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Originally Posted by rune Got a question for Mark about the magic in this book 
I felt it was well used and integrated well into the world of Thrandor. It was nice to see you use this magic as a mystery and a hook and not just rely on the war element of the storyline.
It was also nice to see everything not given away in the story. Sometimes books for YA can explain everything and give away too much. I understand there probably needs to be a bit more explaination for the target audience, but feel giving away all the mysteries can loose peoples interest. So I was pleased to see you didnt do this 
Anyhow, I was curious as to were you got the ideas from or what you had in mind when you created the magic for your world? |
The magic in my world is actually a blend of other writers' ideas. I wanted to have something subtly different to anything I had seen, but that included some of the more traditional fantasy elements. Runes have been associated with magic in many different fantasy stories, including LOTR, but I didn't want my magic systems to rely on runes alone.
In keeping with other disciplines, I wanted there to be an element of mental discipline involved in magic. As the series moves on, you do get to learn more of the magical system, particularly in First Sword, where Calvyn spends some time at the academy in Terilla. The two elements - learning and mental discipline - are equally required to make magic. The idea of a basic mental exercise to fill your mind with the colour white drove me mad for weeks, as I actually tried to do it! Needless to say I did not succeed! I know that many others who have read the book have also tried it.
The mental element of magic is a derivative of the Eddings 'The Will and the Word'. However, I think it is dissimilar enough not to make people instantly compare the two forms.
As in 'The Belgariad' and 'Master of the Five Magics' by Lyndon Hardy, I wanted each arcane art to work differently. Therefore, I had sorcery work as more of a force of will/mind power and wizardry work differently again. As wizardry is often associated with the raising of demons - though not in the Belgariad, as that was the realm of the magician - I thought I would keep with that trend. Demons by their very name are perceived as forces for evil, which made the men who summoned them more likely to work for forces of evil. This seemed elementary, though Jonathan Stroud seems to have bucked the trend with his Bartimeaus Trilogy. There is always more detail that could be worked into a magical system. I didn't want to overexplain mine for fear of building in contradictions - it is completely made up after all!