Ask Rachel: How to Develop a Consistent Magic System

This week on Ask Rachel, we're talking all about magic systems and how to keep the consistent. 

This was requested by a lot of writers here - so I'm excited to go over it with you! 

Reminder: whether you're building a hard magic system or a soft magic system, The Ultimate Worldbuilding Manual can help you with all of these tricks. Check it out here. 

The Problem with Consistency

You keep hearing me say, be consistent! Be consistent! And I know the eternal frustration you must feel, because I hear you yelling back: I get it, Rachel - but how????

So I sat down and drafted my method for creating magic systems that work. I'll throw in a few examples of differing magic systems, to - because let's face it, there's no one-size-fits all solution to creating magical masterpieces in your fantasy universe. 

I, for one, know that creating a magic system for your fantasy world is one of the most exciting yet challenging parts of worldbuilding. A well-developed magic system can add depth, intrigue, and unique flavor to your story. However, ensuring that it remains consistent throughout your narrative is crucial. Here’s a guide to help you develop a magic system that is both compelling and consistent.

Real quick...

I get a lot of pushback from writers who SWEAR that if they have rules for their magic, it will RUIN the magic. 

Here's why that's false: 

The rules aren't for the reader. They're for YOU. 

Rules help make sure you don't create ridiculous plot holes and over-powered characters that become the subject of unfriendly memes. Without them, you have no basis to know if your story was written well or not. 

Soft magic tends to operate on rules that are not explicitly stated to the reader. Hard magic tends to have rules that are. It's really that simple. 

I recently had a post on Instagram go viral about this - and a lot of people commentated about how much they hated the magic in Harry Potter because the rules either didn't make sense, or they seemed to contradict each other in a way (like the time-turning in Prisoner of Azkaban - even I have a ton of questions about them. 

So: even if you're writing soft magic, pay attention to these rules. Your readers aren't stupid - they will be able to tell if you've thought it through or not. Even if you don't plan on explaining ANYTHING to your reader, YOU still need to know what's up. 

Now that we've got that out of the way, here's how to make sure your magic systems are consistent. 

Step One: Define the Source of Magic

In Star Wars, its the force. In Harry Potter, it's just the magic of the Universe. In Narnia, it's the deep magic of the earth. So what do these things have in common? It's fairly simple: they all have a clearly-defined source. 

You could not name three more different stories (except that they all deal with child-orphan-turned-chosen-one, a trope for a different day) but all three of them work (for the most part) because even if the rest of the world feels flimsy, the magic makes sense. Say what you will about the storytelling in Star Wars, at least the force is clearly defined: a supernatural force that binds everything in the universe together. Groovy. 

Another good example that just popped into my head is When the Moon Hatched by Sarah Parker. I had my issue with the book, but this narrative nailed down the essentials of magic: including where it came from (forces that create the universe/gods/goddesses), the rules of how they operate (some people can "hear" these gods, some people can't), rules and limitations (some powers cancel each other out, some take up a lot of life energy) and the societal impact of these forces (the amount of "gods" you hear determines your place in society). Like I said, I had my complaints about the book, but the magic system wasn't one of them. 

To master this first essential step of magical making, all you have to do it pick a source. Is it an object? A place? An element in the universe? It doesn't have to be complicated, and if you're working through your manuscript and something that makes more sense presents itself, it can change. The point is that in order for magic to work and not dull-down the effect of your storytelling, it just has to exist. 

Every magic system needs a source. Where does the magic in your world come from? Is it drawn from natural elements, ancient artifacts, divine beings, or an inherent energy within individuals? Defining the source of your magic will provide a foundation for the rest of your system.

Step Two: Set Clear Rules and Limitations

As tempting as it is to give your heroes all-encompassing Saitama-level power, please don't. 

I mean, you can completely ignore what I just wrote and do what you want - it's your story - but take a minute and hear me out before you make your decision. 

Sometimes it's really satisfying to see our heroes absolutely throttle the villain, especially when the villain has been pestering (or torturing) the hero for a really long time. This payoff, however, usually only happens after an immense struggle where the hero doesn't know her full power, or maybe hasn't been able to reach it because of some kind of obstacle (or, you know, rules). The way to make this magic not just believable but, you know, EPIC, is to establish rules that severely limit your use of magic and have your characters find loopholes to get around them. 

In the next section, I'll talk about how magic should have a cost. Before I get there, however, just remember that in order for your reader to be grounded in your fantasy world, however much your magic gives, it should also take, for one specific reason: this is how the real world works. We read fantasy because we want to escape into a place where our dreams seem more possible, yes? And in order to do that, we have to see a little bit of our world in the world we are exploring. 

Hopefully I've won you over to the idea that magic should have rules and limitations. If I have, keep reading. If not...well, I don't know what to tell you. No one is forcing you to take my advice (this is where I'd put a "shrug" emoji if I had one).

Magic should not be all-powerful. Establishing clear rules and limitations ensures that your magic system remains balanced and believable. Consider the following questions:

• What are the limits of magic? Can it be used endlessly, or does it drain the user’s energy?
• Are there consequences to using magic? Does it have a physical or mental toll on the caster?
• What can and can’t magic do? Are there specific things that magic cannot achieve, regardless of the caster’s power?

By answering these questions, you create boundaries that will prevent your magic from becoming a convenient plot device, and you'll likely hook more readers with the I have no idea how they'll fix this problem trope of magic. 

On a side note about magic: if your magic involves time travel, you seriously need to establish rules from the get-go. It's not that I doubt your writing abilities (I don't) but readers have this pesky habit when it comes to time-travel where they seem to find every possible time-travel loophole and ask, "bUt whY didn'T YoU just GO baCk aNd kiLl thE VilLaiN as a BabY?" Think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's convenient little time-turner and you'll know exactly what I mean. Readers are wonderful. We love them. We need them. Sometimes they're just brutal.

Step Three: Determine the Cost of Magic

Okay - we're at the step that usually makes my skin start to peel. I also usually lose readers here, because no one wants to be told what to do (even though they're reading a how-to....?) But you've made it to this point in the article, so I know you're going be just fine. 

Magic needs to have a cost, for reasons I've already stated but will state again for clarity's sake:

• We as human beings are used to things having a cost. We tend to not trust things that come to us for free. 
• We also tend to not value things we get for free, or if we don't fully understand its price. 
• Raising the cost raises the stakes. It creates conflict and tension. This is the best thing in the world for us writers and is better than actually currency. 

Hopefully those bullet points effectively reiterate why I go positively feral when it comes to the cost of magic, but for argument's sake I'll give you a few examples to see how it should and shouldn't be done. 

Let's start with the weaker side of the story. I'll pull an example from Star Wars - because I recently re-watched a few of the movies and it's new in my mind. Although we may not think of Star Wars as a fantasy movie (it actually is - don't get me started on the definition of Science Fiction, but Star Wars ain't it) the presence of the Force is the presence of magic in the film and the universe. The Force is a really great example, because (as I stated earlier) we understand its source and we know roughly what it can do. My issue with the Force is that, if you get down to it, it really doesn't cost you anything to use it. 

When I see Jedi learning how to use the force, they usually just can't. They struggle with it. They sweat a little. They bare their teeth at the camera, and then, as the masterful score by John Williams swells, they finally do something that usually involves floating. And it just feels...wasteful. What I've learned from watching that is if I use the same effort I use when I feel constipated, I, too, can wield the force. 

It just...doesn't work. 

Now - before you come for my head, I always feel the need to add a disclaimer here: I am one of the biggest Star Wars fans alive. We called my car The Millenium Falcon until its power steering died and the engine finally gave out (it earned this name for more than one reason). I have dressed up as various Star Wars characters and appeared at official events in costume more times than I can count. Here's a picture to prove it (alongside by hubby, dressed as Anakin, and my brother as the tiny Mandalorian):

So I feel like I can attack Star Wars with a little bit of authority and affection because I've spent so much time in this universe that I could probably write a dissertation on it. (Listen, I never said I had a life - don't judge me). That's why I know that the effect of the Force not having any real physical, emotional, or mental cost is that after a while, I just don't take it seriously anymore. 

Let's get on to a story that I think does this really well. 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke captured my attention when I was a kid. I loved it because it was my absolute dream - reading characters out of a book? Wowza! Bingo! Exactly what I wanted as a child. There were so many characters I'd love to spend the day with (many my own) and the idea that I could just read them out sent me soaring. 

The catch? The price of this crazy magic is that for every character that got read into our world, someone from our world would go into the book that was being read. This made for some crazy conflict and determined the plot of the entire series. 

I'm not saying that you need to make the rules and limitations of your magic the center focus of the story (I only picked Inkheart because 1. It was sitting right in front of me and 2. for teaching purposes, exaggerated examples tend to work really well). I am saying, though that when the cost of magic directly interferes with your characters when they are deciding to do magic, you're onto something awesome. That great worldbuilding and storytelling.

Magic should come at a price. This cost could be physical, mental, emotional, or even societal. For example, using magic might exhaust the user, cause physical harm, require rare ingredients, or attract unwanted attention. Defining the cost of magic adds a layer of complexity and ensures that characters use it thoughtfully.

Step Four: Create a Learning Curve

This is one that sometimes gets overlooked, too. If we look to movies for an example, there really aren't any that come to mind where the learning curve is steep enough for us to wonder if our hero is actually going to achieve what they're trying to do. Usually in the movie trailer, they show you what the hero looks like after she's mastered her chi or whatever it is she's trying to do; so that's spoiled, and as far as I'm concerned, the stakes of the situation are on the floor. 

In books, it's a little bit easier to find places where this is at least attempted. What specifically comes to mind is Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I don't like his books for my own reasons - but I will admit that when it comes to how magic operates in the world, he does a really good job with it. We wonder if Eragon is going to figure out his magic in time to beat the bad guy. We wonder if the dragons are going to get themselves together. We wonder a lot of things - which is probably how he got a solid readership in the first place. 

The learning curve does two things for the narrative that are really important:

1. It nurtures that trust you're building with your readers, telling them that as fantastical as it is, there is some rhyme and reason to the world that they can trust;
2. Raises the stakes, creates concern and intrigue, and causes us to care for the characters. One of these days I'll do an article about how you can save a story if you can't save the plot, but causing the reader to care for the characters is probably one of the biggest and most important things you can do to make sure that your novel succeeds. 

When you're creating the learning curve, this is where you can pull in other elements of your world, such as environmental and societal factors. What pressures are on the character trying to learn? Are they mental? Physical? Emotional? What do they have to give up to get over this curve? This is a great place to start implementing some of the awesome lore you've been working on this whole time.

Magic should require skill and practice to master. Characters should not be able to perform powerful spells without training and experience. Consider creating a hierarchy of magical proficiency, from novice to master, and decide what abilities are accessible at each level. This approach not only adds realism but also allows for character growth and development.

Step Five: Make Your System Unique

I'm going to write this and completely contradict myself later, but bear with me for a minute. 

I don't know about you, but for me, the idea of intentionally creating something unique makes my skin crawl, because it makes me feel as though I'm working in the context of others' work, instead of in the context of my own creativity. That's why I don't like phrasing it this way, but it still gets the point across to those of us who aren't as neurotic as I am. 

Making something "unique" is one of the later steps to creating a consistent magic system, because in my humble opinion (and after six years in college learning to tell stories) being unique shouldn't be the first thing on your mind. Most people start with trying to have an "original" idea and freeze, because being "original" is, quite frankly, terrifying. So I'll tell you to be "unique", but with a caveat: 

Don't actually strive to be unique. Strive to be authentic to you. 

I will never tell someone that their idea is a bad one because someone has already done it. With that line of thinking, no one will ever write anything ever again, because everything has already been done before. If a narrative (or a magic system) starts looking a little too much like something else, however, and we risk plagiarizing someone else's work, my advice is this: you probably just haven't spent enough time with it yet. 

If you're an artist of any kind, you are already unique. When you spend enough time with a project, whether it's a fantasy world, a painting, a song, or literally anything out there, it will start to morph and shape into its own thing. That's why I tell anyone I'm working with to worry about the originality of a piece later. Honestly, just write the darn thing. We can edit the living tar out of it later down the road. 

To sum it up: while it’s helpful to draw inspiration from existing works, strive to create a magic system that is unique to your world. Think about how your magic system can reflect the culture, history, and environment of your world. Unique elements, such as specific rituals, gestures, languages, or tools used to cast spells, can make your magic system stand out. But if you're stuck and don't know where to start with being original, just start somewhere. Literally anywhere. The rest will follow.

Step Six: Consider the Societal Impact

For me, this is one of the more entertaining areas of magic-system-building. I love considering all the weird and wacky ways magic can affect a world, especially when it's one that's really similar to ours. Going into my mind cave and doing mental experiments has helped me come up with some really cool (albeit weird) considerations with my magic systems, and I highly recommend sitting around for a couple of hours just asking yourself questions.

How does magic affect society in your world? Is it revered or feared? Who has access to it—only the elite, or is it widespread? Are there laws governing its use? The societal impact of magic can lead to rich worldbuilding and plot opportunities. It can shape social hierarchies, political power dynamics, and cultural practices.

A practical example of the societal impact of magic is a society where magic is considered pagan and those who practice magic are cast out or burned alive. There are plenty of novels and stories that are out there. Another example is in Harry Potter: we have an entire secret society of witches and wizards, who keep themselves away from the muggles (non-magic people). In high fantasy, you might have characters who are ostracized for having too much or not enough magic. No matter which type of fantasy you're working in, consider what societal doors magic can open for you and your characters, and how you can use these impacts to reveal more about your world, your characters, and your plot.

Step Seven: Keep It Consistent

This is the part of the show where I become painfully redundant - and I know it feels like opening a dictionary and they use the world in the definition of the word - but at the end of the day, building a consistent magic system starts with...consistency. 

This whole article I've been talking about the various steps to creating a magic system that works, and the final step is to stick to it. If you get halfway through your manuscript and realize that the rules aren't ruling anymore, that's fine - you can edit new ones in the manuscript - but don't just change something mid-narrative because you don't like the rules anymore. 

Consistency is key to maintaining the integrity of your magic system. Once you’ve established the rules, limitations, costs, and societal impacts of your magic, stick to them. Inconsistencies can confuse readers and undermine the believability of your world. Keep track of your magic system with detailed notes or a reference guide to ensure you remain consistent throughout your story.

Developing a consistent magic system requires careful thought and planning, but it is well worth the effort. A well-crafted magic system can add depth, excitement, and uniqueness to your fantasy world. By defining the source, setting clear rules and limitations, determining the cost, creating a learning curve, developing unique elements, considering societal impact, and maintaining consistency, you can create a magic system that captivates your readers and enhances your story. 

What's Next?

If you're struggling with any part of the writing process, or if you're looking to dig even deeper into your novel, then there's something you need to grab. It's called The Ultimate Worldbuilding Manual, and it walks you through each part of worldbuilding, to an extensive degree. 

Here's exactly what's inside: 

• Geography, Weather, and Landscapes: Shape your world’s physical environment, from towering mountains and vast oceans to unpredictable weather patterns and unique biomes.
• Political Systems, Hierarchies, and Power Structures: Define the ruling systems of your world, whether monarchies, democracies, or shadowy organizations controlling everything behind the scenes.
• Societies and Cultures (Belief Systems, Traditions, Languages): Develop deep and immersive cultures, complete with traditions, languages, and belief systems that shape everyday life.
• Technology or Magic Systems: Determine whether your world thrives on cutting-edge technology, intricate magic, or a fusion of both, ensuring internal logic and balance.
• Economics and Trade Worksheet: Create a functional economy, from currency and trade routes to resource distribution and black markets.
• Magic System Builder: Craft a compelling and balanced magic system with clear rules, costs, and limitations to keep it engaging and believable.
• History & Mythology Builder (Bonus): Build a rich historical and mythological backdrop, from ancient wars to divine interventions, that shapes the present world.
• Flora & Fauna Guide (Bonus): Develop unique ecosystems, complete with plants, animals, and mythical creatures that feel authentic to your world’s climate and geography.
• Cultural Aesthetics & Architecture Guide (Bonus): Define the artistic and architectural styles of different civilizations, making cities and settlements feel visually distinct and immersive.
• Laws, Justice & Crime Systems (Bonus): Establish the legal systems of your world, detailing crime, punishment, law enforcement, and underground organizations.
• Religion & Spirituality Workbook (Bonus): Create belief systems, gods, rituals, and religious conflicts that shape morality, traditions, and societal norms.

If you've worked with any of my guides before, then you probably know about my question-and-answer method. This is the method I use for all of my writing projects, and the key piece that works so well is that it asks open ended questions to spark your creativity - 

Meaning that it works well for every project, regardless of genre, style, or even if you've used the guide before. 

(So you can use this over and over and over). 

Click here to take the next step on your book writing journey. I'm cheering for you! 

Happy Writing! 

Rachel