Renaming Magic

[Mindfire]

This is something that's been bugging me for a long time. Almost since I started this fantasy writing trek. And that is: I don't like referring to the gifts, powers, and abilities of my various characters as "magic". I do it because that's the most convenient word available and the English language is sorely lacking for alternatives, but I don't like using it. Reason being that the word "magic" doesn't fit what my characters do, or that stuff, that essence, that is so crucial to this world. The word "magic", generally speaking, has three common "flavors". There's "magic" as in stage tricks, illusions, and charlatanry, "magic" as in the real-world occult, and "magic" as in the Disney stuff. I suppose you could also say there's a fourth flavor, unique to fantasy, whose definition often floats and meanders between the other three. But none of these definitions are a fit for what's going on in my world. In my world, "magic" is a sliver of divine power revealed in human beings and woven into the universe itself. Power is woven into the universe. It exists in the power of language, in emotions, in imagination, in dreams, in intuition, in common sense, in hope, in faith, in love, in all of the intangibles that collectively comprise the essence of humanity and in all of the things that make nature wondrous. Its use is more akin to biblical miracles than most magic seen in the fantasy genre. So to even call it "magic" seems like a disservice. But I'm struggling to find a word to replace it. The best I can find is words in other languages, like the Greek χάρισμα (kharisma) or the Hebrew מתנה (mataná), which both mean "gift". Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Darkblade]

Your readers will probably just call it magic anyways. See, sympathy, fury-crafting, qi/chi, bending, the force and many others.

Really as long as it is impossible in the real world and doesn't have a science fiction explanation like say mutant powers, readers will likely reduce it to magic in their minds. I know I'm guilty of this myself.

 

[MFreako]

Have you considered not giving it a name at all?

You say it's a divine power expressed through miraculous feats. I don't recall such powers being named or explained in the bible.
Makes sense, it's supposed to be God who's actually making the miracles happen.

Giving magic a name would only be logical, in my opinion, if there was a school or some kind of order one could go to in order to learn its uses. Otherwise, I'm guessing every man would call it by a different name in his mind. I think it'd be interesting to see one character referring to it as X, while another calls it Y.

 

[Steerpike]

I think what you are describing fits under the term "magic." You may come up with a more concrete term to further identify the particular niche you are dealing with, but there's nothing in what you describe that makes me take it out from under the umbrella of "magic," which is pretty broad.

 

[Feo Takahari]

Blessings? Aid?

 

[Tom]

Gifts....
I like that one. In her Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, Ursula K LeGuin never uses the word magic. The magical powers her characters have are called gifts. For me, this placed the people first and magic second, making her characters seem real and vibrant against the backdrop of these gifts. The characters aren't defined by magic; they are defined by who they are.

 

[Devor]

I'm trying to have magic so ingrained into the world that nobody considers it magical or unexplained. They've still got to call it something, but the general attitude is that things just work that way.

 

[C Hollis]

Sounds like some sort of magic to me.

Here's a future interview:

Connie Chung: In this world you created, you have this magic. I believe you refer to this magic as a "gift". Can you tell us more about this magic?

Mindfire: IT'S NOT MAGIC!

Couldn't resist.

Essence?

 

[Feo Takahari]

Sounds like some sort of magic to me.

Here's a future interview:

Connie Chung: In this world you created, you have this magic. I believe you refer to this magic as a "gift". Can you tell us more about this magic?

Mindfire: IT'S NOT MAGIC!

Couldn't resist.

Essence?

To be fair, the distinction can be important.

 

[Addison]

My advice, watch the characters through the story, don't replay what you already know, let them venture into a little ghost plot or sub plot. Something that will mention or use magic. As it plays out pay attention to your body. Does your tongue twitch to make a hard 'r' or a "rr"? What sounds are on the tip of your tongue, lips, or back of your throat when the magic comes?

 

[Zero Angel]

I always liked using "magick" for the fantasy variety and magic for sleight of hand. I think Gordon Dickson got me started doing this with his Dragon Knight series, but you can trace the term back to Aleister Crowley: "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will", of course, that implies there must be an actor. If it's free-forming, then magick doesn't quite fit (although I use it anyway).

 

[Snowpoint]

In my mind, the word MAGIC implies unnatural, unknown.

In magic is a natural excepted part of the world, they should have their own name for it. If magic has a bad reputation, it is not trusted, not believed in, then you call it magic.

The audience will always call it magic, because it doesn't exist. But, to your characters, it does exist.

Relater topic: Think the generic word of a Magic-User should be Magister.

 

[Zero Angel]

Relater topic: Think the generic word of a Magic-User should be Magister.

I call them magickers.

 

[HabeasCorpus]

Minor bit of thread necromancy here, but I wanted to just say that I appreciate what you're trying to accomplish here Mindfire. The system I'm working on is similar to yours in that it does not fall into a category that is already specifically delineated. That said, I don't think there's much I can do to assist with the actual naming or another idea along those lines because it's going to be pretty intimate to your story.

That said, I do think there is a difference. For example, someone mentioned sympathy from Rothfuss' works. I think that's a great example actually as Rothfuss spends some significant effort distancing sympathy from anything the reader knows as 'magic'. In fact, as I sit and think on it, if I had to describe it, I wouldn't lump it in with magic at all. Sure there are similarities, but it was described and shown in a way that was very much different from the way the stereotypes work. That said, it can be done, and it will likely require some significant effort to distinguish it from what everyone else considers magic. good luck - can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[Obsidian]

I'm thinking of all the RPG games I've played. Golden Sun calls their magic psynergy psychic energy. Final Fantasy is Magicks. You could. I say borrow from another language and play with the spelling a bit.

 

[Jabrosky]

This is something that's been bugging me for a long time. Almost since I started this fantasy writing trek. And that is: I don't like referring to the gifts, powers, and abilities of my various characters as "magic". I do it because that's the most convenient word available and the English language is sorely lacking for alternatives, but I don't like using it. Reason being that the word "magic" doesn't fit what my characters do, or that stuff, that essence, that is so crucial to this world. The word "magic", generally speaking, has three common "flavors". There's "magic" as in stage tricks, illusions, and charlatanry, "magic" as in the real-world occult, and "magic" as in the Disney stuff. I suppose you could also say there's a fourth flavor, unique to fantasy, whose definition often floats and meanders between the other three. But none of these definitions are a fit for what's going on in my world. In my world, "magic" is a sliver of divine power revealed in human beings and woven into the universe itself. Power is woven into the universe. It exists in the power of language, in emotions, in imagination, in dreams, in intuition, in common sense, in hope, in faith, in love, in all of the intangibles that collectively comprise the essence of humanity and in all of the things that make nature wondrous. Its use is more akin to biblical miracles than most magic seen in the fantasy genre. So to even call it "magic" seems like a disservice. But I'm struggling to find a word to replace it. The best I can find is words in other languages, like the Greek χάρισμα (kharisma) or the Hebrew מתנה (mataná), which both mean "gift". Thoughts? Suggestions?

I second the suggestion of borrowing from a foreign language. In fact I wonder where you got the idea for your system anyway? Does it come from a particular culture (e.g. the Egyptians which seem to have inspired your Mavarians)?

 

[Ivan Sailor]

Allurement maybe? What you're describing seems very similar to thaumaturgy.

 

[Gecks]

I particularly clicked on this thread as this is something that has also been bothering me lately (alongside what to call someone who does 'magic' as I'm not a fan of the term 'mage' 'witch' 'magician' or any of the commonly used terms.. running out of options. Witch is an ok term to me, but I also fell down when deciding what to use for titles [by that I mean as in titles like mr/mrs/lady/lord/etc etc]

You could make up a name for it? I don't have any particular name ideas to offer unfortunately, but as an example, Garth Nix in the Old Kingdom Series refers to "The Charter" as a type of magic. However, he does also call it magic... but he talks about "charter magic" "free magic" (and also "the sight"), and character can "reach for the charter" or whatever. (Meanwhile, Tamora Pierce talks about "The Gift" and "The Sight" in many of her books, though again she also calls it 'magic' and you noted 'gift' isn't a term you liked). Just a couple examples that came to my head.

But I suppose it could be possible to do something similar this, where you make up a name for your power, and then just exclude the term 'magic' as being used with it. . . ?

(ps. I hope I'm not dragging up a thread from too long ago.. Maybe I'm a few days too late? I got a little thrown cause the dates are all written the american way round and it took me a minute to work out this was posted this month at least, phew!)

 

[Nobby]

How about the characters having "a knack" of differing kinds, it avoids the superiority complex of magic users (I always deconstruct that as a convention centre full of go-getting middle-managers - in my head, at least).

I mean people have 'the knack' of bodging things together or 'the knack' of bringing out the best in people in the real world why shouldn't your world have people with the knack of creating glowy swords.

And it's also a lot less po-faced than saying straight out that something is 'a gift'.

 

[Scribble]

In Clive Barker's Imajica, he used a few terms differently. Sways are enchantments or manipulations. A Pneuma is a kind of breath magic, some internal essence blown into the hand, and then hurled at a target. The one who works these is called a Maestro.