I'm So Meta Even This Acronym

Hey like your bio wanna chat?

Tell all your friends! I'll be blogging movie reviews, updates on Beyond the Veil, and about dogs!

Valkyire picked the tooth brush up off the bench, it was disgusting, it looked the it had been used to clean latrines it’s bristles gnarled and twisted, full pieces of meat that were old enough to have their the head of their own family tree. She held it up to her mouth and gagged.
          It smelt like it looked. Like your grandma’s ass hair.

Soft Magic
          
          And so I began to develop my first law as a way to include magic systems that don’t follow very strict rules, but which also don’t undermine their plots. Let me state my law again: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.
          
          This leaves room for those who want to preserve the sense of wonder in their books. I see a continuum, or a scale, measuring how authors use their magic. On one side of the continuum, we have books where the magic is included in order to establish a sense of wonder and give the setting a fantastical feel. Books that focus on this use of magic tend to want to indicate that men are a small, small part of the eternal and mystical workings of the universe. This gives the reader a sense of tension as they’re never certain what dangers—or wonders—the characters will encounter. Indeed, the characters themselves never truly know what can happen and what can’t.

(Part2)
          
          I call this a “Soft Magic” system, and it has a long, established tradition in fantasy. I would argue that Tolkien himself is on this side of the continuum. In his books, you rarely understand the capabilities of Wizards and their ilk. You, instead, spend your time identifying with the hobbits, who feel that they’ve been thrown into something much larger, and more dangerous, than themselves. By holding back laws and rules of magic, Tolkien makes us feel that this world is vast, and that there are unimaginable powers surging and moving beyond our sight.
          
          However, there is something you have to understand about writing on this side of the continuum. The really good writers of soft magic systems very, very rarely use their magic to solve problems in their books. Magic creates problems, then people solve those problems on their own without much magic. (George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice” uses this paradigm quite effectively.)
          
          There is a reason that Gandalf doesn’t just fly Frodo to Mount Doom with magic, then let him drop the ring in. Narratively, that just doesn’t work with the magic system. We don’t know what it can do, and so if the reader uses it to solve a lot of problems, then the tension in the novel ends up feeling weak. The magic undermines the plot instead enhancing it.
          
          So, if you want to write soft magic systems, I suggest you hold yourself to NOT letting your magic solve problems for your characters. If the characters try to use the magic, it shouldn’t do what they expect it to—as the reader doesn’t know what to expect either. Use the magic for visuals and for ambiance, but not for plot. (Unless it’s there to screw up things for the characters. That’s always okay.)

8:48 PM - Triangle_Man: These guys are getting shit on
          8:48 PM - Triangle_Man: Maybe war is like swimming
          8:48 PM - Triangle_Man: And you're not meant to eat like half an hour before you go in

You are soo active on wattpad...

Bruh how'd you even find me?

When I was just a lad my father, Bormwin BronzeBottom taught me an important lesson.
          
          He said
          
           Son, Do you know how to eat a WHOLE ettin?
          
          One bite at a time. 
          
          Also Ettin are poisons and even with your iron constitution  they'll give you the trots, so two lessons really.
          
          Anyway the important take away is that large jobs take time, but you don't give up!

Dear Suzybite,
          
          Rambling Brooks is a platform for the authors, of the authors and by the authors! We organize big contests (Rambling Brooks Literary Star), small contests (Mini Contests and LetsBeFair- Contests), offer book reviews and design trailers and covers! We have resident (budding) pyschologists, management gurus and teachers ! To meet these awesome people and avail of the magic that we offer, visit our page!