Timewaster's Guide Archive

If you're right, then Sanderson's First Law of Magics should definitely not be renamed Sanderson's First Law of Magic Systems. According to you, Spiderman doesn't have a "magic system", yet we've already discussed in this thread how Sanderson's First Law applies to Spiderman.

Well, no.  Spider-Man was used as an example of what level of understanding is needed.  But how does the "law" apply to Spider-Man?  Let's look at that.  If this "law" were true then back in issue #1, or movie #1, we the reader/audience as well as Peter Parker would have -- or at least should have -- had to discover each of his abilities in a situation without conflict before being able to use them to resolve a conflict.  That's what the idea says.

Likewise it would have to be considered bad storytelling to allow Wolverine in the first X-Men movie to use his claws to resolve the bar fight before the claws were properly understood by the audience.

Likewise with Vasher in the first part of Warbreaker...

Suppose that in the next Warbreaker chapter (49, as of this post) Vivenna and Vasher had a conflict because each of them wanted the other to eat the last piece of squid. This is the most minor conflict possible by my definition, because who gets the piece of squid obviously has no impact on the plot. Surely any rational person would agree that this conflict is more minor than Vasher getting out of prison in the prologue. Yet if Vasher used his heretofore unsuspected mind control powers to make Vivenna eat the squid, this  would (I contend) be deus ex machina.

Two things that have less to do with Brandon's essay and more to do with your typology:

- I don't think your categories are mutually exclusive: it is perfectly possible to have what you're referring to as a "deus ex machina" that the reader does or could expect and understand.  Lord of the Rings is a perfect example: Gandalf's rebirth is an obvious signifier that there's a higher power at work who will act to ensure that things turn out as well as they possibly can (which was presaged even earlier by Gandalf's comments that Frodo was "meant" to have the Ring).  Given that the power shows it is willing and capable of going so far as reincarnation, how can anything lesser be unexpected and not "understood," even if it is unexplained?  As for the Eagles as the end, that was presaged by Gandalf's rescue from Orthanc: surely that's Type 2, if not in fact Type 1?  Yet there is an undeniable element of deus ex machina...

- Because related to this, I don't think "deus ex machina" means what your usage of it indicates.  If Vasher uses some hitherto unknown power of mind control to make Vivenna eat the squid, that is not deus ex machina.  Nor is anything unexplained or unexpected by definition deus ex machina.  Nevermind fantasy, we live in a world that we can't explain fully.  Deus ex machina rather is when a conflict (particularly some final conflict that the story has been building towards) is resolved not through actions or powers of the characters, but rather by an outside force or coincidence.  What you're referring to is not so much God as Machine, but more Author as God; that is, the revealing of unforeseen powers and abilities more to make the plot work the way the author wants it to than because they are consistent with the characters or story so far.  This is obviously less of an issue in the beginning of stories than towards the end, which is why the introduction of Vasher's powers in the beginning require no explanation but new powers introduced now would require a very good reason for only now appearing.

Edit: I think maybe I can improve on the "character's abilities" thing (and summarize some of this discussion) by restating Sanderson's First Law as follows:

An author’s ability(1) to solve conflicts by using a particular form(2) of magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands(3) that form of magic.

How about,

An author's ability to introduce new rules to resolve a conflict is inversely related both to how many rules have already been introduced and to the challenge that the conflict presents the characters.

That's off the top of my head but sounds true to me (call it Matt's Theorem, poke away at it and let me know) -- and it actually works for more than just magic.

MattD

I don't really understand what you mean by the distinction between "magic" and "magic systems". But I think that Sanderson's First Law uses the word "magic" loosely, to refer to any unusual abilities that your characters have.

That's actually not all that loose.

There are for example a great many stories where "magic" events happen to ordinary people.

There are also many, many examples of stories where magic impacts different people in different ways, and/or to different degrees.  Spider Man has rules governing his "magic," but Spider Man and His Amazing Friends does (did) not present a "magic system" to my definition.  Based on his comments that "it seems best to start with something that I’m drawing the most attention for: magic systems" and that "I treat my magics like sciences," and looking at Elantris, Mistborn, Warbreaker and Dragonsteel, my take on what Brandon means by "magic system" is something that any of a certain group of people, if not all people, can tap into and expect to work in essentially the same way.

But I'm not sure, which is why I think definitions would be useful.

I'm not sure if I'd count that as a "conflict", though, since there was never any doubt that Vasher could escape from the prison. In fact, Brandon went to great lengths before Vasher started using any magic, to indicate to the reader that Vasher had magic powers that he was going to use to escape.

The sort of conflict I refer to (and I assume Brandon means) is not based on reader knowledge.  If you re-read a book, is the literary conflict gone because you already know what will happen?  The conflict I mean is the situations and states that the characters feel they must overcome.  How easily they expect to do so and how much of themselves thy must put into the effort has some impact on whether a conflict is "minor" or "major."

MattD

I am reminded of the scene in Lord of the Rings when the hobbits ask Galadriel if the cloaks they've been given are "magic"...

If something like Allomancy or BioChroma existed in our world, scientists would study it and work out its details.

Yes, and then Michael Crichton would write a techno-thriller about it. 

My point was that, to many people, magic by definition involves the supernatural, that which is not understandable by the scientific inquiry of those who experience it.  Brandon's disagreement at the convention panel was not really a disagreement about what good magic should contain, but rather about what magic is.  Thus it would be good to formally define his understanding of it, so that we can have that shared definition in mind when reading this and his other essays.

MattD

It might be useful in some subsequent essay to define what you mean by "magic."  As I read your explanation in this essay, you're essentially creating the natural sciences of imaginary worlds.

MattD

If Breath needs to extract color/chroma (which is reflected/refracted light) from the surrounding environment to work, then if there is no light it might not be usable.  And it might be more difficult to use if there was minimal light.  I guess the question is whether the graying of surrounding material is a matter of chemistry or physics.

I think that "biochroma" is the same sort of word as "bioluminescence" -- specifically involving life ("bio-"), in this case the "colors of life."  There's also actually a difference in meaning between "hanged" (executed) and "hung" (suspended from).

MattD

Personally I think the "porn name" method is fun: pair your middle name with a detail like the place you were born or grew up, the season you were born in, your first pet's name, etc.

MattD

1) Determine what publishers might be interested based on their existing catalogs;
2) Read each publisher's submission guidelines;
3) Follow those guidelines;
4) Be patient and persistent.

I know there is already a thread or two in this forum that discusses this very subject -- search for words like "agent" and "query letter" -- and of course Google is your friend.

MattD

There's a lot of really good cover design coming from small presses -- Aio Books, Prime, etc.

Also Orb (within Tor) has some really nice designs.  I wonder how separate they are from Tor?

MattD