Four Teens Really Hate Growing Up But Really Like Flowers.

Four teens really hate growing up but really like flowers.

The worse the explanation, the better.

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Resource: Writing a Character with Magical Powers

So you want to write a magical character, but you can’t decide on a power, or you’re not sure of the “laws of magic” and how they apply to your specific story. There are many different magical realms in literature, each with a few different qualifications and “rules,” but when it comes to writing your own, here are some basic guides and outlines to forming your magical world, your magical character, and their powerful capabilities; 

General Advice:

Writing Realistically About Magic

How to Create a Unique Magic System For Your Book

How to Write a Character Using Supernatural Powers

Creative Uses of Magic In Your Fantasy Story

Writing Magical Powers

How to Include Magic In Your Story

About Magical and Mythical Creatures

So You Want to Write a Magical Girl Series

The Definite Rules For Writing Magic 

Sanderson’s Laws of Magic

Monsters and Magic: A Sample Character

A Guide to Writing Magic

How to Write Magic

Choosing a Power:

Tips and Ideas to Make Better More Interesting Powers

The Top 5 Magical Powers in Fantasy Fiction

Magic and Powers

List of Supernatural Powers and Magic

The 30 Coolest Superhero Powers

What Magical Ability Should My Character Have?

Remember, even witches and wizards are human, so you’ll need to spend just as much time developing their internal characterization as you’ll do creating their powers. 

Tips for developing mythologies in your stories:

Find something that naturally occurs in your story. Every myth has a basis in nature. Some cultures create myths to explain the occurrence of something that happen in everyday life. 

Not all myths are religious based. They can be as simple as a Just-So Story in which something is created just by someone doing an everyday thing and it becomes a sensation.

It becomes more relatable if told by word of mouth. Many cultures have a colorful oral history. Most cultures even have a professional storytellers, many of which sing and perform the myths of the cultures they represent.

Many myths involve strange creatures. These creatures almost always have different symbolic meanings in every culture. Usually these creature are based on the fauna of the culture.

Myths have a grain of truth somewhere inside them. However ridiculous they may seem, they are almost always rooted in history.

As annoying as it may seem, myths can be political. Kings, queens, and political leaders are sometimes seen as avatars of gods and goddesses. The more powerful, divine, and immortal they look the better.

Myths have a lesson to teach. They often are cautious tales told to protect people from themselves or from thing they would not understand. That is why many locals avoid haunted places. They know the myths by heart.

Myths can be a way to control. Mythologies have a way of convincing humans to do things based on their emotions, most notably fear, death, pain, love and sex.

Some mythologies represent the everyday person. There almost always has to be a comparison between extremes to show the weakness of mankind.

Myths do overlap with religions and legends. A diverse culture should have a healthy mix of all three to keep it interesting.

Don’t forget the rituals involved in the myths. Myths are tricky and can be as superstitious as throwing salt over your shoulder. Even the little details are important.

Archery information for writers that no one asked for but probably some of you need and I like talking about archery, so here it is.

when you put an arrow on the string, the verb is called “nocking” i.e. eyes glued on the target, he nocked the arrow

also the part of the arrow that gets put onto the string is called the nock. depending on the type of arrow this can be a piece of plastic glued into the arrow, or with wood or bamboo arrows it can be carved into the shaft of the arrow itself

you do not close an eye when aiming or shooting; you see better with both eyes open.

everyone has a dominant eye that more naturally your brain focuses with. that determines whether you are right or left handed when shooting, and doesn’t necessarily correlate to whether the person is right or left handed in anything else

so if you’re writing a character who has difficulty seeing out of one eye, take that into account when they are shooting

if they are right eye dominant, they hold the bow with their left hand and draw the string with their right. if they are left eye dominant, they hold the bow with their right hand and draw the string with their left

if they shoot left, the quiver sits on their left side/hip/thigh. shoot right - right side quiver.

there are several different ways to draw, if you are writing something historical or in a specific region, then do research on that style of archery. but for a generic place to start that is a more universal way of drawing a bow, here are some things to include

the chin stays down. raising your chin will fuck up your aim

the pointer finger on your draw hand rests on the side of your chin/jaw, and the string of the bow will touch the tip of the archer’s nose

weight is on the balls of your feet, leaning slightly forward off your heels

if it is an older bow/barebow, there is not usually a place for the arrow to rest on the bow. this means the arrow rests on the archer’s hand. if they are not wearing a glove on that hand, the fletchings (that’s the feathers on the arrow) will more than likely slice their hand when firing. this scars.

so if you’re wanting to describe someone observing and archer’s hands (hands are hot, don’t @ me) they would see a silver scar about halfway between the pointer finger knuckle and palm of the person’s hand. (turn your hand vertical and trace down the length of your pointer toward your thumb and stop next to the knuckle. that spot there.)

most archers wear something to protect their fingers on the hand that draws the bow. even with that, they have callouses. without it, a lot of callouses, scars, and blisters.

most common draw uses three fingers on the string: pointer, middle, ring. the arrow sits between the pointer and middle. just like where the draw point is, this is not universal and do research if you’re doing something culturally important.

barebow means that the bow is bare of any instruments. no sight, no weights, etc. the most basic/traditional form of bow

a recurve bow is anything where the tips of the bow curve back around forward, away from the archer

a compound is what you think of as a modern hunting bow, and is recognisable by having wheels at the ends and three strings

arrows have three fletchings that form a triangle, the point faces the archer so that the flat of the arrow will pass the flat of the bow on release. the arrow sits on the side of the bow facing the archer

archers with a larger/raised chest will sometimes where a chest protect so that the string does not catch when firing (this is regardless of gender, i know several cis-men who need it as well)

string can also catch on the forearm that is holding the bow and creates bruises and welts if you don’t wear a protector. modern ones are small plastic and cover just the spot, with elastic holding it in place. traditional ones are leather and wrap all the way around, lacing up on the back of your arm like a corset.

there is literally so much more, but i feel like this is plenty to get you started, and as always, feel free to drop an ask in my box if you need something more!

small writing exercises

make up an origin and meaning of a name

write a family history going back centuries

pick a character and make them ramble about their favorite thing

make up a fable, pretend it’s as famous as the Grimm fairytales. how does this fable affect the world and what would people reference from it? (i love this one because it can be as crazy and silly as you want)

make a commercial for something that really shouldn’t be sold at all. try to convince people to buy it.

ACRONYMS. but, like, try to have it make sense

make a poem about your story/something in your story

rewrite a classic but put your own twist on it

make up a detailed recipe

make a monologue with a plot twist or punchline in the end

create a ridiculously detailed timeline for a character

childhood memory (real one or make it up!)

improv rap lyrics

the story behind an inside joke

make up a mythical creature

pretend to be a commentary youtuber and pick a topic

the what if? pick a story and create an alternate ending to it

pick one scenario and several characters. how different are the reactions based on their personalities?