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Enjoy the Goblin MS Paint doodle. Currently listening to David Bowie as I type this. "I'm happy, hope you're happy too"243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZG7AfkxYY
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Reaching a point in the story where not having clearly defined rules for the magic in the world is going to get me in a ton of trouble. So I'm taking a break from the narrative (meaning I am just writing slower) and focusing more on fleshing this out. Since we started this project, we have been writing shit on the fly. Essentially taking the gardener approach as coined by my favorite author GRRM. Yet the scaffolding needs to be built with even the small amount of magic we have introduced and the plans to introduce more in the future. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcn0k1L5A9C
Thus far, I think we have been successful in doing so, and the story is still in the super early stages, so we don't have to worry about rewrites or anything. However, I am debating posting on the blog what we have. I am not sure if it'll ruin the discovery process and world-building in the narrative. It would blow if someone stumbled across the blog post first and read all the rules, and went into the story primed, never truly discovering anything via the story itself. Yet I could be wrong on that assumption. I'll decide whether to upload it by the next blog post.243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5eW9BbN0i
This leads me to the next subject of this blog post: the wildly popular author Brandon Sanderson. A dude is a writing machine and a staple in the fantasy genre at this point, and I have yet to finish any of his books. I am very picky with the fiction that I consume for two reasons—shit attention span and wide to-niche combinations of interests that need to be presented in particular ways. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXZUaHZo9S
ASOIAF is a great example of this. A faux-medieval setting with a wide world that is populated with many cultures and peoples, yet has a soft magic system, real-world consequences, and a real sense of mystery. On paper, that sounds pretty generic, and it is, yet it's the way GRRM combines them and presents them that tickles my brain in all the right ways. The same goes for H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Jeff Vandermeer, Frank Herbert, and Ursula K. Le Guin, just to name a few. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXECdIePw8E
The one thing they all share in common is the "soft magic system," which, narratively, to me, is just so immensely appealing. Mostly because of that sense of mystery and, in the case of Lovecraft, Vandermeer, and Howard, a sense of malevolence and cosmic dread.243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHo2eugRVmU
Yet there are stories that I love that employ hard magic systems that create that ineffable quality in other ways. FMA is a good example of this as all the rules are spelled out clearly as day, yet there is still so much to the magic system that not even the characters are aware of. I hope to achieve something like that in this story. But going back to Sanderson. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOpr4h5u2E
My thinking was since he seems to be the king of hard magic systems of modern fantasy, why not give his books a fair shake? Even if I don't like them, I might learn a thing or two. I have to admit that I tried getting through The Way of Kings some 6 or 7 years ago? Not sure about the timeline there, but I got to chapter 9 before I DNF'ed it. At the time, I was in a particular mood for the esoteric and abstract that would only be fulfilled by stumbling across Jeff Vandermeer's work. I then quickly forgot about the book and him altogether.243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4c6Xknhdl
That was until that poorly written hit piece came out about him in Wired, and now I have the audiobook of The Way of Kings, already on chapter five, and idk. I am still hesitant, yet I am also finding myself enjoying the book a lot more than the last time I tried getting through it. So far, the way he presents the magic system and its rules feels a bit heavy-handed, and his style of writing is very comprehensive and serviceable, but there is no real beauty to it. And yet I find myself invested in the characters. The world-building is pretty fascinating, almost feeling more sci-fi than fantasy, and the magic system in and of itself has the potential to lead to some incredible action set pieces. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfoMVllGI9
I find myself taking notes whenever something about the magic system stands out to me, and it might be that added element of interactivity for me that could be helping with my enjoyment of the novel this time around. I am only five chapters in, though, so who knows, I might just get bored and bounce again, lol. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDMpMpIUL0
What's the appeal of the Hard magic system as opposed to the soft system? Consequences. One of my favorite things a narrative can do is employ logical or reasonable consequences, and with a hard magic system, you are beholden to that and its consequences lest you incur the wrath of those who enjoy your work. In some ways, it keeps you honest as a writer and incentives you not to deus ex machina your characters out of a situation. I am very much a person that needs to be reigned in line, as my lovely wife can attest to. And I, with great shame and humility, am a person that will fudge dice rolls in TTrpg's to keep PCs alive. Knowing this about myself and the lengths I'd go to to keep characters alive will likely get my ass in trouble, and I don't want that. So Hard magic system it is for. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt39pnBpeb
Now the trick is not to make it so hard as to have it not be mailable. I need it to bend and warp and shock the characters as well as readers because, just like in real life, we as humans can not and will never reach a complete and holistic understanding of a thing, let alone everything. We can come close for sure, but just due to the very essence of reality and nature, the full scope of "understanding" is inherently inaccessible to us. I say this to say that even if a character states something as fact, take it with a grain of salt. No one man can be all-knowing. Thanks for reading. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgopbTrxYGY
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