make Magic work for your Story

One of the staples of many fantasy stories, whatever their length, is some form of magic. It may be called a power, or ability, or some other esoteric name, but they function in a similar way. I would define magic as an ability that provides characters in a story a way to solve a dilemma that does not exist in our current world. I know it's a very broad definition, but that's on purpose. Magic systems are diverse and often intentionally obscure as authors strive to maintain either an aura of mystery in their world or a bit of originality in their work. Regardless of what it's called or the transparency with which it is presented, a magic system needs to be carefully crafted before being included in a fantasy story. Let me break down some of the things I think make a good (or bad) magic system. Before diving too far, I should start with addressing the value of a magic system in general. While it is a common piece in fantasy stories, I don't think that a magic system is essential to creating a fantasy world. There are many avenues for presenting a story as part of the fantasy genre. Including fantastical beasts or other races may be sufficient to classify it as a fantasy story. Magic may be the most common and easiest way to change the world into a fantastical one, though. At first glance it seems like an easy fix to crafting a setting: give a character magic and you can do anything you want as an author. That's where many authors go wrong.

To start with, magic should have a purpose in your world and story. Introducing a magic system solely as a reason to label your story as fantasy is not enough. If it exists in your world, it should be instrumental in some way toward the plot you are working out. That's not to say that your main character needs to be able to use it. It could be a very interesting story if your character needs magic to overcome their particular challenge, but cannot use it themselves. But if you have made magic just to "be cool" in your world, then you've missed the point. I'll address world-building with magic in a different post, but here it will suffice to say that if magic is prevalent in your world, then it will be used for mundane purposes somewhere. If your magic is entirely disconnected from your plot, it will only complicate and confuse your reader. It would be better to simply omit it and tell your story without it instead.

OK, so magic is important to your plot in some way. It could be the final piece in a puzzle necessary to defeat the antagonist. It could be the only thing that can change the main character's fate. Great! Now we have to get into the details. Magic systems need to be just that: systems. They need clear details to be functional. This doesn't mean you can't break the system (that would be a great twist from an antagonist or the main character), it just means that your reader needs to understand enough of the system to believe it. Essentially, magic should feel real. That means a few things that I'll expand on below. First, your magic system needs limitations. Second, it needs functional applications. Third, it needs a clearly defined structure. Let's take each of these in turn.

For a magic system to feel real to a reader, the first thing it needs is limitations. Simply put, magic without a limit is so unbelievable, a reader will not be able to remain immersed in your world and story. Limits can come in many different ways. There could be a knowledge limit such as number of words known in an arcane language. It could be a physical limit in which magic steals vitality or energy from a caster to the point of danger if overused. It could be a measured limit like in RPGs where a magic character has a certain amount of energy (mana or slots) and casting spells takes a certain cost of that energy. It could even be a limit of time where a spell requires a certain amount of time to be cast. You could even have multiple types of limits, making your system more complex or harder to access. Your system's limits are where you can be most creative, but they must exist. If a character can destroy the universe with a single wave of their hand without any cost, then the magic seems unsatisfying. To say it in a different way, magic should be like any other physical skill in your world. It should make the reader want to invest time to understand it and thus become further immersed in your world.

Now, the fact that your magic system has limits does not mean you cannot break those limits in your story. Like I mentioned above, so long as your reader has invested themselves into your system and believes it to be real, breaking the rules of your system can be a great twist in your plot. It can be an emotional moment for a reader, for example, if you have said that a particular task is impossible with magic and the main character is forced beyond the limits to achieve it that way. Conversely, if the villain breaks the system's limits, it can provide a flash of fear to the reader, showing the antagonist's power. For both of these twists to work, though, the limits must be perfectly clear to the reader. One way I've seen this fail was in Harry Potter. (Spoiler alert!) The "time turner" is a great example of a reader's lack of knowledge about the magic in Rowling's world. With such a powerful device presumably powered by the same system as all other magic, many things that occurred in the series become inconsequential, including character death. If, as a reader, we were introduced appropriately to the entire system of magic of the wizarding world, then we may be able to find the loophole the time turner exploits and appreciate it further. The series as a whole does well, but that one piece seems to fail to connect with the rest of the world.

Beyond limits, your magic system needs functional applications. It's a strange way to say it, but I've seen so many authors who craft magic simply for combat purposes. Combat may be the most flashy of uses of magic and may even be the primary use you give magic in your story. Even so, showing that magic can be used for more than harming others or defending oneself makes the system more real to a reader. It can be as simple as using a fire spell to start a camp fire or using a hardening spell to strengthen a stew pot or what have you. The importance is not in what it does, so long as it is beyond military. Now, there is a big exception here. If the magic in your world has fallen under government control, it is likely the reader will primarily (if not exclusively) see military uses for it. Many anime stories use this premise, for example. That being said, you can break this by including a character who defies government (intentionally or otherwise) and uses magic for alternative purposes.

Finally, your magic system needs a clearly defined structure. I've already touched on this some in the discussion on limitations, but I thought this needed more clarity. What I don't mean by "clear structure" is what you have in your notes or in your head as you draft your story. I mean what you present to your reader. I understand that magic can often be something arcane, or poorly understood in your world, and that is a wonderful piece of world building to include. Your reader, however, is not part of the world. They are looking at it from the outside and should often (not always) have a broader understanding of the world than the locals. I say "often" because there are valid plot reasons to obscure pieces of the system from your readers including plot twists or unique abilities within the system. Even so, your readers need a functional understanding of the system if they are to engage with the world as you unroll it before them. The knowledge should come gradually, within the narrative, not necessarily in an appendix that describes the system in detail (though a complex system may benefit from both, like Sanderson's "Allomancy" from Mistborn). Keeping the knowledge hidden entirely can work, but only if magic is extremely limited in use like in Tolkien's Middle Earth. I would argue, though, that keeping a system entirely obscured from a reader is more often a source of frustration for them than a reason to dive deeper into your world.

There is much more that can be discussed about magic in fantasy settings. Iterations of magical abilities span a broad spectrum of simple to complex across worlds that are just as varied. The most important thing as you craft a magic system for your fantasy world is that it be something that draws your readers in, not pushes them out. So long as it is integral to the story itself and has clear limitations that your readers can grasp, you're on the right track. Magic is a great piece of the fantasy genre. Make it work for your story.