Magic System Development: Origins and Behavior

Where does it come from? Where does it go? The reader may never know but you sure should!

Know the source and behavior of the magic in your world – not just to help with consistency but for inspiration. The generation or creation of magic may be indued with spiritual, scientific, or historical significance. Changes in the behavior of magic may foretell (or be the result of) profound changes in your world.

While brainstorming, you probably want to place limits on magic and consequences for its use. After all, if magic exists, then it coexists with other parts of your environment and therefore affects those parts. Whether you remove something that existed naturally or add sommething that did not exist before. Either action has consequences for the environment – even if this environment is in another plane.

In summary, if there is magic in your world, make it part of the world

Share how you integrate magic into your world.

Writing for Emotion: Connecting Reader and Character

      Many times, you want your reader and POV character to feel the same emotions. But deliberately evoking the same emotions in the reader and character requires empathy (on the part of the reader), clear writing (on the part of the writer), and interest (on the part of the reader).
       Empathy actually can be intellectual or emotional. These two types of empathy can be used separately or together. With the intellectual type, the reader recognizes and identifies with the character's situation/ experience. In the emotional type of empathy, the reader experiences the emotion (sometimes even the physical effects of the emotion) along with – or on behalf of – the character. Many times, the first type will lead to thee second type – but when you follow this sequence beware that you are not falling into the trap of stereotypical reactions.
       Clear writing is necessary to connect reader and character emotion. For the reader to empathize, the character's reactions must be clear. Again, emotion has three components: thought, behavior, and feeling. Thought and behavior are excellent ways of showing, while feeling is often told. The higher the higher the quality of emotional clues that you givee the reader, the easier it will be for the reader to identify and relate to the emotion.
      Interest is a sometimes overlooked ingredient in connecting reader and character emotions. If the reader does not care about the character, then the reader probably not care about how that character feels. Or at least not care at a visceral level.
While a disconnect between reader and character emotions can be a useful tool, you'll probably aim for empathy most of the time. To achieve this, you need to write with the reader in mind. Maybe not in the first draft, but certainly before your final draft

Let's Talk About the Reader

Photo Source:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/d83386379eaa5c1723969bf2e7e4395b/tumblr_mjq338VBvv1s4anc7o1_400.jpg


Every writer is a reader and every reader is a writer. Really. Not every writer writes stories or poems or magazine articles. Some write technical papers, reviews, emails, grocery lists, Facebook entries. Any kind of writing makes you a writer. A reader, though, is special.

• A reader is the only reason books are read. They give the book worth.
• A reader changes a writer. The simple act of buying a book tells the writer that what she/he does is worthwhile. That someone besides the writer cares.
• A reader can change future books. When a reader gives feedback through ratings, reviews, or emails, the writer learns what the reader likes and does not like. The writer then decides if the reader's feedback can help the writer better articulate the writer's vision.
• The reader grows as a person by being a reader. There are ideas in books, not just stories. Ideas that a reader can consciously or unconsciously incorporate into the reader's worldview. Attitudes about people, violence, love, good and evil, and perseverance.

A reader is a very special person, not just in view of sales, but in light of what the reader can do for the world. Books are a way to limit and expand a reader's potential. Even the most escapist book can affect a reader in profound or subtle ways. A reader has little or no responsibility for a writer unless the reader chooses to become involved. But a writer has a duty to every reader who picks up that writer's books. To provide a good time. To present ideas that will let the reader grow as a person. To be a writer that the reader can depend on to fulfill that reader's wants and needs.

(quote) Herman Melville on theme

“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.”
― Herman Melville