The Spirit Ring and general malaise
Oct. 10th, 2005 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingWhat I did today: read Lois McMaster Bujold's The Spirit Ring, which is a fun book. It's fascinating to see the precursor of the magic system in her Chalion books being worked out in the rather different world of Renaissance Italy. The religious underpinnings, the importance of souls and their proper consignment (or lack thereof) after death, the use of animal sacrifice, etc. Very interesting, from a technical standpoint. She makes brief use of the hoary old staple of fire-earth-water-air that bedevils so many authors who don't have the creativity to come up with magic that more accurately corresponds to the physical world as we now understand it, but that's mostly a sidelight. I like her spiritual magic much better. It has a much better internal logic.
The Spirit Ring is also a good story. :-)
What else I did: poked at a few stories, getting a paragraph or two written for most of them, but no concentrated progress on anything. *sigh* I've been very tired the past few days, even though I keep sleeping over 10 hours a night. I think it's the weather -- that, or I'm skirting along the edges of a cold and the sleep is all that's kept me from succumbing.
The Spirit Ring is also a good story. :-)
What else I did: poked at a few stories, getting a paragraph or two written for most of them, but no concentrated progress on anything. *sigh* I've been very tired the past few days, even though I keep sleeping over 10 hours a night. I think it's the weather -- that, or I'm skirting along the edges of a cold and the sleep is all that's kept me from succumbing.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-10 08:07 pm (UTC)4 elements...not creative neogu hto make other magi tha nthat? In m yunwritten wordl iuse magic fo rmthe stars an the otuer universe..:P I feel so stupid anyway. I've assignemd yself to first readal lthe wellknown fantas ystufand everythig nI have about mythology fro mal ove the world, befori fal into a trap and write something peoel can only yawn at.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-10 08:15 pm (UTC)I just get irritated at the standard "four elements" type of magic (or the occasional variations that use 5, 6, 8, or some other number, by adding things like Light, Dark, Metal, Wood, Void, and so on). Fire, Water, Earth, and Air were part of a philosophical (can't really call it scientific, since the Greeks didn't do any experiments) theory of the composition of the universe, which has since been soundly disproved.
So why does it linger so strongly in fantasy?
The way I see it, magic is a way to get around the natural laws of our universe. It can literally be anything you can think of. So why restrict your thinking? Go wild!
...
Um. That's one of my pet peeves. I can get a little excited on the subject. Sorry!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-10 08:30 pm (UTC)I knwo I dont' neto readeverythign butther's this huge issue I kee phaving with yo uknow..felelign liek I" mlagging behidn because I hear so much stuf I've never heard of. Form astronom ystufto summirian stories to what you jsut saidabout ancient greek theories bie ng debunked/out-dated now.
Just ignore me when i startto star at my librayr and whine how I have'tevne read a signle oscar wilde, or onl yoen shakespeare so far. I knwo it's just plain rediculosu to fel stupid abouthat but at some days itj sut feel SO..horrible. Adn it's dangeorus to obecasu it makes yo uloose real itnersti nboks and jsut fel obliged to read them instead.
I'l stop now before this turns intoa nenormosul ylogn self-analysis. I don't thin kyo uneed that.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-10 09:43 pm (UTC)Yes, yes! Elementally associated powers should totally be organized by families of elements! With the same electron configuration! :DDDDDDDD
... I should not be allowed to go out in public. -.-
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-11 10:25 pm (UTC)Hmm. And then compounds with ionic, polar, and covalent bonds could have different magical properties, and there should be ways to predict the future by reading the emission spectra of the element under which a person is born, and...
...
Maybe I shouldn't be let out in public either. ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-12 04:02 am (UTC)And then, a revolutionary new power emerges on the scene, unlike anything seen before, in the form of nuclear powah! And everyone's like <gasp>, heretics! And the deities of s, p, d, and f are mightily offended! And then infighting breaks out between the alpha, beta, and gamma proponents and—
... -.-;;
Mages with speshul affinity for wonky isotopes are teh win!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-12 04:38 am (UTC)