warden wars against the vampires that each wizard was distinctly different. It was all explainable within the rules Jim had created for his world, but at the same time that slight looseness with the magic system allowed an element of surprise that fits, in my mind, the feel of magic. 

If I think back to many of the stories I read, even the D&D stories. They’ve operated magic in this duel perspective. In one way you think you know the skills of the character and the rules of the world, while in another there is a certain looseness that works within the worlds rules. The interesting part of the D&D universe is that many of the clerics, shamans and wizards have specific rules laid out for each class, which are used as guidelines. Yet within the story the authors creates flexibility within the magic system that is more living and realistic. Instead of saying that a wizard can caste ‘magic missiles’ four times in a day, you focus on the energy output of the character or the exhaustion from using their magic. Maybe they can squeeze out another spell and collapse or maybe they’re just wiped out. The rules that you make for your world should advance your story, not restrict your story. You’re not creating a gaming system, you’re creating a story and world that supports the story that you want to tell. 

In many ways this refers back to my last blog post about world building and planning out your story. Don’t get too caught up in the details of your world that you stop writing or that those rules bog your story down to the point that it interferes with the story you’re telling. 

Again, just my two cents of my own explorations in creating a magic system for my own series. I borrowed heavy on traditional concepts of Paladins and Clerics. Traditional being D&D, computer games like World of Warcraft, Rift, Everquest, The Elder Scrolls, Guild Wars, Lineage and etc. They all build on the general concepts of these old D&D stereotypes, which I think is a good place to start on formulating any magic system. Although I’m not saying don’t create something entirely new. There are some amazing writers who do this. I’m just saying, whatever you do. Give it your own twist and keep it consistent in your world, leave a little flexibility for it to feel natural and real, but most importantly make sure it gives you the room to tell your amazing story.    
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    000
    99 Cents
    Action
    Adventure
    Alex Edward Trefethen
    Amazon
    Amazon Author Page
    Amazon Best Seller Rank
    Amazon Ranking
    Amazon Sales Rank
    Anthropology
    Archaeology
    Argus
    Art For Book
    Ashmoloean Museum
    ASIN
    Audio Book
    Audio Book Release
    Author Interview
    Best Seller
    Book
    Book Giveaway
    Book Two
    Book Two Of The Last Paladin Series
    Brief History
    Building Your Story
    Centaur
    Characters
    Chinese Curse
    Clan
    Cliff-hanger
    Cliff Hangers
    Computer Gaming
    Contest
    Contest Winners
    Cool Heroic Pictures
    Counter Terrorist Agency
    Cover Art
    Createspace
    Cultures
    Dark Elf Series
    Dark Elf Trilogy
    Dark Fantasy
    Dark Side
    D&D
    Dealing With Writer's Block
    Demon
    Demon Accords
    Demon War
    Designing My Own Cover
    Destiny
    DODEA
    DOTA
    Drew Hayes
    Dungeon And Dragons
    Dungeon & Dragons
    Elf
    Elliott Kay
    Elven
    Elven Races
    Elves
    Elvish Culture
    Ending Chapters
    Enelya
    Enelya Tasartir
    Epic Music Mix
    Erotic
    Exile
    Fang Tastic
    Fantasy
    Finding A Graphic Artist
    Finding Ideas
    First Release
    First Review
    Flight
    Focus For Writing
    Forest Elves
    Frostbrand
    Gaming
    Geek
    Geeking Out
    Geeking-out
    Giveaway
    Good Intensions
    Goodreads
    Goodreads Book Giveaway
    Good Writing
    Go To Smashword
    Go With Smashword
    Graphic Design
    Gray Elves
    Grey Elves
    Guardian Of The Galaxy
    Gym
    High School
    Homeland
    Indie Authors
    Indie Writer
    Interview
    Irlendria
    Isbn
    Jason Cheek
    John Conroe
    Kaiserslautern
    Kantana
    Kdp
    KDP Select
    Keeping Focus
    Keep The Action Flowing
    Lara Croft
    Larissa Evans
    Linguistics
    Lord Of The Rings
    LOTR
    Lucy
    Meet The Authors
    Metal Gaunlets
    Michael G. Thomas
    Minotaur
    Movies
    Natural Consequences
    Nessa
    New Editions
    New Races
    New Species
    Novel
    One Day Sale
    One-day Sale
    Oxford University
    Paladin
    Pleasure Reading
    Plots
    Pricing On Amazon
    Pricing On Createspace
    Pricing On KDP
    Pricing On Smashword
    Pricing Your Book
    Pricing Your Ebook
    Punch Swords
    R.A. Salvatore
    Review
    Romance
    Roman Legion
    Samurai
    Science Fiction
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Self Publishing
    Self-publishing
    Seller Rank
    Sexual Situation
    Sir Author Evans
    Sir John Evans
    Smash
    Smashword
    Smashwords
    Sojourn
    Speed Reading Event
    Spirit Shaman
    Starfire
    Starla Huchton
    Starting Chapters
    Stay With Amazon
    Story Arcs
    Superhero
    Super Strength
    Sword
    Taunus Theater
    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    Templates
    Thank You
    The Demon Wars
    The Last Paladin Series
    Tiberius
    Tina Tame
    True Blood
    Tuonellians
    Ultramarines
    Update
    Urban
    Urban Fantasy
    Using Smashword
    Using Smashwords
    Warhammer
    Warhammer 40
    Warpaint
    Wenci
    Werewolf
    Werewolves
    What-are-asin
    What-are-isbn
    Why-do-i-need-an-asin
    Why-do-i-need-isbn
    Wiesbaden
    Wild Elves
    Wildstar
    Wildstar Online
    Wildstar-Online
    Will Massa
    Winners For Flight
    Winter Gaming Group
    Word Counts
    Working-out
    World Building
    World Of Warcraft
    Writer's Block
    Writing Ideas
    Writing Tips

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    January 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

jASON a. cHEEK AUTHOR OF THE LAST pALADIN SERIES

© Jason A. Cheek
Content may be freely reproduced with attribution.
Proudly powered by Weebly