Method Three: Magic as Physics and Engineering
There’s another consideration, or rather, another scenario in which the introduction of magic is especially tricky. I mention it here because it’s the method I found myself using when writing The Fate of Stars. My story is a Fantasy/Sci-Fi crossover, so I had to get magic to coexist alongside science and technology.
Though I briefly alluded to it, I chose not to make explicit the explanation as to how these two can both exist in the same reality. I did have to work on how that could be on my own, though. It wasn’t hard, believe it or not.
There are a lot of thoughtful, intelligent people who believe in magic in our world, including me.
Now, before you get out the butterfly nets, let me explain. The Harry Potter style magic is not what I’m talking about.
Going back as far as the middle ages, during the Renaissance, and right through until today, magic has been referred to as the Hermetic Sciences and had more scholars and researchers involved in it than what we now call the sciences. There are many today who continue this pursuit. (The validity and reality of magic will be the subject of another essay.)
For the use of the author, there is a large body of literature concerning these sciences that make excellent source material for the budding writer and magicologist.
I chose from these sources things that suited my fancy and came up with a fairly good explanation for how magic can be just another kind of engineering, one that uses inner (mental) material rather than outer (physical) stuff.
In the world I created, magic is bound by a set of laws dependent on those of both the psyche and the world outside of it. The reader shall judge if I’ve been successful.
Conclusion
When writing fantasy, take some time to really think about magic and what it will means in your world.
Your readers will greatly appreciate the effort.
