"Magic is what makes fantasy fantastic," someone says, "you can't apply rules to them or else it loses wonder!" I respond, "Sure, but if you want to write them you will certainly want to know how they work." Writing is all about execution, and I find applying some basic laws of physics to magic systems make them more understandable and realistic. Here, I'm going to outline my basic method for developing a magic system.
Column by Chaos2651
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On taking charge of the department, Nordstrom made it her policy that no artist or writer wishing to presnet his or her work would be turned away, with or without an appointment. If she sensed that the visitor had talent--her antennae for this remained permanently extended--time and the telephone, and the daunting stacks of manuscripts and mail, ceased to exist for as long as the get-acquainted session lasted. . . . "You've come home!" she told more than one thunderstruck visitor in whom she had detected promise, accepting the author in advance of the work. . . .
Such blanket acceptance afforded the editor wide latitude when criticizing, and sometimes rejecting, and author's subsequent efforts. The marginal note that everyone who worked with her remembers--"N.G.E.F.Y.,"--or, Not Good Enough For You--implied, deftly enough, that if a word or passage or even an entire manuscript did not pass muster, it was not because the author was a failure but because the piece of work in question had, in that particular instance, somehow failed to rise to his or her own high and praiseworthy standard.
I am particularly concerned with the novel, which is suffering from what I call The Formula: Put your main character in a pot of hot water. Turn up the heat. Turn it up some more. Put the lid on. Let her fight her way out.
