Azura Nightsong asked Shannon Messenger:

Hello! Do you have any advice on creating magic systems? (Or more power systems in the case of Keepers and Let the Sky Fall.)

Shannon Messenger Oh my, this is a BIG question and I'm trying to keep my answers short so I can work through as many as I can. So I'll start by saying that one of the best things you can do is google this question and read some of the amazing blog posts lots of other fantasy writers have written on this subject, since there is a ton of great info out there. But briefly here I'll add that I think it's important to build limitations both into the system and the characters themselves. If you make them too powerful, they become unstoppable, which ends up quite boring. It can also be interesting to give the powers a cost--a downside to using them (maybe it hurts, maybe it drains them, maybe it makes people judge them, gives them something physically different that everyone notices, etc). The more they have to pay to use the ability, the more tension it can add to your story. Hope that helps.

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