MAGICAL NAMES FOR A BOOK FULL

These creative limitations can be as interesting as the magic itself.Īs author Garth Nix has said, magic should be more interesting than using an electric stove or a rifle. It might require a zen-like approach: a complete clearing of the mind, as in Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, where young Lyra must carefully put her mind at rest before she asks a question of the magical device. Or perhaps it can only be used in certain conditions, or only for certain purposes.

Perhaps magic loses its potency with distance from a source. What will the limitations on magic be? To be effective, magic might require some very specific set of actions, tools, or knowledge, or the participation of multiple characters, or any limitation that makes the story more interesting and draws out the tension and builds our fears that things won't work out for our beloved heroes. He must retreat, wait, and choose to strike at just the right time. He must recruit minions to help him carry out evil deeds. Lord Voldemort must plan his moves carefully.

In the Harry Potter books, Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, has great powers, but even so, those powers are limited. If magic is all-powerful, if a wand is waved and all problems are instantly solved, the plot is pointless. They must work in the fantasy world as surely as gravity works in ours.'įor dramatic impact, as important as the powers of magic are its limitations. But once these laws are set down, the writer cannot, on a whim, set them aside. Like Rumpelstiltskin, if you lay down a magical challenge, you have to accept the logical outcome.Īs Jane Yolen wrote in Writing Books for Children (1983): 'The world a writer creates may have as its laws that the inhabitants are nothing but a pack of cards, that animals converse intelligently while messing about in boats, or that a magic ring can make its bearer invisible at the long, slow cost of his soul.

MAGICAL NAMES FOR A BOOK FULL

Things set loose into the story must play out their full consequences. Then, the writer (and his/her characters) must stick by those rules of magic, even if difficult. Don't create surprises of magic out of the blue to save your characters - the fictional equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.Įverything should be set in place long in advance. Magic needs to work according to firm rules. Magic doesn't need to be plausible, but it has to work well. It can add that unparalleled spark that elevates fantasy above other types of writing that have to keep their feet on the ground of plausible reality. Sophisticated, interesting magic, on the other hand, can fuel an amazing, wondrous story. Done poorly, it makes readers roll their eyes and reviewers mouth the 'genre' label derisively. In fantasy fiction, magic is the central nervous system. Or will you have several forms, as Tolkien did in The Lord of the Rings, where the dark forces use magic like a bulldozer to gain power, while the elves have a wonderful nature that is magic simply because everything they do is 'more effortless, more quick, more complete' than the abilities of those around them?

How can you create an interesting form of magic for your fantasy story? Will magic, in your fiction, be like a tool? A technique? A language? An art? A gift? A shadowy force of nature? Negotiating ContractsSetting Fees/Getting Paid HELPFUL LINKS | EDITOR'S CORNER (Ramblings on the Writing Life) HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SITE MAP | MASTER ARTICLE INDEX | ADVERTISE WITH US! Creative Uses of Magic in Your Fantasy Story

Magical names for a book