#ramblingrubyred

You’re not late at all! Thank you so much!

*wild cheering* *loud clapping* You go with your badass English major self!

This is a great opportunity for showing rather than telling. If all magic comes with a price, then show the readers the cost of someone overdoing it. 

You could have your protagonist witness someone attempting to use too much magic and suffering the consequences. Think about the mood and situation that the character is in, and you’ll find the situation that will fit:

Is there a battle? A warrior mage makes a great big push against enemy forces but drains their last reserves of magic and collapses on the field.

Is it in a school? A student is attempting to show off to their friends and over-estimates their ability which winds up with them face-planting in the middle of lunch and having to go to the school nurse.

Is it in a professional setting? The healer is faced with saving a patient from the brink of death -- using up all her magic reserves -- or being able to treat a number of less serious, but still pressing, injuries.

Essentially, your magic having a price sets you up with a lot of great opportunities for conflict, and it’s going to be a matter of figuring out where it’s best to showcase that. The reader will be able to figure out the rules of the magic in your world through the assumptions and reactions of your protagonist. Your protag might witness, say, the schoolyard showboating and roll their eyes and scoff when the other kid over does things “What’d they expect?” Your character might think.

Remember, when you’re establishing your world through the eyes of a character, your first step should be to figure out what your character thinks of as normal, and how the character’s normal differs from your/ the reader’s sense of normality.

Thank you! And no worries, I’m always down to plug my own work :D

Here’s an anthology I put up on Kindle! Half of the stories are edited stories from tumblr, the other half are brand new! Here’s the link! (X)

I just snorted out my tea!