tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post6593272775594566055..comments2024-01-27T16:10:28.502-08:00Comments on Tara Maya's Tales: Creating Believable Magician CharactersTara Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095632631554776002noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-87039611750673404032011-10-01T08:23:46.193-07:002011-10-01T08:23:46.193-07:00It depends on the type of story you're writing...It depends on the type of story you're writing, Scott. <br /><br />If you're writing a romance between a magician and a werewolf, then the magic may be mere window dressing or subplot, and other things are more important. <br /><br />But if the plot is about a teenager wanting to become a magician, or about a professional magician's conflict between ethics and desire, then their magic (including training, rules etc) are at the core of the story.<br /><br />I'm not trying to dictate to you what kind of story you should write, or how to characterise your magician. The article is merely a list of suggestions for writers developing a professional magician character.<br /><br />If none of it suits your projects, because you're not writing this kind of story, that's fine.<br /><br />RayneRayne Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13992900621890391763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-18118698555101044862011-09-30T17:21:48.616-07:002011-09-30T17:21:48.616-07:00"amateur magicians can be just as interesting..."amateur magicians can be just as interesting to read and write about as the professionals"<br /><br />Well yeah. They're <i>all</i> made up, so the amateur/professional status is just costuming and setting, mostly. Who they are as people is going to be more interesting than what they do for a living, or their relationship to whatever fictional form of magic we choose for them.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-89767417022703014162011-09-30T14:29:00.985-07:002011-09-30T14:29:00.985-07:00Hi Scott,
I see your point, and I agree to a larg...Hi Scott,<br /><br />I see your point, and I agree to a large extent. <br /><br />The article's focus is on career magicians, people who work magic for a living (or semi-professionally). For those, careful training over a long period likely. <br /><br />As you say, there are other forms of magic. Folk magic, for example, the kind of low key magic passed from mother to daughter, about how to make the barley ripen, how to remove a wart, and how to keep rats out of the larder. They wouldn't require long training.<br /><br />Then there's also instinctive and even accidental magic, where someone works magic without meaning to, maybe even without understanding what they've just done. It can happen if someone who has significant natural talent focuses their intent on a specific desire, and if they have raised magical energy (for example by dancing themselves into a trance in a nightclub), and their emotions are churning, then a lot of factors are coming together and magic takes hold. <br /><br />There are also gifted amateurs, blessed with strong natural talent, but without training. They may have learnt by trial and error, and so gained some control over their gift; or they may have declined to learn the craft which can leave them in danger from entities trying to get control over them. <br /><br />Either way, they're not likely to be great magicians in the sense of 'professionals'. You can compare it with writing: some people have a lot of natural talent, and some of their writing has original power, but they're unlikely to be very successful unless they learn the writing craft. The most successful writers are those who combine natural talent with acquired skill; the same applies to magicians. <br />(The main difference is that dabbling in creative writing is safe; dabbling in magic can be dangerous). <br /><br />Anyway, I agree that amateur magicians can be just as interesting to read and write about as the professionals. <br /><br />Magic which can't be separated from madness, ritual, religion? Sure. Sometimes, magic is closely associated to one or two of those. Religious magic, in particular, is a subject which would need a whole article (a whole book even) to do it justice.<br /><br />Rayne<br /><br />RayneRayne Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13992900621890391763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-5782520719066917852011-09-30T14:15:57.922-07:002011-09-30T14:15:57.922-07:00Hi Siebendach,
Yes, personality clashes are fun in...Hi Siebendach,<br />Yes, personality clashes are fun in fiction!<br />RayneRayne Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13992900621890391763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-39078036134045650072011-09-30T14:15:03.251-07:002011-09-30T14:15:03.251-07:00Hi Hannah,
I'm glad I've tickled your muse...Hi Hannah,<br />I'm glad I've tickled your muse. What kind of magician would you like to write about? <br />RayneRayne Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13992900621890391763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-66671175987425398062011-09-29T09:06:59.616-07:002011-09-29T09:06:59.616-07:00Yeah, Native traditions and people like whirling d...Yeah, Native traditions and people like whirling dervishes are what I had in mind, and the berserkers is good, too. Maybe throw in the Malay idea of <i>amok</i> as well, and Dionysian rites. Hmm. I might write something long around this. It's an attractive theme for me, possibly because in real life I'm such a "one must have the proper training" kind of guy.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-25538320452333192932011-09-29T06:49:29.630-07:002011-09-29T06:49:29.630-07:00@ Hannah. Great!
@ siebendach. I do like lists l...@ Hannah. Great! <br /><br />@ siebendach. I do like lists like this because even if I decide to have, say, an extrovert magic user (I have several, actually) it makes me think about it. <br /><br />@ scott. Your comment made me think of the Viking beserkers, who would take drugs to let themselves go crazy right before battle. Some California Indians did the same thing, in order to turn into their totem animal. It was necessary to loose the control of the human and let the beast free to go crazy and intimidate others. We usually think of the martial artist in the Oriental tradition, who has years of training and control, but these other approaches to war (or magic or anything) are also very interesting.Tara Mayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09095632631554776002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-37808588096580457862011-09-28T16:38:08.035-07:002011-09-28T16:38:08.035-07:00I'm not disagreeing with your vision of magic,...I'm not disagreeing with your vision of magic, but I am wondering if we shouldn't also think about different sorts of magic than the trope of a skill learned carefully over a long period of training. What about a magic that doesn't follow the academic model? What about a magic that's wholly instinctive, that can't be quantified or fully controlled or its outcomes reliably predicted? What about a magic that can't be separated from madness, ritual, religion? I think that sort of magic might be interesting and compelling to read about, too.<br /><br />Magic seems to be usually associated with control. I wonder about a magic that involves loss of control instead.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-79749384014817368112011-09-28T08:41:34.189-07:002011-09-28T08:41:34.189-07:00The recommended traits are great ingredients to pr...The recommended traits are great ingredients to provide your cast of magician characters with all manner of personality clashes!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-59127437481956426052011-09-28T07:40:35.534-07:002011-09-28T07:40:35.534-07:00I love this. I don't have any magicians, but i...I love this. I don't have any magicians, but i want to write some now. I'm off to Amazon!Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16915603693944523761noreply@blogger.com