What makes a good system of magic?
Recently I came across Writing Excuses (a 15 minutes pod cast series by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler) and their episodes about magic.
The magic system has always been one of my favourite parts of a fantasy setting. Magic is one of the things that set fantasy apart from other types of fiction, and as a kid I would often loose myself in daydreams of having magical abilities. But even though I have always liked magic I have never thought too much about what sets a good system apart from a bad system.
I have always seen a well defined system of magic, with clear rules and boundaries, as a good thing in. It makes it easier for me to associate with the magical users in the story, and it gives me another tool to use when I try to figure out how the characters are going to get through the next chapter. It is also important that the magic comes with a price, both when using it and when learning how to use it. Finding a balance between that and the amount of magic you want to have available in the world is a really hard balance act. Too little and you will end up with everything done by magic. Too much and no one uses magic. Each of the two extremes might work in their own stories, but I tend to find the magic systems that fall a place in between the most exciting to read about.
A great example of a well defined system that makes the story better is the system used in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. The rules for the magic is well defined and explained in the beginning of the books, so when it is used to solve problems later on you are amazed by the creativity of the characters as the apply the know rules in ways you would never have imagined.
My stance on the unclear systems is a bit more vague. Some of them I like, some I don't. Until I heard those episodes from Writing Excuses, and through them got introduced to Sanderson's first law, I had not tried to articulate my preference either. And after thinking it through I agree with Sanderson's approach to magical systems. An unclear system is fine, but it can only be given a minor role in the book. If an unclear system is given too great of a role in the story, it becomes a deus ex machina and hinders the readers from investing in the characters and the story.
I think that is why I love the use of magic in Tolkien's work, even though that is a very unclear and undefined system. On the other hand you have the magical system used in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, which I did not like. The magic in that series is unclear and often overused, so it comes off as a crutch to keep the main story going more than anything else.
May 22nd, 2011 - 10:14
What makes a system so great? Where does the structure come from? Should it be a detailed mathematical formula like a video game would be? Behind the scenes at least?
May 23rd, 2011 - 19:16
Thanks for the questions! My answer ended up being a bit on the long side, so I turned the whole thing into a blog post intead.
Hopefully that provides a few of the answers you seek. If not I’ll probably end up writing more on the same subject, since I keep learning more about my own thoughts on magic systems the more I write about it.