Writing Wednesdays: Building Magic...

So here is the first in my world building posts. I'm going to start with magic. Not for any reason in particular, it's just a place to start.

Magic in my world is not unique by any means of the imagination. But it is different, simply because how I view magic. My opinions on magic in fantasy differ, I'm sure, from other fantasy writers out there.

There is a lot of debate in the fantasy world that I'm sure most of you are unaware of, if fantasy is not your genre. The debate? Should magic have rules? Lots of fantasy buffs think it should. Where is the fun in fantasy if you've got a magic user that can just conjure up whatever he or she wants with the snap of their fingers?

And what of the magical 'cost'? By cost, I mean what does it cost the magic user to conjure? Does it take away from his energy? His life in either seconds, hours or years? Maybe it takes from his soul.

I'm currently reading a book where magic affects the users mind. Every time they use magic, they go a little more insane. ("The Way of the Black Beast" by Stuart Jaffe) (Note: Guest post on Thursday August 9th by Stuart, drop by!)

But what about those pesky rules? I'm of the mind that magic should not have rules, per se, but limitations are an absolute must! Again with the whole snapping of fingers and poof! you have stuff. Magic should cost the user something, right?

In Melanie Rawn's series of books, The Dragon Prince trilogy and The Dragon Star trilogy, she has magic users called Sunrunners. The basis of these Sunrunners is this: They can use sunlight to communicate with other Sunrunners over long distances. Can they conjure up items or anything? Nope. They just speak to each other. So what are the consequences of something like this? They can't use starlight. It is forbidden, but if the Sunrunner is powerful enough, they can accomplish it. They also don't travel well on water. You put a Sunrunner on a raft over a river and they're incapacitated for hours. Imagine what sailing would do to them? The other drawback to being a Sunrunner? There is a drug that they can use to increase their power to reach longer distances. It is super addictive and they're easily controlled when addicted. Sometimes, though, a Sunrunner will get lost in the light and can't find their way back to their body. If this happens, they basically end up an empty shell and die.

In David Eddings' series of The Belgariad and The Mallorean, Belgarath the sorcerer and his daughter, Polgara the sorceress, are a couple of pretty powerful magic users. They use the 'Will and the Word' method. You picture what you want in your mind then you will it into being with a spoken word. One of the drawbacks is that when you use magic, it makes a sound other magic users can hear. Sends out a beacon, and if you are hiding, that's not good! There are very few magic users in Eddings' world. A handful, in fact and they are not easily swayed. They try to stay out of things unless Prophecy dictates otherwise. So they can use magic all they want and their lifespan is limitless. They can be killed, but you better be able to get close, first.

My magic users have limits as well. I call them Mahjii. They're born into magic. They know by the age of fourteen if they have magical energies within. They have one year to seek out training and if they ignore it, they pay the price. My Mahjii must seek out training or their magical energies will consume them. They literally burn with fever and end up in ashes. Sometimes, they're only powerful enough to maintain that energy within. It prolongs their death and they're pretty sick their entire life, but they're alive. That's their only restriction, really. And rules? Well, they're meant to be broken, aren't they? They try to stay out of political issues. They have chosen to withdraw from the world after their city is destroyed, so people in my world think they're dead and gone. Myths and legends. But they still exist!

Mahjii in my world use the energy that surrounds them. They draw off the energy of the earth at their feet, the air, water, anything. They don't exactly conjure up just anything. They have specific things they create and lots of tools to enhance their abilities. My Elves that use magic are the same way, but their magical energies won't kill them if they can't control it. My water Elves live near running water to power their magic. Lakes don't do it, rivers are workable but oceans are optimal. They can use the energies to shape-shift and conjure to a point. The way my magic users see it is if they need it and can't find it anywhere or make it, they create it using their power.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Tune in next time when I discuss kingdoms. Tomorrow I will have a guest post by Stuart Jaffe, author of 'The Way of the Black Beast' regarding magic in his world. So drop on by and say hello to Stuart!

How I Write Fantasy...

I'm going to be writing up some posts in the next several weeks in regards to my views of writing fantasy and more importantly how I write fantasy. Things I have worked on, things that took me a long freakin' time to create. Now, this may or may not help you if you are a fantasy writer, time will only tell. Most fantasy writers take so long in writing their work because of all the world building they have to do. Others just wing it.

So what, first of all, does world building include? Well, that depends on how far you want to get into it. Here is what my world building included:

* Magic

*Kingdoms

*Laws

*Creatures

*Characters

*Money

*Gods and Goddesses

These are just the main things. In each of those categories, there are numerous sub-categories. I had to make lots of decisions regarding the list above.

In making decisions on my world, in general, I had to start out with some pretty mundane stuff regarding the sun, moon, stars and so on.

Might sound silly to you, but in writing fantasy, you're here to think outside of the box. I literally came up with several choices on those basic things and rolled the dice. Not kidding! I used to play Dungeons and Dragons, so I pulled out all my dice. Six sided, four sided, twenty sided and I rolled, baby!

My world has two suns. If you think this might be a hot climate, it isn't really. The second sun is really, really tiny when you look at it up in the sky of my world.

I have one moon in my night sky and of course, my stars make up their own constellations which had to be written down in folklore and the like. I even have a story about the moon. I'm still working on the constellations and the stories associated with them.

So, over the next several weeks, I'll be posting things about my world and choosing from those categories above. Bear with me, as I worked on this world for well over ten years and it still isn't done or is it perfect. I'm constantly adding to it and changing things, but most of what I have is set in stone and is here to stay. So I hope you enjoy what I have to share!

Friday Favorites, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

It is Friday again! Woot!

And!

It is August! Can you believe it? Wow. Summer is moving right along and so shall I!

Favorite Books/Authors:


When I was a kid, I read the entire series of 'Little House on the Prairie' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder over and over and over. I loved those books. I learned a lot. I think I posted here recently something about these books. Probably that they were the only books I read a million times. Okay, maybe a hundred. But no less than that, I'm sure! I think these books are the ones that got me so hooked on history. Even if you couldn't tell by my high school grades. Heh.





Favorite Movies:

Just Go With It has become a favorite of mine. I love Adam Sandler and I found Jennifer Aniston to be quite funny. I used to love watching Friends. I have all the DVDs from all seasons except one. I loved her in 'Horrible Bosses', she was bad ass, lol! But this movie was very cute. And now I own it as well.

Favorite Music:


Well, today I will go with Weezer. I love this group. I haven't put a lot of their stuff on my iPod, but I certainly intend to get more. Just something about 'em. They have a good  beat and I can dance to it...








Fantasy Art:
Link to this page .

What with all the copyright infringement stuff going on, I have to be careful what I add here. So on the off chance I don't hear back from the artist by the time this post is up, there will be no artwork until I get permission.

Aaaand the funny!

Have a great weekend! What are your plans?

Creatures of my World...

I have a portfolio on Writing.com under the user name Caledonia Lass. I subscribe to a few newsletters there and the Fantasy one asked about creatures, world creation and things like that. So I am going to share my creatures here. Since I have several different types of creatures, I'll just pick one per post.

I have some of the usual ones. You know, like Dwarves and Elves. Things like that. Hey, it is Fantasy you know. While I have several odd creatures I've created, it proved to be a task not unlike character development. You need to create a background for some of them as to how they were created or what happened to create them. Others are just there and undiscovered like the creatures of our world. Folklore is often used to point people in the direction of the creatures, but sometimes folklore isn't always accurate.

Let's begin with my Dargorians. These came about through a brainstorming session with my husband. In my world of Eir du'Brusai, there is a "shattered continent". (I have yet to draw it out on my map) It is named due to the meteor that crashed into it causing islands to form in the ocean in a somewhat perfect circle surrounding the crater. On these islands there were dragons and over the years, they developed into humanoids called Dargorians. Dragons still exist in their original form in other areas of the world as well. While Dargorians follow the traditional dragon types, i.e. Crystal, Amethyst, etc., they have "human" qualities. Qualities such as speech in their own language as well as common languages. Their snouts have shortened so they can manage this speech. Their talons extend out like fingers, some of their scales are softer and more malleable enough to be braided like hair. When they take a mate, they mate for life and usually die directly after their mate. The bond they share is akin to "soul mates" as they feel what the other feels, share thoughts. They stand over nine feet tall and walk on two legs rather than four, they can fly and are very philosophical in nature. They're often very curious creatures and pour over tomes and scrolls to learn as much as they can. Typical dragon behavior. Sort of.

One in particular is my favorite. Her name is Aun. When she stands before people, she will fold her wings around her like a cloak. The two claws at the outer edge of her wings will hook together to form a clasp. She has a mane of softer scales and are usually braided and adorned with jewelry. Aun cannot belch fire, but she can emit a sonic scream that rips the flesh from her adversaries. Because of her scream, she does not speak like some of the others. Instead, she uses telepathy to communicate. Even a chuckle from her would hurt those around her, so she has to be very careful. She's shy, she's quiet. She doesn't like to be around people, so she'll hide out in shadows, on rooftops and keep to herself. Her best friend is Onetta, who happens to be a Kefferling. Which will lead me to those creatures next time. :D

Have any favorite creatures you've either read about or created yourself?