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Need ideas for what Magic can do

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Shiael:

--- Quote from: fardawg on June 14, 2011, 02:35:52 PM ---
--- Quote from: Jason R. Peters on June 14, 2011, 01:43:23 AM ---The powers-matrix was actually created for a video game I intended to design, an RTS where you could...well...combine powers.
--- End quote ---

I did something similar to that to get an interesting story idea. I looked at my DVD collection, closed my eyes, and grabbed two or three at random. I then forced myself to combine the core storylines. I tried to find common elements between them no matter how odd. I actually combined Shawn of the Dead with the live action Popeye movie. You would be surprised at how well that worked.  When I tried this with the Stock Superpowers I got Your Hearts Desire combined with Powers via Possession. Hilarity ensued!  ;D

--- End quote ---
Can't wait to read it! sounds funny :) and i suppose headless monkeys in this case were considered technology, but in some cases technology is a form of magic,lol

RDDK:
1. Age magic - immortality.
This one is easy in the sense that you don't need to come up with as many rules. You also have a simplistic magic element that can HUGELY affects the world you create. How do people feel about the immortals. What do the immortals do with their immortality? Where did it come from and can it be shared. Etc.

2. General magic - fireballs and healing
This is kind of the Merlin magic, where everything and anything can be done if you know how. It's been renamed in many books with different rules, but the main thing about it is that it isn't a specific isolated ability.

3. Superhero - single power or sets.
Here you have the isolated ability or abilities. Invisibility, absorption, can throw fireballs (but nothing else). Usually it comes from a reaction to a foreign element or some kind of inborn ability. You can go a lot of ways with this and how the people with these abilities (born or learned) are regulated in the world.

4. Race magic - racial quality.
This ties in with super hero magic. Mind reading, ESP, nightvision, and so on. Here it is attached to a race instead of a single person. With this you have to make a world where these abilities can exist without their causing a devolution. If humans gained mind reading as a race, we'd probably all be in a lot of trouble.

5. Science - alchemy, symbioses, futuristic.
Science fiction, but not science fiction. What I mean by this is scientifically based magic, but where the characters do not know or understand science, and so to them it is magic. For instance,  something like the Venom suit from Spider Man isn't really magic, but to a normal person on earth, it sure looks like a monster from hell.

What I do when I have a magic idea is then run it through some tests. What do I want my character to do with it. If he does this, what will happen. I work as hard as I can to invalidate my idea, then try to fix the problems, until I end up with a system that works.

Another thing you can do, which is the opposite of what another poster said, is to write the story first, or at least the outline. Then go through it and in places where things happen, [Hero wins contest] you can think about how magic might have been involved here, rather than him just being physically stronger. Or if there is a battle, and the enemy escapes, come up with magical reasons instead of luck and a fast horse. It's kind of like reading a history book, which tells you "this happened and this happened and this happened" but doesn't always tell you how. I think it could help you with coming up with ideas when you have specific circumstances for the magic to be used.

Anyway, hope that was helpful.

Juan Dolor:

--- Quote from: Jason R. Peters on June 22, 2011, 07:03:14 PM ---I want to make one final plug here that I respectfully disagree with the premise behind your original question.

It is phrased in such a way as to indicate:

1. You have an existing world or story and
2. You want to add magic over the top of said world/story

I challenge you, rather than using magic to SUPPLEMENT your existing world (adding fire magic or healing magic), build a story AROUND the magic (or in SciFi, technology).

I'm a firm believer that a love story with elves should just delete the elves, or a mystery story with fireballs should just delete the fireballs. Tolkien's story, however, would not have worked without rings of power. Without Feruchemy and Allomancy, there is no story for Mistborn. Without runes, Elantris is meaningless. Without a tainted Saidin, the fear of men channeling doesn't exist.

In each case, the magic is as vital to the story as the characters and setting (in good fantasy, magic is indistinguishable from setting), not something the author added to an existing story which could stand alone without the magic.

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I disagree.  I think a magic system that's only window dressing is totally fine. 

I like Brandon Sanderson and other authors who write novels where the whole point is to understand the magic system and how the world works and then transcend in godlike fashion.  But that's not the only way to write a fantasy novel. 

For example, I love lots of sword and sorcery-- Robert E. Howard, Fritz Lieber, etc.-- and in those novels the magic system is complete window dressing.  But that's okay, because the plot is not about the magic system, or even people who use magic.  So the magic just adds flavor. 

In the same way, there are novels in which the plot is built around a religion or a culture.  Judaism and Hasidic culture, are absolutely central to The Chosen, for example.  You take that out, and there is no book.  But there are lots of books in which those same cultural or religious elements just add a little flavor.  They supplement.  And that's not a bad thing at all.

Juan Dolor:

--- Quote from: Jason R. Peters on June 27, 2011, 01:59:54 AM ---If any single dream is too fragmented, one option is (similar to the powers idea) start crossing them.

Another option for both magic and story ideas is to randomize two wikipedia articles. Or one wikipedia article with a dream.

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I think this is really important. 

Larry Correia and John Brown have a lecture about generating story ideas-- you can find it on youtube.  And one of the things they talk about is the need to push your ideas just a little bit.  You begin by brainstorming, just writing down things that go 'zing' in your brain, things you think are interesting or exciting.  But then you take another step.  Maybe you start combining these ideas together.  Or maybe you do what they call the "list and twist" approach, where you go down your list of ideas and think about how to take them in a novel or strange direction.

So a dream journal, or wiki-walking, or anything else is a good start.  But you have to take that next step and push your ideas.

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