Novel Magic: Writing Magic

Writing about magic doesn’t happen by, well, magic. IMHO, fantasy writing takes an astounding amount of forethought and planning. I mean, you have to invent the world, the rules that world operates by, as well as the plot of your tale. Novel Magic guest, Lisabet Sarai, adds to the discussion and shares her insights. Oh and by the way, score more than 50 FREE stories by Lisabet by visiting her website.

FYI–Lisabet’s books fall in the paranormal erotic romance subgenre.

Writing Magic

By Lisabet Sarai

I’ve always believed in magic. When I was a child, I had rituals to ensure that there’d be a snow day on the morrow or that the teacher would forget to give us homework. Sometimes, they worked – more often, it seemed, than would be expected by chance. We lived in a semi-rural area, and my father sometimes told us original tales of ghosts, demons, and other creatures of power that lived in the woods around our house, chilling and delighting my siblings and me. Later, I’d catch glimpses of these supernatural denizens out of the corner of my eye, and I’d know I wasn’t alone. For some reason, I was never truly afraid. I accepted that there were more things in heaven and earth than television, arithmetic and doing my chores.

When it comes to the paranormal, I’ve never really grown up. I haven’t personally encountered any spirits, but from time to time I’ve had vivid, prescient dreams and even waking premonitions that turned out to be true. I’m convinced that on rare occasions, I have experienced telepathy. And sometimes, it seems that I have the ability to cast spells and shape reality, to materialize my fantasies.

That is, of course, what writers do. We make our fantasies real. Writing paranormal fiction lets me indulge my belief in the powers beyond the mundane surface of our world.

I’ve penned quite a few magical tales. (Explore them all on the Books page of my website.) In the process, which has spanned more than two decades, I’ve come to a few conclusions.

Make your own myths.

Paranormal stories often follow well-trodden paths, particularly when they involve popular categories of supernatural creatures. I have an author friend who jokes about how vampires must follow “Stoker’s rules”. Everyone knows that blood-drinkers possess mind-altering glamor but can’t stand the sun and that werewolves are allergic to silver. Open a book about these characters – or about ghosts, witches, incubi, succubi, telepaths, and so on – and you’re bound to have expectations.

Tradition is fine, but I’d rather surprise my readers than give them stories like the ones they’ve read in the past. Thus, I like to develop new rules for my magically endowed characters. To be honest, I love to twist the tropes in every genre I write, and paranormal tales are no exception. In a world laced with magic, the possibilities are almost unlimited. Why stick to the old myths when you can create new ones?

A little magic goes a long way.

When you’re creating characters with paranormal talents, it can be tempting to give them truly awesome powers. This is particularly the case with villains; an evil sorcerer or demon with unlimited magical capabilities can increase the narrative tension by giving your protagonist a near-impossible obstacle to overcome.

I’ve come to believe, though, that even villains should have restrictions on the powers they can summon. Paranormal stories become more interesting, not to mention more realistic, when magic can’t solve every problem. In my tales, everyone’s powers are somehow constrained. Furthermore, I often explore my conviction that there is a price to pay for exercising power, a physical or psychic depletion of energy, or a risk of succumbing to the allure of the dark side.

Magic fuels desire.

My paranormal books are mostly erotic romances. My characters are drawn to one another by magic. This makes their erotic conjunctions more intense than ordinary love-making. Paranormal passion is almost impossible to resist. Finding one’s soul-mate is a fundamental theme in romance. In my paranormal romance, fate, destiny, and other extra-normal factors can turn attraction into obsession.

Lovers bonded by magic may hear one another’s thoughts or sense their partner’s physical responses. They may be able to communicate across time or space. The paranormal genre frees me from the need to be realistic and lets me indulge my personal belief that desire goes far deeper than just animal lust.

My latest paranormal title, Fangs, Fur and the Single Girl, features magical creatures who break the standard rules.

Both the vampire and werewolf heroes are young and inexperienced in wielding their powers. Each is determined to claim the human heroine as his mate. Stricken by irrational desire for both of them, she gradually comes to realize that she also has a connection to the world of magic, which makes her more sensitive to her lovers and more vulnerable to paranormal attacks, but which perhaps increases her chance of survival in the midst of a supernatural war.

I love writing magic. I hope my thoughts on the topic intrigue you to the point that you’re tempted to check out FFSG (click here to read the blurb and an excerpt) or another of my paranormal titles.

Fangs, Fur and the Single Girl by Lisabet Sarai

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Meet Lisabet Sarai

Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wrote her first story at five years old and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred-page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – over one hundred titles and counting in nearly every sub-genre—paranormal, sci-fi, ménage, BDSM, GLBT, and more. Regardless of the genre, every one of her stories illustrates her motto: Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

You’ll find information and excerpts from all Lisabet’s books on her website along with more than fifty free stories and lots more. At her blog Beyond Romance she shares her philosophy and her news and hosts lots of other great authors. She’s also on Goodreads, BookBub, and Twitter. Join her VIP email list.