I finally tried writing a fantasy scene and it totally fell apart

I was working on a short story last night, trying to write a big magic duel in a city square. I had this cool idea where a character's spell backfires, but after 3 paragraphs I realized I had no idea how the magic system actually worked, so the whole fight felt fake. I was just making up rules as I went, and it showed. I ended up scrapping the whole 500 word scene and just writing a list of how the magic functions instead. Has anyone else had a story idea crash because you didn't figure out the basic rules first?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenkins.wade7d ago

Totally get that feeling! I once tried to write a heist scene without deciding how the security system worked first. Ended up with characters just walking through lasers because I forgot to give them a tool, and the whole thing felt silly. Making that list of magic rules was probably the smartest move you could make. Now you've got a solid base to rebuild that duel on, and it'll feel way more real next time.

the_ryan7d ago

Honestly that rules list will probably be more fun to write than the scene was lol.