Magic Systems and My Inspiration
5/8/23
I recently read through Brandon Sanderson’s blog post about magic systems and their rules and I realized how inspired I was because of how I’d daydream as a child.
As a child I loved creating my own gods and goddesses, so I came up with four central beings to inspire all magic. However, I would spend weeks and weeks trying to wrap my mind around how my magic would work. Going into my teen years I could see that I didn’t need to, but it was at this time I became disillusioned with religion and became an atheist.
Didn’t change much, still loved me some bootiful gods and goddesses. But it changed my way of looking at them.
I like to start with the smallest point of a magic system and build from there. That smallest point for me has almost always been the soul of something greater, AKA a god. Mortals would wield their magic by manipulating the soul of their god, and I had this realization that I wasn’t the only one who thought of this.
At first I was mega depressed because it seemed as if my idea was derivative.Â
I just got over it, ya know? It doesn’t mean I’m derivative, it means I came to the same conclusion as my author heroes did. I had to realize as well that I had my own unique view on it, even if there are direct similarities.
I’m going to explore it in writing, in a daydream I’ve had since I was twenty, in a book I’m going to call The Queen’s Favorite Pillow.
