Writing Magic Systems

Minor spoilers for every version of Fullmetal Alchemist .

So you want to write a fantasy story. As a fantasy and sci-fi author, I heartily endorse this.

​Fantasy is a huge genre, encompassing a ton of tropes, subgenres, and rules. But a near-universal trait of fantasy is the use of magic. I mean, if a story doesn't have magic, can it even really be considered fantasy?

But writing magic is a bit daunting. So much has already been done, how do you stand out? What rules should you put in your magic system to make it interesting but not constricting? How do you make it fit with the rest of your world?

Those are all big questions, and each of them probably deserves its own blog post. But we're going to tackle all of them here, so buckle up.

Hard vs. Soft
​(insert dick joke here)

One of the first things to think about is whether you want your magic system to be hard or soft. I'll direct you to YouTuber Hello Future Me if you want a more in-depth look at them, but the bottom line is this: how defined do you want your magic system to be?

A hard magic system has rigid rules and regulations. Think Avatar: the Last Airbender or Fullmetal Alchemist. There are limitations, costs, materials needed, training, technicalities, etc. You either can't break the rules at all, or you can try and end up losing a few limbs.

On the other end of the spectrum, soft magic systems don't really have rules. Or if they exist, they're very flexible. Think Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. Yes, Gandalf is a wizard and does magic stuff, but...what exactly are the rules for his magic? Does he actually need his staff, and if so, why? Why does he teleport to the dwarves in peril in The Hobbit but needs a horse to get around in Lord of the Rings ? (That last one is more bad writing and "because plot!" but the fact remains: LOTR never defined Gandalf's powers enough to say that he couldn't teleport, which is why he does.)

You can, of course, write a system that incorporates both hard and soft elements. For example, in Avatar: the Last Airbender , the rules of bending are strict. The bending laws are only just loose enough to allow for a couple of special abilities like metalbending and healing, which are natural extensions and evolutions of traditional bending. No one's expecting Zuko to suddenly start waterbending, and if he did, this would cease to be the greatest show on television.

But on the other hand, anything to do with the spirit world is completely up in the air. With the exception of "you can't bend in the spirit world," the rules for what Aang sees and does in that realm differ from episode to episode. He and Roku basically travel back in time in season three. And that makes sense because, unlike bending, the rules of the spirit world are not as clearly defined.

One way to help loosen up a hard magic system to allow for a bit of unpredictability in an otherwise very predictable system is to introduce one--and only one --wild card or super-powered item. In Fullmetal Alchemist , they have the Philosopher's Stone, which is basically a magical cop-out in an otherwise very strict, science-and-math based world. But the presence of this cop-out is balanced by the fact that the Stones are a) very rare, and b) require a ton of human sacrifices ​to make.

The type of magic system you choose--hard, soft, or blended--is mostly decided by what type of story you want and what role and flavor you want the magic to be. If you want predictable magic with harsh rules, limitations, and consequences, your magic system will probably be hard. If you want unpredictable, mysterious, and/or chaotic magic, it's going to be soft.

If you want to be extra sneaky, you can create a magic system that appears to be soft at first, but as the story progresses the characters find out that there are actually some pretty strict rules and prices to magic, making it in actuality a hard system. This can be cool if the story involves discovering magic, the way scientists might discover a new element. The consequences of dicking around with magic that the characters underestimate or don't fully understand can result in a Chernobyl-scale disaster.

Just be careful to stay consistent with the rules you do set out. No reader likes to be told "Magic can only be done if you do X, Y, and Z," only to have a character fling a never-before-seen fireball at the bad guy with no explanation other than "plot" or "it's the main character and they're special." That's a deus ex machina, a.k.a. bad writing. Soft magic systems in particular run the risk of falling into this trap, as they don't tend to have as many costs and limitations as hard magic systems.

​You have to remember that one of the most important elements of writing isn't magic or worldbuilding, but stakes. You need to convince your audience that something valuable is being threatened, with a real risk of being destroyed. You can't do that if your characters are pulling new, god-like powers out of their asses because of the Power of Friendship.

Popular Types of Magic

Almost all magic falls in one or more of these categories:
-potions
-enchantments & curses
-prophecies
-magical items
-magical creatures
-spells

I'll direct you to Overly Sarcastic Productions' video on magic here , as they also talk about this in further detail. (But for some reason, Red doesn't mention magical creatures, which seems like a gross oversight on her part.)

Potions tend to be the most scientific type of magic, which makes sense given that the creation of potions was considered a science in our world for centuries. It's pretty similar to chemistry or cooking: you throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot, add the correct amount of heat or cold, and the result can turn you into a bear or give you super-strength. It goes without saying that the more technical you get with your potions, the harder you magic system becomes, whereas if you just have potions as something you can buy at a dollar store in a D&D campaign without really going into how these potions are made, it remains a soft magic system. (Though it might be fun to take economics, supply and demand, and a competitive market into account when creating a potion marketplace.)

Enchantments and curses are another old-school type of magic. It's a type of magic that is specifically targeted at a person or group of people, usually to their detriment. This is the kind of magic you see most often in fairy tales: someone insults a witch, and they get turned into a toad until they can coerce a young girl into giving them a kiss. Stuff like that. These tend to be almost exclusively on the soft end of the magic system scale, largely because the people doing this type of magic are only in the story long enough to do the curse, and so their character and backstory remains nebulous and mysterious. Sometimes the curse or enchantment comes from a potion, blurring the line between the categories.

Prophecies are, again, old school. People have been trying to see into the future ever since we had a clear idea of what "the future" actually is. But prophecies tend to have a little more weight than a guy tossing a bunch of bones on the floor in order to predict the weather. Prophecies often address major events and world players, and nine times out of ten it's about a Chosen One defeating the Dark Lord. Rick Riordan mixed it up a little bit. In the Percy Jackson series, every quest starts out with a prophecy from the Oracle. Why? Not only does it keep the Greek mythology theme going, but it also serves as a guide for the characters. The Oracle says they're going to need five people, so they choose five instead of the traditional three. She says to avoid traveling over land because the earth goddess is cranky, so they'd better build an airship. It tells them where to go and, often, how to do it. Which isn't to say that the prophecies don't get misinterpreted. That happens all the time, and offers excellent conflict and plot twists. Getting the Oracles working again is the major conflict in the ongoing Trials of Apollo series because they're that important.

Magic items mostly started as gifts from the gods to mortals (think Perseus's magic helmet and mirror shield used to kill Medusa). Nowadays, they're pretty much any item with any type of magical properties. Valyrian steel kills ice zombies. Enchanted jewelry corrupts people. Sweaters knitted from enchanted yarn are bulletproof. Another modern interpretation to the magical items is essentially making them characters themselves. Tolkien's The One Ring almost has a character of its own. It has wants and needs. Other magic items are full-on sentient and can even talk, like Jack, the magic sword from Magnus Chase . Items are unique on this list because, unlike almost any of the others (possible exception of potions), they can be used by anyone. The Genie's lamp in Aladdin is originally used by the hero, but switched hands to the villain, Jafar.

Magical creatures are a whole other thing. Every culture has a grocery list of them. Dragons, genies, sea serpents, phoenixes, unicorns, and so much more. They're also constantly evolving. Authors have been doing new spins on dragons for centuries, or they just make up totally new creatures. And these magical creatures' role in the story varies. Sometimes they're just props or macguffins, like a magical horse that allows the characters to reach the epic showdown in time. And sometimes they're entire characters in their own right. They can even be the main character.

And finally, spells. They're kind of the "miscellaneous" section of the magic list. It usually involves waving a wand, saying the magic word, or even drawing certain shapes on the floor. It's generic, but also very broad, and typically grants authors the most wiggle room and creative freedom.

Anyone who's read Harry Potter will note that J.K. Rowling created a magic system that encompasses all of these elements, while Game of Thrones only uses half, and Avatar: the Last Airbender only has spells and creatures. This is totally something you can do. Choose one, choose all, roll a 1d6 to randomly choose how many and which ones you get. It's fantasy. The world is your oyster.

Magic in Your World

Finally, how does magic fit into the rest of the world? Is it well-known or a secret? Accepted or forbidden? Considered a respected field of study or laughed at?

Who, exactly, gets to have magic? There are many possibilities. The most popular include:

-It's something you're born with or without, like hair or skin color. ( Percy Jackson series.)
-It's something that theoretically anyone can do, they just need access to a lot of training. (Think Doctor Strange .)
-It's something that can be given to you by a supernatural/divine entity, like paladins and clerics in Dungeons & Dragons. Conversely, this power can then be taken away from you if you break this entity's rules.
-Related to the divine entity thing, magic can come from a magical artifact. This would be Thor's hammer, which was able to grant thunder and lightning powers to non-demigod Steve Rogers when he took it.

There are probably others, but these are the ones that I've come across the most frequently. If magic is a natural resource--or perhaps it uses a specific resource to work--then you can play politics in your story by having a country or various groups of people vie for power over that resource.

Sometimes you can mix and match different sources. The benders in Avatar are born with their powers, but they also need a mentor and years of training to get it right. Percy Jackson has demigods and monsters who are born with their abilities, but also a plethora of magical items that do a variety of things, including see the future, and even a potion that can raise the dead.

Once you figure out where your magic comes from, you can work on how it's viewed within your fantasy world. Are there certain types of magic that are outlawed or taboo? If so, why? Is it technically available for everyone but really only the super-rich or other powerful groups can actually get access to the required training? How is magic used in the wider world? Are there wizard construction workers who make a living by building houses in five minutes flat? Are there dragon rodeos? Do pharmacists need to know about medicinal potions as well as the pills we know today?

Seriously, there are limitless possibilities here. Maybe you're insecure about your magic system not being the most original, but the way you incorporate it in the modern world to create an urban fantasy is original, and that's honestly more important. The quality of the story will trump the originality of the idea any day of the week.

​Happy writing!