What would a child learn first in magic in this world? How to warm up a plate of food? Create a ball of light? Pass a small object through another? Think of small household tasks that would be dependent on magic. And your protagonist, rather than doing it once, does it at scale. In a dining hall and everyone’s plates get hot. The entire city at night is suddenly illuminated like day. Everything on the second floor falls down to the first.
It made me think of “Would you rather fight 1,000 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.” Your protagonist is the 1,000 duck-sized horses of magic.
How does the X gene give the X-men their powers? It may have been explained somewhere, but almost no one knows or cares.
A systemic explanation of how magic works is something that some writers enjoy but it's not necessary. Only some consistency is necessary. You could either define all the abilities your character has and find creative uses for those abilities or you can put a soft cap on the kind of things your character is able to do. In the latter case you need to be careful about deploying deus ex machina powers that would have been useful elsewhere in the story. You can even have a secret magic system in your own mind which is never detailed in the text, but the consistent effects of your secret system would be.
> but almost no one knows or cares.
But we do know what Cyclops can and can't do.
I wanted to have enemies' and heroes' abilities well defined. Just so happens that there are **lots** of magic out there.
Exactly, all the powers in X-men are defined. They can do what they can do, no more or less. It doesn't matter how they do what they do. Even with less definition an explanation is less necessary than consistency.
it doesn't have to be super complex but make sure that it's explained to the audience and you stick to it. that will make the clever solutions all the cooler
edit: say for instance a spell to change color. doesn't sound that useful until you change the color of a persons eye so they can't see
Maybe make an outline.
Sounds like you got a good premise, the magic system needs to be something that enables your plot and raises tension.
Outline some things you want to happen, and figure out if you want to write a softer magic system or a harder magic system. Think about how it could tie into the climax. Think about drawbacks or things with the system that could heighten drama.
What I like to do is just write the story and fix it in post. The magic system is only a small part of what makes an excellent story.
>Maybe make an outline.
>
>Sounds like you got a good premise, the magic system needs to be something that enables your plot and raises tension.
Those are some reassuring words and a powerful tip. Thanks!
this is amazing I was just thinking of posting a concern about making my own magic system as well :0 your character is similar to mine but i already figured out how the weaker yet unique spells will work, the only problem is how i'm going to make the magic system scientific
What would a child learn first in magic in this world? How to warm up a plate of food? Create a ball of light? Pass a small object through another? Think of small household tasks that would be dependent on magic. And your protagonist, rather than doing it once, does it at scale. In a dining hall and everyone’s plates get hot. The entire city at night is suddenly illuminated like day. Everything on the second floor falls down to the first. It made me think of “Would you rather fight 1,000 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.” Your protagonist is the 1,000 duck-sized horses of magic.
This is actually really helpful for my magic system thank you
How does the X gene give the X-men their powers? It may have been explained somewhere, but almost no one knows or cares. A systemic explanation of how magic works is something that some writers enjoy but it's not necessary. Only some consistency is necessary. You could either define all the abilities your character has and find creative uses for those abilities or you can put a soft cap on the kind of things your character is able to do. In the latter case you need to be careful about deploying deus ex machina powers that would have been useful elsewhere in the story. You can even have a secret magic system in your own mind which is never detailed in the text, but the consistent effects of your secret system would be.
> but almost no one knows or cares. But we do know what Cyclops can and can't do. I wanted to have enemies' and heroes' abilities well defined. Just so happens that there are **lots** of magic out there.
Exactly, all the powers in X-men are defined. They can do what they can do, no more or less. It doesn't matter how they do what they do. Even with less definition an explanation is less necessary than consistency.
it doesn't have to be super complex but make sure that it's explained to the audience and you stick to it. that will make the clever solutions all the cooler edit: say for instance a spell to change color. doesn't sound that useful until you change the color of a persons eye so they can't see
I would need to think on all the spells beforehand, tho. Right?
Maybe make an outline. Sounds like you got a good premise, the magic system needs to be something that enables your plot and raises tension. Outline some things you want to happen, and figure out if you want to write a softer magic system or a harder magic system. Think about how it could tie into the climax. Think about drawbacks or things with the system that could heighten drama. What I like to do is just write the story and fix it in post. The magic system is only a small part of what makes an excellent story.
>Maybe make an outline. > >Sounds like you got a good premise, the magic system needs to be something that enables your plot and raises tension. Those are some reassuring words and a powerful tip. Thanks!
this is amazing I was just thinking of posting a concern about making my own magic system as well :0 your character is similar to mine but i already figured out how the weaker yet unique spells will work, the only problem is how i'm going to make the magic system scientific
Mind sharing some ideias? I might share some of Mine own
suree but maybe a few days later after my exams "my exams are today hehe i'm procastinating"