Monday, June 17, 2024

Making MAGIC 2 - Writing Magical Battles

 

Jujutsu Kaisen
 
 
Making MAGIC 2
Writing Magical Battles
 
Have you read the first one?
 
----- Original Message -----
I like 10 shadows from JuJutsu Kaisen (JJK). The essence of the ability in a nutshell is the ability to [summon spiritual beasts]. I want to change the summons, but leave the main point. Authors who made abilities similar to this one, what problems will I face in writing fights? 
 -- Wanna Write Magic Battles
 
Here are some Problems that Will come up when
Writing fight scenes
with Multiple Magical Participants.

Your first major problem is knowing how to Put into Words that kind of a battle scene; one with Many participants, without confusing the Readers.

I suggest figuring out how to write a basic one-on-one fight scene first.

Link --> ACTION and the Evil "AS"

Multiple fighters makes using Action THEN Reaction vital to write that scene clearly enough for the Reader to Visualize.

Take Notes!

Once you add more participants to a fight scene, you're going to need a pencil and some scratch paper just to keep track of where all of them are, in addition to who and what they're fighting, plus what powers each is using.

Just make things more complicated... A scene where a character switches from fighting one opponent to fighting a new opponent once they finish their first fight, will end up in a nasty mess if you don't keep track of everyone, and every thing, involved in the fight. 

Scene-Switching will Need to Happen.

The Pacing and Timing of your scene-switching from one set of fighters to the next, will be crucial -- because there is no way in hell you can write that sort of pitched battle without scene-switching.

Just remember to do a line break of some kind, such as: * * * or just a single blank line between each and every scene switch and POV change.

One POV per scene! 

Having more than one POV (point-of-view) in a battle will make your fight scenes a snarled mess to read. Stick to Only One per battle scene. 

More importantly, Never pick the Bad-Guy's POV. It ruins all the surprise and suspense generated by the fight, especially if that Bad-Guy has one more Ace up their sleeve. 

As for your Summoner, Do Not use their Beast's POVs. If you have to do a scene with Beast vs Beast, use NO POV at all. Write it from an Outside Observer's POV. No internal narration at all. Just the Facts, Ma'am. Mainly because a summoned beast's thoughts and feelings should never be seen, unless the Beast Vocalizes what they feel themselves. 

The Summoner should always be worried that their summons will Turn on them. Don't ruin the mystery. Keep out of their Beasts' heads.

Be Careful with your
Over-Powered Characters!

Make sure that your Magical Fighter doesn't look like a Mary Sue/Marty Stu, over-powered, Wish-Fulfillment character. Add realistic character flaws and internal conflicts to balance out all that power. If you do it right, you'll have an awesome story.

Link --> Common Mary Sue Traits -- TV Tropes

 

However your most difficult problem will be coming up with How the summoner summoned their beasts, and what kind of beasts they can summon.

In short: your Magic

 

How does your Magic do Summoning?
And What are the Summoning?

If you haven't figured that out yet, THIS is where research really needs to happen.

Rather than trying to make up a whole new form of magic, it is much easier is to base your Magic on an existing magic or spiritual tradition.


Historic and Mythical Onmyoji: Abe no Seimei

 

Historic Spirit Summoning
in Japan

Abe no Seimei who lived during Heian period, is the most famous onmyōji (Onmyōdō practitioner) in Japanese history. He summoned his beasts and monsters with Shikigami, meaning: paper spirits.

First, he presented an offering to get the spirit's attention, then created a contract with a spirit by promising to do it a favor in compensation for doing him favors. In some stories, the spirit wanted revenge for a wrong done to it, in other stories the spirit just wanted to stay in his company. He then wrote the spirit's name on a small piece of paper, or had the spirit write its own name. Sometimes these papers were folded into origami animal or flower shapes, sometimes they were talisman tags. It depends on the story.

To summon a spirit to him using the papers, he supposedly used a drop of his own blood as offering.

Historically, the spirits summoned were invisible. However, according to his myths, he gave a portion of his own life force to bring them into reality.

Abe no Seimei did Not make 'shadow puppets' with his hands. (Ahem...)

Everything Abe no Seimei is recorded to have done to gain his spirits, call his spirits, and fight off other spirits, were basic Shamanistic techniques. Anyone familiar with shamanism would recognize his skill set immediately because contracting and summoning spirits is what every shaman does.

Of course, working with spirits wasn't all that Abe no Seimei did.

Onmyōdō (陰陽道, also In'yōdō, lit. 'The Way of Yin and Yang') covers a heck of a lot more magic than just summoning spirits. 

Onmyoji practitioners, especially the ones that worked for the Imperial Court, did a lot of fortune-telling using astronomy, calendars, and the five elements, to divine good fortune in terms of date, time, direction, and general personnel affairs. They also did Feng Shui: checking if a house or property's location, direction, and furniture set-up drew in Luck, and Prosperity, or Ghosts and Malice

Beyond the shamanistic spirit work, the rest of the techniques an Onmyoji used came from the philosophy of yin and yang and wuxing; magical traditions that had just been introduced to Japan from China, at that time. Rather than separate the two styles of magic, they just...added them together. 

And that's just Japan. 

 

Don't Limit Yourself!

There are spirit summoning traditions all over the world, in every native culture, contained in every form of shamanism that exists.



What Magic or Spiritual Tradition
are you basing your Magic on?

In JuJutsu Kaisen, the author bases their summoning powers on the traditional Onmyoji skill set. In fact, most of the 'powers' in JJK are from traditional Onmyoji myths and stories. So are many of the monsters.

Cultivation novels use Chinese mythology for their monsters and spirits, and Taoism traditions for their magic.

The movie Black Panther uses African traditions for their magic.

The Harry Potter magic system was pretty much made up by the author, but was influenced by Celtic, Wiccan, and Norse traditions.

My magic is based on the Wiccan traditions and borrows heavily from the Celtic fairy stories and myths from the British Isles.

On the flip side, Author Jim Butcher's modern wizard series; the Harry Dresden books, uses a magic system based on the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) role-playing game. He freely admitted this.

In fact, many, many anime, manga, and manhua use the Dungeons and Dragons magic system; a game created in the early 1980's that was based on JRR Tolkien's books.

 -- And it's Obvious to all of us that actually play D&D.


Signs that the Author is using D&D books for their Magic:

-- The power Blink. This is an exclusive D&D ability. It does not exist historically.

-- A wizard's abilities are magically bestowed by Books, without needing to Read them.

-- A healer's power is Green.

-- The Orcs look like Pigs and are Green. This whole race comes straight from JRR Tolkien, however Tolkien's Orcs were not Green. The color change was introduced in the D&D game.

-- The goblins are Green. JRR Tolkien's goblins were Not green, they were gray; the color of mold.

-- Rings of power.

-- Dungeons.

 


 

In Conclusion...

If you're determined to create your own Magic, your best place to start is with looking up the History of Magic that already exists for whatever culture you happen to be writing in. Use it as a jumping off point, or a framework that explains why your magic works the way it does. Simply adjust the facts to fit the story you want to write. Add things, or subtract things as needed.

Just please be aware that there will be actual practitioners in your reading audience. We will Know when you mess up and don't keep to your own lore, just as easily as we know when someone is using Dungeons and Dragons as a base for their magical system.

After all, we love Fantasy stories too. If we didn't, we wouldn't be practicing magic in the first place.

Morgan Hawke

Friday, June 14, 2024

Writing ACTION 2: The Plug & Play Method

From Blade of Evolution

Writing Action Scenes:​
The Plug & Play Method
Writing ACTION 2​


WARNING! This tutorial is NOT meant for those do Creative Writing.

This essay was originally written for writers seeking to be professionally published authors. As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.


If you are new to my tutorials, please read this one first:
The Secret to Proper Paragraphing and Dialogue
Certain things covered in this tutorial are based on that information.

 https://64.media.tumblr.com/eac3269a9ce9f4b4741f48e6679f7110/e7aa40bd87acad9f-85/s1280x1920/21a81ac349f759414083cdba6f3a5477c81f044c.png

 So you want a Quick way to write
Action Scenes?


Before we go there, did you read the first part of this series?

Writing ACTION 1:
The Trick to Writing Action Scenes that Work

You did? Great...!


Lets begin with a Review.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flash of pain exploded in my cheek from the slap her hand lashed out at me.
-- WRONG! 

Why is this Wrong?​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you were watching this scene as a movie, that sentence is NOT how you would have seen it happen.

 


Actual Sequence of events:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Her hand lashed out in a slap. [Action]
2) A flash of pain exploded in my cheek [Reaction]

 

ACTION Sequences = Chronological Order

REALITY = something happens to you and…you react.
Action > Reaction = Chronological order



FICTION = the Plot happens to the characters and…they react.
Action > Reaction = Chronological order​


If you want the reader to SEE the actions that you are trying to portray, Chronological Order is the ONLY way to write that scene. In other words, if you visualize the characters doing something in a specific order, you write it in THAT order!

Violating chronological order is a Very Bad idea. If you knock the actions out of order, the reader’s Mental Movie STOPS because the reader has to STOP READING to rearrange the sentences into the correct order to get the movie back.


Before we go on, you also need to know about the Action scene's Worst Enemy...!

1631753528786.png

The Evil Nasty Vicious "As."

In school, they teach you that "as" is a word used to connect fragments of sentences together, rather in the same way you would use “and.”

Unfortunately, “as” doesn’t quite work the same way as an “and” in fiction.

As” means; “things that happened simultaneously.”​
“And” means; “this happened too.”​

In Fiction NOTHING is truly simultaneous because the eye READS only one word at a time. The only things that can actually be counted as simultaneous in written fiction are groups of things.

Example:
All the soldiers marched.​

IMPORTANT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm NOT saying that simultaneous events CAN'T be written! I’m saying that using "as" is not the way to do it. Any group of events listed in one sentence are generally perceived as happening all at the same time -- until you get to the "and". However, they should still be listed --using the Serial Comma-- so as to make the reader's VISION of the whole event crystal clear.​


As far as I'm concerned, the only place an “as” belongs is at the BEGINNING of a sentence--

As all the soldiers marched, the drums and fifes played.​

Or in a comparison.

As black as pitch.​

See?

Where “As” goes WRONG​

I consider “as” a red flag word. A word that marks that something has gone terribly wrong in your sentence structure.

What went Wrong?​
 
In fiction, the word “as” usually marks where a sentence has gone out of Chronological Order.

Example:
The vampire scratched his head thoughtfully as he crouched over his victim.​

Think: Which actions actually happened first?

1. The vampire crouched over his victim.​
2. He scratched his head thoughtfully.​

The chronological way to write this would be:

The vampire crouched over his victim AND scratched his head thoughtfully.​

Why does this matter?​
 
A sentence Out of Chronological Order means that the reader has to Stop Reading to reset their mental movie of your story. That’s bad, very, very, BAD.

Do this enough times and your reader will stop reading your story to go find something easier to imagine. In fact, some readers will not only drop your story, never to read it again, they’ll avoid anythingelse you write.

How to Grammar Check for “as”:​

Do a Search/Replace substituting “as” for “and,” then go back and read through your entire work. If “and” doesn’t fit right in your sentence, then it’s most likely Out of Chronological Order.

Example:
The werewolf flattened his ears angrily as he faced the hunter.​

Search/Replace with "and":
The werewolf flattened his ears angrily and he faced the hunter.​

“And” doesn’t quite work there, does it?

Why not?

The werewolf didn’t flatten his ears before he faced the hunter.

So! Which actions actually happened first?
1. The werewolf faced the hunter.​
2. He was angry.​
3. He flattened his ears.​

Adjusted:
The werewolf faced the hunter and he angrily flattened his ears.​

Now the “he” doesn’t fit, so let’s chop that out.

One more time:
The werewolf faced the hunter and angrily flattened his ears.​

See what I mean? The word “As” is a devious sinister monster that should be destroyed on sight.


Now, on to the good stuff!


https://i0.wp.com/simplesojourns.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/the-difference-between-fiction-and-reality-is-that-fiction-has-to-make-sense.-tom-clancy-simple-sojourns.png?resize=480%2C302&ssl=1

Writing Action Scenes​
The "Plug & Play" Method


Life is full of random events. FICTION is NOT. Every element in a story – every character, every situation, and every object, must be there for a REASON, and have a Reason to Be There. NOTHING happens “just because” – especially actions.

The Magic Formula!​

1 Stimulus
2 Physical Reaction
3 Sensory Reaction 
4 Emotional Reaction ​
5 Deliberate Reaction​ 
 
This order is Very specific. You may Skip steps, but you may Not Change the Order.


1) Stimulus
-- Something happens TO the character. (Action).

2) Physical Reaction
-- The character has a knee-jerk Physical Reaction to what has just happened. (Reaction)

3) Sensory Reaction
-- The character feels Physical Sensations and physically reacts to the sensations. (Reaction)

4) Emotional Reaction
-- THEN they have an Emotional Reaction reflected in their thoughts and/or a comment about what had just happened. (Reaction)

5) Deliberate Reaction
-- THEN they Respond. They DO something about that action. (Reaction)

1) NEW Stimulus
-- External Reaction of the OTHER person or an Outside event. (Action)


The Chain of REACTIONS in DETAIL

1) StimulusSomething Happened!
 
It all begins with: Stimulus > Response, also known as Action > Reaction. Something happens, and the character reacts. It’s that simple.

Stimulus: Joe threw the dagger at Sam.​
Response: Sam ducked, and the dagger flew harmlessly past him.​

Or -- Sam was stabbed through the heart.
Or -- Sam caught it in his hand.
Or -- something of a similar, immediate response-nature.

WARNING! Confusion May Happen!

Consider this:
Stimulus: Joe threw the dagger at Sam.​
Response: Sam grinned. “My, what lovely weather we’re having!”​

Too many writers think the Reader will assume that the dagger missed Sam. 
 
Nope. I’m afraid that many, many readers will Not make that assumption at all.

This is a Plot Hole; a missing piece to an event triggered by the obvious question: What happened to the dagger?

I’m not saying you can’t have that lovely piece of dialogue, I’m saying that you have to show the rest of the stimulus-response FIRST.

Stimulus: Joe threw the dagger at Sam.​
Response: Sam caught the dagger in his palm, raised his brow at Joe, and smiled thinly. “My, what lovely weather we’re having.”​


2) Physical ReactionThe Flinch​
 
Something happens. Your character reacts instinctively. They duck, they flinch, they dodge, they gasp, they choke, they pass out.

In real life, physical actions usually happen before dialogue. The finger pulls the trigger then the shooter wonders, “Oh no, what have I done?”

Most people Act then comment because physical reactions happen faster than thought. Thought happens after the fist has already shot out. Ask any cop or martial artist.

Martial artists in particular are trained to Not Think when they fight --No Mind-- specifically to make their reaction time faster.​

Thoughts that come first FREEZE physical action. Not in the literary sense, for real. Most people stop whatever action they are doing, they pause to process that thought because few people can do both at once.

Fiction should not be any different. 


3) Sensory ReactionCold Chills​
 
Something just happened. What did it feel like, physically? How did they react physically to those sensations? 
 
Remember--! The Body reacts faster than the Mind! 


Sensory = of the 5 Physical Senses​
 Sight - what is Seen
Sound - what is Heard
Taste - what is Tasted
Texture - what is physically Felt
Scent - what is Smelled

Sensation Reaction is what they perceived through their senses.
It smelled like--​
It looked like--​
It sounded like--​
It felt like--​
It tasted like--​

And their PHYSICAL reaction to those sensations.
"It tasted like moldy socks, and I nearly retched.”​
USE THEM.

Stimulus: Joe threw the dagger at Sam.​
Response: Sam reached out to grab the dagger. (Physical Reaction) The pommel slapped sharply into his palm, stinging his hand. (Sensory Reaction) He winced. (Reaction to sensation)


4) Emotional/Mental Reaction “Oh, woe is me!”
Internal Conflict!​
 
Something just happened. How did that make your character Feel Emotionally: scared, happy, angry, lustful…? These emotional feelings are reflected internally immediately after the physical sensations that wracked their bodies with unwarranted stimuli. Ahem-- After they feel the physical effects of what just happened.

Additionally, internal observations, internal dialogue, and narration happens before they make a vocal remark.

Stimulus - Joe threw the dagger at Sam.​
Response – Sam reached out to grab the dagger. The pommel slapped sharply into his palm, stinging his hand. He winced. (Internalization) He had known Joe was pissed at him, but he hadn’t thought he was that pissed.​


5) Deliberate ReactionRetaliation!
 
Something happened, your character has felt the effects, had a thought, and perhaps made a comment. So, what is your character going to do next?

A deliberate action designed for Retaliation! More commonly known as: Revenge.

Stimulus - Joe threw the dagger at Sam.​
Response – Sam reached out to grab the dagger. The pommel slapped sharply into his palm, stinging his hand. He winced. He had known Joe was pissed at him, but he hadn’t thought he was that pissed. (Deliberate Reaction – intended to get a reaction out of Joe.) He raised his brow at Joe and smiled thinly. “My, what lovely weather we’re having!”​

Just to make things confusing – Dialogue can be a Response Reaction, an Internalization, an Emotional Reaction or a Deliberate Reaction
 
When in doubt, always put Dialogue AFTER a physical action. 
 


(Stupid gif won't load. Click to see the action.)

Plug & Play it!
Fill in the blank!

Key:
1 Stimulus - Something Happened​
2 Physical Reaction - Their body’s immediate physical reaction​
3 Sensory Reaction - The physical sensations and their effects​
4 Emotional Reaction - What they thought about what was happening​
5 Deliberate Reaction - How they responded​
1 NEW Stimulus - What happened next.​
-- In this order.​


External / something HAPPENED​
1) Stimulus - Physical Action / Action, dialogue or both

Will Turner stabbed his sword toward Jack Sparrow.​

Viewpoint Character’s Reaction:​
2) Response - Physical Reaction / Did they jump? Flinch? Catch the flying object?

Jack twisted to intercept the oncoming blade with his blade, rather than his body.​

3) Response - Sensory Reaction / The physical sensations and their effects.


The swords impacted with a jarring ring.​

4) ResponseEmotional Reaction / Internal or Vocal Comment reflecting what they thought about what was happening.

“Will, this isn’t the brightest idea in the world. I don’t know if you noticed, but there are a bunch of cutthroat pirates in the next cave?”​

5) Response Deliberate Reaction / What they did or said in retaliation.


He slid his sword up Will’s blade, waggled his brows, and smiled.​
 
External Reaction of the OTHER
  -- or an Outside event:​
 
1) NEW Stimulus - Physical Action/Action or dialogue or Action & then Dialogue.

Will flinched back and scowled. “I don’t care! I want to rescue her now!”​

On the Page...

Will Turner lunged, stabbing his sword toward Jack Sparrow.

Jack twisted to intercept the oncoming blade with his blade, rather than his body. The swords impacted with a jarring ring. “Will this isn’t the brightest idea in the world. I don’t know if you noticed, but there are a bunch of cutthroat pirates in the next cave?” He slid his sword up Will’s blade and smiled.

Will flinched back and scowled. “I don’t care. I want to rescue her now!”


Don't Forget:

Separate each character’s Actions from the other characters.
NO SHARING. Characters Do NOT share Sentences or Paragraphs ever! Put each individual characters' Actions and the Dialogue that goes with those actions in their own Paragraph. Having two people doing stuff in one paragraph makes the Reader's visuals muddy. The Reader's mental movie --your story-- comes to a screeching halt while they try to figure out what the hell just happened.​
 

ACTION always goes BEFORE Thoughts & Comments. 
The body reacts faster than commentary thoughts. Ask any martial artist. A REACTIONARY Comment: "Ouch!" Can go first because it plays the part of an ACTION, rather than a thought.​ 


ONE Point of View Only for an entire Scene!
(Especially Beginners!)

POV switching happen when you change scenes. No Head-hopping! It gets really confusing as to who is doing and feeling what if two people or more are all thinking a feeling in one scene. Pick a POV character and stick with it for the whole scene.​
 

Use crap-loads of Adjectives to describe sensations.
Description thrives on purple prose! Make every adjective highly opinionated to get the reader right into the action as though they are experiencing it.​ 
 

 
In Conclusion:​
 
After figuring all this out the hard way, I discovered that this whole routine (Action > Reaction) is explained in exquisite detail in: Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham. Google is your friend. 




Morgan Hawke ☕

Writing ACTION 1: Action Scenes that Work

 


The Trick to Writing Action Scenes that Work:
Action THEN Reaction!

The #1 Most Common cause of Confusion in Action Scenes?
Putting the Reaction BEFORE the Action that caused it.

WARNING! This tutorial is NOT meant for those do Creative Writing.

This essay was originally written for writers seeking to be professionally published authors. As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.


If you are new to my tutorials, please read this one first:
The Secret to Proper Paragraphing and Dialogue
Certain things covered in this tutorial are based on that information.


Why is Action THEN Reaction so Important?

The flash of pain exploded in my cheek from the slap her hand lashed out at me.

WRONG!


Why is this Wrong?
-- If you were watching this scene as a movie, that sentence is NOT how you would have seen it happen.

Actual Sequence of events:
1) Her hand lashed out at me in a slap. [Action]
2) A flash of pain exploded in my cheek [Reaction]

the-women-gif-11.gif


ACTION Sequences = Chronological Order

Chronological Order --the order in which things actually happen-- is the ONLY way to write an Action Scene that won't confuse your readers. If you visualize the characters doing something in a specific order – you write it in THAT order.


REALITY =
Something random happens to you then…you react. 

- in Chronological order
Action –> Reaction 
 
Dialogue and Action:
Which comes first?


ACTION.


Too many inexperienced writers put all their Dialogue at the beginning of their paragraphs -- before the action that caused that dialogue to happen.

The truth is, Dialogue belongs in the sentence when it happened; before the action, during the action, or after the action.

However...!

The finger pulls the trigger THEN the shooter wonders: “Oh no, what have I done?”​

Realistically, physical actions usually happen BEFORE dialogue. Most people ACT then comment because physical reactions normally happen faster than thought. Ask any cop or martial artist.

This Does Not mean that thoughts or dialogue don't happen before the gun or fist is raised and pointed! Bad-mouthing and instigation is usually how fights start to begin with. 
 
However, the human body has a habit of...jumping the gun -- reacting before the thought of doing said Action is even fully formed, especially if they are martially trained.​

Thoughts that come first FREEZE physical action. Not in the literary sense, for real. Most people stop whatever action they are doing, they pause to speak.

Fiction works exactly the same way.


FICTION =
The Plot happens to the characters then…they react.
- in Chronological order
Action –> Reaction

1 - Something happened TO the character, (the Action.)
2 - The character feels the Physical Sensation - the effects of the Action, (the reaction.)
3 - THEN they have a thought and/or comment about what had just happened, (an Action.)
4 - THEN they DO something about it, (their Reaction.)


WRONG:
The flash of pain exploded in my cheek [Reaction] as the slap her hand lashed out at me. [Action]​

RIGHT:
Her hand lashed out in a slap [action].​
My cheek exploded with a flash of pain. [reaction]. “Ow!” [dialogue/action] I balled my hand into a fist and swung for her face. [reaction]​

1631568857654.png
(Stupid gif won't load. Click image to see Action!)

Why did I break that sequence into Two lines?

Because each character gets their own paragraph for their actions.

Why?

For exactly the same reason you separate each character's dialogue into two paragraphs. Dialogue is an Action.

And while we're on the subject, leave the Dialogue ATTACHED to that character's Actions! This way you never need to use dialogue tags such as 'he said' or 'she said' to identify who is speaking. The Actions do that for you.

Back to the topic...

Violating chronological order is a Bad Idea. If you knock the Actions out of order the reader’s Mental Movie STOPS because the reader has to STOP READING to Re-Read that sequence and mentally rearrange the sentences in into the correct order to get the movie back.

Making the story hard for the reader to PICTURE
-- is a VERY Bad Idea.

Anytime the reader has to STOP to rearrange the words to FIT their mental movie, you’ve made a break. Breaks are BAD – very, very bad! A break creates a moment where the reader can STOP READING your story, and start reading something else -- and possibly never look at your work again.

A lot of writers hesitate to break up the actions between characters because written chronological action and dialogue tends to look very choppy on the page. It doesn't look neat and tidy

Neat and tidy be damned!

Who cares how the words are arranged on the page? Once the reader has their Mental Movie rolling the reader won’t even notice the specific words. They’ll be too busy watching the scenes playing out in their mental movie to care what they're reading.

Screw aesthetics! Your first priority is keeping that reader reading. That means keeping their Mental Movie going without interruptions!


How to FIX this chronic problem:

VISUALIZE your scenes as you write them. Play them as a movie in your head and write everything down EXACTLY as you see it. If it comes out in a pile of one short sentence after another, then add some smart-assed internal comments and/or dialogue.

Just remember to keep the character's dialogue connected to their actions.

Don't Forget: Dialogue is an Action too!


What about Literary style?

What about it?

If you simply MUST have stylish phrasing in your fiction, save it for the descriptions. Keep it out of the Actions!

If you want the reader to SEE the actions that you are trying to portray, Chronological Order is the ONLY way to make Action Scenes crystal clear in their imaginations.



-------- Original Message -----------​
"I can't write an action/fight scene worth a crap. Mind you, I can usually imagine them, I just can't write them."
-- Wanna Do a Fight Scene.

If you can imagine it - you can write it. The easiest way is by doing it in LAYERS.



A Quick and Dirty Method:
Writing Action Scenes in Layers


pirates2.JPG

Start with a List of ACTIONS
and their following REACTIONS.


Don’t Forget! ~ Actions ALWAYS go Before Reactions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List of ACTIONS 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- IMPORTANT! Each Character gets their own paragraph. NEVER clump the separate actions of two different characters in the same paragraph or the reader will get confused as to who is doing what very quickly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
​Will lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​​ 
 
Jack caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab.​​
 
Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. 
 
​​Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target.​ 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Add DIALOGUE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're dead meat!" Will lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​
Jack caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. "Oh really?" Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab. "I don't think so!"​​ 
 
Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. "Crap!"​​ 
 
Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that."​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Add EMOTION.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're dead meat!" Will bared his teeth and lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​​
 
Jack snorted in derision and caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. "Oh really?" Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab. He smiled. "I don't think so!" 
 
​​Startled, Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. "Crap!" 
 
​​Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target. He chuckled. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that."​ 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Add INTERNAL NARRATION. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Pick ONE character in that scene and add only THAT character's internal observations -- no others! (More than one POV in a scene is known as HEAD-HOPPING.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're dead meat!" Will bared his teeth and lunged forward, his sword fully extended in a stab.​
Jack snorted in derision and caught Will's blade with the flat of his blade. "Oh really?" The kid certainly had guts. Too bad he didn't have the skill to go with it. Pushing the blade just out of range of his skin, Jack slide down Will's blade in a short fast stab. He smiled. "I don't think so!"​
Startled, Will turned to the side to avoid Jack's sword's point. "Crap!"​
Jack did a quick side-step to stay in front of Will, keeping his sword's point on target. He chuckled, knowing it would piss the kid off. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that." He was hoping the kid would figure out that he was out-matched and just bolt. He didn't like killing those that didn't actually deserve to die.​

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seriously, if you can imagine it - you can write it.

Having problems imagining it?
- Watch a few MOVIES.


Morgan Hawke
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making Magic 1 - A History of Magic?

Making MAGIC
For your Fiction

NOT for LitRPG novelists!

If you are a LitRPG writer, and you're trying to make a numerical leveling System for your fantasy story, please refer to: Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The Dungeon Master's Handbook, specifically. After all, that's where LitRPG came from.

 
Also see:
 
☕ 

So you want to have Magic in your brand new fictional Fantasy world?

Alright then, lets start with a few simple World-Building questions, so you have some idea of what you're in for-- I mean some idea of what you're going to need to know to make your new world feel solid and logical to your Readers. 


How does Magic
Affect Your Fantasy World?
 
If you're a writer planning to use Magic in your world, here are a few things to ask yourself while you world-build. 

 

What are they using Magic for?

If Magic is in common use, are they using it to make War or Peace? Are they cooking their food with it? Storing their valuables with it? Building castles with it? Traveling across great distances, or only short hops from town to town? Do they have horseless carriages? Flying ships? Are they communicating across distances with it as commonly as we do with our cell phones? -

Or is it not in common use? If not, then what are they doing with their Magic? Are these magical people in hiding, or protected by the government? Are they gathered in special enclaves, or living scattered among everyone else?

 Who has Magic?

 
Does everyone have Magic, or only a special few? Why would only the special few have it? Were some born with the talent for it, rather like an Artist? Is it something anyone can develop as long as they have proper instructions, like an athlete? Is it something only a few families pass down through their genetic lines?  Is there a special substance that must be grafted onto the body to allow one to use Magic, such as a magical runic tattoo? Does one need a special artifact from a bygone age, or has technology finally developed enough to create a specific tool to access Magic? Does it take a super secret special ritual to awaken one's Magic?

 

What powers Magic?
Where does the ability to use Magic come from? Is it granted as a favor from Spirits? An endowment from Gods? Can one gain Magic from an elixir you eat or drink? Is it generated by an organ such as a Magical Core? Is it an aether that fills the atmosphere that one has to learn to collect, like in Cultivation novels? Is it a power that's already there that one must learn to Feel, like the Force? Oh wait, Cultivation novels use that one too.

 

How do people learn to use Magic?
 
Magic can be very dangerous to both the practitioner and the unaware people around them, if handled incorrectly. So, how does one learn to Control it? Do people have to go to schools to learn how to use Magic? Are the skills passed down through apprenticeship under an experienced practitioner? Does one learn to use Magic from the Gods or Spirits themselves? From dreams? Can someone learn to use Magic by complete accident? 
 
Has your world always had access to Magic,
or is it a new development?

When and where did the use of Magic start? Did a meteor hit the planet and just...irradiate people with Magic? Did some wellspring of pure Magic from the Soul of the World erupt to spray magic into the air like a geyser? Did someone just wish Magic to happen, and it did? Did some strange traveler come and bless certain individuals with Magic?

If Magic isn't a sudden new development, how long people have been using it? Are there a few famous practitioners? What kind of History does your Magic have?

What kind of Spiritual Background are you using for your brand of Magic? 
 
This is Not a trick question. You are basing your fantasy Magic on some form of real Magical/Spiritual practice, right? You're not trying to create a whole Magical doctrine from pure Make-Believe, or worse: relying on Dungeons and Dragons for your Magic, right? 
 
Surely you don't plan to rely on Make-Believe to create your own History of Magic from scratch?! 
 
In the beginning, the spirits said, "Let there be MAGIC...!" And it was good. 

 

Writing a History of MAGIC?
Can be more Headache than it's worth.
----- Original Message -----
...How am I supposed to explain how magic has evolved over [1000] years from singing and chanting spells to automatically using magic circles to unleash devastating spells? Like how did people discover drawing circles in the air with magic text inscribed in them was better than singing your lungs out?
-- Concerned Fantasy Writer.


Making up a full (fictional) History of Magic, or even a partial History of how early (fictional) Magic progressed from using a shamanistic style of magic; rituals and prayer incantations, into condensed mana imprints; spell circles cast on thin air, especially when there's a thousand years of progress between them, is a Big Project.

What you're trying to do here is similar to coming up with the history of how humanity went from using bows, swords, and horses to conduct warfare, to modern warfare using sub-machine guns, tanks, and helicopters.

To even attempt this, would take massive research. 

Just to start with: 

How much do you know about:
The History of actual Magic?

Not make-believe magic, like what's found in Dungeons and Dragons, but Real, historical Magic as it is currently practiced here on Earth?

 

 Stonehenge

A brief History of actual Magic

The History of Magic starts at the dawn of human existence, but most archaeologists are Scientists. They don't always recognize what's right in front of their noses.


Put It Back!

Magic after all, is the bailiwick of Dreamers, Artists and Poets. It often takes a Dreamer to spot the Magic among the mundane, (and save their lives.) 

Luckily, there are a lot of Dreamers writing book after book, and blog post after blog post, about Magic and it's actual History.


Here's a very basic Summery:

-- The earliest form of Magic was basic shamanism -- practiced by native people all over the world. Magical songs, magical music, and magical dances to celebrate the sun, create rain, call the wind, bring down lightning, stop floods, walk in the bodies of beasts, encourage fertility in people, land, and livestock, or call an end to winter, are all shamanistic practices. Shintoism for example, is a somewhat advanced form of shamanism still in practice. 

https://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll00010lldqnVJFgneECfDrCWvaHBOc0tVF/shamans-mask.jpg

-- Starting in the Bronze age, metal workers; Smiths, were considered powerful Magicians who sang over their forges and knew the secret of how to turn rough stones into gleaming weapons. Especially magical were the sword makers; the bladesmiths who used all kinds of sacred and profane ingredients, including fallen stars, to make mystical unbeatable swords that could empower or curse their wielders. 

https://www.powning.com/jake/images/0anthro18.jpg

-- Long before Christianity began, Judaic ceremonial magicians worked with divine beings and developed the Tree of Life as a progression map. Through prayers and songs they recorded in their Torah; the precursor to the common bible, they called down divine retribution, parted seas, sealed ifrits and genies into bottles, and introduced the idea of an Evil counterpart to the Divine: Shaitan; the Adversary. 

https://arsmagine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/22_2.jpg

-- From India came the sutras; massive, long, and convoluted prayers that induce a meditative state so strong --and useful-- that the entire far east jumped on their bandwagon, branching out into thousands of different forms of Buddhism.  

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Kalpa_sutra-Jina%27s_mother_dreams_c1465.jpg

 -- In China, Buddhism was added to the native forms of Shamanism, Astrology, Alchemy, and Numerology. This developed into a new form of Chinese Magic; Taoism, side-branching into Feng Shui. (Keep in mind, I'm being VERY general here.), Both the Buddhists and the Taoists slew demons and monsters, laid the walking/hopping dead to rest, broke curses, and tamed spirits and ghosts. However the Taoists also cultivated enlightenment to reach immortality, and apparently flew on swords as well. Much later, Confucianism was added to the mix and the fortune-telling Tao Te Ching emerged. 

https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/1200x900/4551.jpg

 -- Chinese Magic; Taoism, eventually spread to Heian Japan. It mixed with the native shamanistic practices and Buddhism already there, and the Onmyoji sorcerers came into being. They did all the same thing as their Taoist counterparts did, except cultivate to immortality and fly on swords. 

https://cdn.zekkei-japan.jp/images/spots/d7cd88319ecae5f9a228e33bed048330.jpg

-- The Celestial or Sacred Mathematics known as Geometry started in ancient Babylonia. It was used for surveying, astronomy, and construction of their massive temples. The Egyptians grabbed onto it and developed it further. They used it for surveying, astronomy, and construction  too, but they wanted their sacred palaces, sacred temples, and sacred pyramids to line up with their favorite stars. 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/15/9c/bc/159cbcf2bf6ed847c7f7b5b05d4e6049.jpg

-- India developed their own form of Geometry for all the same reasons, and built gigantic sacred temples like everyone else, only a lot more decorative. 

 https://static.theprint.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Untitled-design-31-696x392.jpg?compress=true&quality=80&w=376&dpr=2.6

The Greeks snatched it from both India and the Egyptians, then developed Geometry into a high art form. They used it to build even fancier palaces and temples that lined up with the sun, the moon, and certain planets. 

https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=709x10000:format=jpg/path/s2217cd0bb1220415/image/i5ee652a092017c1a/version/1695985417/ancient-greek-temple.jpg

-- When the Romans took over Greece, they got a hold of Geometry, and a brand new invention called Cement; liquid stone that hardened into any shape you had a mold for. They combined the two and promptly went insane. They used Geometry and Cement to build massive domed temples of every variety for every god, aqueducts, fountains, sewage systems, drainage systems, irrigation systems, road systems that covered most of the known world, central under-the-floor heating, heated in-home baths, whole apartment buildings, outdoor theaters, coliseums, purely decorative grand arches, and huge Imperial palaces. 

https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/field/image/rome-republic.jpg

 -- By the close of the Roman Empire, Sacred Geometry was firmly under the control of a brotherhood of architects and builders known as the Masons, and was jealously hidden away from anyone that wasn't a Masonic Architect. For over a thousand years the Masons kept Geometry as a Magical secret. Only they knew how to construct the massive, awe-inspiring Sacred temples, mosques, and cathedrals

 https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/low-angle-view-of-cologne-cathedral-against-clear-royalty-free-image-1594137089.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*

-- The modern 'Order' of the Free Masons had their start here. In fact, if you look at any modern Mason ring you'll see the "G" for Geometry.  

 https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61YVAc0Q9yL._AC_UY1000_.jpg

-- During the Byzantine era, a Syrian Alchemist created the chemical bomb known as Greek Fire for the Byzantine Emperor. Greek Fire was considered very Magical indeed because no one could figure out how he did it. The Syrian never told anybody. Much, much later something similar appeared under the name: napalm

 https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/912414619784308609/3BC8E35EDF275A4473D2A8CB1DD4FB62FF8B5DE3/?imw=512&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

-- In the early to mid 1200's, Roger Bacon, a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar, was also regarded as a Wizard. He's attributed to have invented gunpowder (clearly borrowed from the Orient,) and the magnifying glass. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Roger-bacon-statue.jpg/220px-Roger-bacon-statue.jpg

-- In the late 1200's, Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher published three works of fiction that pretty much changed how every single Christian in the world saw Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. His Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, were published just in time for the invention of the Gutenberg Press. The books promptly spread all over Europe to every home that could afford a printed book.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91gSG9YGzHL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg 

-- Dante's stories introduced the nine levels of Hell, and the names of the demons that lived there. They also described the levels of Purgatory, and what could be found there, and the nine levels of Heaven and the names of the angels that lived there. King Solomon was also tossed in and recorded to have captured and sealed away a great many demons into bottles. Dante listed the names of those demons too. These books also introduced the concept of a War in Heaven. This war featured a peerless angel that rebelled against God, and was punished for it by being thrown out, or down rather, to become the ruler of Hell. He even named that fallen angel and gave the ruler of Hell a title borrowed straight from the Torah: Shaitan -- Satan. 

https://woodewalkers.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ms-douce-134-3.jpg

-- By the mid 1300's, all the demons and angels mentioned in Dante's works of fiction, were accepted as being actual demons and angels. Absolutely everyone accepted that the War in Heaven actually happened, and the story of the fallen angel as Fact. There was a Satan in Hell, just ask anyone, even your local priest, and Satan was out to get You

 https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/dp/original/DP802861.jpg

-- Fiction suddenly became Fact because the Black Plague happened, then the Bubonic Plague and the only explanation anyone had for everyone dropping dead around them was either "God hates us," or "Someone is out to get us." Since every priest in existence insisted that God would forgive them no matter what, it had to be...Satan! It was all Satan's fault!  

https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2010/09/black-death-gettyimages-515359722.jpg

-- By the late Middle Ages (c. 1350–1450), the various Churches scattered throughout the known world were getting very, very nervous about losing all their (tithe) revenue because fewer and fewer of their parishioners were going to Church. They had reason to be nervous. There was a Pagan revival going on. Pagan rituals and celebrations were a lot more fun than sitting in a cold room crammed in next to your unwashed, smelly neighbors on hard wooden seats being snarled at by the local priest for hours. Nobody wanted to be yelled at for enjoying making love to your own spouse, enjoying the beer and mead you brewed in your own cellar, or the wife using her skills to make an income to help support her family. 

https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/villagers-celebration-c1530-1949-print-collector.jpg

 -- To deal with the crisis, the church did two things. The first was to make all the local gods into Saints and allowed local celebrations -- though now sanctified by the local church. 

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c5ec0b14d546e3b8a478fab/6c99cb28-6ec7-473d-8b18-333660faf761/Picture1.jpg

-- The other was a Smear Campaign against anything, and everything to do with Magic. It worked on the uneducated populous. The educated populous however, smiled in church, then held secret book club meetings. In their private parlors and basements with close friends and associates they perused old obscure books about Magic.

https://medievalbooks.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dc3bcrer_erasmus.jpg

-- As a result of those secret book clubs, in the 1400's, Middle Eastern Alchemy, became quite popular in Europe, and split into two distinct branches. One branch was very practical in nature. These Alchemists developed the earliest techniques for creating artificial, manufactured, jewels: diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. They did this by combining base ores and certain chemicals in a high pressure furnace called an Athanor. Of course a lot of them blew themselves up doing it too. Anyway! Today, Cubic Zirconium; manufactured diamonds, are created in this exact fashion. With a lot fewer people being blown up.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d0/dc/e6/d0dce6ee2c02e102ae25c350686b43e3.jpg

 -- The other branch of Alchemy was highly philosophical in nature, and considered one of the earliest forms of Psychology. The very earliest being talking to your local shaman or priest. This 'spiritual' Alchemy became known as Hermeticism. 

https://i.etsystatic.com/28019452/r/il/820f30/2901856808/il_570xN.2901856808_2aid.jpg

-- During this same time period, the Northern Europeans went through a Magical Renaissance. They developed a whole new Magic system built from dredging through every obscure book they could find. This new Magic was a combination of Judaic ceremonial magic, different forms of fortune-telling, Astrology, Greek Philosophy, Hermeticism, plus a sprinkle of shamanistic spirit summoning, and mathematics. This form of Magic invoked Heavenly and Unholy powers using angelic and demonic names straight out of Dante's works of fiction, through basic addition and subtraction --called Magic Squares-- that were later made circular and stamped on medallions.

https://www.bookofthrees.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Magic-square-coins.jpg

 -- You can find a bunch of these squares and the symbols they 'add' up to in the Ars Goatia, also called the Lesser and Greater Keys of Solomon. THIS is where all those fancy circle spells you see in manga and anime were borrowed from.  

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Circle_of_Solomon_and_Triangle_of_Solomon_from_The_Lesser_Key_of_Solomon.png

-- In 1478, the Spanish Dominicans, a branch of rabid Christians who murderously loathed anything that wasn't their brand of Catholicism, (and women in general,) petitioned the Monarchy of the newly unified Spanish kingdom for permission to combat heresy and demon worship in Spain. They were called the Spanish Inquisition.  They were also called, Domini Canis; Dogs of God -- implying just how rabid they were. This Inquisition had their own form of Magic that utilized prayers from the bible, consecrated hosts, holy water made by their churches, blessed swords, and lit torches. Permission granted, they went absolutely insane. They grabbed anyone and everyone that wasn't their brand of Catholic, from peasant to noble. Especially if they were female. Once they tortured confessions out of them, they burned or hanged them to death. Then they took their property -- for God. They killed a lot of people.

 -- The Inquisition remained in operation burning and hanging heretics, demon worshipers, and witches all over the world until 1834. 

 https://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/reading/religion/ddddd.png

-- In the early 1500's --despite the threat of The Inquisition-- a German Renaissance philosopher named Agrippa, came up with the Angelic ScriptTransitus Fluvii, and Malachim alphabets to make communicating with Heavenly beings easier. 

https://i0.wp.com/rylandscollections.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Agrippa-cryptic-alphabers-440-441-copyright.jpg?ssl=1

-- During this period, telling the future by Scrying; seeing, by peering into a bowl of liquid, peering into crystal balls, or reading the swing of a pendulum over a laid out alphabet, plus Astrology, and Tarot card reading, became very, very popular. Everyone who was anyone was doing at least one of them. 

https://catalystmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Crystal_Ball.jpg

-- In the late 1500's, an an English Renaissance occultist and scryer called Sir Edward Kelly, and John Dee, an English court astronomer, came up with the Enochian alphabet. This was also meant for communication with Heavenly beings -- and taming ghostly beings. 

https://brazen-head.org/user_content/uploads/2020/10/Dee-and-K.jpg

-- In the 1600's, Voudon, (voodoo), a form of native West-African shamanistic magic mixed with prayers and songs from the King James bible, developed in Haiti and quickly spread through all the islands close to it. It also spread to the Southern US and outward with the slave trade. 

https://images.theconversation.com/files/570735/original/file-20240122-20-mdblis.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C3607%2C2392&q=20&auto=format&w=320&fit=clip&dpr=2&usm=12&cs=strip

-- By the mid 1700's, the British isles developed two distinct forms of magic. Witchcraft; based on native shamanistic rituals, and Ceremonial Magic, which was pretty much a cleaned up and polished version of what was being practiced in Europe mixed with Masonic rituals. Currently, the witchcraft forms are called Wicca, Paganism, and Heathenism respectively, and the ceremonial forms are mostly under the headings: Hermeticism and Western Esotericism, with thousands of variations under both types of magic. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Aleister_Crowley%2C_Golden_Dawn.jpg/640px-Aleister_Crowley%2C_Golden_Dawn.jpg

-- In the 1800's consumption; tuberculosis, began to kill large numbers of people all over the place. Because everyone had someone they dearly missed, a pretty large occult revival happened all over Europe and in the US. Seeing and talking to spirits of the dead by way of seances: featuring full on possessions by ghosts, table-tapping, levitating objects, and the appearance of ectoplasm, became very, very popular. Especially in England.  

https://oldoperatingtheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Spirit_WilliamMarriottLevitatingTableWithFoot-1024x617.jpg

 -- In the mid 1800's, the Rosicrucian Fraternity appeared in the US, a mix of Occultism, Hermeticism, and Christian gnosticsm. Supposedly it had a long and involved history that goes back to the 1500's, but that history has since been debunked as Fictional. However, the Magic works just fine. 

https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/323412/212694.jpg

-- In 1940 in England, Neopagans, and very witchcraft Wicca, emerged onto the public domain. They had been practicing in hiding for literal centuries. Their brand of Magic is shamanistic at core, very individualistic, and only loosely organized. Wicca can and does borrow bits and pieces from just about every other form of paganism, mysticism, and the occult -- depending on the practitioner's personal feelings, beliefs, and curiosity. 

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71sEXJlwmfL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

-- In 1969 modern Satanism happened. This was invented by one man: Anton LeVay. He used bits of the common King James bible mixed with demonic names from Dante's books, a smattering of Hermeticism, European magic squares, and a dash of basic Golden Dawn brand ceremonial magic to make it pretty. 

https://encyclopediasatanica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/antonlaveyritual4.jpg

-- In 1977, the US government recognized Wicca as an official legal Religion. This prompted a massive explosion of books for and about witchcraft. Some quite informative and well researched, others, a jumbled rehashing of what was already floating around from the last occult movement during the 1800's. Buyer beware. 

https://archive.org/services/img/truthaboutwitchc00cunn/full/pct:200/0/default.jpg

And that's just skimming the surface of the History of Magic right here on this world. If you want to know more, Google is your friend.

Knowing the Facts about real Magic can assist you in making any form of fictional Magic --no matter how Make-Believe-- not only logically operable, but feel Real and possibly even familiar to the readers.

 

As for the original question...


The Irregular at Magic High School, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

You Don't need to Invent a whole
History for Magic.

Writing a whole history; even in note form, would be a massive amount of work. Instead, focus on how your spells are Powered, and the Reasons why the spells were changed from incantations to mana imprints.

Just coming up with how your mana imprints happen will be headache-inducing enough.

I mean seriously, do they have to Memorize every circle they intend to use, then project that memory plus the right amount of mana every single time they want to cast a spell? Doesn't that limit them to only casting One spell at a time?

Are you aware that at this point in time; the Modern Era, no one is capable of doing that? The human brain simply will not allow it. 

Clearly, they are going to need something to assist them in making those circles occur, so they can then put their mana into them.

 I suggest looking up how the microchip works. 

It might inspire you as to how long arias and chants (simple circuitry,) became far more condensed spells, (the microchip.) link --> The basics of microchips 

Just so you know, the Microchip as a basis of How Magic Works is used in the manga and anime series: The Irregular at Magic High School, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.


In Conclusion...

If you're determined to create your own brand of Magic for your stories, your best place to start is with the History of Magic that already exists for whatever culture you happen to be writing in. Use it as a jumping off point, or a framework that explains why your magic works the way it does. Simply adjust the facts to fit the story you want to write. Add things, or subtract things as needed.

Just please be aware that there will be actual practitioners in your reading audience. We will Know when you mess up and don't keep to your own lore, just as easily as we know when someone is using Dungeons and Dragons as a base for their magical system.

After all, we love Fantasy stories too. If we didn't, we wouldn't be practicing magic in the first place.

Morgan Hawke