: Re: Magic or No Magic? I have the majority of the story for my first novel worked out. My only problem is that I feel like I'm trying to find a way to force magic into it. There is only

Technically, your story does not depend on the existence of magic, it depends on the existence of secret and powerful organization that believes magic exists. There is a fundamental difference, as proven by the countless people who have spent all their money on devices and training improving their spiritual abilities. When talking about actions and motivations of people, it is usually the beliefs that count, very rarely the reality.

As such the simplest method of fixing the story would be simply that the characters and by extension the reader simply never find out if the magic that is tested is real or just exists in the minds of some powerful people.

This is actually realistic, presidents and senators do consult astrologers and diviners, intelligence organizations have funded clairvoyance programs, government money has been spent on occult research... Real world examples have stopped short of kidnappings and murders, but all it takes is oversight of the agency in question breaking and such breaking of control is pretty much assumed by default in lots of modern fiction.

This kind of is it real or not is actually fairly common in fiction. I guess many writers have stumbled on the same issue as you have? Such "is it real" issues also play well with hints of horror.

I think this might be better asked in world building SE?

As a general writing answer:

See what amount of magic (or other fantasy) existing your story actually requires and do not write more in than that. Writing surplus elements generally makes the story less coherent and weaker. In this case no actual magic seems to be required, just a belief in it existing among some people. Implication is that you should not write in any actual magic, just people who act based on belief in magic.

But this is about as binding as all those other "rules" of writing anyone else tells you.

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: Re: Magic or No Magic? I have the majority of the story for my first novel worked out. My only problem is that I feel like I'm trying to find a way to force magic into it. There is only

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: I think you already have your answer really. Explain each topic in it's own chapter as you have them, then create a new chapter which explains this additional feature which alters the behavior

: How to write about simple locomotion? I am writing a third person story, the opening contains a short tram ride which the main character is on, how can I write such a scene without just writing;

: Can anyone provide any recent examples of characters which first appeared in a short story, eventually becoming major TV or Film properties? So for example, in the Victorian era, the character

: How do I write about something which can only be felt with closed eyes? When I try to write something on paper, no thoughts or dialogues come to my mind. I just go blank and stare at the

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