ugh...

[telophase]

So when I read a fantasy book with magic in it, I really, really prefer that the magic be of the numinous sort, mostly unknowable and esoteric. I (usually) highly dislike the sort of magic that gets distilled down to a science.

So why the hell did I pick a POV character who is a damn academic studying the stuff when attempting to write a thing? Arg bloody arg.

Comments

[larryhammer]

The challenge of writing someone who isn't you, of course.

[telophase]

Unfortunately this means I have to work out what the magic in this world IS, which is anathema to me. Or at least work out what the academics in this world think it is.

Bah.

[larryhammer]

There, that second -- that's what you need.

Of course, if it were my story, it would be all about how what the academics think is different from how it really works. That latter could be where you get the numinous in -- they only know about the easily tamed magic.

[telophase]

Trus. I need to think about how to do that. And how to work it in around the action in this specific story.

[cynthia1960]

I’d read that!

[cynthia1960]

And i’d read this take too! Both are interesting. No matter what, you are creating this world and how magic operates. It’s cool to see people operating with it as a science, and if they get whacked upside the head with the numinous, you get lots of conflict. After their heads stop hurting, we get to see who adapt and integrate and who don’t. Yay!

[telophase]

:) If I ever get this thing in a somewhat reasonable shape, I will let you know, then. XD

[yhlee]

Can the POV be really really frustrated and wrong about everything? I would be tempted to have them be hilariously wrong and whacked upside the head with it as the magic frustrates all their attempts to explain anything, but this is me, I'm a contrarian.

[telophase]

I may have to poke at it in that direction. I mean, the character in question is part of a department dedicated to this, but that doesn't mean the department is correct. XD