Friday, 2 April 2010
The much delayed part II in my series on magic.
Magic users and magical heroes aka oh God not another poor stable-boy who is the only person who can save the world, whether he wants to or not plot!
I'm not kidding, I am sick of clichés. The hero is always some poor boy (or girl but let's face it, it's usually a boy) who despite their humble birth is the only one with the exact gifts to fulfil the prophesy/go on the quest/pull the magical item from the stone. Occasionally, we get the stunning twist that the hero doesn't actually have humble origins, he just thinks he does, and in the finale we'll discover he's the long lost son of a King/Hero/God. Oh goody!
And while we're at it the old mentor with the pointy hat, the long beard, and the staff, and the young, clumsy apprentice (who will inevitably end up married to a princess at the end) are overdone as well. Truly. Stop it. Even if you think you have some amazing twist on it - trust me, you don't.
If you've decided you need to go with the stereotypical pseudo-mediaeval European setting (and frankly I'd rather you didn't, but there's a lot you can do with that setting to make it your own if you must) why not have a Royal mage, tall, young, good looking, crackling with power and pretty damn good in a fight too. Or a priestess. If you want the mercenary with a heart of gold, why not ditch the heart of gold? Successful mercenaries do not give in and go on unprofitable quests every time someone feeds them a sob story, that's how you end up broke (or hey do that, have him be a wannabe mercenary who falls for every set of big eyes or trapped heroine story and is perpetually broke and in shabby clothing). Maybe you could steal some clichés from other genres (gunslinger types or Dirty Harry or Sam Spade) and see how they work in a magical world.
If you must have some kind of mentor, why not have him be younger than your hero? Gandalf/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Dumbledore is getting a bit annoying in his own right now. Heck I'd even settle for a simple gender change there just for some variety. If I can tell from page one that character X isn't going to make it to the end of the book because he's the mentor type and so he's going to die in order for the hero to take over and complete his mission, it does kind of ruin any tension you were going for.
OK so you've picked your character type and avoided some of the clichés. Now remember the magic system you created and figure out what types of magic he's going to be able to cast and what the drawbacks and advantages of that is for him, and how he'll deal with it. Let's say he needs to carry a spell book with him - how does he keep it safe when he's off adventuring? Is it ensorcelled so that it's water/fire/dirt proof? Maybe it has a locator spell so he can always find it? Or it just comes back to him no matter what happens to it? Or it knocks out anyone who tries to touch it who isn't him? If he needs ingredients to cast spells how does he afford them? Where can he buy them? Are they something he can carry with him? Do they always need to be fresh? Do they need to be collected by a virgin at midnight (in which case maybe he might want to think of that before getting laid?) How did he train? If it involved a lot of book learning does that mean he's a bit naive outside of academia? If you've decided magic is very rare then is he just going to be allowed to go off adventuring on his own or is he too valuable to risk?
If magic is religious what moral code does he have and how strongly does he adhere to it? And is breaking it going to cause him problems (either getting him kicked out of his order or magical consequences such as losing his powers?). If magic is genetic are there people who want him just for his genes? If magic users are mistrusted how does this affect his personality? No matter how nice he was when he started out once he's been run out of a few villages he's going to start being a bit paranoid and maybe cast first, ask questions later.
There's a lot to think about just like with any character creation and really there is no reason to fall back on the clichés. There's so much you can do with a magical hero if you really want to.
Magic users and magical heroes aka oh God not another poor stable-boy who is the only person who can save the world, whether he wants to or not plot!
I'm not kidding, I am sick of clichés. The hero is always some poor boy (or girl but let's face it, it's usually a boy) who despite their humble birth is the only one with the exact gifts to fulfil the prophesy/go on the quest/pull the magical item from the stone. Occasionally, we get the stunning twist that the hero doesn't actually have humble origins, he just thinks he does, and in the finale we'll discover he's the long lost son of a King/Hero/God. Oh goody!
And while we're at it the old mentor with the pointy hat, the long beard, and the staff, and the young, clumsy apprentice (who will inevitably end up married to a princess at the end) are overdone as well. Truly. Stop it. Even if you think you have some amazing twist on it - trust me, you don't.
If you've decided you need to go with the stereotypical pseudo-mediaeval European setting (and frankly I'd rather you didn't, but there's a lot you can do with that setting to make it your own if you must) why not have a Royal mage, tall, young, good looking, crackling with power and pretty damn good in a fight too. Or a priestess. If you want the mercenary with a heart of gold, why not ditch the heart of gold? Successful mercenaries do not give in and go on unprofitable quests every time someone feeds them a sob story, that's how you end up broke (or hey do that, have him be a wannabe mercenary who falls for every set of big eyes or trapped heroine story and is perpetually broke and in shabby clothing). Maybe you could steal some clichés from other genres (gunslinger types or Dirty Harry or Sam Spade) and see how they work in a magical world.
If you must have some kind of mentor, why not have him be younger than your hero? Gandalf/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Dumbledore is getting a bit annoying in his own right now. Heck I'd even settle for a simple gender change there just for some variety. If I can tell from page one that character X isn't going to make it to the end of the book because he's the mentor type and so he's going to die in order for the hero to take over and complete his mission, it does kind of ruin any tension you were going for.
OK so you've picked your character type and avoided some of the clichés. Now remember the magic system you created and figure out what types of magic he's going to be able to cast and what the drawbacks and advantages of that is for him, and how he'll deal with it. Let's say he needs to carry a spell book with him - how does he keep it safe when he's off adventuring? Is it ensorcelled so that it's water/fire/dirt proof? Maybe it has a locator spell so he can always find it? Or it just comes back to him no matter what happens to it? Or it knocks out anyone who tries to touch it who isn't him? If he needs ingredients to cast spells how does he afford them? Where can he buy them? Are they something he can carry with him? Do they always need to be fresh? Do they need to be collected by a virgin at midnight (in which case maybe he might want to think of that before getting laid?) How did he train? If it involved a lot of book learning does that mean he's a bit naive outside of academia? If you've decided magic is very rare then is he just going to be allowed to go off adventuring on his own or is he too valuable to risk?
If magic is religious what moral code does he have and how strongly does he adhere to it? And is breaking it going to cause him problems (either getting him kicked out of his order or magical consequences such as losing his powers?). If magic is genetic are there people who want him just for his genes? If magic users are mistrusted how does this affect his personality? No matter how nice he was when he started out once he's been run out of a few villages he's going to start being a bit paranoid and maybe cast first, ask questions later.
There's a lot to think about just like with any character creation and really there is no reason to fall back on the clichés. There's so much you can do with a magical hero if you really want to.
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