We have moved to new forum software and posting here is closed!

PLEASE BOOKMARK THE NEW FORUMS

Posted By: MystDaencyr Oct 30, 2003 - 07:44 am

Hi everyone. I'm working on a fantasy novel - which is up to about 70 pages. yay! - that is amazing for me. Anyway, I have my magic system all worked out, but my problem is that once I start showing people using magic, I don't know how much to explain to the reader - should I just write from the PoV of the user, and not explain anything, just show it being used, unles that user is using it for the first time, or should I explain a little more?

I'm not sure how much sense this makes, but it's like...if you were writing about, say, searching for something online, and you knew your reader knew nothing about the internet - how much should you explain? Would you just say 'he entered the title into the search engine and clicked on the appropriate link', or actually write everything in more detail so the reader knows what you're talking about?

My magic system goes along the lines of: there's a force surrounding the world, called Aldren, which suffuses every living thing - so like force is called Aldrenai. When someone wants to use 'magic', they open up a link between themselves and the living things surrounding them, take in the Aldrenai from those living things, channel it through themselves and send it out to do what they need to do. Once that's done, that same amount of Aldrenai is taken from within that person to replace the Aldrenai they just used from living things - this makes them weak until Aldren replaces what was lost from within them *phew* does that make any sense?

Right, so with that in mind, how much should I explain when any of my characters use magic in my novel? I want to find the balance between not ramming all the details down my reader's throats, and making sure they understand how the magic works...

Thanks for your time...sorry for the long message, hope it made some sense somewhere! xx

~Myst

Posted By: iamume Oct 30, 2003 - 12:05 pm

You could explain your system as the student learns it avoiding redundancy later.Some readers would enjoy the explanation while others would be more interested in the dramatic usage of magic.

Posted By: Adamis Nov 16, 2003 - 10:50 am

If your explanation of your magic system's done right it should be intuitive to the reader, but if it's very unique and radical or just very complex and intricate you should explain it just enough to help them figure out how it works on their own.

Posted By: Trey Nov 16, 2003 - 12:17 pm

I have also come up with a complex magic system. I chose to introduce the reader to it through an instruction from teacher to student as iamume suggested. If you are interested, here is the portion of the story:

From the novel "The Bridge" (in progress)
By Trey Wickwire

Adam decided to quiz him about magic. “Tell me young Frederick, what is magic?”

“Magic is the manipulation of positive and negative energy within the three spheres of influence.” Frederick had no problem answering the question, it was the first thing they had learned, but he knew that questions would start easy and work up to more difficult ones.

“Good, a nice text book answer,” continued Adam, “and what are the three spheres of influence?”

“The three spheres are the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. Each sphere consists of both positive and negative energy.”

“And how do we manipulate this energy?”

“In the physical sphere we use spells, the correct words spoken in conjunction with the correct ingredients. Will power controls the mental sphere, requiring concentration and meditation. The spiritual sphere requires a request to the Provider for intervention.”

“Very good Frederick, you have memorized your texts to the letter,” Frederick swelled with pride at Adam’s words, “but forget the books for a moment and tell me what magic is, in your own words.”

This deflated Frederick and for a moment he had to stop and think. He had been studying the books so long we wasn’t sure when the last time he actually tried to think outside of the texts. “Magic is power,” he said doubtfully.

“Hmmm,” Adam thought about the answer for a moment, “and what is power?”

“Power is,” Frederick stopped mid statement to think. What is power he thought to himself, after a moment he thought he might have an answer. “Power is control.”

“Interesting,” said Adam, “but control of what.”

“Energy?”

“So, if magic is power and power is control of energy, what does that tell us?”

“That magic is energy?”

“Now wasn’t that simple,” Adam asked. “Sometimes the texts make everything to dry and clinical. So as you mentioned before, there is positive energy and negative energy. What does this say about magic?”

“That there is positive and negative magic or white and black magic.”

“Black and white magic are lay terms,” Adam said shaking his head, “they are not useful terms for scholars.

“When you create fire how do you do it?”

“Within the mental sphere it requires a combustible ingredient that you focus your will on. You concentrate on the ingredient until you can see it in your mind, then you imagine it on fire. If your concentration is strong enough the energy surrounding the ingredient sets in on fire.”

“Good, good, and what kind of energy is used to create fire?”

Frederick was caught off guard by Adam’s question. The creation of fire was one of the first real uses of magic that was learned. It required very little manipulation of energies surrounding the ingredient. It was also a good way to teach the importance of control. But no one had ever discussed whether the energy being manipulated was positive of negative.

“The energy is positive,” answered Frederick.

“Why?”

“Because fire is created and creation comes from positive energy,” Frederick answered with confidence.

“A good answer but still wrong,” Adam said with a smile.

The look on Frederick’s face caused Adam to chuckle, “never fear young Frederick, we are delving into advanced concepts and your answer makes perfect sense even though it is incorrect. Allow me to explain.

“We do not create fire, fire is the release of energy from the destruction of the ingredient. So in order to have fire we must destroy the wood or paper that we are focusing on. This requires negative energy. So, if we go by the definitions of black and white magic, the creation of fire would be black magic. And yet every hedge wizard, shaman and sorcerer creates fire on a routine basis.

“You see, there are not that many practitioners of magic in the world and the common folk only know that magic either helps them or hurts them. If it helps them it is white and if not then it is black. But this has nothing to do with positive and negative energy. Understand?”

“I think so,” Frederick replied solemnly, it was so simple but he had not thought of it. He wondered what other things he had failed to consider over the last three years.

Posted By: Eleika Nov 16, 2003 - 08:27 pm

The problem with having it set up that way (i.e. teacher/student) is that it often sounds like just that ... a setup. I'm not saying it's not acceptable, but you have to be careful, making it sound natural and not *just* there for the reader's sake. It's a fine line, but as long as the characters have a *reason* for saying what they do, then usually you ignore the fact that the conversation is a tool to teach the reader. Done well, the reader will *want* to know this stuff, but executed poorly and it doesn't usually fly.

Posted By: joreid Nov 16, 2003 - 09:20 pm

Watch out for info dumps! Stories work so much better when the information is introduced naturally and gradually. Readers are intelligent. Remember that when you write.

Posted By: Adamis Nov 17, 2003 - 08:29 am

You'd have to assume that most of your readers won't be novices to the genre so they'd be pretty well informed on magic and magic systems from the other fantasy works they've read.

If it's different than any other writer's magic system in any other fantasy book you've read explain how it differs from those in a general and casual way inside the text either through the teacher/student scene or in narration explaining common knowledge.

Posted By: iamume Nov 17, 2003 - 10:14 am

When explaining a magical system remember the aplication or your reason for writing. Is your intent to teach the readers on magic or will a minimal explanation fit the story line better.Only enough to supplement the characters development should do.

A magical primer in story format could still be interesting though that would be few authors aim or readers desire.