Structured Procrastination: Procrastinate And Get Things Done

Writers are often world-class procrastinators. Rather than writing now, we write later. The good news is that you can be a world-class procrastinator and still get things done.

John Perry writes:

[T]he procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.

Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact. The list of tasks one has in mind will be ordered by importance. Tasks that seem most urgent and important are on top. But there are also worthwhile tasks to perform lower down on the list. Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list. With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.

.  .  .  .

Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The few tasks on his list will be by definition the most important, and the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing. This is a way to become a couch potato, not an effective human being.

At this point you may be asking, "How about the important tasks at the top of the list, that one never does?" Admittedly, there is a potential problem here.

The trick is to pick the right sorts of projects for the top of the list. The ideal sorts of things have two characteristics, First, they seem to have clear deadlines (but really don't). Second, they seem awfully important (but really aren't). Luckily, life abounds with such tasks. In universities the vast majority of tasks fall into this category, and I'm sure the same is true for most other large institutions.

To learn more, read Structured Procrastination.

Other articles you might like:

- Story Craft: Five Important Questions
- Joe Konrath Made $15,000 dollars over 7 days using Amazon Select
- Screenwriting Software: Adobe Story

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Joanna Penn's Tips For Writing Realisitic Fight Scenes

All writing problems are psychological problems. Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged. If you imagine the world listening, you’ll never write a line. That’s why privacy is so important. You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.
- ERICA JONG

Tips For Writing Realistic Fight Scenes

Jarrah Loh is an international kickboxer and here are his tips for writing realistic fight scenes:

(1) Watch some fights, not just movies. Jarrah does recommend UFC as the closest to a street fight.

(2) Go get in a fight – but in a controlled environment, for example, a martial arts class. You will be shocked by how you feel. I mention that I went to a Krav Maga class (as Morgan Sierra, my protagonist, is ex-Israeli military). They kicked my ass and it took me days to recover!

(3) Don’t explain the fight too much, but describe the heat and fury and emotion of a fight rather than the exact physical movements. Keep the pace moving.

Gender differences in fighting. UFC are just introducing a women’s division and there are women fighters. Jarrah explains that the female fighters he knows have a lot of self confidence, for example, Bec ‘Rowdy’ Hyatt, has 2 children and went from overweight to a champion fighter who turned her life around with martial arts.

To read the rest of Jarrah's tips click here: On Violence And Writing Fight Scenes With Jarrah Loh

Other articles you might like:

- Story Craft: Five Important Questions
- Roleplaying Games, Writing, And The Creation Of Magical Systems
- How to record an audiobook at home

Photo credit: "Devotion" by Bert Kaufmann under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Story Craft: Five Important Questions

The most useful advice I've ever read was Stephen King's admonishment in On Writing that, above all else, one's writing must be clear.

But how can we cash this out? How can we ensure that our writing paints a vivid picture?

C.S. Lakin, in her recent article, 5 Key Questions to Ask as You Write Your Novel, talks about the importance of asking questions.

Questions Create Story

Why are questions important? C.S. Lakin replies: because questions create story. After all, what is a novel except one huge "what if" question?

Here are 5 questions that C.S. Lakin asks whenever she writes a novel.

1. Where is the scene taking place?

One thing I love about Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series are his descriptions. I don't think I've ever had the feeling of being 'blind' when reading about one of Harry's adventures. The first time JB takes us to a new location we get a detailed description, after that a few well-chosen words suffice to reorient/remind us where we are.

Don't forget to include smells, sounds, textures, and so on, in your description.

I find that doing a short warm-up exercise before I begin writing for the day can help put me in the right frame of mind. I try and describe a place using information from at least 3 senses.

2. How much time has passed?

Whenever a change of place occurs so does a change of scene, but a change of place often coincides with a time jump as well. Make sure it's clear whether 5 minutes or 5 days have elapsed.

3. What is your character feeling?

The goal of writing--at least, why I write--is to entertain. In order to entertain readers with a story they need to care about the characters our story is about. How do we accomplish this? By showing the reader our character's emotions.

Yes, absolutely, the characters thoughts are important, but we need to know how story events affect our characters emotionally.

Think of the last movie you saw. How many times was the main character afraid? Worried? Happy? Vengeful?

Let me put it another way. Why would your readers care about the antagonist's eventual defeat (or victory) if the main character doesn't seem to?

Show what your character is feeling, show their reactions.

C.S. Lakin writes:

For every important moment, your character needs to react. First viscerally, then emotionally, then physically and finally, intellectually. Often a writer will show a character reacting with deep thought about a situation, when their first natural reactions are missing.

If you get hit by a car, you aren’t going to first think logically about what happened and what you need to do next. First, you scream or your body slams against the sidewalk and pain streaks through your back.

Keep this adage in mind: for every action, there should be an appropriate, immediate reaction. That’s how you reveal character.

4. What is the point of the scene?

How does this scene move the story forward?

Your point of view character has a goal. Chances are, they're not going to accomplish this goal, or if they do, they'll have to defeat various obstacles in their way. If the protagonist never has to struggle to get what he wants we aren't going to care very much when he,  eventually, gets it (or fails to).

We need to see character under stress, we need to see them improvising, scheming, hoping, developing other ways to achieve what they want, a way that might not work.

A terrific example of the hero being blocked and improvising ("Yes, but .../No, and") happens in Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark: 

Conflict: Do Indie and Marion survive the pit of snakes?
Setback: Yes, they use torches to keep the snakes at bay BUT the torches are about to burn out.

Conflict: Do Indie and Marion escape the pit of snakes before their torches burn out?
Setback: Yes, Indie crashes a pillar through a wall providing them a way to escape BUT the room they enter is filled with skeletons that--for Marion at least--seem to come alive.

Conflict: Will Indie and Marion escape from the ancient burial vault they've been entombed in?
Setback: Yes, BUT the bad guys have the ark and Indie needs to get it back. (Making A Scene: Using Conflicts And Setbacks To Create Narrative Drive).

Bottom line: If the point-of-view character doesn't have a goal, or the goal is unrelated to the story goal, then the scene can't move the narrative forward.

5. What is your protagonist's main external goal?

Your protagonist needs a goal. No goal, no story.

The protagonist's goal will likely change over the course of the story. For instance, Mitch McDeere's goal in The Firm changes midway through from making partner at of Bendini, Lambert & Locke to staying free and not getting disbarred.

C.S. Lakin writes:

That goal [the protagonist's main external goal] should drive the story and be the underpinning for all your scenes. That goal is the glue that holds your novel together. It may not be a ‘huge’ goal, and in the end your character may even fail to reach that goal—you’re the writer; you decide. But have a goal.

These aren't the only questions to ask, there are many, many, more. One book I find immensely useful is Donald Maass' Writing The Breakout Novel Workbook. For instance, here are the questions at the end of his first chapter:

Step 1: Who are your personal heroes? Write down the name of one.
Step 2: What makes this person a hero or heroine to you? What is his or her greatest heroic quality? Write that down.
Step 3: What was the moment in time in which you first became aware of this quality in your hero/heroine? Write that down.
Step 4: Assign that quality to your protagonist. Find a way for he or she actively to demonstrate that quality, even in a small way, in his or her first scene. Make notes, starting now.

When you write, what questions do you ask yourself about each scene?

Other articles you might like:

- Joe Konrath Made $15,000 dollars over 7 days using Amazon Select
- Screenwriting Software: Adobe Story
- Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know

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Joe Konrath Made $15,000 dollars over 7 days using Amazon Select

It looks like Joe Konrath has returned to blogging. And what a return! He writes:

In the past seven days, on Kindle, I've made about $15k. I currently have two ebooks in the Top 100 Free list--the same ebooks I blogged about two days ago. Dirty Martini and Trapped are #3 and #4, and Tiemcaster will hit Top 100 later today. I also blogged about four other ebooks by my friends Barry Eisler and Blake Crouch. Both of Barry's ebooks hit the Top 100, peaking at #3. One of Blake's did, and it is still #1 in the UK.

In the past 60 hours, I've sold 2200 ebooks in the US, and had over 400 borrows.

Why?

I have a hypothesis.

Here's Joe's Hypothesis: All things being equal, when you're looking for a book "You're going to take what is right in front of you, currently under your nose". He writes:

I have no doubt that bestselling authors have a lot of fans. But it's one thing waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out, and its another seeing the latest Patterson on the new Release table and picking it up because it is there.

I'm not knocking Patterson. The guy is a genius, on several levels. But how many fans have read every Patterson book vs. every Potter book?

Joe Konrath's Secret For Selling $15,000 in 7 days

Joe attributes his huge bump in sales to Amazon KDP Select. He writes:

So what am I doing differently? I have no new releases out. Yes, I self-pubbed my Jack Daniels series for less money than my previous publisher had, but during the first few days those sales were steady, not explosive like they've been.

What's changed has been making titles free using the Kindle Select program.

To wit: there are millions of people with Kindles, and the majority of them haven't heard of me, haven't come across my titles, haven't read me before. So by getting three ebooks on the Top 100 Free list, I am making myself known to them.

I am a tasty, free morsel directly under the nose of hungry readers. And they snatch it up.

Not all will read the free ebooks they download. But I still benefit, because the more ebooks I give away, the higher the bounceback will be on the paid bestseller lists. And when I'm on the paid lists, I'll be seen be those who have never seen me before.

Also, I have a hunch some people are reading the freebies immediately. This is why my sales are booming. A rising tide lifts all boats, and some people snatching up the freebies are also buying some of my other ebooks.

Whiskey Sour is #529. Bloody Mary is #411. Rusty Nail is #1121. Afraid is #586.  Endurance is #1439.

Last week, most of these were ranked at #10,000 or higher.

That's quite a bump!

Joe Konrath's Tips For Independent Authors

Here's Joe's advise for how indie authors can improve their sales:

1. Publish books with Amazon Publishing. They do a lot to announce their ebooks to readers.

2. Use KDP Select to make your ebooks free. I suggest using all five days at once. The more ebooks you give away, the higher the bounceback.

3. Have a lot of IPs. The more ebooks you have available, the more virtual shelf space you take up, the likelier it is for a customer to see one of your titles.

4. Cultivate fans. Have a newsletter, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, so people can follow you and get the announcement when you put something new on sale. But remember this will be supplementary, not primary, and no one will follow you if all you're doing is advertising.

5. Announce via third parties. I found BookBub.com to be effective in helping me give away freebies. So is Pixel of Ink.

6. Keep at it until you get lucky.

I can't stress #6 enough. It is easy to get discouraged with promotion, because it may not get the results you seek. You have to have the right book in the right place at the right time, and cross your fingers.

Publishing books through Amazon KDP Select can be intimidating! You worry about whether folks will hate your work, whether anyone will download it, whether you'll get horrible reviews. Don't forget, though, you can publish anonymously and, even if the whole thing's a disaster, use your failures to hone your writing and publishing skills.

Have you ever published through Amazon KDP Select? If not, has Joe Konrath's experience of making 15 thousand dollars over 7 days through Amazon Select changed your mind about the program?

Other articles you might like:

- Screenwriting Software: Adobe Story
- Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know
- Writing A Feel Good Story

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Screenwriting Software: Adobe Story

Adobe Story

Most people I've talked with don't know Adobe has developed Sreenwriting software: Adobe Story. Of course, saying Adobe Story is screenwriting software is a bit like saying a smart phone can make phone calls. The statement is true enough, but it barely scratches the surface.

 Here are a few things Adobe Story can do:

 - Reduce shooting time. Adobe Story works with other Adobe tools--programs such as OnLocation and Premiere Pro--to speed up production time. For instance, Adobe Story can automatically generate shot lists, dialogue, and so on.

- Collaboration. Often more than one person is involved in the creation of a script. Adobe Story allows everyone involved to collaborate online by tagging and tracking whatever changes are made.

This shortish video (7 minutes and 54 seconds) gives a great overview of what the software can do:

Instant Adobe Story Starter by Christopher Tilford

One of the reasons I'm posting about Adobe Story is that Packt Publishing asked me to review Christopher Tilford's book, "Instant Adobe Story Starter" (they sent me a review copy of the book). Although I normally don't do reviews, I have fiddled around with Adobe Story and it seemed like the sort of tool I would want to consider using if I were a screenwriter. That said, I don't know how it compares to other screenwriting programs (for instance, Final Draft or Movie Magic).

As computer programs become increasingly complex I sometimes find myself wishing I had a manual, but these days comprehensive users guides don't come with software programs, you have to buy them separately.

This is where Christopher Tilford's book, Instant Adobe Story Starter, comes in. Christopher has written a nuts and bolts guide to navigating Adobe Story. His book gets right to the point and doesn't include a lot of filler (here's an example).

I feel I should mention that Adobe Story has an online manual that, from what I've been able to see, covers everything that Christopher Tilford does and it's free! (See: Using Adobe Story)

The Bottom Line

I wish I could have been enthusiastic in my endorsement of Instant Adobe Story Starter but the bottom line is that Adobe puts out a free document that covers the same information. That said, Instant Adobe Story Starter isn't a bad book--I would give it three out of five stars--it just needs more original content. I look forward to reading Christopher Tilford's next book.

Have you used a screenwriting program? What did you think of it?

Other articles you might like:

- Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know
- Writing A Feel Good Story
- How To Write Short Stories

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Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know

I was going to post an inspirational quotation having to do with writing but then I saw Chuck Wendig's latest Flash Fiction Challenge (Flash Fiction Challenge: Write What You Know) and it was just too good not to post about!

Here's the challenge:

I want you to grab an event from your life. Then I want you to write about it through a fictional, genre interpretation — changing the event from your life to suit the story you’re telling. So, maybe you write about your first hunting trip between father-and-son, but you reinterpret that as a king taking his youngest out to hunt dragons. Or, you take events from your Prom (“I caught my boyfriend cheating on me in the science lab”) and spin it so that the event happens at the same time a slasher killer is making literal mincemeat of the Prom King and Queen.

Length: 1,000 words

Due by: Friday, February 22nd, noon EST.

How to enter: Post your story on your blog or website and leave the link in a comment to Chuck Wendig's post.

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Writing A Feel Good Story

Occasionally I set out to write a certain kind of story--a horror story for Halloween, an inspirational feel-good story for Christmas or Valentine's Day--one where I'm interested, above all, in creating a certain kind of emotional response in my readers.

I've been thinking and writing about short story structure lately so, after I read Sophie King's chapter, How To Write Feel-Good Stories or Tug-At-The-Heart Tales, I thought I'd do a post on this.

1. Getting the Idea

Think about the state you are attempting to create in the reader at the end of the story. To help fix this in your mind think of either a real life situation that made you feel good about life in general or think about a movie which made you feel this way.

It's corny, but for me that movie is It's A Wonderful Life (1946) with James Stewart. If I was going to write a feel-good story I would watch that movie again and pay special attention to how the movie accomplished this effect.

2. Topics

You could write a feel-good story about anything but a few topics seem tailor made to bring out the emotions.

- Christmas
- Valentine's Day
- Graduation
- The big game
- Reuniting with a loved one
- Finding Mr. or Ms. Right

3. Conflict: There Are Two Sides To Every Coin

Often the conflict required by a feel-good story is contained in the premise. Here are two examples of what I mean by this.

a) Christmas

Christmas is heart-warming because it's a time for friends and family to renew their friendships, to feel that they are a part of something larger than oneself.

The flip-side of camaraderie, of community, can either be the character's beginning state or what she will face (or fear she will face) if she fails the guest.

b) Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day presents the hope of finding 'The One', the person one fits with, like a key in a lock. The one person, in all the world, who can make like complete.

The flip side of this is the fear that the protagonist has (let's call her Jane) that there is no one for her. Or, more concretely, that when she goes out on a date she'll either meet a creep or, what's worse, someone she thinks could be her special someone but who really just wants to use her for their own ends.

For instance, Jane could met two men, Adam and Darren. One of them, Darren, wants to use Jane for his own ends and he bends over backward to charm her, saying what he thinks she wants him to say regardless whether he means it.

At first Jane can't see through see Darren is being fake. The man who genuinely likes her--Adam--bungles things and makes mistakes.

At the 2/3 point--the All Is Lost or Major Setback plot point--have Darren propose marriage. The reader should know by this time that Darren is the wrong guy. Have Jane accept. At the climax of the story--the 3/4 point--Jane recognizes her mistake and chooses Adam (Mr. Right). Jane and Adam live happily ever after.

4. Make It Universal

Whatever topic you choose to base your story on, make sure the emotions are based on life experiences most people can relate to. Events which mark significant life experiences like a graduation, a wedding, or holidays like Christmas or Valentine's Day. The possibilities are endless.

5. The Test: Is The Mood Right?

When I write a horror story if I'm not even a little bit scared then I know I need to step the tension/conflict up a notch or three. It's the same with feel-good stories. If I don't feel at least a little bit warm and cozy thinking about the ending then I need to ratchet up the conflict. Perhaps this means adjusting the stakes (what the protagonist will win and what they'll lose if they fail), perhaps it means adjusting the characters, making the antagonist a bit more callous, making the good guy or gal just a bit more heroic.

Tomorrow I'll talk more about short stories and their structure.

Have you ever written a feel-good story? Was it a novel or a short story? Did you succeed in eliciting emotion in your readers? If you had it to do over again would you do anything differently?

Other articles you might like:

- How To Write Short Stories
- Fate Core And The Creation Of Magical Worlds
- Roleplaying Games, Writing, And The Creation Of Magical Systems

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How To Write Short Stories

I've been reading How To Write Short Stories for Magazines--and Get Published! by Sophie King. She gives wonderful tips on how to develop characters so I thought I'd share my notes.

Thumbnail sketch of a character

Goal: give each character a unique voice, something that will make that character stand out in a reader's mind.

In a couple of paragraphs we need to communicate how a character
- thinks
- talks
- behaves
- interacts with other characters

First Layer: Behavioral Quirk

In real life you know people you'd describe as a "character", people who you might not like but who you can't stop thinking about.

Make a list of these people and one quirk that stands out in your mind. For instance:

- A woman who looks in the mirror every time she passes one.
- A person who has a strange voice, either too high and squeaky or too deep.
- A person who is always dropping names.
- Someone who is always telling stories, jokes.

Second Layer: Dialogue: Trademark phrase

Have one or more of your characters overuse a figure of speech. For instance, a character who says "know what I mean?" after each sentence.

Third Layer: Characteristic Mood

For instance, one character might be a worrywart, another might be kind to a fault, and so on. (This is also known as a Trait. See: Tags, Traits and Tells.)

For a list of mood words, click here: Mood Words.

Fourth Layer: Helping Characters

For instance, your main character might take her dog everywhere she goes. It could be small and yappy or huge and friendly (or vice versa). This also creates opportunities for conflict with a character who hates animals.

The helping character doesn't have to be a pet, it could be a child or a needy neighbor, or a moody teen, the possibilities are endless

Number Of Characters

Sophie King advises that in a story of 2,000 words or under to try and keep the number of characters to three or four.

Make sure every character is essential to develop the story

Here's an exercise to help determine if a character is essential to the story:
- List all the characters in the story.
- Beside each character list their role in the story.
- If you took this character out of the story what would you lose? If the answer is 'not much' then cut them or combine them with another character.

Pacing

Something significant should happen every three or four paragraphs.

- A change of scene
- A character makes a discovery
- Character talks with someone new

Other articles you might like:

- Fate Core And The Creation Of Magical Worlds
- Roleplaying Games, Writing, And The Creation Of Magical Systems
- Analyzing Story Structure

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Part of the storytelling ability is simply the anticipation of boredom and the introduction of a sudden surprise

Part of the storytelling ability is simply the anticipation of boredom and the introduction of a sudden surprise. To be a good storyteller you need to have first internalized the audience: that subvocal groan that says, “Okay, get on with it.” Not that you always have to cater to the audience’s expectations: you can cross them up, frustrate them, prolong their tension, though that too can be a way of entertaining them. In any case, you have to be aware of their demands, whether you satisfy them or not.

To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction
PHILLIP LOPATE

I came across this quote on Advice To Writers.

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Fate Core And The Creation Of Magical Worlds

Yesterday I talked about role playing games and how they could help authors develop their fictional worlds.

The discussion was inspired by the delivery of the first set of files from Fred Hicks Kickstarter project, one of which was beguilingly entitled: Magic System Toolkit.

Anyway, as I said, I went into full-on geek mode and started to write about how Fate Core can help authors develop magical systems for their fictional worlds.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Toolkit breaks this down into 5 aspects or questions: Tone, Craft, Limits, Availability and Source. Let's go over them.

Tone: Neutral, Flavored & Opinionated

I discussed tone yesterday (see: Roleplaying Games, Writing, And The Creation Of Magical Systems) but, briefly, tone is about the very nature of the magic system you are creating. Will it be neutral (have no mind of its own--no opinions) or will it be biased--flavored--in certain ways? One common way for magic to be flavored is for it to come in light and dark varieties and, depending on whether it is light or dark, it will behave differently.

Another way magic can have tone is by being opinionated. That is, it originating from an agent, someone with intelligence and will. (For more on this see my article from yesterday.)

Cost: Price vs Risk

There are two kinds of ways one can pay a cost for using magic. One can pay a price or take a risk.

Keeping in mind I've never gamed with the Fate Core system, it seems to me that the main difference between a price and a risk is when the cost is paid by the magic user.

The PRICE would be known well before the magic was invoked so the character would have time to think about their choice and prepare themselves. Often the price paid would also be whatever it was that powered the magical spell (burnt herbs, etc). In this sense, the price paid would be a condition of the magic being kindled and would therefore be paid before any magic stirred.

A RISK, on the other hand, would be paid either as the magic is being kindled or as it is unleashed. (If the price is paid while the magic is being Kindled the spell itself has a chance of misfiring.) Also the magnitude of the cost for kindling the spell is unknown to the caster until the process has begun. Once they find out what the cost will be it's too late to change one's mind. (I can imagine a story where the twist at the end is that the cost of the spell was so high the protagonist won a Pyrrhic victory.)

When there is a risk to using magic then each instance of magic use must be carefully considered. Just because your last three casts went well--sure your rosebush died but you didn't like it anyway--doesn't mean your fourth will too.

Costs: Rules of thumb

The TOOLKIT mentions that magic systems which choose price over risk often have the subtext that "power has a price".

The TOOLKIT mentions, also, that price lines up well with flavored magic and risks line up well with neutral magic. For instance, you could have it that 'light' spells had a price which could be paid by the energy released from burning dried plant material, and so on, while dark magic required blood to be shed, lives to be extinguished.

Or, perhaps, the price would be the twisting, or tarnishing, of one's very soul (Kim Harrison's Hollows series is a good example of the later.)

Perhaps I'm wrong--it has been a while since I read the books--but the world of Harry Potter seems to be one that tends more toward risks. Think of all the times Ron's spell comically backfired.

The TOOLKIT mentions that both price and risks work equally well with opinionated magic. One of the main risks inherent in using opinionated magic is that you'll come to the notice of some very grumpy, very powerful, beings.)

Some Questions

- How common is magic in your world?
- Is the source of magic abundant? For instance, are there lots of lay lines and are they at full strength?
- Independent of how common magic is, there may not be many people who have the ability or knowledge to access the magic. Can anyone, potentially at least, access magic? Does accessing magic take ability or knowledge? Or both? Does everyone have the ability required or only a few?

Limits

If magic can do anything it becomes uninteresting. What limits magic, and magic use, in your world? What can't magic do?

Can it do anything you could do in a more conventional way?

Are there certain kinds of magic that won't work in your world? What prevents magic users from casting powerful spells all the time?

Availability

Will everyone in your world be able to use magic or only a few?

For instance, it's a fairly common setup to have only a few individuals who are able to do truly spectacular magic--and then a lot of folks who do lesser spells, spells of convenience to help cook dinner or herd sheep. Kind of like a pyramid with one or perhaps two amazingly powerful spellcasters on the top and a lot of people on the bottom who can use magic to do things like pick locks and kindle fire.

There would need to be some sort of explanation about why only a few people can do amazing magical spells. One way of explaining this would be to say that it had to do with the amount of energy a person could channel. Those born a certain way--genetic mutants or members of a particular race--could channel a lot of energy while the ordinary person could only channel a little.

Which brings us to our next magical aspect: the source of magic in your world.

Source

It doesn't matter what your explanation is for where magic comes from but it is extremely important than you have one and that it makes sense to you.

You need to know what magic can do and, more importantly, what it can't do.

You don't have to tell anyone what the source is and perhaps it's better if you don't.

You're under no obligation to share this explanation with the players, and in fact this is an area where I actually encourage a little discretion. Not because you can't trust players with this information, but because your magic system is going to feel a hell of a lot less magical after you've explained it all. A little bit of mystery is essential to the magical feel. (Magic System Toolkit)

What Does Magic DO?

Although we've finished discussing the five aspects of magic we still haven't addressed the most important question:

What does magic NEED to do in your world?

Why does there need to be magic in your world? What does it do? What do you need it to do?

Well, that's it! Of course that's just the tip of a very large iceberg but I think it was enough to get me started crafting my own system. This is going to be fun!

Have you ever constructed a magical system? Were you inspired by gaming? By folklore? What did your magical system do?

Other articles you might like:

- Roleplaying Games, Writing, And The Creation Of Magical Systems
- Analyzing Story Structure
- The Trouble With Adverbs

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