Being a Better Writer: Inferred Magic · 9:09pm Jul 10th, 2023
Welcome back writers! I know the break was only a single holiday, but it feels like it was so much longer! Hope some of you managed to snag a copy of the UNSEC Space Trilogy during last week’s sale to make up for lack of Being a Better Writer. Or just because, you know, it’s a fantastic Sci-Fi trilogy that you really should have read if you enjoy the genre.
With last week’s news post being more than sufficient to catch everyone up on the latest news (you can check that out here) I think today we’re just going to dive right in and get straight to today’s writing topi. Which, as you can see from the title, is “Inferred Magic.”
I’ll admit that this might be puzzling title for a few, but hopefully I’ll be able to clear that up. Today’s post could definitely be counted as a companion piece to a few other posts written earlier this year on writing magic, a follow up to our discussions on working with both soft magic and hard magic respectively.
I’ll also admit that this post wasn’t initially one that I’d planned—or even thought about—until about a week ago when I saw an active discussion on hard vs soft magic and referenced a few properties as being representative of “soft magic” that, well, really weren’t. As far as those properties were concerned, magic wasn’t acknowledged at all.
Sound odd? That’s okay. We’re diving into it now. Hit the jump, and let’s talk about this less acknowledged approach to magic.
Shouldn't it be 'Implied magic'?
5737310
I went with "inferred" because the reader infers that there's magic, though there may really not be. Or is there?
Audience-based thinking versus the creator, really. Both work, so you could call it the other if you'd like.
My favorite magic quote:
“It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men