This article raises an interesting question. When you construct a “system of magic,” does that turn the idea of magic into more of a science? I.e., if, in your novel, magic has rules and variables that it must adhere to in order to work properly, is it no longer magical? And is this a bad thing in the first place?
First off, I think you can have a story with a “system of magic” that also possesses a sense of the magical, or a sense of wonder. These are two different things. A sense of the magical, to me, is that feeling you get when reading that is defined by being strange, beautiful, otherworldly, or awe-inspiring. It’s what happens when you stop in your tracks, or in the middle of turning the page and say, Wow, something incredible just happened/is happening here. And this sense of the magical isn’t limited to fantasy, or even science fiction books.
Now a system of magic, in itself, isn’t a bad thing. It’s a tool, just like a character or plot structure, that can be used to enhance and support the story. How you use it, like with any tool, determines the results. A magic system can convey a very complex, imaginative world, imbued with a sense of wonder and danger. It can display the cleverness and power of a character who employs it in unique ways. It can make us firmly believe that not only are we not in Kansas anymore, but that Kansas has been sucked into another dimension entirely.
Poorly employed, however, a system of magic can become a deus ex machina, nothing more than an emergency escape button for the characters to push whenever they need a quick fix. Or it can be a confusing jumble of overly complicated nonsense. Perhaps worst of all is when the magical system is nothing better than a vending machine. Put this amount in, get this amount out, every time. You can hear the dice roll in the background, as gamers might say, and the rules surrounding magic’s operation feel like they originated from a user’s manual.
The article makes a good point that magical systems have been around pretty much since any form of civilization began. Yet even within those intricately detailed setups that tried to explain how the universe operates according to this pantheon of deities, or that system of karmic balance, there still remains a sense of wonder. Of being in the presence of something far more powerful than yourself.
It’s a tricky balance. How do you make a system with rules, balances and such, and yet maintain the sense of wonder and awe that people want to experience when reading about it? Does magic need an underlying logic, or does that negate the “magicalness” of it, in your head? No big answer here, from my end, but I’d love to hear what anyone thinks.
I see that smile.