Soft Magic Story Recs

[finandanna]

Hey all!

I'm interested in writing a story with a soft magic system and was wondering if anyone had any short stories or novels recommendations that include one. If you guys also have any tips for worldbuilding when the rules of magic are more mysterious I would love to hear them!

 

[Finchbearer]

Harry Potter has a soft magic system

 

[CupofJoe]

Just about all David and Leigh Eddings' books have soft magic in them.

 

[pmmg]

Many of the well known stories use soft magic. LOTR, Star Wars, Narnia, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones.... Just dont have any hard rules, and dont make it the answer to all the problems.

 

[Krizzirk]

Just about all David and Leigh Eddings' books have soft magic in them.

Nice, im gonna enjoy reading theirs

 

[Krizzirk]

Many of the well known stories use soft magic. LOTR, Star Wars, Narnia, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones.... Just dont have any hard rules, and dont make it the answer to all the problems.

Hmm..why Star Wars and LotR have soft magic system

 

[pmmg]

Does anyone know what the magic system of LOTR is?

Star Wars has the dark and light side, but really no limits on what one can do with it.


If one is using the Force, and wanted to do something like feather fall, what would I have to do to do so?

In Star Wars, just 'use the force' with no special explanation than, seems the force can do that. That is soft. There are no rules.

In Dungeons and Dragons, I need to be a certain class, a certain level, have it in my spell book, have it memorized, have the right spell components, and everything about how it works is written down in the manual. Thats a lot of structure about the spell. That is a hard system.


Sometimes, I see videos on my you tube that say things like....Did Like use the Dark Side when he did X with his force power? I makes laugh, cause all the dark can do this and light can do that is something the Fans made up. The force is the force.

 

[Krizzirk]

Does anyone know what the magic system of LOTR is?

Star Wars has the dark and light side, but really no limits on what one can do with it.


If one is using the Force, and wanted to do something like feather fall, what would I have to do to do so?

In Star Wars, just 'use the force' with no special explanation than, seems the force can do that. That is soft. There are no rules.

In Dungeons and Dragons, I need to be a certain class, a certain level, have it in my spell book, have it memorized, have the right spell components, and everything about how it works is written down in the manual. Thats a lot of structure about the spell. That is a hard system.


Sometimes, I see videos on my you tube that say things like....Did Like use the Dark Side when he did X with his force power? I makes laugh, cause all the dark can do this and light can do that is something the Fans made up. The force is the force.

Thank you! I get it now. It would appear that using force is only telekinetic, or is there more to it?

 

[pmmg]

No Star Wars either?

Its more like, I need to do something magic, so I use the force and make it happen. In the movies, it was used to move objects, portend the future, astral project, and read minds. It was also used to create lightening, and deflect lightning. It was rumored to heal as well.

But there are no limits on the force, its just kind of a 'what is needed sauce'.

There is a dark and a light side. Dark generally to do mean things, and light to do helpful things. And, its out of balance, and seeks to return to balance.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Lord of the Rings in my opinion has 2 magic systems, one hard and one soft.

Gandalf's magic (and that of the other characters who have magic) is very soft. We have no idea what they can do and why or how. It's also not really plot relevant.

The other magic system is the One Ring's magic system. That a fairly hard magic system, at least for story purposes. The ring turns you invisible if you put it on. And the Enemy can find you if you do. Very clear and easy to follow rules which are explained to the reader.

I think most short stories would have a softer magic system, simply because it takes words to completely explain a magic system. It doesn't really matter all that much in my opinion. The most important thing is that a reader should know what is and isn't possible in your world. If your story is about a normal kid going to a normal school and he's dreading history class because he didn't do his homework, then having the resolution be that a unicorn flies in carrying a perfectly crafted essay on the causes of the second world war will just leave the reader very, very confused (though writing it like that, it does sound like a cool story...). If you plan on using some magic, and have that magic be the point of the story, then make sure the reader can understand what's happening.

 

[Rexenm]

I’ve never heard the expression soft magic before, or hard magic. Who first used the term? Everyone seems to know what it means, I’m just curious. For myself personally, most magic is learned, so it all requires a level of difficulty, or privilege.

 

[Finchbearer]

I’ve never heard the expression soft magic before, or hard magic. Who first used the term? Everyone seems to know what it means, I’m just curious. For myself personally, most magic is learned, so it all requires a level of difficulty, or privilege.

From my understanding it’s really to do with the magic system that the author has made up - so a hard magic system is one that the author knows all the limitations to, and that is also written into the story, so the reader also knows all of its limitations. A soft magic system is where the author has chosen to make much of the limitations of the magic system unknown, and this translates to the reader too.

 

[Rexenm]

From my understanding it’s really to do with the magic system that the author has made up - so a hard magic system is one that the author knows all the limitations to, and that is also written into the story, so the reader also knows all of its limitations. A soft magic system is where the author has chosen to make much of the limitations of the magic system unknown, and this translates to the reader too.

Oh, that makes sense. So it’s not a level of difficulty, like in a computer game, but more a tangible representation of complexity. I found myself using hard magic for a fan fiction, but soft magic for my own fiction. I guess without knowing the details, you use what is good for magic, for your world.