How soon should magic be introduced?

[Epona]

The story I'm working on at the moment is a fantasy story set in the real world, aimed at children around 10-12 years old (or possibly 8-10, I'm not sure where it would fit yet).

I'm curious to know if anyone has any ideas on how soon the fantasy aspect should be introduced?

I'm about 4k words in at the moment (some of which is probably babble or repetition that will have to be cut) and the main character's first experience of 'magic' (though she's not going to be sure if it's real for a couple more scenes) is just coming up. Does this sound like it might be too late?

[Teresa Edgerton]

It wholly depends on what is best for that particular story. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about this until someone actually reads it and says the magic should come in earlier. Then you have some thinking to do. But at this point, the story is still establishing its own structure and rhythm.

[Lith]

Depends on whether there's a wizard on the cover. Meaning that if the reader knows there's magic coming, they'll be willing to wait longer for it to show up.

As a further point, there's plenty of fantasy out there that has barely any magic at all, yet people still read it, sometimes book after book after book...

[Epona]

[quote=Lith;952174]Depends on whether there's a wizard on the cover.
quote]

Hee hee, well no wizards for me - just a slightly crazy old witch doctor. I would put him on the cover, but I think he would scare all the children away!

Seriously though, thanks for the advice guys. Very helpful as always.

I hadn't really thought of it, but 'd imagine there would be some hint of the fantasy side of things on cover and in the blurb on the back, which would give people a taster of what's to come.

I'll try to stop worrying about it for now and get on with the writing, as you say I can always come back to it later if it needs changing.

Thanks again.

[The Tennessee Kid]

I introduced magic into my novel about 50 words in lol. Thats because it fit to what my story needed. So as people have already said, I suggest you just type your story, then have someone read it, if the reeader feels that you should have had the magic introduced earlier, then obviously rewrite and reorganise. The best policy is to have as many people read it at first as possible. As long as they all like the story, you are going in the right direction. Thats what I did.

Josh

[Ann Goodman]

As soon as possible -- especially, if you're dealing with a modern setting. I think MZB once said if it's a fantasy short story you should have the magic appear within the first three paragraphs. I'm not sure if it should come that early on in the story, but you should at least let the readers know that even though it's a modern setting, something is a little different about the world.