Hello everyone!
Pro Story Builders has been up for one whole year! Man, time flies. We got through the first year of blogging, and we’re still going strong. Thank you to everyone who’s supported this blog!
Now let’s talk about today’s topic: Magic systems.
Let’s say you’re writing a story about a young sorcerer, or a wizard, or an evil villain who can use enchantments.
That’s all well and good, until you ask, “Where did this character get their magical powers?”
In some stories, you won’t need to really explore this question too much. However, you should know your character’s backstory and why they have these special abilities.
Also, if you know what caused these powers in the first place, you can use that to brainstorm some ways that the powers can be taken away.
In this post, I’m assuming that you already know what powers your characters have. (If you haven’t figured out their powers, here’s a list of ideas for magical powers: https://www.quotev.com/story/5355509/Magical-Abilities/2)
So let’s get started.
10 Ways to Gain Magical Powers
There are a lot of ways for your character to develop magical powers, so let’s go over some of them now.
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, so make sure to do some brainstorming on your own and see how your story might branch off of these ideas.
1. Your character is born with a full set of magical powers, because their parents both had magic.
This option is probably the most overused option available. In fact, it’s so common that if you forget to mention how your character got their powers, most readers will automatically assume they were born with it.
Alternatively…
2. They are born with limited powers or half-powers because one of their parents has magic, but not the other.
For example, Dad can fly, Mom cannot. So your character can fly about as well as a chicken.
Or if Mom can teleport, but Dad can’t, which means that your character can only teleport once in a great while, and it’s completely exhausting for them.
3. They ingest something that gives them magical powers.
This usually takes the form of a potion or a food from someone with magical powers.
4. They accidentally access some ancient spells.
They may have found an old book full of spells, or they could have been trying to learn a runic language and mispronounced some words.
(If your story uses this as the primary way to get powers, this means that pretty soon, everyone will learn magic. Just keep that in mind.)
5. They receive a gift from the gods.
Your character does something to please the god or gods of their world, and in return, they receive magical powers.
If there aren’t any gods, your character could also get this from a sorcerer or someone else with vast amounts of power.
The powers can be passed on through a special ceremony, or some other initiation.
This could also be a curse, depending on the powers.
6. They are possessed.
Whether it be a ghost, a demon, or pure magic in a sentient form, your character has been possessed. They are no longer in control of their actions, or at least not in control of their magic.
This option works especially well in stories where magic is evil.
7. They stumble upon a magical setting or relic.
Your character finds the tomb of an ancient sorcerer, or a cave full of crystals (Merlin), or a golden ring (The Lord of the Rings). As soon as they touch this place (or object), they can access magical powers.
8. They interrupt a ritual and accidentally intercepts the magic.
A sorcerer is just trying to make himself a potion, and your character barges in, accidentally stepping too close to the magic. Now your character has magical powers.
9. They are involved in a freak accident or near death experience, and the magic powers emerge in order to save their life.
The body can do amazing things when it is faced with a life or death situation. Most of the insane reactions you might hear about on the news are due to adrenaline, but what if some of these lifesaving reactions were due to magic?
For example, your character is about to drown but in a final desperate attempt to save themselves, their body resorts to super speed in order to swim to safety.
Make sure to ask yourself, “why do people in this world still die?”
Magic can’t save everyone.
10. They learn how to use magic.
This is a very typical way for characters to get magical powers. In fact, combined with powers-from-birth, this is probably the most cliched way for a character to develop powers.
Your character can learn from a private tutor/mentor, or they can go to a magic school. Either way, they have to work for their powers.
Personally, I would love to see more stories of modern characters learning magic through YouTube, or fantasy characters learning magic through mail correspondence. Make it harder for the character to learn magic.
One thing to keep in mind with this trope is, “why doesn’t everyone learn magic?” Is it an issue of economic status, that only the wealthy can afford? Or are magicians usually beggars, and nobody else wants to learn magic because of the stigma around it?
And there you have it– ten ways for your characters to acquire magical powers.
What did you think of this list? How do your characters develop their powers? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back with a new blog post next week!
