• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

When to awaken magic abilities?

My narrating character is telling the story of a young guy that discovers a magic ability, and falls to "evil" but is redeemed by former friends and lover.

I am debating how early to introduce the magic he can control. I have others with clear abilities from the start, and a hint at what my teenager can do, but the scope of what he can do, I don't know how gradual to reveal it. I want him to learn and as he learns more, he falls further to darkness, but from when? At this rate, he won't be in the valley until 3/4 through my story, how do you deal with introductions to magic systems?
 

Amanita

Maester
To answer this, it would be interesting to know what the magical ability is. Why does it make him fall into darkness? Is it different from other people's magical abilities? Is the magic to blame for this at all? Or the circumstances he finds himself in?
Is there some aspect of his magic that makes it more evil? Maybe he starts out with the "normal" gift and than discovers this "other" stuff.

How do I deal with introductions to magic systems? In my story with a teenage protagonist I have problems that have a few things in common with your own and I haven't solved them yet, so no advice there.
In the story I'm focusing on at the moment the characters are already familiar with their magic and it's introduced via various ways of using it.
 
His magic ability, is to mimic and learn abilities of others, he has no other abilities of his own.

He starts with a man that can shut down parts of the brain,transfer knowledge and alter memories, and a woman that can change what people are seeing. Others he meets can heal, manipulate emotions, or destroy matter to create energy used for more classic magic, fireballs, summoning lightning, etc.

He starts off knowing he is different from the general public, but not how or why, he has been removed from his family, and does not know if they are alive so he uses his abilities to try to return home, but fails. That will be my trigger, he has lost all hope of returning home so wants to make the most of where he is, and uses his accumulated powers to destroy opposition. Haven't decided if he turns around or is killed before redeemed yet.

I think I am rambling, still writing my outline so knowing what big events happen when will help.
 

Derin

Troubadour
Falling to darkness happens best for teens, I think. They tend to be more impulsive and overreact to slights, especially in fiction. If he's bullied or looked down upon by others, suddenly finding himself in possession of power could easily lead to him showing off and tormenting his former bullies with it, before weilding it against any and all opposition. But it depends on the age of your protagonists, how long he's been evil and what sort of threat he's posing.
 

Jester

Dreamer
You could link it to his fall; as he becomes more and more impulsive and brash he becomes more powerful and he has to learn to temper it to reach a true potential.
 

SeverinR

Vala
My character does not know he has psi ability until he is abducted by a man with psi powers,
in a make shift isolation chamber, he is tormented and forced to draw on his psi abilities. When he is released his ability is linked to the negitive emotions of the abduction and torture, and wants the ability to be gone. So his family takes him to Psi academy in a large city to learn how to use his ability, and deal with the annoying ringing or throbbing he "hears" when he is around people(other then his parents, which no psi person can hear them coming. Their dormant psi ability).
The academy helps him to develop his abilities and shows him that others have special abilities also.

So the original abduction and torture kick start his realization of psi ability, that has shown up previously in his life, but was not noticed. When he had a tantrum, parents would get a headache, is the headache from being annoyed or a baby psi attack?
 
Interesting, but why the abduction? It seems like a stereotypical tv trope that doesn't really happen that often. Don't know why I am thinking of the idea that if everyone is special, then no one is. I am trying to avoid that in my rewrite, special people are special, and everyone else is normal or less.

Maybe I am just looking for something that I haven't seen before. Would it be frustrating as a reader to know this character had something special but was only a normal person?
 

SeverinR

Vala
In the story the teen sends out small mind attack as a reflex when startled.
The villian scares him, and is about to counter attack, but realizes the boy doesn't know he is doing it.
He is looking for ways to become more powerful, if he could dominate the boy he could start building a psi following.
Also the traumatic abduction brings his ability out.
He cannot offer to teach the boy, because he uses inhumane teaching methods. Burying the boy in a box and tormenting him with mental attacks until exhausted.
The isolation chamber forces him to use his abilities to communicate with his captive, and to defend against the painful but harmless attacks. The nuturing of abilities, like at the academy, into mastery works but is slow. The isolation chamber cuts learning time down drastically at least for psi messaging, defense and attacks.

In this story, no one else in the area is known to have psi abilities. But at the academy they come from all over the nation, so there are more unique people. Each with different abilities.
 
Last edited:

JustSpiffy

Minstrel
From the fantasy books I've read, I've found that power usually awaken when they're needed most. So maybe during a moment where his own or the life of someone he cares for is in danger could be a good time to awaken them. :)

Personally my character is a sorcerer, as a boy his abilities aren't fully awakened, his powers manifest themselves in small ways, occassional glimpses of what another person is thinking when he's concerned for them, or the loaf of bread he was eyeing hungrily suddenly flying across the market place to hit him square in the face, you know. At first he thinks everyone can do these things, but slowly he begins to realize that they can't. I'm not sure I really want to have a moment when his abilities are fully awakened, it's good to always leave multiple things for the reader to look forward to, if they're convinced your main character won't grow anymore in strength, that's one less thing. :)
 
Hmm, well, I am going to dash that trope then. High stress, certain doom, and no magic to save him. I think I will use the calm after the storms then.
 
I agree that the easiest way to have a magical ability awaken is in an extremely dangerous or traumatic moment. We've seen it done tons of times, and I think it works just fine. It makes sense.

However, if you want to avoid this trope, you could have him be aware that he can really easily pick up other people's skills just by watching them. He wouldn't think it's magic, just that he's a super fast learner. Then he could see someone use magic. And to his surprise, he understands how they did it and can duplicate it. If he's a teenage boy, his reaction will be "FREAKING AWESOME!!!" and he'll seek out more magic users to see if he can copy their abilities.

His path to darkness would be by him misusing his powers, and he could start to develop something of a god complex as he starts to get more and more powers. Honestly, if I had the power to turn someone's skin into petroleum gel, light them on fire, but make them sing and think they're in the shower, I'd start to develop a god complex too. lol

I think that would be an interesting way to develop his magical ability.
 
That sounds fantastic! I think I will definitely be using that, fits perfectly with my picture of my main character.
 
Glad to be of some help :D To be honest I'm kinda tired of characters always awakening their magic in "oh noes, certain doooom!" moments, so I've been doing this kind of brain storming a lot in my own stories, lol (My favorite awakening of magic moment is a guy is trying to steal a painting, trips, and when he smacks into the painting, he goes through it into an alternate dimension. That's how he figures out he can jump into the world's contained in paintings).
 

SeverinR

Vala
There is only a few times to discover abilities:
1.at birth(or as far back as they can remember)
2.puberty (massive chemical changes alters the ability)
3.life or death situation
4.Some weird time when they least expect it.(weak, but could be embarrassing)
5.physical attack (especially head injury) (that disrupts whatever was holding the ability back)
 
SeverinR said:
There is only a few times to discover abilities:
1.at birth(or as far back as they can remember)
2.puberty (massive chemical changes alters the ability)
3.life or death situation
4.Some weird time when they least expect it.(weak, but could be embarrassing)
5.physical attack (especially head injury) (that disrupts whatever was holding the ability back)

These are only a few of the possibilities, maybe the common methods, but I want to avoid the same things that everyone else does. I think I have it all figured out now.
 

Hans

Sage
I agree with sashamerideth these are by far not all imaginable possibilities. What about for example:

- constant training. Magic could be a learnable ability.
- At some point a magic talent searcher "detects" him/her.
- Joining some spiritual circle.
- A present from some sort of higher being.
- First time they have sex.
- First time they drink alcohol.
- First time they [whatsoever]
- A crazy star constellation.

To name only a few more options. This is fiction. Be creative.
 
For the story that's currently squatting in my mind, no one will show any signs of having an aptitude for "magic" and none will be able to use said magic randomly or by accident. To use the so called "magic" in this story idea of mine, one must be sufficiently trained by an already accomplished user.
However, because those capable of "magic" show no signs of it and so are unaware themselves, they have to be discovered by others. This is done by accomplished users travelling the realm and visiting villages. They then have willing participants line up whilst they spill a few drops of each of their bloods onto a meteorite-like rock that will glow if they have the gift, or remain normal if they do not.
 
For the story that's currently squatting in my mind, no one will show any signs of having an aptitude for "magic" and none will be able to use said magic randomly or by accident. To use the so called "magic" in this story idea of mine, one must be sufficiently trained by an already accomplished user.
However, because those capable of "magic" show no signs of it and so are unaware themselves, they have to be discovered by others. This is done by accomplished users travelling the realm and visiting villages. They then have willing participants line up whilst they spill a few drops of each of their bloods onto a meteorite-like rock that will glow if they have the gift, or remain normal if they do not.

just wondering, how did the first people discover they had magic? because if there's no natural signs, and everything has to be taught - then I don't think someone cutting themselves on a glowing rock is going to make them decide 'It glows. I can do magic. now to create it all. rawr'
 

Hans

Sage
just wondering, how did the first people discover they had magic? because if there's no natural signs, and everything has to be taught - then I don't think someone cutting themselves on a glowing rock is going to make them decide 'It glows. I can do magic. now to create it all. rawr'
The Realm Wanderer did not say the rock thing is the only possible detection mechanism. There could be other inefficient ones like teaching someone a little bit and see if he can replicate the effects. These methods could have been used until someone stumbled upon the rock and found out how to use it.
For how did the first ones discover it: In the same way as most "have to be learned" phenomena were discovered, in small steps over lots of generations. And with goodly interventions in the legends.

The last word about how it was in his world of cours has The Realm Wanderer himselve.
 
First off, thanks Hans for the fighting of my corner :) lol
As to your question Paladin, the world in which the story is set in is encased in "magic", kind of like an invisible bubble. The goddess of "magic" (it's rarely actually called this; usually just called abilities) decided it was time for the inhabitants to learn how to tap into this energy, and so (with the consent of the other gods) sent two "messengers", both accomplished users, to the mortal world to educate others in the art.
There is actually a good backstory about the messengers and their task, which I won't share just yet but I really like :)
 
Top