Hey, i trying to write a novel with magic and i was wondering if wands,staffs, and speaking spell were overrated and old-school. me, i liked it when wizards used hand motions. what are your thoughts?
I agree. I think that it's not necessarily those things that get old. I mean, there are only so many ways for someone to be able to use magic that the reader would recognize. So, it's not really how the magic is done, but it's more-so how you write it, how you tell your story. That's what's important.
If you have to think about whether it's overrated or old or whatever, maybe this isn't the story you want to write. Maybe there's something more you want to do.
I like hand motions, too. But then, I also like the idea of holding a book and reading it while making hand motions.
Reading a book is more a solution to balance issues in RPGs. You can't remeber a three sentence spell? You're not fit to be a mage! If I had to choose between wands vs hand motions, it'd be hand motions every time. Wands just seem weird to me. Why would a piece of wood make you have magical powers? Why would it have magical powers to begin with? Could I pick up a stick and use it as a wand? Would it work? There is also the element that wands give to magic: that outer, foreign feeling that magic is not inherent in some way to humans, that it must tapped and used but not owned. In the other hand, hand motion portrays magic as more inherent in the human condition, as in magic isn't something we use it's something we have akin to a leg or an arm. Avatar did a pretty good job with this/their kind of "magic".
I once had an idea about a type of wizard that could only enchant pebbles with different spells. He'd either sling them at his enemies or press them onto his friends. It was very limited but I thought it was interesting. And I do prefer the idea of speaking the words to a spell over finger waving.
Kind of but I more pictured the pebbles as being a by-product of his particular form of magic. In my idea, they were fragile and the act of breaking them would release their magic.
I think one possible idea behind wands is that they are a way to channel and focus magical energy. Personally, I'm not a fan of them, but lots of people can pull them off. So you have to decide, are you asking this because you are doubting whether or not you are interested, or because you are afraid it will be boring to others. If you aren't interested, pick something else. If you're afraid it wil bore others, forget about it. Relax and have fun writing it.
