Amazing, amazing essay! Once again, love your spot-on examples of how different stories deal with the implications of their magic systems.
I think your essay helps explain why the 6-season superhero show "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir" has gotten a lot of flak from the fan base: It's not consistent in how it treats its magic.
In many episodes, it dodges deep implications through its this-is-just-a-fun-kids-show tone. (The villain of the day created a volcano so powerful it was literally pushing the Earth closer to the Sun? Eh, the magic butterflies fixed it, and we'll never revisit that potential power.)
But other episodes, and major season arcs, are deep explorations of the wide range of implications from the world's magic system. (The villain is trying to bring back someone from the dead, which will require remaking the whole universe and causing someone else to have died instead, rewriting the last several years of history. Or in one episode, the main character is pulled into a time-travel adventure to prevent an alternate timeline where central France (and the moon) is blown up by a corrupted version of her superhero partner, leaving her with lasting trauma and trust issues for the next season [but only when useful to a particular episode's plot, otherwise it's not there].)
The show seems to alternate between a don't-take-things-too-seriously kids show and a explore-the-deep-themes-of-life YA show, and the switches back and forth from episode to episode are rather jarring.
I'm always impressed by these incisive breakdowns of stories that I already loved, but can now appreciation from a craft perspective. The point I'm taking away from this piece is that as the writer, you need to be judicious about how and when you use tools like lampshading, and maybe sit down with your beta readers and walk through all the likely questions that will arise from your chosen magic system. Have you seen a graphic breakdown of the most famous systems? I'm considering making one, but it would be 100x easier as a community collaboration, and I think the end result would be an amazing tool for fantasy writers + nerdy readers.
Yes; it's all about being intentional. An author might never avoid every possible question that arises—just as they cannot control every possible interpretation of their work—nor should they try. However, authorial awareness goes a long way. I haven't seen graphical breakdowns, though I'm sure there are others who have tried to plot famous systems onto the spectrum in a visual way.... Could be helpful indeed.
This was an absolutely amazing essay, and now I'm thinking through what the magic of my world says; the Edison City stories don't' really have magic per se but technically that's a narrative choice too although to be fair there's a bit of lampshading going on...but anyway. I'm thinking out loud here now . this was awesome!
Excellent conclusion, a hearty thank you to the pair of you. Magic serves the story, the story serves the worldview. This should be in creative writing 101.
a brilliant capstone to an amazing series of articles. a pleasure to read !
this part had me rolling on the floor laughing becasue I have noticed the trend interspersed through many fanatasy worlds "Plenty of stories use tone for levity. Without it, Indiana Jones would be a mass-murderer, Bugs Bunny would be a domestic terrorist, and most romance male love interests would have restraining orders out against them."
The book I’m working on is soft magic, but is likely evolving into hard magic as the protagonist learns.
I hadn’t really thought about it in these terms before. This article and the definitions brought understanding and turned the soft magic of writing into hard magic technology.
The breadth of examples was very helpful, as well as the depth of discussion are the spectrum between hard and soft magic, how to address such systems in the story, etc.!
Amazing, amazing essay! Once again, love your spot-on examples of how different stories deal with the implications of their magic systems.
I think your essay helps explain why the 6-season superhero show "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir" has gotten a lot of flak from the fan base: It's not consistent in how it treats its magic.
In many episodes, it dodges deep implications through its this-is-just-a-fun-kids-show tone. (The villain of the day created a volcano so powerful it was literally pushing the Earth closer to the Sun? Eh, the magic butterflies fixed it, and we'll never revisit that potential power.)
But other episodes, and major season arcs, are deep explorations of the wide range of implications from the world's magic system. (The villain is trying to bring back someone from the dead, which will require remaking the whole universe and causing someone else to have died instead, rewriting the last several years of history. Or in one episode, the main character is pulled into a time-travel adventure to prevent an alternate timeline where central France (and the moon) is blown up by a corrupted version of her superhero partner, leaving her with lasting trauma and trust issues for the next season [but only when useful to a particular episode's plot, otherwise it's not there].)
The show seems to alternate between a don't-take-things-too-seriously kids show and a explore-the-deep-themes-of-life YA show, and the switches back and forth from episode to episode are rather jarring.
Thanks, Jeremy. That sounds like a total tonal nightmare tbh. Good example.
I appreciate y'all so much for putting these together. You've given me a lot of things to consider.
Thanks JM! We’re glad you got so much value out of it!
This was excellent loved the whole series!! (And I agree about subbed over dubbed)
Yes! Subbed all the way! And we’re glad you liked it, NJ!
Came for the essay on magic systems, stayed for the snarky captions and footnotes.
We had way too much fun with those, we couldn’t help ourselves!
I'm always impressed by these incisive breakdowns of stories that I already loved, but can now appreciation from a craft perspective. The point I'm taking away from this piece is that as the writer, you need to be judicious about how and when you use tools like lampshading, and maybe sit down with your beta readers and walk through all the likely questions that will arise from your chosen magic system. Have you seen a graphic breakdown of the most famous systems? I'm considering making one, but it would be 100x easier as a community collaboration, and I think the end result would be an amazing tool for fantasy writers + nerdy readers.
Yes; it's all about being intentional. An author might never avoid every possible question that arises—just as they cannot control every possible interpretation of their work—nor should they try. However, authorial awareness goes a long way. I haven't seen graphical breakdowns, though I'm sure there are others who have tried to plot famous systems onto the spectrum in a visual way.... Could be helpful indeed.
This was an absolutely amazing essay, and now I'm thinking through what the magic of my world says; the Edison City stories don't' really have magic per se but technically that's a narrative choice too although to be fair there's a bit of lampshading going on...but anyway. I'm thinking out loud here now . this was awesome!
Thank you, Michael! And for sure, a lot of these articles were to get the gears turning. Glad you liked it!
Excellent conclusion, a hearty thank you to the pair of you. Magic serves the story, the story serves the worldview. This should be in creative writing 101.
🫡 honored by your words, George.
a brilliant capstone to an amazing series of articles. a pleasure to read !
this part had me rolling on the floor laughing becasue I have noticed the trend interspersed through many fanatasy worlds "Plenty of stories use tone for levity. Without it, Indiana Jones would be a mass-murderer, Bugs Bunny would be a domestic terrorist, and most romance male love interests would have restraining orders out against them."
Glad it was helpful, Mohammed! Thanks for reading along with us.
it was brilliant Eric.
The book I’m working on is soft magic, but is likely evolving into hard magic as the protagonist learns.
I hadn’t really thought about it in these terms before. This article and the definitions brought understanding and turned the soft magic of writing into hard magic technology.
Love the snark.
Glad you liked it, Ed! And best of luck with the book!
Loved the three part series!
The breadth of examples was very helpful, as well as the depth of discussion are the spectrum between hard and soft magic, how to address such systems in the story, etc.!
Glad you enjoyed it, EH! We had a lot of fun coming up with examples.
We love to see Owen Barfield getting some time in the sun! He's too often in the shadow of Tolkien and Lewis.
We agree! And his thought was so instrumental to the others, his name deserves inclusion in more Tolkien and Lewis scholarship.
“The Law of Equivalent Exchange lurks above them like a specter.”
Reminds me of the Sword of Damocles for some reason 🤔
I replied to this when I had poor internet and scant sleep and thought the Sword of Damocles was a book. This makes a lot more sense.
This is very good, not even finished reading it yet.
Thanks so much, we’re glad you liked it! Not sure what we’ll be tackling next as a subject, any ideas for us?