{EP. 20} Magical Abilities You Can Give Your Fantasy Character Artwork

Writing the Broomstick

The podcast where you'll get your dose of magic and dash of writing advice all in one juicy elixir. Join a couple of authors in our ramblings about all-things fantasy, paranormal fiction, and magical realism. Our goal is to help you iron out your mystical world and open up the floor to a weird and witchy conversation. ★ Follow us @writingthebroom and get in touch: writingthebroomstick@gmail.com / writingthebroomstick.com ★ Hosts: Katrina Tortorici Anglehart (K.T. Anglehart) is a freelance editor and author of teen/YA urban fantasy "The Wise One"—the first of "The Scottish Scrolls" series. She enjoys laughing at her and Genny's shenanigans while trying desperately to maintain her composure. ★ @kt_anglehart | ktanglehart.com ★ Genevieve Methot is a freelance writer and emerging author of new adult fantasy trilogy "The Needle of Ingress" (release date TBD). She is often called out for being self-deprecating and breaking out in song during awkward moments. ★ @genny_met

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Writing the Broomstick

{EP. 20} Magical Abilities You Can Give Your Fantasy Character

September 15, 2021 • Season 2 • Episode 10

If you could have any magical ability in the world, what would it be? Would you fly over the rooftops of your hometown? Would you control fire and water? Would you bring your poor houseplant back to life?

In today’s episode, Katrina and Genny discuss the limits of one’s imagination—more specifically, all the wonderful and weird and unexplainable magical abilities you can give your character.

After all, fantasy is where magic can feel free and safe to express itself—why wouldn’t you want to sprinkle a little magic into your world?

Before we dive in, we make the distinction between superpowers and magical abilities, because some of us might not even remember a time when there wasn’t a new superhero movie every three months, and we want to make sure everyone knows the difference between the two.

We also go a bit deeper into the conversation to help you think about your character’s story arc. So, here are some things to think about:

Is their magical power serving some greater purpose within the story?
Does the character need their magical ability to defeat the villain or is the ability itself seen as the antagonist?
How do people in your character’s life feel about this power? Do they know? Do they accept it?
Is your character’s ability in line with or in conflict with the ways of their ancestors?
What are the consequences of using this power?

And Hooray! We made it to episode 10! Not without incident, swearing, scheduling conflicts, technical difficulties, and moments of crippling self-doubt along the way. Before we shut down for a few weeks and get ourselves ready for an explosive Halloween-heavy, spooky, scary month of episodes, we just want to say thank you all so much for listening to two girls rant about writing, fantasy books, witches, and random moments of real life.

We’ll be back in just a few weeks to start season three!

SOURCES:

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Let us know what you thought of our episode! You can reach us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or email writingthebroomstick@gmail.com.

Do you like Celtic folklore, YA urban fantasy, AND free stuff? Read the first three chapters of Katrina’s debut novel, “The Wise One”.

And, if you want to see what Genny’s reading lately, check out her Goodreads review page.