Magic, Myths, and Me

Most people will tell you that the best way of getting magical ideas for fantasy stories is to read fantasy materials or watch fantasy movies and TV shows. Although I agree that consuming magic and fantasy mediums can spark your imagination, I think it’s best not to rely on that too much for specific subjects. When I wrote Sirena, a story about a mermaid princess I avoided all mermaid literature and media because I didn’t want to interfere with my creation process. I didn’t want the stress of thinking my book was too similar to someone else’s. So, what I focused on was Greek mythology and I spun a story based on Poseidon, Amphitrite, and Thetis. Once I finished my book, I checked out some other mermaid stories and was relived to find that my story was very different from what was already published.

While building fantasy worlds you also need to create ‘the rules.’ What are your limitations of magic? If magic can solve all problems, then there wouldn’t really be a story. You could always have the usual, magic always comes with a price, or perhaps magic is only realized during bursts of certain emotions. In Harry Potter you are born with magic abilities, in The Vampire Diaries the witches have limitations, in Once Upon a Time magic always comes with sacrifice. I decided for Sirena that she wouldn’t realize that she had magical abilities until the end of the first book. Her limitations are emotional. Her magic could be compared with when Harry Potter would conjure a patronus. He had to think of his happiest memory. I loved this concept and wanted to use emotional based magic for my story. The coven of witches that assist Sirena on the land gain their magic from the ocean. In order for the coven to keep their magic strong they need Sirena to win. Here is an excerpt from Sirena where she’s still getting used to her abilities:   

We ran outside to her car and took off for the closest beach which was our lab for marine biology. I was having difficulty with all the emotional energy building up trying to escape my body. I felt like I had a ton of bricks on my chest and a pressure trying to escape from my body. My head was about to explode.

I jumped out of the car and ran straight in the ocean. I swam out as far away as possible then dove down as deep as I could. I released the pain, I released the heaviness, I released all the energy that was dying to get out. Light had shot out of my mouth, and I imagined I was back in that beautiful heavenly place that Claire had sent me to.

Somehow, I sent myself there. I looked around in awe but this time I did not forget to call out for Poseidon.

“Poseidon! Please, I am here, I need to speak with you!”

You can see how her magic comes from within bursting forth from her emotions. How do you create the magic in your stories? What are your rules? I would love to know! Thank you for reading.