Fantastic realms: That’s magic!
Spells, wizards, sorcery, enchanted amulets... magical elements pepper fantasy fiction, but be cautious about how you’re going to wield the wand, says Alex Davis
Fantasy fiction is a genre that is often rich in tropes and archetypes, and as much as the genre has been expanding its horizons of late many of these classic characters and concepts remain at its heart. But they remain there for a reason – their enduring popularity with readers for one, and the fact that it is the continuation of a fine tradition of storytelling. They’re also things that are key to the development of any area of fiction, and fantasy would not be here without it.
One of those best-loved and traditional features is the idea of magic – seen so many times and often wielded by some of the most iconic characters in literature. Who hasn’t somewhere heard of Merlin, or Gandalf – a couple of those rare characters whose names are universally known – in their reading or viewing?
Magic is an element of unreality that can be drawn from any number of different sources and employed by either the very skilled and long-trained or passed on as a sort of genetic gift, or even curse. It can be something destructive, something healing, but undoubtedly in many fantasy tales it is a thing of huge power. It can be key to worldbuilding as well as being very much story-shaping. It’s by no means an essential – any number of great stories do without, and entire subgenres of fantasy that simply leave this aspect alone. But if it is something you want to include in your stories within the genre you need to consider how to go about it. Done well it can, quite simply, be magic.