1. Law of Conservation of Magic- Magic cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.
3. Law of Equivalent Exchange- To gain something, an equal value must be given.
5. Law of Magical Exhaustion- Using magic drains the user’s energy or life force.
Interaction and Interference
4. Law of Magical Interference- Magic can interfere with other magical effects.
6. Law of Magical Contamination- Magic can have unintended side effects.
8. Law of Magical Inertia- Magical effects continue until stopped by an equal or greater force.
Resonance and Conditions
7. Law of Magical Resonance- Magic resonates with certain materials, places, or times.
9. Law of Magical Secrecy- Magic must be kept secret from the non-magical world.
11. Law of Magical Hierarchy- Different types of magic have different levels of power and difficulty.
Balance and Consequences
10. Law of Magical Balance- Every positive magical effect has a negative consequence.
12. Law of Magical Limitation- Magic has limits and cannot solve every problem.
14. Law of Magical Rebound- Misused magic can backfire on the user.
Special Conditions
13. Law of Magical Conduits- Certain objects or beings can channel magic more effectively.
15. Law of Magical Cycles- Magic may be stronger or weaker depending on cycles (e.g., lunar phases).
17. Law of Magical Awareness- Some beings are more attuned to magic and can sense its presence.
Ethical and Moral Laws
16. Law of Magical Ethics- Magic should be used responsibly and ethically.
18. Law of Magical Consent- Magic should not be used on others without their consent.
20. Law of Magical Oaths- Magical promises or oaths are binding and have severe consequences if broken.
Advanced and Rare Laws
19. Law of Magical Evolution- Magic can evolve and change over time.
20. Law of Magical Singularities- Unique, one-of-a-kind magical phenomena exist and are unpredictable.
Unique and Imaginative Magical Laws
- Law of Temporal Magic- Magic can manipulate time, but with severe consequences. Altering the past can create paradoxes, and using time magic ages the caster rapidly.
- Law of Emotional Resonance- Magic is amplified or diminished by the caster’s emotions. Strong emotions like love or anger can make spells more powerful but harder to control.
- Law of Elemental Harmony- Magic is tied to natural elements (fire, water, earth, air). Using one element excessively can disrupt the balance and cause natural disasters.
- Law of Dream Magic- Magic can be accessed through dreams. Dreamwalkers can enter others’ dreams, but they risk getting trapped in the dream world.
- Law of Ancestral Magic- Magic is inherited through bloodlines. The strength and type of magic depend on the caster’s ancestry, and ancient family feuds can influence magical abilities.
- Law of Symbiotic Magic- Magic requires a symbiotic relationship with magical creatures. The caster and creature share power, but harming one affects the other.
- Law of Forgotten Magic- Ancient spells and rituals are lost to time. Discovering and using forgotten magic can yield great power but also unknown dangers.
- Law of Magical Echoes- Spells leave behind echoes that can be sensed or traced. Powerful spells create stronger echoes that linger longer.
- Law of Arcane Geometry- Magic follows geometric patterns. Spells must be cast within specific shapes or alignments to work correctly.
- Law of Celestial Magic- Magic is influenced by celestial bodies. Spells are stronger during certain astronomical events like eclipses or planetary alignments.
- Law of Sentient Magic- Magic has a will of its own. It can choose to aid or hinder the caster based on its own mysterious motives.
- Law of Shadow Magic- Magic can manipulate shadows and darkness. Shadowcasters can travel through shadows but are vulnerable to light.
- Law of Sympathetic Magic- Magic works through connections. A spell cast on a representation of a person (like a doll or portrait) affects the actual person.
- Law of Magical Artifacts- Certain objects hold immense magical power. These artifacts can only be used by those deemed worthy or who possess specific traits.
- Law of Arcane Paradoxes- Some spells create paradoxes that defy logic. These paradoxes can have unpredictable and often dangerous outcomes.
- Law of Elemental Fusion- Combining different elemental magics creates new, hybrid spells with unique properties and effects.
- Law of Ethereal Magic- Magic can interact with the spirit world. Ethereal mages can communicate with spirits, but prolonged contact can blur the line between life and death.
- Law of Arcane Symbiosis- Magic can bond with technology, creating magical machines or enchanted devices with extraordinary capabilities.
- Law of Dimensional Magic- Magic can open portals to other dimensions. Dimensional travelers can explore alternate realities but risk getting lost or encountering hostile beings.
- Law of Arcane Sacrifice- Powerful spells require a sacrifice, such as a cherished memory, a personal item, or even a part of the caster’s soul.
I know there’s the whole thing about killing a character off to show the injustice of the world or whatever, and yes you probably should avoid a twilight and genuinely kill at least one of your main or secondary characters (not just a random one which you threw in just so you can kill them)
But you don’t have to kill a character to kill them
You could break them completely, strip away everything they know and force them to become a different person, essentially killing who they were before. Even just with gradual character development you could eradicate the character that was first introduced.
You could take away their will to live, have them screaming for death, and deny them the right to die.
Have the hero become the villain. The villain become the hero.
Writing Advice: it doesn’t matter if an idea has been done before. It’s never been done by you. So long as you do it well, and in your own way, it’s a wonderful contribution.
Hi! I'm an only child and aspiring writer. Three of my MC's are siblings and I'm struggling to write their sibling dynamics authentically. I tried to write their relationship like a regular friendship and they do tease and bicker and do things just to irritate each other. But a friend of mine, who is also an aspiring writer, read my work and told me I should scrap it because "I obviously don't know what I'm doing." It left me very discouraged and I don't know what to do. Can you help me out?
First, I’m really sorry your friend said that to you. That’s not something that someone should ever tell you, and I hope it doesn’t discourage you from continuing to write.
The way that you described your sibling relationship seems pretty fine for how (some) siblings interact. If that’s how you want your siblings to interact, that’s okay. However, I suggest trying to make it a bit more nuanced than that. Here are some things to consider:
A lot of factors play in to how siblings interact, including relative age, gender, personality, and individual relationship with their parents.
The saying familiarity breeds contempt can end up being the case with siblings. Particularly if the siblings grow up together (especially if they’re close in age and grow up in the same household), they know all of each other’s bad habits and annoying tics. Consider also living with someone that you didn’t choose every single day. Even if you like them, there may be times that you want to get away from them or not deal with them, but that’s not an option. When you grow up with someone, you’re used to it and so there’s generally not the same learning curve as when you move in with someone, but it does mean that things can linger and fester because there’s no way to get space from the person. On the other hand, things can get worked out because you’re forced to confront each other. Either is possible, and sometimes both can happen for different things, so just consider what your characters would do.
Unlike friends, there isn’t necessarily a built in reason for siblings to like each other. People end up friends because they have similar interests, but siblings don’t necessarily have that going for them. They may end up with that by virtue of having the same background, but it’s not necessarily going to happen.
Siblings both have the same upbringing and don’t at the same time. Full siblings (generally) grow up with the same parent(s), in the same household, with the same living conditions, but by virtue of age differences and other siblings existing, don’t actually have identical upbringings. Even twins (or triplets, etc.) may not have identical upbringings depending on their health, interests, gender, etc. There are a massive number of factors that play into siblings having different upbringings even when being raised together, but one important one to consider when looking at siblings’ relationships is that the existence of siblings by default changings their upbringing.
For example, having a younger sibling means that, at some point in your life, family attention is diverted away from you and on to this new person, while the youngest never has that experience. On the other hand, having an older sibling means that you may be expected to live up to what the older sibling has already done.
However, there are many parts of the upbringing that are the same, and so siblings will often end up with many overlapping habits, traditions, and interests. My family isn’t particularly physically affectionate, so my brother and I aren’t physically affectionate with each other. A family with strong ties to their ethnic or religious background will often produce children who share that same strong tie to their background.
The number and distribution of siblings can also have a large impact on how siblings interact with each other. I have one brother who I am close with in age, and so I have a very different relationship with him than my dad did with his two brothers who were both more than 10 years older than him. In a family with five girls and a boy, the boy will likely have a very different relationship with his sisters than they do with each other. The middle child may have a different relationship with their older sibling than their younger sibling.
If you’re writing more than two people who are all siblings to each other, remember that there’s more than one relationship at play. You have A+B, B+C, A+C, and A+B+C, and each one of these relationships will influence the other.
There is no “right” way for siblings to interact. There are some standard stereotypes (the overprotective brother with his younger sister, the twins who are so close they can tell what the other is thinking, the jock older brother who picks on his nerdy little brother) that do appear in real life, but in reality siblings are just normal people. As with any two people that you’re writing, things like personality and history are important for how the characters interact.
