Whew! That chapter packed a punch. My goal in crafting the magic/alchemy in the series is to straddle the line between the hard and soft magic systems that you find in fantasy books. As much as I love Brandon Sanderson's books and magic systems, I am not as meticulous as him in planning the magic and its intricacies ahead of time. However, despite the incredibly detailed magic his books uses, he still manages to catch the reader by surprise. A good example of this can be found here (spoilers for the ending of The Hero of Ages, Mistborn book 3): https://pastebin.com/9x5t4NUs
I treat alchemy in this series as something that can be built upon as I write additional stories. It's broadly defined and can seemingly be used to do anything, but I try to temper that by putting in limitations and I always make sure to introduce the alchemy first before using it as a plot device. A good example of this is Robin Hobb's Skill in the Farseer books. Her characters used the Skill in many different ways over the course of the novels, some of which I'm guessing she did not come up with ahead of time.
What kind of magic system do you prefer in the books you read?
[[AUTHOR'S NOTE]]
Whew! That chapter packed a punch. My goal in crafting the magic/alchemy in the series is to straddle the line between the hard and soft magic systems that you find in fantasy books. As much as I love Brandon Sanderson's books and magic systems, I am not as meticulous as him in planning the magic and its intricacies ahead of time. However, despite the incredibly detailed magic his books uses, he still manages to catch the reader by surprise. A good example of this can be found here (spoilers for the ending of The Hero of Ages, Mistborn book 3): https://pastebin.com/9x5t4NUs
I treat alchemy in this series as something that can be built upon as I write additional stories. It's broadly defined and can seemingly be used to do anything, but I try to temper that by putting in limitations and I always make sure to introduce the alchemy first before using it as a plot device. A good example of this is Robin Hobb's Skill in the Farseer books. Her characters used the Skill in many different ways over the course of the novels, some of which I'm guessing she did not come up with ahead of time.
What kind of magic system do you prefer in the books you read?