Unexplained Magic

 I've been away on a writing retreat this weekend with my friend Chris Hammacott, and last night we were discussing the fantasy novella I'm currently writing.

I was talking about the magical sailing ships I'm creating.  They are yet another homage to Robin Hobb's liveships.  When I read the Liveship Traders books many years ago now, the idea of ships coming alive really resonated with me.  I translated the idea into a science fictional setting, and now, with this novella, I'm back to a fantasy rendering of the idea.

My friend is a psychological crime writer, and she wanted to know every last detail of how the lizardships came alive.  I know how the sea serpents who became the ships died. but as for how they became shaped into lizardships with animated, talking figureheads, well, that's part of my magic system, isn't it?

Robin Hobb's liveships require the deaths of three consecutive generations of captains on board them in order to 'quicken' (come alive).  Robin Hobb does not explain how that works, or how the spirit of a dead dragon can be stored in a wizardwood case.  So I reckoned that, if a hugely successful fantasy series can get away with not explaining how its magic systems work, then I can too.

The unexplained magic of a fantasy series is akin to the unexplained use of jumpdrives in a science fiction story.  Nobody knows how either actually work, but they are far too useful concepts to discard on the basis that nobody can build a jumpdrive, or conjure fire from their fingertips.

Unexplained magic is one of the staples of the fantasy genre which readers just accept. No reader familiar with the genre would demand that the writer explain exactly how their magic system works.  What people will expect is a framework of rules for the use of that magic.  When is it available, and when is it not?  What is the cost of using magic?  If the cost is mere exhaustion, a character will be more likely to use magic often than if they lose a piece of their soul, or a year of their life, by doing so.

I am currently working out the magic system for my lizardships, partly because I think it could provide an important plot point.  If lizardships are alive and have free will, then they will decide who they wish to captain them - and who they don't want to work with.  But if the ships are treated as property to be handed down in a will, they may end up working for people they don't like.

I'm currently trying to decide how the ship my character Danetha was disinherited from will deal with his new, unwanted captain.  There are many decisions still to be made, but they are different from those in science fiction stories, and working with magic is an interesting new challenge for me.