Tag: Magic System

The Three Realms: Rules of Magic

Previously, in my worldbuilding series, I talked to you about the importance of building rules and structure for your magic system. I thought it might be a great addition if I was to show off how magic works in my own world. I absolutely love the way this system works, and I hope you do too.

Introduction

Magic power in the Three Realms comes from the energy in a Fae or demon’s soul. A magic user feeds the spells with his or her willpower. While the magic that is present in the general world is inexhaustible, the magic present in an individual person is exhaustible. It can usually be recharged with rest, sleep, or certain potions if exhausted. If used up too quickly or too strongly, the magic user will fall into an unconscious state, whether temporary or in extreme cases, permanent. If magic continues to be used to the limit consistently, death is inevitable.

Limits of Magic

Fae are born with a certain small number of inherent magical gifts, or specific types of magic that they have a greater affinity for. This type is called inherent magic. However, noble Fae are born with a greater number of inherent gifts because of their bloodline.

Fae can also learn other types of magic that they do not have a natural affinity for. However, it takes years and years of study to perfect their talents, and even then, some people cannot achieve other types of magic effectively. There are a handful of mages who have power nearly equal to that of a noble Fae because of their propensity to learn. They spend their whole lives studying and usually teaching magic.

Some spells are limited by the time they can be cast. An example of this is a spell that depends on the position of the sun or moon.

Casting A Spell

Casting a spell requires up to three distinct pieces. The first and most general one is intent. The intention of the spell must be focused on intently in order for it to work. In the beginning, Fae must focus for an extended period of time to get a spell to work. More advanced magic users only need a few seconds. The second one is the correct wording. Some spells require a recitation of words coupled with the intent to complete it. This usually starts out as a verbal command and then eventually, with time and practice, can become a non-verbal command. The third one is the correct materials. Certain protection spells or soul-seeking magic must occur at specific times with specific items handy. This can consist of anything from ordinary plants to magical artifacts. These items can usually be obtained from magical craftsmen or magical merchants. However, occasionally, it takes a far rarer type of item that can only be found in certain geographic locations or in certain centers.

Some spells can be stored in charms or amulets for later use.

Some spells require long drawn out rituals, usually ones involving elements of nature (sun, moon, ocean, etc.).

Two or more magic users can combine their power to amplify a spell. However, it is extremely taxing on the both of them and usually not worth the energy loss. It is only used in dire situations.

A mage’s powers often grows stronger over time with age. The level of power in a Fae is measured by:

  1. Presence of noble blood.
  2. Number of inherent gifts.
  3. Education.
  4. Execution of non-inherent magic.

Types of Magic: Levels and Tiers

My magic system is broken up into three levels, each with five tiers. At each tier, you step up the strength of each type of magic. At each level, you also increase the strength. Using this method offered me a clear path of seeing how strong an individual character was, how others measured up against one another. It’s been incredibly useful. I have tables and everything. I started typing those, but they would make this article about twenty pages long. Let me know if you’d like to see that in a PDF in the comments below!

Here are the types of magic that exist in the Three Realms:

  • Animation Magic: The ability to bring in animate objects to life
  • Disintegration Magic: The ability to disintegrate matter
  • Elemental Magic: The ability to control or manipulate the elements of nature (water, fire, wind, earth).
  • Absorption Magic: The ability to absorb energy and convert it into something else like physical strength.
  • Augmentation Magic: The ability to enhance or weaken someone else’s powers.
  • Conversion Magic: The ability to absorb one form of energy and convert it into another form of energy.
  • Energy Manipulation Magic: The ability to manipulate another person’s powers into something else.
  • Force Field Generation Magic: The ability to project powerful fields of manipulated energy that often act as shields.
  • Negation Magic: The ability to mute the powers of another person.
  • Sacrificial Magic: The ability to draw power from the death of another.
  • Sensing Magic: The ability to sense or recognize magical power.
  • Sourcing Magic: The ability to draw magical power from energy sources.
  • Flight Magic: The ability to levitate oneself or to fly.
  • Forensic Magic: The ability to backtrace a spell for the purpose of tracking down people who commit crimes.
  • Glamour Magic: The ability to disguise oneself.
  • Healing Magic: The ability to heal or heal from any injury.
  • Illusion Magic: The ability to disguise something as something else.
  • Divination: The ability to foresee or foretell future events.
  • Invisibility: The ability to be invisible.
  • Shapeshifting Magic: The ability to turn one’s form into that of an animal.
  • Gravity Magic: The ability to manipulate gravity and its effects.
  • Light Magic: The ability to generate or extinguish light.
  • Quantum Tunneling Magic: The ability to move through walls.
  • Medium Magic: The ability to see and communicate with the dead.
  • Necromancy: the ability to reanimate and/or control the dead.
  • Poison Magic: The ability to work with poisons more adeptly and/or possess poisonous abilities.
  • Possession Magic: The ability to occupy, dominate, and/or control another person from within.
  • Psionic Magic: The ability to communicate or perceive beyond the five physical senses, including empathetic magic, memory manipulation, mind control, telekinesis, and telepathy.
  • Sound Manipulation Magic: The ability to alter sound.
  • Durability Magic: The ability to have a higher resistance to injury than an average person.
  • Reflex Amplification Magic: The ability react faster than an average person.
  • Senses Magic: The magnified ability to see, hear, feel, smell, and/or taste.
  • Speed Magic: The ability to move faster than an average person.
  • Strength Magic: The ability to have more strength than an average person.
  • Water Breathing Magic: The ability to breathe underwater.
  • Herb Magic: The propensity for discovering/working with various herbs.
  • Plant Magic: The propensity for discovering/working with various plants.
  • Weapons Amplification Magic: The ability to strengthen the impact, defense abilities, and durability or weapons.

Wow, that’s a mouthful, huh? It’s fairly complex, but I really enjoy the way it all fits together. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Happy writing!

Worldbuilding Questions: Post #11 – Crime and the Legal System

Hey everybody! I’m super excited to bring you a new worldbuilding post today. Today’s gonna be a bit of a short one as I’m preparing for travel to my internship this summer! Hopefully, I’ll be able to wrap that up soon and settle in for some more interaction with my followers and the ever supportive #writingcommunity.

Today, we’re going to talk about building the laws of your universe. We’ve covered metaphysical laws and magical laws that have governed the greater world. But it’s time to focus on the laws of humans and/or magical beings on a more intimate level. Crime and law can play an interesting role in a fantasy novel. It can create intrigue in a character who’s been on the run from the law for years. It can call into question a ruler’s legitimacy. Law creates a framework for what’s acceptable or unacceptable in your society and can be portrayed as both a social and a moral issue. It can showcase what is important to the people in your world or to the founders of your societies.

Let’s get started! (Again, we’re working from this link!)

Law

Before we start with a few of the more specific questions, I’d like you to sit down and make a list. The first section is going to consist of standard laws that are going to be your basic expectations. Include the magical laws you created in post #5 in this. How does your society feel about murder? Are there any situations where murder is acceptable, such as in self defense? How about theft: common theft and grand theft? Where does kidnapping fall on the scale? The second section is going to include any laws you can think of off the top of your head that will directly play into your story. Don’t be concerned if you can’t think of any at this stage. It isn’t necessary, and you can always add to it later. Now go back through that list and name the punishments for breaking each law or code.

Now, let’s get in to more specific questions. What are the typical and legal ways for gathering evidence? Does your society follow a more standard system of obtaining search warrants, questioning witnesses, and following a structured path? Or can you obtain information through more violent methods such as torture? Are there any magical methods to add to this list? In my world, the Upper Realm has a few users of forensic magic, magic that can backtrace a spell and pinpoint it to a specific magical signature. Mages who have the gift and have studied this extensively can pin down the sex, birthplace , and current location of the caster. Can evidence collected by magical means be entered into a court?

What is the status of weaponry? Can anyone own a weapon or certain types of weapons? Are any groups of people restricted from having access? Do some groups of people who are required to carry a weapon by law?

Are certain spells illegal? Why? How are magic users punished for casting illegal spells? Are there gradations of punishment? Are any magic users above the law? Keep this section in particular in mind as this can influence your characters’ minds as whether to break or not to break said laws.

The Legal System

Are there separate courts for civil and criminal cases? Do separate courts exist for humans and magic users, or are they all tried by the same system? Does a special court exist for the trials of magical crimes? Take care in the choices you make here. If your intention is to create a fair system, you have to have a system of judges that can be impartial. That would require them to have an understanding of both magical and non-magical affairs, whatever that means to you. If you want a corrupt system, feel free to disregard that and blow your whole court system to hell.

Who is responsible for catching criminals? Again, you will need to establish whether there is a separate enforcement group for magical and non-magical beings. How are these people organized? Do they work full-time, part-time, or do they volunteer for the assignment? Are they paid by the government, or has the practice been privatized? Now that I think about it, it could be interesting to see a story where police work had been entirely privatized.

Once someone is caught in violation or in suspicion of violation of a crime, how are they treated? Are they innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent? Are they held anywhere special?  What is the procedure for arresting someone?

Who represents the parties of a case? Are there lawyers and advocates, or do the people have to represent themselves in a civil or criminal case? Are there judges other than the ruler or the legislators themselves? How are those people chosen?

I hope I’ve given you a lot to think about today. These questions are super interesting, and I can’t wait to hear what all of you do with it. I love to hear interesting ideas, so feel free to comment below!

Worldbuilding Questions: Post #6 – Magic and Magicians, Part Two

Welcome back, creators! It’s been a while since I posted an article on worldbuilding, so today, I want to finish up talking about building your magic system. This is going to be another complicated one, so hang in there! By the end of this, you should have a fleshed out magic system that will support your story as it moves along.

Remember: we’re using this link! If you’re looking for part one of this section on magic, please follow this link to start your magical system.

How does magic fit into the overall universe? Is it considered a profession or an art form? How are magic users viewed in society? Is there a stereotype that surrounds them? How does organized religion view magic, if applicable?

One thing to consider is whether magic users are organized politically or as a society and how that organization is structured. In my book, the entire Upper Realm is made up of Fae, and the nobility are the only overarching hierarchy above the average man. However, in your story, you may have various magical races that may all be organized differently. It’s really entirely up to you; the possibilities are endless. But do consider how magic factors into politics because wow, can that get messy! (In a good way!)

I’m going to skip ahead a bit because I believe that this section of the questionnaire is fairly self explanatory. A lot of it goes over subsets of the points I mentioned above or were included in the previous worldbuilding post. So now, we’re going to confront magic’s relationship with technology. This area of worldbuilding is a really great spot to embellish. Starting with magic transportation, everyone’s favorite concept. Flying brooms, magic carpets, dragons, teleportation spells, the world is wide open for you, really. While I didn’t include any of these forms in my story (at the moment), I agree that it is one of my favorite things to imagine about. Don’t forget to consider the negative side effects of magical travel!

How are weapons affected by magic? Can they be fused with magic, or does some property of the weapon impact its ability to utilize magical properties? Does warfare include the use of magical spells in battle? What does that look like? I’m still exploring this area myself. I’ve always enjoyed reading books that include high-stakes battles, but writing one with magic swirling about feels way too complex to tackle at the moment.

How does magic replace what we know in our world as modern technology? What can magic improve on in everyday objects? This is a little nitpicky, so feel free to only elaborate slightly or moderately.

This last section is a bunch of miscellaneous questions that don’t fall under the categories above, but may be useful to you shaping your world. These questions include points about the legality of magic, magical research, magical artifacts, and healing, to name a few. They also, oddly enough, delve into more detail about magic’s role in politics. The last question is one of my favorites: magic’s relationship with the art. I’m a big proponent of the arts and to think of how perhaps emotional magic could set into a song or painting is an incredibly inspiring thought.

I hope you all enjoyed today’s article. Stay tuned for more from this worldbuilding series!

Worldbuilding Questions: Post #5 – Magic and Magicians: Rules of Magic

At the request of a new reader to the blog, I want to push out another worldbuilding post today! We’re going to begin diving deep into the building of a magic system, and trust me, its going to get interesting. I know exactly how complex this particular part of a universe can get; I’m just finishing wrapping up the finer details of my own magic system, so I’ve been working in this mode for at least two weeks in two separate periods.

Magic systems take time. That’s what it comes down. Building a magic system from the ground up takes time, especially if you want it done right. And you do because it’s going to be the foundation of your entire universe. Whether magic plays a main role or a supporting role, a fantastical universe will always be held in tether with some type of magic. Patience and attention to detail are key.

Let’s get started! Follow this link to the appropriate page.

Magic: Building a Foundation

Very first question, probably the most important question of all time. What can magic NOT do? What are your limits? This is key; take some real time thinking about this. Make a list. Make it reasonable. When my boyfriend and I were going over my magic system, he kept bringing up these tiny holes, the most nitpicky scenarios of all time, to point out flaws. That’s what he does; I’m not bitter about it. Okay, maybe a tiny bit bitter. I mean, EVERY nitpicky scenario you can think of. But what it did make me realize is that I needed to curtail my magic much more than I had originally anticipated. Not just on a large scale, but on a smaller scale too.

Once you’ve established limits, now you’re going to establish how magic users try to get around these limits. Is there a way of combining spells that have a similar effect as a spell forbidden by your system? Is there a loophole that you particularly need to be exploited during a scene? This can be as simple or as complex as you’d like, just like your limits.

Now to focus on the price of magic. Magic has to come from somewhere; it cannot occur spontaneously unless you want your system to be flimsy. It won’t hold up without at least a leg to stand on. So establish whether it takes years of study to master magic or whether a user uses a bit of their life force every time they use a spell. Then just as above, is there any way magic users try to get around this price?

Let’s talk about how a user can tap into their magic power. What does it take to do that? Can they tap into their willpower to cast a spell? Is there any type of ritual? Is every spell individually cast with different processes or is it all the same? What’s the time frame on a particular spell? Can spells be temporarily stored for later use in amulets or potions?

An Important Step

I want to digress from the questionnaire for a moment because I want to hone in on a step that I feel this questionnaire doesn’t go into enough detail about. A little bit further down this section, you’ll see a few questions based on the varieties of magic practiced. You see one, maybe two questions regarding this topic and then nothing else.

I feel like this is a mistake that this questionnaire makes; it doesn’t give a young writer or a new fantasy writer enough of a basis to know how to build the varieties of magic they want in their story. Don’t get me wrong, this is the best worldbuilding questionnaire out there, but even the best can make some mistakes.

My advice: stop your progress here and take a few days to write down everything you want to be able to do in your story in terms of magic. Add things later as they arise. Organize it. Make it easy for you to read and comprehend, no matter how complex it may be. If you can easily understand it, your readers will understand it.

Here is a fantastic link to start with. This is an article that comprehensively covers the different types of magic. Be prepared to be inspired by magic you didn’t even know existed, let alone had a name for it.

I think this is a good place to stop for today; I hope I’ve given you a lot to start with. Signing off!

The Results of A Second Reader

One of the most important parts of preparing a draft for the querying stage is to get another opinion on your work. At a certain point in revising, an author loses sight of the flaws in their own work. When you’ve worked with a story for a long time, it becomes ingrained in your mind. You can’t see what’s clear or not clear.

This is the point where you need to pick a beta reader. An outside perspective that will let you know exactly at what stage your book is at. Whether you’re getting close to a polished draft to start querying on or whether you need some heavy revisions in certain sections. This person can really come from anywhere. It can be someone close to you, a family member or a friend who loves to read. It can be another writer that you’ve connected with through a writing group or social media. The possibilities are endless. You only have to make sure of two things.

  1. Your beta reader is going to be able to be critical about your work without covering their opinion to assuage you.
  2. Your beta reader is available to finish your book in a reasonable time frame.

Two weeks ago, I was ready for this stage of the writing process. For my first reader, I chose my boyfriend. I did this for several reasons. He’d been extremely motivational during the writing process. He’d been asking for weeks to be the first to read it. But most importantly, I knew that he was going to be able to be critical of my work and tell me exactly what needed to be done regardless of whether it hurt my feelings. He’s one of those people who loves to find loopholes in everything.

Spoiler: There were a lot of loopholes that need fixing.

One of the things about the writing process that I don’t think authors talk enough about is their mistakes during drafting. So I’d like to be candid about what the results of having a beta reader were for me:

1. Too much plot convenience in the beginning: Things happen a little too quickly without much explanation of how we got there. My main character, Grace’s strength doesn’t quite match her body type and needs to be adjusted. Speed and agility over strength.

2. Magic system: My boyfriend immediately pointed out to me that certain parts (okay, maybe more than a few) of my magic system were overpowered and needed some sort of system to work out exactly how much power each individual had. We sat down together and worked out a tiered level system that allows for both natural affinity and growth within those affinities without giving everyone a high level right away. As I’ve been working on it over the past couple days, I am finding it to work a lot better!

3. Economy: Can I say no comment here? Because… I just don’t do economics. I had no idea what I was doing. My boyfriend made that very clear. On the upside, we’re gonna work on that together later! (Thank God.)

4. Relationships: The relationship between Grace and Aiden needed to be explored further at a slower pace with more scenes added. See, I was afraid of writing too much, but it seems I wrote too little. Luckily for me, it’s easier to add than cut!

Extra: My boyfriend seemed to guess a lot of things before they happened. I’m pretty sure that’s a combination of the way he is and how well he knows me. I’ll need a second opinion on this.

Now, I get to move forward and revise yet again! But this time, with a much clearer picture of what needs to be done to improve my novel. Overall, an extremely favorable experience. <3

This Week in The Publishing Process: March 16, 2019

Hey guys! Sorry for the short (and late!) post today; I have been super busy doing logistics for next semester and this summer.

For most of this week, I have been lying in anxious wait for my boyfriend, and extremely helpful beta reader, to finish reading my novel. This week, especially on Friday, I have had such a drive to create. Having set aside my novel for almost a week and a half really put me in a creative mood. I kept bugging him to finish so I could get back to work!

During the week, I focused on my magic system. I had been working previously with only categories of magic, such as energy magic, elemental magic, and flight magic. I realized that I really needed to modify this system to make it more specific. More magic needed to be incorporated into my world to make the fantasy feel real. So I broke down each category into specific types of spells, specific magical actions that would fall under each category. After three days, I could see real progress in my magic system.

Feeling like the master of your story is very powerful.

I have also begun to look into literary agents. While it’s a little early for me to be looking heavily into this, I believe it’s a good idea to go into the querying process with your eyes wide open. Working with a guide that I bought a few months ago, I’m working on a master list of literary agencies and agents that I would like to query. I love to make organized lists of details; I’ve got a table going along with details of what needs to go into each submission package.

Something that struck me during that research is how diverse the submission packages can be. Some agencies want a query letter and the first ten pages, one wants a partial manuscript right off the bat; I even found one agent who wanted a query letter, first three chapters, a one paragraph pitch, and a list of similar books that could be comparable to yours. Who knew?! I can’t even fathom where to begin.

But luckily, it’s not quite time for that yet! 😀

Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll be receiving feedback on my book from my boyfriend, who has been incredibly helpful and critical so far. Tonight, as I write this, we’re working on revamping my universe’s economy (which could not hold up, let me tell you; I’m terrible with economics). Every comment he has made so far has gotten me to look at things in a new perspective, and I could not be more grateful for that. I will update you guys with the beta reading results once I sort it all out!

Thank you all again for following me on this wild ride. Much love. <3

Cady Hammer

Worldbuilding Questions: Post #2 – The World

As promised, I am starting my Worldbuilding questionnaire walk through off with a bang! Today, we’re going to be looking at the first section of questions, which encompasses the most basic questions about the world you want to create. I want to give you just an overview of the questions (because obviously, you can go to the link and read them yourself), but I also want to give a bit of commentary about why these details are important when crafting your fantasy universe.

Section A: Basics

When I started using this questionnaire, the very first question took me a while to think about. You wouldn’t necessarily think about whether the laws of nature and physics still applied as your first step. I actually had to go look up what these laws were (I don’t do science very well. >.<) But believe it or not, your universe could entirely flip on its head (perhaps even literally) due to changes like these. Does gravity apply? Do the laws of motion apply? Where does magic fit in? Are the laws different because magic exists, or is magic limited by these principles? This will start you thinking about the limitations of your magic system, which we will get to in a later article.

Then you need to make a decision about what type of world this is: an earth-like world or not like Earth at all? This not only will decide which sections of questions you look at next, but it is also going to affect things related to suns and moons, shape of the world, and terrain.

Next is the basics about people! Or non-people, if that’s your preference! These questions are meant to establish the main players in your story. Elves, Fae, dwarfs, demons, sprites, mortals, and many, many more magical creatures can grace the pages of your story, and establishing who those are early on can make things easier for you later. Marking the differences between these types in terms of habitats, living conditions, and magic now can also be useful in formatting your terrain, cities, and your magic system in later worldbuilding.

Finally, you’re going to create a very basic outline of the magic system in your universe.

  1. Where does magic come from?
  2. How much magic is available?
  3. What are the long term effects of magic on a magic user?
  4. What are the differences between magic among different races/species, if any?

Very simple questions to start off. No details yet. However, if you look at them, you can see why this author chose to include them in the basics category. The very existence of magic has to have been established somehow, whether it’s during the timeline of your story or thousands and thousands of years before.

Section B: Alternate Earth

Writers who view their universe has being an alternate version of our Earth should take note of this section. Here, you will establish where fantasy diverts away from history. How similar are the histories and cultures of our planet in comparison with yours? What makes them different? Is there a specific point in time where our knowledge of our world ends and yours begins? If not, show where things diverge slowly over time through everyday life changes. If magic exists, how have the inhabitants of Earth been unaware of it this whole time? This set of questions works particularly well for historical fantasy.

Section C: Not Earth At All

Everyone else! Join me! My universe, the Three Realms, falls under this category. You will find that this set of questions is not focused on history and culture (we will get to that later), but instead on the physical aspects of your world. Obviously, we need to establish shape, terrain, and celestial bodies (if any) circling around your world. I didn’t realize it until after I had already built my universe (which only has one sun and moon) how much it would affect aspects like the wind, the tides, and the weather if I had chosen to add something like a second moon. If you set the moons on the same side, the tides would be thrown completely out of whack. If the moons were on opposite sides of your universe, could you create an ocean that stays still? Lots of interesting things to think about.

Comment below with any questions or ideas about your own fantasy universe! I’ll see you next time where we’ll be discussing physical and historical features.