Tag: magical

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Magical World

Shellbell

I write this post sitting in my living room using only the light of the windows since the power is out due to a snowstorm, and I can’t help but think: we live in a pretty magical world. And I don’t mean magic like witches and wizards and the paranormal (though those are definitely cool too!), but just this world. Nor do I mean to say we live in a perfect world. But even still, I think we can still take moments to remember that there is magic around us in so many amazing forms.

I’m inside my house, and though the heat is out and it’s just below freezing outside, I’m safe and warm. I mean, technically if the power’s out for any longer, I can light a fire like our ancestors used to have to, but it’s still an option here. Although I live in the country, I can still easily and quickly travel into nearby cities for whatever I need in relative speed and comfort. A tiny device like my phone or tablet can hold entire libraries worth of books and resources, at my fingertips. Although my phoneline is technically down, I can still contact the outside world using my cell.

Heck, thanks to this modern world, we’re being introduced to new ways to publish, share, and make our mark on the world. I no longer have to slave over handwriting versions of a very limited book, nor do I have to seek out a printer, nor a publisher. You don’t have to know me to buy my book, to find out about it. It exists in a nebulous realm of the electronic world where you can push a button, it will be printed, and someone will get it to you, not even at great expense. Think of all those options we have, how much easier our lives have been made with these conveniences and modern marvels, because while we might barely give them any thought, they really are marvels.

I’m using the last of the juice left on my tablet (already used up my laptop’s very sad battery), and I’m writing something that could be seen by someone miles away, in different countries, just minutes after I post it. Before the invention of the telegraph, the fact that you had to physically get something in front of someone for them to see / hear about it was just the way life was. Now, think how much the world has changed even since the prevalance of smart phone has changed our lives and society forever? News can be shared the moment it happens. People I’ve never actually met can hear about me, my little book, my little life so easily via things like social networking, and then there’s the entire world of possibilities that the internet opens up. 

Indeed, yes, there is a darkside to the speed and connectedness our modern society has and the world we live in. But just right now, I want you to imagine the magic. I want you to look for it. Yes, there are terrible things happening in our world all the time, and sadly, there probably always will be. And we need to try to alleviate suffering and do our best to make that world better. But I also believe that means we need to sometimes step back and look for the magic, look for the joy this world has to offer. Because it’s there too, if you remember to look for it. 

So I’m asking you now: what magic can you see in the world around you right now? I love comments. 🙂 

Thanks for reading. And hey, want more magic? I’m starting a newsletter where each month I’ll share 5 magical things I see in my world, and I invite you to share those too. Come visit me at shellychalmers.com to chat, sign up for the blog or my newsletter, or just share some of the magic of the world.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember: there’s always magic in the world if you look hard enough. 

The Paranormal, Writing

Do You Believe in Magic? : 15 Ways Magic Rules Supreme

S.C. Chalmers

I confess that recently I’ve been focusing a great deal more on my post-apocalyptic writing (if you’re interested in that, check out my other blog: ebfeir.wordpress.com). It very much depends on a mundane and non-magical world, and I’m guessing that between the diaper changes, bottle warmings, and endless Cheerios, I haven’t been feeling magic at all.

So, in celebration of magic – particularly in fiction – and to help remind myself and you why it is I love magic in writing, encompassing the magical, mystical, and fairy dust, here are:

15 Ways Magic Rules Supreme

  1. There is nothing mundane about magic.
  2. We too often lack magic in our real lives, so we definitely need it in our fiction.
  3. Magic is a marvelous problem solver. Not sure how that character did something or arrived? It was magic!
  4. Magic is fun. Magic can be silly, light, dark, and all the shades in between, especially when in so many ways the most literal interpretations of magic can be downright ridiculous.
  5. Magic connects us with our mythological roots and ancestral histories.
  6. Magic taps into ancient beliefs, fears, and ideas about how the world works.
  7. Fairytales – those timeless, moralistic, prolific teaching tools – are encompassed and defined by magic, and playing with the familiar and putting your own twist on it is foreign and familiar at the same time.
  8. Magic can and will lead to the unexpected and adventure for characters and readers alike.
  9. Magic takes us places and creates peoples and places sprung directly from our dreams and nightmares.
  10. Magic can make characters more heroic, sexier, stronger, more of a fantasy.
  11. Magic unleashes the possibilities of fantasies and playfulness in worlds where there are less limits on the possible.
  12. The belief in magic can return us to our childhoods where anything was possible, in real life or otherwise.
  13. Magic can bring new dimensions and possibilities to familiar ideas, like new possibilities for battle scenes, love scenes, struggles, etc.
  14. For a little while at least, while reading or writing the book, we can pretend to be magic, too.
  15. Magic frees our imaginations and dreams from the constraints of reality where we can create and rule worlds where good always wins, and there is always a happy ending.

Have I missed any reasons why magic does and always does reign supreme? Please let me know. Otherwise, I hope you have a magical week, and thanks for reading.