Steps 1:55 Step 1: define the source of the magic 2:33 Step 2: determine the methods of casting magic 3:16 Step 3: estabilish limitations and consequences 3:58 Step 4: create a unique magic system 4:31 Step 5: incomporate the magic system into the story 5:26 Step 6: consider the social and cultural implications of the magic system 6:23 Step 7: continuously review and refine your magic system 7:07 Step 8: keep it simple 8:13 sanderson's 3 laws of magic: 1. an author's ability to solve conflicts with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic 2. weaknesses, limits and costs are more interesting than powers 3. go deeper instead of wider (expand on what you already have rather than adding new laws)
When worldbuilding magic, the one thing that I always seem to forget about is the source of magic. I never seem to have issues with making magic systems outside of that, so I'm glad that the first thing you mentioned in the video was about the source of magic in the setting.
Man, I recently found your channel looking for some character writing structure and I must say that I love how you explain it. I can’t wait to explore and grow with your explanations. Cheers, -LRA
Do you think it's a good idea to first make an entire world and magic system, cultures, language and more, and then write stories around them? I feel like that would be way better to make it believable, because I get to only tell a part of the world, and leave lots to explore later on.
I think about my characters first and how will they progress through the story, how and where i'll add the haha funny, where i'll add the bubble poppers, the magic system and finally the world, since its supposed to help the story and it's not that important.
@@RavensRants The only real restriction on it though is "Did you get the Bender Gene from your parents - if yes, for what element." That's 1 (maybe 2 depending on how you look at it ) limit and even then the line gets blurry with things like Sand, Mud, and Lava bending taking aspects of other elements into their own. After that its all down to the training and imagination of the Bender. Even most of the "limitations" of bending we learn in the series turn out to be false, and are just due to limits of the imagination of the user: Katara using sweat when there's no "water", Toph and her students bending metal when it was supposed to be impossible according to every earth bending authority beforehand, Hama discovering bloodbending by bending "water" inside living things when no regular water is around, Toph using vibrations in the ground to see and literally tell if someone is lying or not, all the way down to Earthbending somehow giving you the ability to extend your lifespan past that of a regular human (kyoshi living 230, Lao Ge living an even longer undisclosed length of time) . At that point its literally just making shit up that sounds like it vaguely fits the power set.
oh boy, yo two don't understand this at all, do you? Let me give you a little hint about why Avatar's magic system is considered hard. Can the Avatar bend space to create swords and blasts? No? Think about it. That's precisely why it's a hard magic system: it has clear-cut boundaries; fire, water, and earth. The characters must understand and obey those limits since they're not all-powerful. The fact that they can bend sweat and blood just shows that they haven't fully grasped the extent of their own magic system. That's why the reveal of the 'extra' bending disciplines is so exciting; it's a total game-changer in regards to their understanding. like the discovery of the atom, or the fact we spin around the sun, not vice versa. Now, let's talk about Gandalf. Can he bend space to create space blades and blasts? Who knows? He's a wizard, and no one is quite sure about all his powers. The guy is a literal angel in human skin, for crying out loud. Hence, LOTR magic is considered soft because its limits remain a mystery, and the rules it follows aren't entirely clear. all we know is that his power is limited by his body and some wonky angel rules. In summary, Avatar's extra bending disciplines make its magic system even harder, not softer."
@@gew393 Except there are rules. In the series there are four main elements: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air, with Energy bending as a special ability. No one but the Avatar can bend more than one element, and with each element there are branches beyond the base element (so instead of just bending Earth, an Earthbender can learn to bend lava, mud, sand, and etc.). In the show, they do show or explain how these abilities work (like how lavabending is the result of bending the molten rock), and in some cases they assume the viewer has common sense as to why certain abilities exist. Besides, a lot of the branching bending abilities are show to be rare, like lightningbending, the ability is either extremely dangerous or difficult to pull off
Steps
1:55 Step 1: define the source of the magic
2:33 Step 2: determine the methods of casting magic
3:16 Step 3: estabilish limitations and consequences
3:58 Step 4: create a unique magic system
4:31 Step 5: incomporate the magic system into the story
5:26 Step 6: consider the social and cultural implications of the magic system
6:23 Step 7: continuously review and refine your magic system
7:07 Step 8: keep it simple
8:13 sanderson's 3 laws of magic:
1. an author's ability to solve conflicts with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic
2. weaknesses, limits and costs are more interesting than powers
3. go deeper instead of wider (expand on what you already have rather than adding new laws)
🙏
When worldbuilding magic, the one thing that I always seem to forget about is the source of magic. I never seem to have issues with making magic systems outside of that, so I'm glad that the first thing you mentioned in the video was about the source of magic in the setting.
Happy to help ☺️
Great content as always man. Never stop!!
Thanks bro 🙏
Man, I recently found your channel looking for some character writing structure and I must say that I love how you explain it. I can’t wait to explore and grow with your explanations. Cheers, -LRA
Comment for algorithm
Many thanks 🙏
Likewise
It worked, thanks :)
Thank you for the lesson, it helped me a lot
Do you think it's a good idea to first make an entire world and magic system, cultures, language and more, and then write stories around them? I feel like that would be way better to make it believable, because I get to only tell a part of the world, and leave lots to explore later on.
This was a great video, happy to come across it
Thanks 😊
I think about my characters first and how will they progress through the story, how and where i'll add the haha funny, where i'll add the bubble poppers, the magic system and finally the world, since its supposed to help the story and it's not that important.
Lovely video I learned a lot
Glad you enjoyed it 😊
Interesting
Glad you like it 😁
I’m pretty sure avatar is a fairly soft magic system
It has soft elements, but it's definitely a hard magic system. It's not as hard as Fullmetal Alchemist, but it's definitely not a soft magic system.
@@RavensRants it is though. There’s not a lot of rules or boundaries. It’s all based on your innate talent and martial arts ability
@@RavensRants The only real restriction on it though is "Did you get the Bender Gene from your parents - if yes, for what element." That's 1 (maybe 2 depending on how you look at it ) limit and even then the line gets blurry with things like Sand, Mud, and Lava bending taking aspects of other elements into their own.
After that its all down to the training and imagination of the Bender.
Even most of the "limitations" of bending we learn in the series turn out to be false, and are just due to limits of the imagination of the user: Katara using sweat when there's no "water", Toph and her students bending metal when it was supposed to be impossible according to every earth bending authority beforehand, Hama discovering bloodbending by bending "water" inside living things when no regular water is around, Toph using vibrations in the ground to see and literally tell if someone is lying or not, all the way down to Earthbending somehow giving you the ability to extend your lifespan past that of a regular human (kyoshi living 230, Lao Ge living an even longer undisclosed length of time) .
At that point its literally just making shit up that sounds like it vaguely fits the power set.
oh boy, yo two don't understand this at all, do you? Let me give you a little hint about why Avatar's magic system is considered hard. Can the Avatar bend space to create swords and blasts? No? Think about it. That's precisely why it's a hard magic system: it has clear-cut boundaries; fire, water, and earth. The characters must understand and obey those limits since they're not all-powerful. The fact that they can bend sweat and blood just shows that they haven't fully grasped the extent of their own magic system. That's why the reveal of the 'extra' bending disciplines is so exciting; it's a total game-changer in regards to their understanding. like the discovery of the atom, or the fact we spin around the sun, not vice versa.
Now, let's talk about Gandalf. Can he bend space to create space blades and blasts? Who knows? He's a wizard, and no one is quite sure about all his powers. The guy is a literal angel in human skin, for crying out loud. Hence, LOTR magic is considered soft because its limits remain a mystery, and the rules it follows aren't entirely clear. all we know is that his power is limited by his body and some wonky angel rules.
In summary, Avatar's extra bending disciplines make its magic system even harder, not softer."
@@gew393 Except there are rules. In the series there are four main elements: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air, with Energy bending as a special ability. No one but the Avatar can bend more than one element, and with each element there are branches beyond the base element (so instead of just bending Earth, an Earthbender can learn to bend lava, mud, sand, and etc.). In the show, they do show or explain how these abilities work (like how lavabending is the result of bending the molten rock), and in some cases they assume the viewer has common sense as to why certain abilities exist. Besides, a lot of the branching bending abilities are show to be rare, like lightningbending, the ability is either extremely dangerous or difficult to pull off