Tag: deus ex machina

Hello again! I thought it was about time I wrote a post on my novel writing which, as mentioned previously, took a bit of a backward step a while ago when I decided that I had gone a bit overboard with background ideas that I quite literally lost the plot!

This weekend though I reached Chapter 40 in my outlining which I’m pleased with, and another positive is that I know its going somewhere and is close to a resolution! About ten chapters ago I started to wonder whether I would just end up planning chapter after chapter in a subconscious bid to avoid actually writing the novel, so it’s good to know that my brain is working with me on this one and that things are heading in a very definite direction!

Now, I think I made it clear in my initial post that I’m writing a fantasy novel, and in case I didn’t mention it, there’s going to be magic involved!

I knew there would be a few things to think about when developing magic within my story. I’d already decided I didn’t want spells, incantations and potions for example, preferring my characters to have a more innate ability than one that requires use of an object or words etc.

Still, that has not stopped me from obsessing over the details from time to time.

And it is precisely my obsession over something like magic that has me worrying I’m lacking in the imagination department too much to be a decent writer. You see, I’ve spent far too much time in all trying to figure out the actual physical possibilities of how my characters would perform magic. Magic! I’ve literally sat and questioned how they might produce light using magic. Literally how they might do it, how the magic would work, how the light would exist and what would be required to sustain it. And half the time when I respond to myself with ‘it’s magic, Stuart, that’s the whole point. It’s magic, and magic isn’t real which is why you can’t do it in real life so stop trying to figure out how and just make it interesting.’ the rest of me is thinking ‘Hmm I’m not sure that’s a good enough reason.’

It makes you wonder why I love fantasy so much, and why I would choose to write a genre that requires such suspension of belief and in the laws of physics and nature, and yet here I am! It just seems to be my default. Every idea I have cries out for an element of otherworldliness, of things beyond the human experience, so for now at least I’m just going with it!

I have my basic idea down as to how my magic exists, but I need to think a little harder on the cost and limitations my magic users might suffer so as to avoid any ‘deus ex machina’ level issues. I just need to make sure I don’t overthink it to the point where I make the magic either pointless, or too powerful!

So yes, another thing to add to the list of ‘gosh isn’t writing a story harder than it sounds?!’

Finally, I would love to hear from anyone else who has written magic into their story and the processes they went through to try to ensure they retained a level of realism that kept things interesting!