Making the magic work, or at least make sense

When it comes to magic in my books, I'm from the KISS school (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Either that or make it logical. When I'm reading a book, I'll buy almost anything if the author either makes it easy to understand or logical enough to believe.

Whenever I find myself questioning whether I can do something of a magical nature in my books, I always say: "If Jim can have a re-aminated, zombie T-Rex running through the streets of Chicago, then you can do (insert my complicated magical event here)." I'm referring to my fav fantasy author, the uber brilliant Jim Butcher and Dead Beat (one of his Harry Dresden books). BTW -- If you haven't read this series, you are seriously missing out on some primo storytelling. Genius. Enough said.

Back to keeping it real -- or at least realistic. I'm not one of those who likes to read a long-winded description of how a mage, or spellsinger, or seeker does something with their magical mojo. But what I do like (and try to do in my books) is write a quick, concise step-by-step of how one of my characters does something with magic. For a magical scene to get the green light with me, I have to be able to say "okay, I understand that; I can see that" when I read back over it. I'm hoping that if I get it and can see it in my mind, that you all will, too.

And there are those times when you don't need to go into a lengthy explanation. Your character just does the magical thingie with either minimal or no explanation as to how. Most of the time this happens when you've already done the step-by-step thing in a previous scene or chapter. No need to do it again.

One of the most important things when describing how your magic system or a spell works (or any potentially lengthy explanation of anything) -- don't let the description bog down your story. If your reader feels your story slowing down, they'll possibly lose their reading momentum. Lost reading momentum could make them put your book down. And what they put down, they might not pick back up. This would be bad.

Hope this helps.

And today, Dawn over at Love Romances & More Reviews posted a great review of Armed & Magical.

Coming up this Friday -- my birthday, BTW -- ; ), I'll be guest blogging over at Yankee Romance Reviewers. There will be prizes, so pop over for a chance to win.

Lisa