stellar wind across a heavenly sphere

[rinue]

I've started work on a script for a fantasy film, and I need to come up with a system of magic. I'm a showman, so it's easy for me to invent the stagecraft - what someone has to do to make things happen. But when it comes to questions of what magic can and can't manage, I'm hopeless. I'm a science fiction girl and always have been. I start thinking about what's possible and immediately run into conservation of energy issues. If a write a character who can levitate something with his mind, I conclude that there is a force acting over a distance, most likely as a wave rather than a particle, or else that the character can somehow manipulate the curvature of space. This kind of thing is all very awesome, but not remotely mystical. My partner on the project is in a similar bind, in that his background is mainly superheroes - systems where everyone has powers that are totally different from everyone else's, with no need for consistency or agreement.

Note how I'm not going into detail on the film idea, which is perhaps a little obnoxious, but if I started writing I'd have to write a lot. I will say this: it's steampunk, the magic system has to do with water, it's not on Earth, there are elements of Ruritania, the main character is a rake, her squire is a refugee, and in contrast to fantasy's pastoral tradition, the setting is urban and unsanitized. There is so much magnificence I giggle every time I think about it. There are hot air balloons! War crimes! Pirates! Natural disasters! It's like what would happen if Martin Scorsese joined Studio Ghibli.

All of this is a roundabout way of asking an abstract question, which is: what, to you, makes magic magical? What makes it seem mechanical? Mushy? Can you think of a book, movie, or game which you thought used magic particularly well or badly? Magic that felt like magic? Maybe even magic you think you could do, or have done - magic you can believe?

Comments

[iridesce-sent.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is going to sound remarkably trite, but I don't know if an action could feel like magic to me if it wasn't accompanied by a trilling flourish from what sounded like an ittybitty xylophone.

I trust you know the sound.

So, yeah, on with the water-magic-driven music boxes! On!

[rinue.livejournal.com]

I will be sure to mention this to any prospective sound designers.

Magic

[bluezybunny.livejournal.com]

Your scenario sounds a lot like Final Fantasy, though I do approve of the darker theme. I, too, am working on a system of magic, and one of the biggest hurdles was determining the distinction between magic and science.

First of all, in order for magic to be magic, it has to be completely unexplainable, no matter how much you look into it; there has to be an element or variable that can never be pin-pointed. If magic could be explained, it would immediately become science.

One thing that science is currently looking into is quantum mechanics, which are currently influenced by so many unknown variables that scientists are finding it nearly impossible to accurately explain. For example, entire experiments can be influenced solely by the fact that they're being observed which suggests that humans have some unknown control over the results of these experiments. Also, it's convenient that your system of magic is based on water, because quantum theory suggests that, since humans are comprised mostly of water, we have limited control over external bodies of water via strong thoughts and emotions. The inexplicable variable in question is what role humans play and what it is that different humans can accomplish with more or less ease than others. The only thing we know for certain is that the water changes based on the emotional state of the person who is influencing it.

In order for humanity to have more influence over water, I imagine we would require extremely emotional people who also have great control over their thoughts to accomplish anything noteworthy. This gives rise to making magic an elitist skill while opening potential for the most insane magic-users you could ever hope to meet. I'm quite proud of where we've been going in our musings over the subject and hope it helps you in some way. Be sure that if your idea becomes famous that you remember from where you received it.

-Bluezy Bunny

[rinue.livejournal.com]

Be sure that if your idea becomes famous that you remember from where you received it.

Lots of reading, luck, a community of artists stretching across generations and countries, and the technical ability to pull it off due to my own genes and personality. This was probably a joke, but don't help me out next time if you expect me to owe something. I don't need it. I'm not interested in settling accounts. The vast majority of what I create, I give away for free. I believe that has value. Take pleasure in the idea or don't. And even in a joke, don't put a box around what thoughts I can and can't use. You might as well tie my hands behind my back.

Oi vei!

[bluezybunny.livejournal.com]

Oi vei! No more jokes for you.

-Bluezy Bunny

Re: Oi vei!

[rinue.livejournal.com]

Nope, never again. I have a singularly bad sense of humor, possibly from the many years of playing a straight man - under which circumstance you must never, never find anything the least bit funny. Moreover, I'm in a terrible mood today for reasons which don't have anything to do with you, but which do have to do with artistic generosity. Hence the touchiness.

Re: Oi vei!

[bluezybunny.livejournal.com]

Ah, it was only meant as a sort of 'remember us little people when you become famous' kinda thing. I guess I wasn't clear. Sorry about that.

-Bluezy Bunny

Re: Oi vei!

[rinue.livejournal.com]

It's all good. On the long chance that I genuinely do become rich and famous, I'll make sure to have lots of guest rooms and studios.

[achates.livejournal.com]

I just recently finished a book called "Last Call" by Tim Powers. Throughout, I highly enjoyed the way magic was used. It's a book that focuses on chance/randomness/cards etc. and the magic system is based around the ideas of archetypes (specifically those represented by the Major Arcana). It's a very interesting read since I've seen nothing that uses magic the way it does.

To me, magic feels magical when it stems from or touches on forces that are greater than the wielder, whether they be gods or metaphysical concepts like time or space or fate or chance, etc. Too many times I see magic systems that treat magic as a thing unto itself, with no connection to the rest of the world. That seems counter purpose to me. D&D is a very good example of this.