Compendium of Magic

R.Barrows · Aug 12, 2016

I've been writing and collecting snippets of magical items, spells, artifacts, potions, etc... for years. I never knew specifically what I was going to do with them, I just enjoy creating them. Then it occurred to me that there could be a small niche market of people who might potentially be entertained by reading them. In other words, maybe they could be published?

They aren't written specifically for a game. They include no mechanics. They're more descriptions with little background stories and other minutia that I found interesting when I wrote them. They could easily be organized by type and broken into sections.

If I were to engage in such a project, who would I approach to publish such a thing? I wouldn't say that it's specific to any game, nor is it specific to any story. It is genre-specific to Fantasy since it all involves magic. The only science involved would be the type of science you'd encounter in Fantasy. (Spellbinding, Enchanting, Alchemy, Elementalism, Psionics, etc...).

What could be done with a book of magic - publishing wise?

Kjbartolotta · Aug 12, 2016

I doubt it'll be the next sensation, but I'm sure there's a market for it. Also, I'd read it. If you ever read The Islanders by Christopher Priest, it's a travelogue of Islands with a rather creepy, fragmented, and enigmatic story worked in there. If you can work in that element you have a literary novel on your hands, something to think about. Also, something targeted towards middle-graders and teens might be more palatable for agents. Anyhow, what do I know? If you ever need a beta though...

Alary · Aug 12, 2016

I've read fiction that told a story through encyclopedia-esque entries. A free to read example is The Deeplands by John Allen Burnett (click framed version, the other two don't work; it has autoplay audio, just as a warning). Personally I absolutely love stories like that. I don't know how well you can publish that kind of thing traditionally, but you certainly have an audience in me.

R.Barrows · Aug 16, 2016

Interesting. Both The Deeplands and The Islanders seem to focus on the environment. I suppose it's similar to what I'm thinking of, but what I've got is less environmental than it is objects in the environment. Most of what I'd be throwing down are concepts that could be used by others in the form of specific examples. I hand't thought to associate specific stories with them, but when I look at it from the angle you're suggesting it could work if the background stories for the artifacts and spells and such all wove together to create a tale with snippets of scenes in between.

Welcheren · Aug 16, 2016

R.Barrows said:
Interesting. Both The Deeplands and The Islanders seem to focus on the environment. I suppose it's similar to what I'm thinking of, but what I've got is less environmental than it is objects in the environment. Most of what I'd be throwing down are concepts that could be used by others in the form of specific examples. I hand't thought to associate specific stories with them, but when I look at it from the angle you're suggesting it could work if the background stories for the artifacts and spells and such all wove together to create a tale with snippets of scenes in between.

Perhaps as a unifying concept for a middle graders book you could compile the magical compendium as the life's work of some traveler, or a collection of traveler's anecdotes and observations. This offers the opportunity of writing about the different magical styles, objects etc from different (and biased) perspectives.

Ditto on the beta reader offer.

H.G.Aguilar · Sep 23, 2016

I think an entire novel can be written from one good idea about a magical object (as long as you created it yourself)
I found it fascinating to write about a scholar who was struggling to understand the meaning and usage of several ancient artifacts of power in my book.
I think you have a compendium of great story ideas ready to go. Good luck

@LeaLately · Sep 25, 2016

Welcheren said:
Perhaps as a unifying concept for a middle graders book you could compile the magical compendium as the life's work of some traveler, or a collection of traveler's anecdotes and observations. This offers the opportunity of writing about the different magical styles, objects etc from different (and biased) perspectives.

Ditto on the beta reader offer.

I love this idea of creating a character (much like yourself) who has complied all this knowledge into a personal encyclopedia of sorts and then perhaps goes out in search of a new (spell, potion, form of magic) whatever it may be and needs the information he already has in his encyclopedia to find it. You could start or end each chapter with one of your characters 'notes' from his encyclopedia that would pertain to the chapter! Otherwise, I don't think there'd be much of a market for it in the traditional trade publishing world, though I think there would be many people who would purchase this in e-book format for the right price.

Cheers!

Compendium of Magic

R.Barrows

Count the Electrons

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog

Alary

R.Barrows

Count the Electrons

Welcheren

Picking up tools, honing edges

H.G.Aguilar

@LeaLately