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Magic systems - What Are They And What The Fuck Do Those Words Mean

Mistborn said:
Isn't any work of fiction going to focus on some themes rather than others?
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What I mean is that such a 'physical'/'simulationist' approach may be fine for the sort of fiction from which it originates, but putting it on a pedestal as the ideal of how magic (and/or magic systems) should be written seems to overlook the fact that there are many other fictional works in which it would run counter to the themes of the work. E.g. putting the same sort of magic system would, I think, ruin the mythic feel of the magic of Þór allowing him to unwittingly drink a significant fraction of the world ocean, or of YHWH going "Oh, you need food? Fine, I'll make it so that you all can get fed by a couple of pieces of bread and fishes".
 
I don't think Sanderson really is putting anything on a pedestal, he himself acknowledges that his "laws of magic" are a guide to writing a certain kind of story.
 
Mistborn said:
I don't think Sanderson really is putting anything on a pedestal, he himself acknowledges that his "laws of magic" are a guide to writing a certain kind of story.
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I didn't mean him (I don't know him). I mean the sorts of people who think that all magic should be 'Sandersonian'/orderly/lawful etc.
I'm not sure how much any of the people in this thread agree with such a view, but I've encountered some people who strongly subscribe to such a view IRL.
It is they who would put him and the likes of him and the magic systems thereof onto a pedestal as something to measure all magic against.
 
orbispelagium said:
Unsong has 'Ritual Magic', aka 'Placebomancy'- to wield (minor but effective) magic, all you need to do is create a ritual cool enough to convince the universe you should be a wizard.
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"Random word" +mancy is how Adept schools are labeled in UA. They bit it from Unknown Armies, who bit it from Chaos Magick, who got it from Campbell, who got it from Frazier, who got it from collating the rituals of various indigenous peoples.

Assuming the form/trappings of what effect you're trying to do has a storied history. Even without magic, people pretend to be something and get people to believe in it; it's called acting. Or narcissism/magical thinking. :V
 
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