Pet Peeve #50 - Undeveloped Magic Systems
Last Friday on The Book Stacks I reviewed Jim Melvin’s The Pit, first book of The Death Wizard Chronicles. One of the things that most impressed me about his adult fantasy book is the magic system he has set up.
See, what Melvin has done is created a magic system that has a reason. It exists and works above and beyond the people who access it. Only certain people can get access to this power, the power runs out and the wielder needs to recharge occasionally, and the magic exists as part of a system.
Nothing is more annoying than having magic in a book that is merely there for the sake of making characters powerful. Yay, I can shoot lightning from my fingertips! Why? Where does the lightning come from? Why can you do it and Joe over there can’t? Why do you shoot lightning and Amy shoots fire? What makes you two different?
Those are the questions you need to ask and know the answers to before you run around giving every other character the ability to fly. Even the Fantastic Four were hit by some cosmic rays of some type or another. Spiderman was bitten by a spider and the X-Men are just the next step of human evolution.
See? Reasons behind the magic. They don’t have magic/powers for the sake of looking cool. Reasons, systems, weaknesses, etc.
So yes, feel free to give your characters access to magic and/or powers. That’s perfectly fine unless you don’t give a reason for the magic/powers. You need a system. You need reasons.
Even if your readers don’t find out about each intricate detail behind your creations, you can speak (write) with the confidence that you know the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of your magic/powers.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
You bring up some excellent points in your essay about magic. The characters in my series who are able to wield magic and the sources of their powers are inextricably linked — both literally and figuratively. The very essence of The DW Chronicles flows from the paradox of magical origins.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Nailed it.
Magic without an underlying foundation can ruin an otherwise god story.
I recently participated in a blog tour and I got a chance to ask an author about this.
She knew how magic worked in her world. Too many writers don’t.