So I started with examples. Now let’s break it down to what all those elements have in common. Reverse-engineering. That way, we can find what base building blocks were used to make the structure. I didn’t come up with any of this–these are all based on my notes. I’m just putting them together into something coherent. First, we have to define what magic is. Sorry to be pretentious, but you need to get your terms down to get a bead on what we’re talking about. IMO, magic is power. It’s the ability to do something you wouldn’t normally be able to do in real life. That means starting from some…
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Magic Systems: What You Need to Know (Part 1)
I’ve been thinking about magic systems lately. A little bit for fun and a little bit because I potentially need to for an upcoming novel. Most of my knowledge comes from video games (usually RPGs), which are magic systems applied, but based around numbers and probabilities and statistics (mathmagic?). Most use “fuel” or “mana meter” in the same way that HP is a rough representation of your health and consciousness. When it’s gone, your agency is removed and the result will likely be a game over. In the same way, not enough fuel for your magic, and you can’t do it. Or you can think of it like currency. The…
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The Books I Read: January – February 2018
The Elven by Bernhard Hennen It took me two months of dedicated reading to complete this. Of course, I took breaks along the way, but still, I feel stories can wear out their welcome. We’re not in the era of television-less-ness anymore. We don’t need War and Peace to keep us occupied. And this is a callback to those kinds of books. It’s a saga rooted in high fantasy and Norse/Germanic myths (like elves and dwarves). We’ve got three main characters. Two are elves who have been rivals for a girl elf’s love for whatever thousands of years elves live. The last is a viking who gets treated like the…
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The Dark Side is Not an Evil Side (Obligatory “Two Sides to Every Schwartz” joke)
One of the things I wish Star Wars would do with its storytelling is to resolve that the Dark Side is not evil. Nothing is inherently evil in this world. Only humans (and some well-evolved animals) can be evil. It takes a good brain to be evil, because evil is gaining pleasure from the pain of others. So not spiders or guns or poison or magic or anything is evil. It’s what you do with those powers that determines your fate. It’s why I feel bad for Slytherin house. They all get painted with the same brush. You get sorted into Slytherin, it’s a death sentence for your social life.…
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Analyzing the Disney Villains: Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone)
“MAD” MADAM MIM Origin: The Sword in the Stone (1963) The Sword in the Stone is interesting because the plot line has no real good vs. evil arc as most Disney movies do. Instead, the story is about growth, about the evolution of a small, wimpy boy being taught courage, wisdom, and strength. The value is put on education, not defeating the bad guy. That being said, there are obstacles to Wart’s goal. I would describe Sir Kay and Ector as the film’s antagonists, as they are the primary obstacles to Wart getting what he wants (hanging out with Merlin and getting an education). However, that does not mean they…
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Harry Potter and the Implausible Scenario
“I’m half and half. Me dad’s a muggle; Mam’s a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out.” The character of Seamus Finnegan spouts that line in the movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. It’s a one-line condensation of a much bigger, more subtle part of the book, meant only to say indicate that wizards can be born from two wizards, two muggles, or one muggle and one wizard. Parentage doesn’t seem to matter where magic prowess is concerned. Of course, this becomes a much bigger issue in following stories. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to talk about what…
