Magic In The Mechanical Room

"I use magic, in some ways, as a metaphor for technology.  For example, I have these sisters who have books called Journey Books, and they can communicate using these Journey Books.  When they write something in one, it appears magically in its twin, and the person who's carrying the twin can return messages in the same manner.  It's email!  Big deal... I use magic as a metaphor for freedom.  The use of magic is the exertion of freedom to be one's best..."

-Terry Goodkind (author of the Sword of Truth series / aka Legend of the Seeker)

I love magic.  To me, science has always been a form of magic.  I remember playing a PC game called Arcanum and in this game you were a wandering traveler set in the Industrial Revolution era.  From the start, you chose if you would be someone that used magic heavily or someone that relied heavily on technology.  If you chose magic you would have to learn schools of spells and pick a specific school to specialize in.  If you chose technology then you would have to study a specific field such as Explosives, Gun Smithy, Smithy, etc.  The way the developers did it, however, was done in such a way that even the technological schools and disciplines seemed magical, and this is how I like magic to be.

I believe there is magic in everything.  The Mechanical Room has several magical races in it:

Dwarves
Gnomes
Pixies
Fairies
Sprites
Dryads
Imps
Gremlins
Shadow Stalkers
Cat People

I tend to think very practical like Terry Goodkind.  For instance, one chapter I write in first person because the character is addressing his journal (think Captain Kirk from Star Trek- "Captain's Log. Star Date....").  A few of his officers rush into his study chambers and begin arguing over who should speak first.  To settle matters, he creates a Turn Sphere.  In order to use a Turn Sphere you must place a personal possession inside of the glowing magical sphere.  Then, it will rotate at rapid speeds and whichever object shoots out first determines the order of turns.  It's dice!  Big deal!  I'm dealing with magically endowed beings who live and breath this stuff everyday and so they must come up with practical uses for their gifts, and it has to be something we can relate to. 

Often times in mythological stories the average person would behold something that they could not understand fully and so they tried to explain it as best they could.  Their explanations tended to be very fantastical.  Some people saw tall men and women and so they called them giants, or shorter individuals and they called them dwarfs, etc.

There is magic everywhere and in everything.  When creating The Cat People in my book, I simply referenced my cat Sam.  If I looked at him through the programmed eyes I would have a label for every thing he did and every part of him.  If I looked at him through eyes that had never seen such a creature before, then suddenly he is magical and has special powers like incredible agility, night vision, and super reflexes.

I try to make my magic believable by basing it on what already is.  The magic, or science, is not the center focus of the story.  The magic simply helps move the story along just as the characters do.  My focus tends to be on emotion... touching the human emotion through these characters I create.  There is magic everywhere and in everything.