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Recent content by Melissa G. McPhail

  1. Melissa G. McPhail

    My Magic System

    I agree with the idea that the energy would have to come from somewhere. At least in your own mind, you would want to have worked out how this system really works, what are its limitations (there's little opportunity for conflict if everyone wields godly power in godly proportions), how does it...
  2. Melissa G. McPhail

    Melissa G. McPhail's Portfolio

  3. Melissa G. McPhail

    Cephrael's Hand, excerpt from Chapter One

    Trell’s horse snorted and shifted beneath him as a gust of hot wind surged up from the desert valley, flattening the sparse grass that grew like wisps of hair between jagged, sun-scorched rocks. The wind brought with it the smell of heat, baked earth and sand, and a gnawing apprehension that was...
  4. Melissa G. McPhail

    Allow me to introduce myself...

    Oh boy, you nailed it. VERY conflicted characters. It's one of my specialities. How amazing that you would recognize that! Some of them are tortured (I think I love the tortured ones the most, as they really are the most interesting people, don't you think?). And others are sublime. I do...
  5. Melissa G. McPhail

    Allow me to introduce myself...

    Oh, I completely agree! Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome.
  6. Melissa G. McPhail

    Allow me to introduce myself...

    Oh, I'm blushing! I will definitely weigh in on that thread. Thanks for referring it to me.
  7. Melissa G. McPhail

    Allow me to introduce myself...

    Hi! I'm new to the site, but I've lurked about the forums for a bit and really love how much the community is actively involved and helping one another. I'm a fantasy author working on the second book in my series. My first book, Cephrael's Hand, won a couple of SF/F awards, which is really...
  8. Melissa G. McPhail

    East Asian Magic?

    Magic in the east is more along the lines of mysticism than european wizardry as far as I could find in my own research. The Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata are two epic stories (and important religious texts) that may provide you some insight into Hindu mysticism. The early Chinese...
  9. Melissa G. McPhail

    Technology vs Magic

    I agree with many of the ideas above. I also think it depends on how much machinery you have in your world. Magic can be codified into a technology, where the definition in use is "the methods, theory and practices governing application." So you can have a very developed magical...
  10. Melissa G. McPhail

    A new twist on "teleportation"

    I love this concept. It creates an opportunity for more advanced races to use the portal regularly and less advanced ones to have developed a lot of mythology and legends around it (people getting lost, falling through the portal, vanishing or appearing...). It also gives you the opportunity...
  11. Melissa G. McPhail

    Help with gods

    Hi, I like the idea of your gods a lot, especially if different races will worship them separately and/or if certain peoples are drawn to one more than another. In my series, there are 17 desert gods (particular to a certain culture) as well as five other religions. I just thought I'd...
  12. Melissa G. McPhail

    Trying to not set my raft on fire....

    I think all of your ideas have merit. A campfire cooled in a water bath would definitely work. You don't say where this is happening, but it seems the easiest solution is that the natives have developed a tar or resin type coating from a local tree to protect the raft from heat. If this is a...
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