How to create a world with people doing the same daily activities as ours but having also supernatural powers based on the four classical elements?

[Queshire]

When you wave your hand over a faucet, use water magic to pull out a stream of water shaped like a plate and direct that snake to wrap around a plate in order to wash away any food particles in a mid-air whirlpool then.... well, you really just did your dishes didn't you?

The thing with everyday magic isn't that you're making magic itself less special. Instead you're giving these everyday tasks an air of the fantasical.

 

[Prince of Spires]

When you wave your hand over a faucet, use water magic to pull out a stream of water shaped like a plate and direct that snake to wrap around a plate in order to wash away any food particles in a mid-air whirlpool then.... well, you really just did your dishes didn't you?

Very much this. Which is why the answer really depends a lot on how powerful this magic is and what it costs.

If I can make it rain by simply thinking about it, then agriculture would look very different from how it developed in our world, simply because watering a field (or not adding more water) is a big part of making sure stuff grows. If on the other hand filling a cup with water is so exhausting it leaves me bed-ridden for a day, then using the magic just isn't worth the effort except in the most extreme of circumstances.

Of course, if you want an example of how to do it masterfully then watch Avatar, the last airbender.

 

[Diana Silver]

Of course, if you want an example of how to do it masterfully then watch Avatar, the last airbender.

The animed series, not the life action movie. (Forgive me for stepping in.)

 

[Finchbearer]

Magical dish cleaning? I could really do with that at home.

I think context is obviously super important with making ‘everyday magic’. Maybe a servant has accidentally spilled soot on white linen, maybe magic could be used for sorting that out without anyone else finding out - but there has to be consequences, and perhaps it’s because magic is outlawed or there’s some other restriction in place.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Magical dish cleaning? I could really do with that at home.

I tried getting married as a way of having to do fewer dishes, but it somehow just resulted in me doing more dishes. Then I tried having kids, with pretty much the same effect. If someone has a solution, then please let me know.

but there has to be consequences, and perhaps it’s because magic is outlawed or there’s some other restriction in place.

yes and no. This is where it gets tricky. If your story is about the magic, then you definitely want something like consequences or restriction on your magic.

However, look at Harry Potter. There are virtually no consequences or restrictions to the magic, and those stories work. Pretty much the only restriction is that you can only use what you know, but that's about as obvious as it gets. There's a few things like if you get the ingredients of a potion wrong you get ill or whatever, but those are very minor.

Why it works? Because, interestingly enough, Harry Potter is not about magic at all. The magic is just flavoring to the world. It shows what he learns in a school. But other than that, it's a story about growing up and friendship and being heroic. Magic is only used in very limited amounts to solve actual problems, and that's magic they have (mainly) learned that school year.

Same for Avatar by the way. And yes, the animated series not the life action one or (shudder) the movie. There are very few limitations on the Avatar magic system, other than they can only use what they learned. But the whole thing is more about friendship and growing up and so on than about the actual magic bits.

 

[Finchbearer]

It’s funny, you know, because there’s no space for a dishwasher in our kitchen so we wash the dishes by hand, but even though looking at big pile of dirty dishes can make one’s heart sink, is it actually any quicker or easier to use a dishwasher? That is kind of ‘modern magic’ in the form of technology, so you’ve got to think is it not really all that magical if the dishes can be cleaned quicker by hand anyway… I can wash the dishes in around 15 minutes. A dishwasher takes around an hour, and uses more water. With magic you’ve also got to weigh up whether it s actually solving a problem or not.

 

[pmmg]

Washing dishes, I thought you just left them in the sink until needed...

 

[JBCrowson]

I tried getting married as a way of having to do fewer dishes, but it somehow just resulted in me doing more dishes. Then I tried having kids, with pretty much the same effect. If someone has a solution, then please let me know.

Tried paper plates?