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Hello fellow Hatrackers. I posted this very same exact thing in another thread, but it was at the end of page 2, and no one is veiwing or responding to it, so I'm going to repost it here. I know that's sort of sketchy behaviour when it comes to these boards, but I would like some feedback on this. So, thats why. thanks
In my world there are those that can do magic, they have a very small magic ability, and are then taught how to use it, especially using rote spells, very by the book. But then there are two ppl born at roughly the same time, unrelated, in different parts of the world, who have a completely natural and unlimited command of 'magic.' They can do whatever they want, with the only consequences being, for them, the results of the magic they have thought up and worked. For those who use magic more unnaturally, 'by the book,' there are also no consequences, but they have less of an impact on the world. I'm wondering what you guys think of this. I know the school of thought where magic has consequences, but there is no draining of power, or sacrifices to use your magic. It's like your arm, or mouth, for these to special people. It doesnt require consequences of them to use at all. So any specific discussion to this would be extra helpful. Thx..
In it Angela Lansbury plays a woman who wants to be a witch. So she is taking lessons by correspondence. She can do any spell that is written down, but it doesn't always turn out 100% as planned. She has to learn how to do the spells and it takes practice to get them right. The magic doesn't have a price, but there are some rather humourous consequences all the same.
If there are only two people in your whole world who have unlimited magical talent, that could be interesting as they grow-up and learn to use their magic.
Do they have abilities right from birth? Are there abilities "awakened" at certain point in life? after puberty? as long as they're a virgin (or after losing virginity)? once they reach a specific age? How do they learn to use their powers?
When I applied to the journalism program I took, the director of the program told me they could teach anyone how to write an article (I think he may have even made an allusion to monkeys doing the job ). While this true, a natural talent for putting words and facts together can take you that much further and make you that much better than everyone else. That said, it still takes work to hone those skills and learn what does and doesn't really work.
Don't make it too easy. A cost doesn't have to be debilitating, but it can still make things a bit of a challenge.
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Something else to think about is: what do you consider to be a price?
People with natural abilities could see themselves ostracized or discriminated against. There are social implications and "costs" to consider. It could mean being ousted from their family or community (consider the witch-hunts of old).
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Right right. Good words. THanks. Yeah, the main character doesn't use her 'magic' much, she only does it also when people aren't around, because she hasn't seen anyone else using this. And she doesn't want to be different, or seen as different, so there is that. Maybe that's a sort of price. The magic is there from birth, but sort of... she doesn't notice it, because she has to think about magic to do it. she has to really focus on it, to concentrate... ect. ect... So she has to be a little older to start doing things, before she discovers it. (Older like 7 ish... that's when the story starts.
So... I mean.... does that fly? Or is that ridiculous in some way. Antoher thing I meant by they have to deal with the consequences, is that, early in the story, the main character forgets to see if anyone else is around, and through many tragic circumstances, her father dies, and she sees it as a direct effect of her doing magic. So that could be a price to, that's what I was thinking. The cost could be just the consequences of using it in the first place. I don't want to be like... She turned the apple into a banana, so that cost 7 mana points, and now she has to regenerate... u know what I mean...
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I vaguely recall the main character in Morgan Llywelyn's Druids lost a friend because of the path he chose in pursuing his talents, and a girl he fell in love with refused his love because she had a problem with the druids after her brother had been sacrificed.
Posts: 151 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Remember that cost is anything you give up to pursue a chosen path. It doesn't even have to be at the present. In real life, consequences don't always manifest themselves as soon as you do something. It can take years before you see effects of a choice.
The example that comes to mind is cigarette smoking. (Not the best example.) It takes years (in most cases) before any signs start to appear.
Okay, in the magic system you've developed, the "cost" is that you have to spend a lot of time studying magic to learn how it works. So it's like the "cost" of becoming a computer programmer, you have to take classes that teach you the logic behind how hardware and software work along with the specific commands used to invoke the various processes you want. So everyone else is at the level of doing it all in assembler code, meaning they can't do much and it always takes a lot of rote typing and so forth to develop a program, and this girl just intuitively understands magic such that she's at another level entirely.
All well and good, even interesting. It isn't like the magic is "free" in your system, you're just positing someone that has a lot more ability than anyone else (except for the other person you mentioned but didn't describe at all). Like I said before, the main danger is that you'll end up with a character that doesn't have any meaningful obsticles to getting whatever she wants...but you've already dealt with that danger as far as I can tell. So I say go for it.
Im already off to a nice 12,500 word start, so I'm very happy. btw.. How long is a novel... like... 600 pages... paperback... how many words you think that is? A decent sized fantasy. Just out of curiousity.
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Novel length usually starts in the 40,000 to 50,000 word range. For fantasy, I think the common word count is in the 100,000 to 150,000 word count.
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Hmm. Something to consider is whether or not you can get your readers to worry about the character. I mean, if she's so powerful what can hurt her? The reader might bet bored with that.
There are ways to deal with it, of course. Superman can get hurt by ultra-rare or synthesized kryptonite, for instance, but you can't keep having meteorites or genius metalurgists showing up in the stories. His REAL weaknesses are the relationships he forms with others (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, etc.). We don't worry about him physically. Just emotionally.
Professor X is in a wheelchair. They didn't limit his power, only his mobility.
Other characters are guilt-ridden over their powers, or shamed by them, or ... well, there's always a way.
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I've seen something that says a short novel begins at 70,000 words. OSC once said his novels average about 110,000 words. I recently read Stephen King's "On Writing" where he mentioned the figure of 180,000 words. I don't think I'd want to push the number much higher than that. You could do a search and come up with additional discussion on this topic. I tried to do a search for you to give you a link, but the board was being really sluggish at the moment and I got tired of the wait. Posts: 2026 | Registered: Mar 2005
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That's cool... I don't need the real in depth discussion anyways... I was just looking for a few numbers, that's all. But thanks Posts: 147 | Registered: Oct 2005
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). While this true, a natural talent for putting words and facts together can take you that much further and make you that much better than everyone else. That said, it still takes work to hone those skills and learn what does and doesn't really work.
