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I kind of tend to follow @deeprun‘s approach to magic – while I absolutely love a good story with a tasteful and fantastical magic system, I also love when magic doesn’t serves as the “deus ex machina” of every conflict. If ordinary old people(granted, smart people) could discover that light has velocity , or could look at a problem and derive the quadratic equation centuries ago, I think in a fantasy world the same thing can happen. Just because something doesn’t exactly follow the laws of physics that explain our own world doesn’t mean it can’t be beaten by a common or even mundane thing. (Newton theorized gravity from a falling apple. How more mundane can you get? Doppler discovered the effect so aptly named after himself to explain the colors of binary stars. A mundane thing used for a very non-mundane outcome.)

Long story short – while magic is fantastic, it must be used in small doses so the reader doesn’t become desensitized to it and also so it doesn’t feel like the “magic card” is being pulled out every time the MC’s hand is in trouble. Count your cards, and strive to win, not to gamble.

As for the actual writing of magic in fantasy – frankly, I love it. In this world, magic is obviously not something to be tampered with. (Probably because it’s not magic.) We were not told by our Creator to command the seas or to raise fire from nothingness. In fantasy, however, that is not always the case. Then you might separate magic into two different categories – the ordained and the un-ordained. “Ordained” magic is your typical “good” magic – something that doesn’t have it’s roots in evil, but in good. “Un-ordained” magic is the exact opposite – magic that is drawn from an evil source. There’s a big differentiation to be made when writing both types, and if you don’t make it you’re bound to confuse not only yourself but you readers as well.

I think both can be incorporated in Christian fantasy, if done well. Typically when I write magic, I use the “ordained” model but instead of adding in a “black magic” alternative, I use the perversion of the ordained magic to add in what I consider a stronger theme – a good tool used for evil. Having ‘white magic’ and ‘black magic’ can be effective in some circumstances, but only when done well. It’s also just less enjoyable and slightly less complex, in my opinion. Having a clearly defined good/bad side is useful, but must be done well or can come off as very cliche. The perversion of ordained magic is slightly more to my liking because it adds in the human element – sin nature, and the fact that even if God gives us something amazing and good, we can still ruin it.

Un-ordained magic is slightly different, but can be used in the same way. I like to use it in more dystopian-like fantasy worlds, or dystopians that don’t appear to be dystopian. It’s very interesting to have an un-ordained magic system that isn’t viewed as un-ordained by the characters, and then explore exactly why it is un-ordained and have the character work through that themselves.

Overall, magic is cool. But only if used right.