So far we've explored two stages of creating a magic system. Stage one was determining the parameters of your system. to help you check the system as you work your way through. It includes such things as how much magic your world has and how prevalent its use is. We also discussed limitations, which we'll get further into today. Phase two explored the nature of magic in your world: what is it, where does it come from? We discussed possible sources and considering relating how your magic behaves to something real to make it easier for you to determine its behavior. In phase 3, we'll begin to determine how the power is used.

Now that you have guidelines for your magic system and an idea of its nature, it's time to consider how it actually works in your writing. Everything about the system needs to be governed by rules: who can use it, how it's used, what it can and can't do, and so on. That includes how it's accessed. If you think about electricity or fire, these can be very destructive forces if not controlled. The southern California fires from 2003 proved that. And the only reason they weren't worse was because there were people who knew how to control fire who worked hard to put them out. Even the simplest back burn can get out of control if not careful.

For the magic of your world, you are the fire fighter keeping the conflagration under control. And your first job in doing that is to determine rules on how the magic is accessed. How much access does a user have to it and how does s/he actually take control of it? If you give users unlimited access, your world is a goner. Remember, what is available, man will use, and not for the good of those around him. One way of looking at the control of magic is through rpg's. In gaming systems, mages often start off weak and gain in power as they go up levels. Some writers think this is bad for writing, but I don't agree. When we're infants, we have to grow into walking and running, we have to develop our strength. It only makes sense to have to do the same with using magic.

When you're considering how much access a user has, there are a number of things to consider:

Is the power stable or unstable? Is it steady all the time or does it fluctuate? If it's unstable and fluctuates, access may be limited to certain time. Or maybe the user has to figure out if it's safe to use it. If it's not safe and s/he uses it anyway, then bad things should happen.

If the source of magic is sentient - a person or a creature, perhaps even a sentient plant on your world - then is the power as accessible when the source is unwilling to allow someone to use them? And if the source is unwilling but the user can access the power anyway, are there penalties for doing so?

What if the source has to be something specific? For example, in Alden, users need to have a focus to channel the power through. Most use gems, but the only requirement is that it be a precious metal or stone.

But what if users must use something specific, is it specific to that user or must everyone use the same item? Using the same item would be like telling people here that they absolutely had to use the Hope Diamond to access power. (And I think we all know what would happen in this world if that were the case! )

Perhaps users have to be close to the source to be able to access it. You'd have to decide how close and how the proximity affects the user. Perhaps the closer the user is, the more power s/he has and the easier it is to access that power, but also the more s/he risks death because the source is damaging to humanity in some way.

What if your source is a higher power or from an alternate reality or plane? How does that being's motivation affect access. For example, in most worlds with priestly magic, only priests of the specific god receive power to use magic from that god. For some worlds, all you need is to be a believer. Then there are also the myths of the devil and the power he gives. You only get power if you bind your soul to him, or if you serve him and do the evil deeds he wants done, and so on. Maybe your world's being requires everyone to jump up and down three times while patting their heads and rubbing their bellies.

Once you determine how the power is accessed and how much access a user has, you then have to decide who can access it and what makes it so they can use it. If magic is common, then more than likely a lot of people have access, maybe even everyone, even animals and plants. Perhaps everyone has, like in the Xanth novels, a particular talent. Or maybe everyone can do low level charms, but it takes training to be able to cast higher level spells. Regardless of who has access, you have to decide what allows them that access. Perhaps there's a magic gene in your world. Or it's a natural ability that has nothing to do with genetics (which is the case of Alden). Maybe users just need training. Or maybe it's passed on from one user to the next, like ruling a country. When you consider these aspects, you could really come up with a highly stratified society using magic as a basis.

Once you have a how and a who, it's time to determine how much. When is the power too much for a user to handle? Can a user learn to handle more over time, as s/he becomes more skilled in using the power? Are other changes required in a user before s/he can use more power? If so, what are they?

If a user requires training, how long? Too long will make it not the worth the effort to learn except among very few or those races that are long lived. Is advancement possible? If so, what is required to advance? How long does it take? Once a person is out of training, can s/he still advance? If so, how?

If advancements and learning new uses of power requires research, then you need to know how much time it will take and what that amount of time is dependant on (more complex spells should take more time to research, for example), what kind of resources it takes to do the research, and whether or not the learning process affects how strong the spell will be. A poorly researched spell affect may work, but not as well as one that someone took the time to check and double check.

You will also need to figure out the specifics of how the power is accessed. Does it require a ritual? Is it channeled somehow from a place or being through mental effort? Are specific materials required for each spell like in AD&D? Does another spirit or being do the magic for the user? How? Can users combine their powers? What does doing this do to the spell? The casting of it? What's required to allow user to combine their powers? Alden users channel the magic through metal and/or gems, so don't need components specific for each spell, but they do need specific components to create potions and items.

The answers to these questions will also help you determine some of the limits of what magic can do. For example, if using the power can burn a person out if they try to use too much, you can decide what qualifies as what's too much power. If it's the level of a fireball, then most other mass destruction magic may come into question as "too much" as well.

Once you determine the who and how magic is accessed, you have determine the requirements the characters need to meet to use it, how magic itself works, and what it costs the user to use it. In your story, your character needs to DO something to access magic or whatever provides the magic. You need to determine what kind of time, materials, training, and focus is required. We've covered some of this already, but here's some ideas on what people might need:

Spell books: created by themselves or by another person. (If by another person, how do they get a hold of a book?) How do they use the book? Do they read from it while casting (and if they do, is the spell writing reusable or does it disappear)? Or do they just use it to memorize the spell.

Training: most systems that require training, require years of training. A user needs to learn about the magic first, then they start with little things and learn control through those little things, then they move on to bigger things. Some systems require the user to pass tests. But training could also be passed on in memories and not require so much time.

Materials: herbs, eye of newt, etc. These could be specific to each spell, or they could be a general requirement. How does the mage use the materials? Again, it could be specific per spell or something general. In Alden, the gems or metal used must be in contact with the user's skin. But if you make the components specific and you require a different material for one spell than you do another, you will need to keep a list of what the spells are and the specifics for each one for consistency's sake. That's a lot of work, so make sure you're ready for it before you choose that option. To see this kind of system in text format, pick up an AD&D spell resource book. The AD&D spells up to about the year 2000 are broken up into 3 priest books and 4 wizard books, each between 500 and 1000 pages long. But you can find smaller sourcebooks as well; the AD&D books are good to get ideas from, you just have to be careful if you don't want your novel to be seen as a gaming novel. Most adventures and what not have a few spells in them, so you may find some if you pick up a resource for the mapping.

Movement: the person could be required to do specific hand motions, or need to dance. Maybe they need to do something like kata and make very slow motions and end in a particular position at the end of their casting?

Vocals: users could be required to sing or chant. Or they could have to recite something, perhaps the spell as memorized, or perhaps something less specific: love poetry for a love charm, for example.

How ritualistic you determine the casting needs to be will decide how much of each of these things using magic requires. Highly ritualistic magic would require training, practice, research, probably some kind of materials, and usually some kind of vocalization. It may also require that symbols be created in objects or on the floor. All of this leads to making the magic work, which requires 3 things: gathering the power, shaping the power, releasing the power. For each of these three things, you need to know: the actions the user must perform, how much time it will take, what order the stages are performed in, the materials required, and how easy or difficult that stage is.

When it comes to the magic working, you need to decide what can make the magic more or less effective, and what chances does the user have of failure and what affects those chances. And then you have to decide if different spells require different things at each stage. If so, your magic system just became a whole lot more complex. But complexity shouldn't scare you off. Do what's right for your world, your magic (or whatever the special physic is), and your story.

Different systems should have different ways of handling each stage even if those systems exist on the same world. For example: priest magic should be different than mage magic. For a closer example: summoners who use other beings to cast their spells should have differences from ritualistic mages. Each system will have differences in difficulty. Each should have its own pros and cons. Each probably has its own philosophy. You also have to determine what separates "good" magic from "bad" magic. On Alden, black mages are those who draw in the power with no concern about where they draw it from. Some examples of "making magic work" include: voodoo (linking an object to a person), runes (binding magic to an object with symbols), AD&D (gathering and directing the force of magic through study, materials, vocals, and movements), Chinese geomancy (putting objects in correct patterns), bardic (using music), and mind magic (complete mental focus).

Once the user has released his or her spell, you have to think about the various aspects of spells. How far must a user be from where he wants the spell to take affect? Can s/he throw the spell? Can s/he direct it to someone or place specific? Obviously a spell requiring the mage to touch the victim requires that the user be closer to his or her target and gives the target a chance to disrupt the mage. Which also means you have to decide who the spell affects and how many targets the spell can affect.

How long will the spell last? Maybe magic works on your world only as long as the user is concentrating on it or doing a specific action. Can any spell be made permanent, or does magic always bleed away back to where it came from in your world? How fast it bleeds will determine how "permanent" a spell seems to be. For example, what if users in your world don't realize it bleeds away. Then something happens so users are learning the craft of magic all over. While they're learning, a very powerful and important spell fades away, but no one knows how to renew it. What's going to happen to the people on your world now?

Can targets resist the spell? If so, how do they do that? If resistance isn't an innate thing, there just may be a lot of people running around on your world with spell detection charms. What determines the success of that resistance?

Then you have to determine the aspects of the spell itself. What does it look like? How does it behave? How does it affect the target? How does the quality of materials, research, and the user's casting affect it's appearance and effectiveness? Can the user deliberately change any of the characteristics of the spell? On Alden, spell effects are pretty standard from use to user, but the who the user is determines visual characteristics of a spell. Thus Jerusha's spells are blue-white with sparkles, but Dimas's are a pale yellow glow, but their healing spells have the same effect--they heal. Each user also has a kind of "signature" that allows other users to find them.

We've said several times that using magic should have some kind of cost or price. This cost can be emotional or mental or physical. This cost could start out small and build as the mage uses more and more magic. Maybe the user refreshes after a night of rest, or the user may never recover. Some ideas for costs include: exhaustion; inability to focus, speak coherently, move, control his/her emotions; depression; damages the user; damages the environment; could kill (if it's your m.c., end of story); or could corrupt a user. Even worse, the use of magic could irritate someone with a lot more power and cause other problems for characters.

Now that you have the basics of mage magic determined, it's time to look at priestly magic. Divine power in your world will depend on the kinds of gods you have, what kind of hierarchy they have, and the rules the gods determine allow recipients to use their divine power. When I say type of gods, I'm not only talking about their spheres of influence (such as nature, the skies, love and marriage, and so on), but also about what those gods are. To the cavemen, a high powered, but otherwise human, mage would be a god. So perhaps your gods are nothing more than high powered users.

Or maybe they are beings with access to a different kind of energy. Or elementals of some kind. How about aliens? The aliens in Stargate SG-1 set themselves up as gods, entire worlds are raised to believe they are and are willing to fight for them. Perhaps they are incarnations of certain human concepts such as Life, Death, Nature, and so on, given power through human believe in them. Regardless of what they are, I highly recommend developing your gods like characters, something we'll get more into later in the course.

With your gods in place, it's time to determine the rules for being a recipient and user of divine power. Can anyone who believes in a particular god use the power s/he offers? Or do users have to be formal members of the church? Most systems requires that they at least be priests, but not all, and yours could be very different. Maybe they need to be a high priest. Maybe only one person in a god's entire church can use the god's power, but, man, what a fight that would cause in that church!

Now you have to decide what kind of power the god confers upon users. Is it limited by the gods interests? If so, a war god may not give users healing spells. Perhaps the magic is limited by the user's standing in the church. Acolytes could do smaller magical things such as lights, but couldn't do higher level things such as resurrections. As you did for the mage magic, you now have to go through phases 3 and 4 with a slight twist. Decide how and when the power is given to the user, the limits of that power, what cost the user has to pay, and so on. Divine involvement in most worlds is rare, which would make the magic rare. There could also be a reciprocal effect: the gods are the source of magic, but the number of worshippers each god has determines how much power a god has to give and how effective that power is.

Once you have all the specifics of magic and using magic decided, it's time to look at items, and remember, if it exists, it will be used. Powerful items or making the creation of items easy will more than likely have devastating affects on your world, so consider your choices carefully. And be aware that some types of magic, such as mind magic, may not be suitable to item creation.

So, first you have to decide if your world can or will have magical items. It is quite within your rights to decide that something about magic makes it impossible to create items, that something inherent in the power prevents it from "sticking." Keep in mind, the less power it takes to create an item, the easier it is, and the more items you will have floating around on your world. But, then, maybe items are the only way users can access magic in a useful way. By the same token, the more power it takes and the harder it is and the higher the cost to the creator, the fewer items there will be.

As with casting spells, you need to determine what materials are needed, how much time, what kind of process or procedure is required, and how the item itself is used. Does the quality of the materials or the condition of the creator affect the power and durability of the item? How stable is the magic in the item - can it be counted on to work exactly the same every time it's used? Does the object used place limits on the enchantment that another object wouldn't? How long will the magic last? What's required to make it a permanent enchantment? If it's not permanent, can the item be recharged? Is it harder or easier to recharge an item? How do you recharge an item? How does a user activate an item, if activation is required? What happens if an item's limits are exceeded? Does the user know what the limits are? If you really wanted to, you could have each item with a limited number of charges and as a charge is used, a number on the side of the object goes down one.

Once you consider the "simpler" magic items in your world, it's time to think about the real powerful items, the artifacts of your world. Artifacts are the most powerful items of your world. They are the god killers and world breakers. And you need to decide how common they are, how powerful, who created them and how, and how limited they are. Always go back to that one rule: if it exists, it will be used. And always remember, the best fiction is about PEOPLE, not objects, not the powers of the world, but people. Do not allow your way cool items take over your stories or solve the problems of the main character.

Now that you're done with your basic system, it's time to check your system against the goals you made at the start of the process. Do they agree? Does the system you've created work for the world you've created it for. Is it something you can use as a writer? If you answer no to any of these questions, you have to decide if you need to fix the system or if you can work with it as is. Fixing means either going back and finding the problem, and making changes from that point forward, or starting from scratch.

With a magic system in place, there's a few more things to think about. First, what affect does magic have on the user and the environment? Is a user changed? If so, how? Does the use of magic damage people or the environment? Perhaps only certain spells damage the environment. Are some spells illegal because of their affect or purpose? For example, we tend to fear having our minds read, being controlled, and the like. These spells have a high chance of being deemed inappropriate and in need of laws to control their use.

To help answer some of these questions, consider these categories of spell effects: Mental and Sensory effects include enchantment, control, mind reading, and illusions. Divination includes far sensing and extra sensory abilities. Playing with Spirits involves summoning and banishing them and raising the dead-- which could also be a part of Necromancy, which would involve anything that has to do with the dead or undead. Traveling spells would include anything that increases speed or endurance, methods of travel like teleportation or flying, moving between planes, and the creation of portals. Healing covers everything from healing wounds to curing diseases, even resurrections. Alteration spells involve those that reshape objects, creatures, items, or energy. Alteration also involves item creation as it requires changing items. Finally, Metamagic is magic that affects magic. Knowing these categories, what kinds of spells they cover, and the effects of those spells can help you determine which kinds of magic are feared on your world. How badly that kind of magic is feared will determine what kind of reaction your world's societies have to it.

There are also some traditional users of magic that may help you build your system and the kinds of people who use it. They give you a place to start even if you don’t want to use them as is in your system. You can play with these archetypes, recreate them, and create new ones with these as the starting place. These basic archetypes are:

Wizards are mages that uses ritual magic, create items, and cast spells. "Hedge" Wizards primarily cast spells, and do simple tasks like sense water. They tend to be low power village mages primarily involved with nature magic.

Gothic Witches create potions and charms, perform ritual magic, cast curses, are healers, practice divination, and can shape change themselves and/or others. Alchemists tend to be focused on potion creation.

Necromancers are involved with the dead and cast ritual magic and spells, perform divination, and are involved with spirit contact.

Mystics use "ki" and psychic powers, and often use trance states to use their powers. Ninjas also tend use "ki" power, though they primarily use it for killing.

Shamans are much like gothic witches but can also perform spirit travel and often use trance-like states to use their power.

Fortune Tellers use trances to access psychic power and perform divinations and spirit contact.

Last but not least, Priests are exorcists and healers. They are the human representatives of the gods and receive any magic power from the god they serve.

Finally, let's take a look at some examples of magic systems. The information I provide on each will be brief, but a book list is included if you want to do some reading and see these systems first hand.

Ursula LeGuin has her Wizards of Earthsea books. In these books, everyone and everything has a true name and the name is power. Her magic system is based on the importance of these names. The books include A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu.

Anne McCafrey's Pern books has limited magic. Her dragons can teleport, time travel, and have telepathy. A good Pern sampler is Dragonriders of Pern.

AD&D worlds use particular classes to define magic: Mage, Priest, Illusionist. Power is gained through spell "levels" and users gain in power over time as they gain experience. Some games require training in addition to experience. The system has been used in game related fiction such as the Legacy of the Drow and the Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy.

In Xanth, a Piers Anthony world, everyone has a single talent, and just about everything is based on a pun. Just a few books from this extensive collection includes A Spell for Chameleon, Source of Magic, and Night Mare.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have two trilogies, each with a different kind of magic system, for your perusal. In the Rose of the Prophet magic is found only in the immortals - genies and the gods they serve - and items. In the Darksword trilogy, everyone uses magic and technology is outlawed. Rose of the Prophet: The Will of the Wanderer, The Paladin of the Night, The Prophet of Akhran; The Darksword Trilogy: Forging the Darksword, Doom of the Darksword, Triumph of the Darksword.

Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series uses ley lines. For a long time Valdemar itself didn't experience magic, even forgot what magic was. Recent books in the series are chronicling its revival in that nation. Here's half a dozen of the books from another rather extensive series: Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, Magic's Price, Winds of Fate, Winds of Change, Winds of Fury.

In C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, magic comes in the form of the "fae," a reactive substance that takes what's in the minds of men and other intelligent creatures and makes it real. Thus horrors as well as wonderful things exist. The god and the devil, vampires, and anything man can imagine is made real. Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown of Shadows.

Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies use light and shadow and colors in association with magical abilities. The Dragon Prince books include Dragon Prince, The Star Scroll, Sun-Runner's Fire; the Dragon Star trilogy is comprised of Stronghold, The Dragon Token, and Skybowl.

The Deryni books by Katherine Kurtz rely on ritualistic mind magic, much of it founded in Catholic rituals. Among another rich series are these books: Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, Camber the Heretic.

And Marion Zimmer-Bradley's Darkover books use psionics and a specific type of gem to help the user focus. Also a wonderfully full series, here's just two titles: The Saga of the Renunciates and The Forbidden Circle.

Finally, a series of game related books that combine technology and magic in the same world are the Shadowrun books, of which here I only list a few: Never Trust an Elf, Never Deal With a Dragon, and Stranger Souls.

A well put together magic system is a lot of work, but well worth the effort. The principles you choose will make your world more consistent and the use of magic or any other power more believable. This is the goal of all world building.