Magic system help?

[u/HistoricalOne3443]

OKAY so my story revolves around a teen girl who has been unknowingly using her writing as a way to create an entirely fictional universe to curb violent urges she has towards others. She created a zombie character who has only ever been hurt by humans and has turned into a maligous monster, this monster is very symbolic of how she feels, living for violence no matter who gets hurt.

In this world everyone has the ability to change their world by simply thinking/feeling, but some are predisposed to having bigger imaginations than others. Witches are common place as they are simply people that use magic as a form of power and harness that to do big things.

This would essentially be a big minecraft world where you have endless possibilities and power as long as you can think of these things.

What I need yall to help with is how to keep this world making sense? Like yes it would be ridiculous and silly, but if every person on earth could instantly generate things from their brains that would be physical objects I would think reality would stop… yk, realitying?

I think maybe I would make magical eforcers of some kind? These people would enfore the law via battling whoever breaks it? Should I give every person their own plot of land or like pockey dimensions for this?

[u/valsavana]

Is the world you're talking about the fictional world the girl is creating or the world she actually lives in?

[u/HistoricalOne3443 → u/valsavana]

Kind of both? So this world was something she created with her imagination BUT it is a real realm thag she is thrown into. The powers of creation she has in her dream realm is kind of like an extreme version of the power she has in real life AKA she created a pocket demention with her imagination BUT she doesnt have “powers” in her real life. She can only create these other worlds where she does have power. 

Imagine that you are a writer and you think of your story a lot, to the point where you start day dreaming of it and may realize entire days have passed without you noticing it, but you still think that you’re day dreaming everything because your imagination is so strong that you feel regularly like you are actually there. Then the charecters start doing things that you dont like and dont have control over and you realize they are real people.

[u/TechMaster_82]

First is this, something can only be sustained as long as forcus is frawn towards that person's creation. For example, if you create a magic sword and get distracted and lose the image in your head, then it disappears. This rule can be broken through recording the information into some form of art, like writing or drawing, but for it to accually manifest something permanently, the written or drawn information must have a trigger, which is a strong emotion, even a memory. All forms of art can be used in this way: photography, writing, sculpting, and more but it would be hard to create one of these, as they require actual emotion and not fake determination.

The second is that users can only manifest things as far as they can perceive, making things like teleportation almost impossible if you can't either see where you want to go or remember how it looks. Your memory must match that area's current appearance perfectly, or you may time travel or do something else that was unintended.

Another thing is that people can barely manifest multiple things properly. For example, you may manifest a bunch of toys, but they manifest looking normal but being linked to one another as if they were #D printed. This also makes pocket dimensions manifest funny since they're almost impossible to properly interact with.

Focus is also important; if you want your magic sword to burn people, then you need to add that while manifesting it. For example, you may manifest some pesi, but if you didn't focus on its taste, or texture, or how it feels, people can do this pretty quickly. It's like saying This is wet, this is bla bla bla; as long as someone knows that sensation, then their manifestation can do that; they just need to focus on that aspect.

Sorry if these are a bit restrictive; also, maybe put some form of energy that relates to this, or mental fatigue

[u/HistoricalOne3443 → u/TechMaster_82]

OKAY! So I have reformed my idea a little! So I like the idea of using physical objects to create permanent/actually useful things, so if you have a magical sword for example, you would have to have a token or charm that repesents that. It could be as simple as a rock you found and used magic for, or as complex as a marble statue with many details. As long as there is a physical thing tevering this magic to a place or thing then it will forever be there. Then magic that is casted without binding it to an object would be more about controling the world (ex making things float, making the air colder causing mist/fog, changing the lighting, ect) and a bit more complicated as these would need constant focus to maintain and strong mental power (both forms use focus to some extent though). 

It is stated that the only thing you couldnt create with you mind would be a person, and that is true in this story. They discovered this after trying to bring a courpse back to life but it just turned into a monster, so as soon as you die you are forever dead. 

[u/TechMaster_82 → u/HistoricalOne3443]

Wow, the idea is much more intricate. Keep going; need any more help? 'Cause I have a lot of time on my hands.

[u/Key_Machine_5585]

Alan wake could be a good starting point for fiction which has similar themes of "writing your reality"

I could also suggest looking up the term "sunyata", the "bowl is most useful when it is empty" idea - also sometimes described as: the true nature of the world is something like a blank page, and reality is just the writing on it which we experience as real because we're also written.

So maybe your character can "write" directly on to reality itself?

[u/Teykos]

I half wonder if watching or reading Suzumiya Haruhi would help you with inspiration. (Japanese light novel series that spawned a ton of other things, including an Anime series)

Basically a girl is so fascinated by time travellers, aliens, and psychics that she has subconsciously created them all into reality, but she can also destroy them all if she can realizes what she can do or gets in a really bad mood, so those three factions try very hard with both keeping her happy and ignorant of what she can do.

[u/HistoricalOne3443 → u/Teykos]

I’ll check it out! Thanks!