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| Rules of Magic |
A couple of years ago, a fellow blogger and I discussed writing guest posts for each other. She writes in the combined fantasy/urban legend genre and hoped I could write a post about magic or how place contributes to a story.
I decided to do it on how every story has rules, and how rules of magic effect story development? I thought I would come up with a set of rules of magic and show how these rules would govern the flow of the story. Great idea, huh?
So I begin asking myself a set of questions:
- Who is allowed to use the magic?
- How is the magic performed?
- Is there an age requirement or limit?
- When is one eligible to perform magic?
- How is one recognized as a performer of magic?
- What makes one especially good at magic and therefore a respected provider of magic?
- What/who determines quality, strength and usage?
- Are there social rules governing its use?
- How does economics play into its use?
- How does social standing play into it use?
- How does one learn or is it innate?
- Can one be employed as a magic provider?
- Are there any personal costs to performing magic?
My post never was sent to my friend because in the process of answering the questions so that I could show how they would govern a story, I ended up with a great idea for a short story. A case of accidental inspiration.
Perhaps these questions could generate a story for someone else.
What unexpected inspiration led to a story, novel, poem or what-have-you idea?
#magic
#inspiration
#creativity
