How to Write: Hard Magic
Where soft magic invokes a sense of mystery, awe, and intrigue — all adding to a story’s narrative — hard magic promotes sense and sensibility with well-defined, well laid out rules for the reader to understand, estimate and get excited about.
If soft magic is about literary tone, then hard magic is about creative freedom. Brandon Sanderson’s first law on writing magic systems is a good start to understand a hard magic system’s potential strength:
Sanderson’s First Law of Magics: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.
Hard magic exists as an additional character in the story. You can give it personality, you can give it traits — you can give it whatever you damn well please, to be honest! But the most important aspect of hard magic is what limitations you give it, and how the characters use your system to solve problems.
Hard magic is magic with set rules and limitations, all made explicitly clear to the reader. It is magic that you’d maybe consider to be more akin to science, in that there is always an explanation for what is going on (or at least consistency to it).
For example, let’s create a quick system here:
John Doe is a 24-year-old male living in New Zealand as a budding writer. One day, he opens a box he found on the street that contains magical knowledge which is then imparted on to him. After some trial and error, John Doe has an understanding of what he can and can’t do:
- He is able to click his fingers twice and anything he is looking at ignites into flame
- He must be able to see the object clearly i.e. he can’t make something ignite if he is too far away from the target
- His powers only work during the day
- He must want to ignite the object (just by clicking his fingers twice things aren’t automatically alight)
- His target can’t be a reflection of something, he must be able to see it with his own eyes
With that knowledge, John Doe sets out on a journey to save his neighborhood from a rampant gang problem. And now, we are ready to move on to the next section.
How to Use Hard Magic
Hard magic can be a daunting concept to implement into a story, especially when you’re interested in writing high, or hard, fantasy like the Lord of the Rings and A Game of Thrones. It’s a dangerous field to play in for the uninformed because rules and limitations sound a lot like exposition to the reader. And expository dialogue is a surefire way to derail a potential book publication.
Though you may find yourself wanting to describe every mechanic to your wonderous, innovative and hyper original magic system, refrain. It’ll be hard but refrain. Show it off in organic ways that further the story, with burdening the reader with cumbersome text.
Let’s go back to John Doe for a moment and see how we could implement rule two into the story without telling the reader and rather showing them.
Scene: John Doe has been enjoying his powers so far, and decides to help the government out on a covert operation. After all, unlimited firepower for no financial cost? Can I get a cha-ching, Mr. Government?
John Doe is hauled onto a plane and sent packing to a generic Middle Eastern country. He is then asked to “open fire” on buildings below as the plane circles up high, but nothing happens. Over and over and over he clicks his fingers twice until they are red and raw. Nothing below is aflame.
John Doe is wondering if his powers are suddenly gone, but a freak thunderstorm forces the aircraft closer to the ground. John Doe looks out the window once more and finds he has a much better view of one of the buildings — he clicks his fingers twice and the structure instantly lights up.
From this scene we can gather that distance and clarity are a factor in using John Doe’s power. And you know who else does something similar? Your friendly neighborhood, S̶p̶i̶d̶e̶r̶m̶a̶n̶ Deadpool! (And nearly every other superhero)
See, the best way to learn a great hard magic system is having a look at Marvel and DC comics. Their creators knew well that a superhero is the sum of his or her limits.
Kryptonite for Superman; moral code for Batman; anger for the hulk; pride for Doctor Strange. Each hero has something that holds them back, and each hero abides by a set of rules they must follow that the reader understands (Strange not so much).
Very very rarely, Marvel and DC may change up the powers of a hero, but most of the time everything is set in stone. The Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier and Spiderman can shoot webs and climb walls. Neither of them can teleport, cast magic, or survive being thrown into the sun. Their ‘magic’ is set in stone.
Advanced Hard Magic
So, hard magic can be as simple as a few simple rules that a character must abide by. Powers for superheroes are the easiest way to implement a hard magic system — just make sure you clearly define the rules for yourself and figure out ways to naturally introduce said powers.
On the far, opposite end of the spectrum, you can have a magic system like the one from Manga and Anime series, Hunter x Hunter: Nen.
Nen is one of the most complex, original magic systems on the market — maybe even of all time! (But I’m not certain enough to commit to such a bold statement, therefore maybe) To describe how it works within the story of Togashi’s magnum opus would require literal diagrams, and that’s the way Togashi explains it in his story.
“But,” you cry, “Jordan, that’s basically exposition!”
And I’d reply with, “you’re damn right it is!”
See, sometimes exposition is a necessary evil. But you can lessen the proverbial blow by doing it in a unique and clever way. In Hunter x Hunter, it’s taught to the main characters, and in turn the readers, like a lesson. Togashi makes it painstakingly obvious that exposition is over the horizon, and by the time it arrives, you’re ready for i. So, you may ask, how does he do that?
Good question, I’d respond. He does it by building the world and characters first.
Before his lengthy explanation of Nen, Togashi has already taken us through an entire story arc. You're already balls deep into the story of Hunter x Hunter by the time this lesson comes, and you’ve had flakes of foreshadowing sprinkled around up to that point too. All of this culminates in one of the best stories of all time. And I’m not kidding here — if you haven’t, go and watch or read Hunter x Hunter. You won’t regret it.
Here is also one of three charts of the workings of Nen:
It seems pretty complicated, right? This is the basic stuff.
What’s incredible is the fact that by about midway through Hunter x Hunter, Togashi is done with describing the elements of Nen and you will be an expert. It’s so intricately weaved into the plot that it never feels like an overload of information.
Hard magic can be as complex or as easy as you need it to be — the important thing to remember, though, is that hard magic is a story element. A character.
And you don’t introduce a new character by telling us every minute detail about them — you show us over time.
I hope this article clarifies not only what hard magic is, but also how you can implement it into a story of your own. I’m always keen to discuss these concepts with people, so if you feel like you have a cool and exciting magic system in the works and you want to run it by someone, then let me know!
After all, with hard magic, the devil is in the details.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter: @jordansimswrite
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