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[[Brandon]] has so far written three articles pertaining to the usage of magic in writing.
== [[bws: sandersons-first-law|Sanderson's First Law]] ==
If characters (especially viewpoint characters) solve a problem by use of magic, the reader should be made to understand how that magic works. Otherwise, the magic can constitute a ''deus ex machina''.
== [[bws: sandersons-second-law|Sanderson's Second Law]] ==
The limitations of a magic system are more interesting than its capabilities. What the magic ''can't'' do is more interesting than what it ''can''.
=== Limitations ===
It can also create depth in the characters and the system alike. For example: A character whose power is flight. But impose a limitation where she can only fly when she is happy. Her mood and ability to fly are both now directly tied into the plot.
Limitations on what the magic can do can be simple - can't use when too tired, can only be used in the sunlight- but more complex ones are more interesting. Sanderson gives us an example from David Eddings' The Belgariad: the "Will and the Word". A nearly limitless magic with nigh infinite power. You can make just about anything but cannot unmake or destroy. This limitation shapes the magic as a whole and tells the reader something of the magic's very nature.
=== Weaknesses and costs ===
Weaknesses and costs alike make a magic system more interesting. Weaknesses are generally harder to keep sensible and the kryptonite example has become a staple of easy storytelling. Brandon encourages writers to make up more interesting weaknesses than "Lose powers if x". Costs on the other hand are a great way of limiting a character and the use of the magic. In [[the Wheel of Time]] series the cost is that the users of the magic will slowly go insane. Although the metals in [[Allomancy|Mistborn]] and the
== [[bws: sandersons-third-law-of-magic|Sanderson's Third Law]] ==
"A brilliant magic system for a book is less often one with a thousand different powers and abilities -- and is more often a magic system with relatively few powers that the author has considered in depth."
=== Interconnection ===
Another important point is to be interconnected. Try to make the powers of a character seem like a coherent whole rather than separate abilities. In ''Mistborn'', for example, magics were designed to be what thieves would want and then the powers named accordingly. Tying your powers together thematically is an important part of worldbuilding and expands the world, rather than adding to it.
=== Streamlining ===
Remember, however, not to streamline too far as that will make the single culture or character seem too packed and might decrease their plausibility.
== Sanderson's
'''Err on the side of AWESOME.'''
Brandon has, in his online lectures, described his ultimate rule as that of making magic "awesome" (in the colloquial sense), and further implied that said "awesomeness" takes precedence over exact obedience to the other three laws.{{wob ref|6227}} This rule is primarily to be understood in the sense of beginning with an interesting (i.e. "awesome") idea, and building the magic system or fantastical technology upon said idea from there, rather than to simply disregarding the previously mentioned laws - rather, those laws should bend to the "awesomeness" of the idea, and not take priority over it, thus keeping the idea behind the magic system "awesome".{{wob ref|7077}}
== Notes ==
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