Writing tips and tricks for those who are writing or wanting to write Fantasy!
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Middle Earth - A full worldbuilding questionnaire to help you leave not one stone unturned in developing your fantastical world
Hogwarts...
So you've decided that you want your heroes to go on a quest to retrieve something magical...is there anything else about it besides it being powerful and dangerous to retrieve?
Welcome to Magic Mirror where we will discuss how to make your magical goal not just a simple MacGuffin.
First we gotta answer the question: what the hell is a MacGuffin?
Basically it's an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. Examples are Rose's necklace in Titanic and at times the Infinity Stones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Why do I not want my magical item to be a MacGuffin?
Because it might show that your plot is lazy and when the climax comes it might come across as, well...anticlimactic.
How do I avoid a MacGuffin?
From experience, I think the best thing is to create a complete write-up of your item so that you know exactly why this item is so powerful and why your characters need to get it.
This would be a great time to also work on your world's history and magic system.
Here's an example of an item from my story, Fairytale Fate, called The Story Almanac
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Think of how this item connects to your history. Has it helped people with a similar problem in the past? What would happen if it falls into the wrong hands? What about the right hands?
If it's hidden somewhere, who hid it, why did they hide it? Is there something(s) guarding it? Why?
What ways are there to find it? Follow a star? Climb a mountain? Dive into a trench to the bottom of the sea? Ask a really old, wrinkly person? Follow a map?
Is it a widely known item? If it isn't, do the people who do know about think it's real, or do they think it's just a myth?
Also try to think about its powers, if it has any. Are they beneficial, harmful, or does it do nothing at all?
As you can probably tell, there are a lot of "why" but that's because you need to make sure that you know everything there is to know about whatever your magical item is because if you don't know, how is your audience gonna know?
Hopefully this helps! Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you in the next tip! 🤍 Melody
