Too Much Magic: The Pitfalls of Writing Fantasy

Illustration by Henry Justice Ford for Andrew Lang’s ‘The Red Romance Book’ via Wikimedia Commons

Fantasy (along with the more fantastical strains of sci-fi) is hazardous terrain for storytellers. Fantasy deals in magic, which can manifest itself in countless forms, from the secondary worlds of Oz, Wonderland and Middle-Earth, to levitating nannies, goblin kings and gold-hoarding dragons. Magic is about miracles, mysterious forces or inexplicable events that cannot be ascribed to the laws of reas...