Even when the characters’ adventures are fantastic, a good story should have an emotional core which is personal, drawing from common human experience to help readers connect with our characters. A story written in this way needs little imagination to prop it up. Which is why, in my efforts to write fantasy, I’ve been asked:
If a story is universal, why do you need the magic?
Magic comes with the price of a built-in distance between your events and your reader which can keep you from achieving the potential of your story. Guarding the passageway to an important official, I can hint at the terror of a pair of trolls, or I can connect readers directly to the fear of two condescending and semi-sadistic guards. I can wound my character with the blast of a fireball from a distant wizard, or I can bring my readers the terror of being knifed by a killer.
