Bump in the Night - Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Art and science fiction (or even fantasy) writing are not often mentioned in the same sentence, which is a shame. Even medieval monks knew that when stories and pictures are combined, they can become something magical, intriguing, and alive. Today I am going to explore some of the most famous combinations of art and science fiction or fantasy, and suggest ways that you artist-writers out there (I know I’m not the only one!) can combine your passions.

To me, one of the most successful fusions of sci-fi/fantasy and art is the young adult novel Abarat by Clive Barker. While Barker’s story of an ordinary Minnesota girl transported to a world of 25 islands (Hours) stuck in time is quite stimulating, it is his colorful, surrealist oil paintings that make it remarkable. According to his website (thebooksofabarat.com), Barker spent four years on over 300 paintings before ever putting pencil to paper, more than 100 of which can be found in Abarat (which is the first book of a series). He was inspired by imagery in non-traditional formats, including the French Canadian Cirque de Soleil circus. That means that if you want to follow in his footsteps, you have to keep an eye open for intriguing images wherever you go, and be prepared to draw or paint without knowing all the details of a world beforehand.

Another illustrator of sci-fi/fantasy that I have always admired is Mary GrandPré, the artist behind the pictures in the Harry Potter books. According to an article by Scholastic, (http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=5825), she has been drawing when she was five, and though she began by copying the works of others, she quickly learned that the most effective method was to draw the familiar, everyday things around her (in fact, she used herself as a starting point for the novels’ illustrations of Harry!) “’That’s what I tell kids to do,’ GrandPré said. ‘I tell them to draw what’s around them, and keep little notebooks and sketches. Draw whatever you see. It doesn’t have to be anything big or beautiful.’” She also advises young illustrators to be free in what they draw and enjoy the process – it is not as much fun if you’re following someone else’s vision, especially when you are drawing sci-fi/fantasy, which is supposed to center around your own imagination.

This week, create a drawing or a short piece of writing (whichever appeals to you most as a starting point). Then translate it across materials – describe your illustration in a story or paint or draw a scene from your writing.

Aliens are perhaps unique among sci-fi/fantasy creatures for being almost as plausible as you or I. Thirty-four percent of Americans believe that UFOs are real – and 1 in 7 believes they have seen one with their own eyes. Here are the three most popular categories of aliens in sci-fi/fantasy; whether or not they exist beyond novels and movies is for you to decide.

Type 1: The Unidentified Flying Object
Often the result of a suspected government cover-up, this is the kind of alien that people in the real world claim to see most often. Strange objects have been spotted in the skis since ancient times, usually described as angels or supernatural omens by civilizations before the invention of the telescope. UFOs became popular in the modern era during WWII with rumors of European “ghost rockets.” While this kind of alien has many possible applications in fiction, it unusually morphs into one of the following two categories as a story progresses.

Type 2: The Green Bobblehead
The term “little green men” (originally, somewhat ironically, used to describe Martians) became popular during the 1950s, after two rural Kentucky men described an encounter with such a being. With their smooth, grey-green skin and oversized eyes and ears, no human can resist the charm of a green bobblehead (or “grey,” in believers’ circles). E.T. is perhaps the most famous example of this kind of alien, though specimens abound in everything from Indiana Jones to Men in Black. More likely to be friendly to humans than UFOs or AIs.

Type 3: The Apocalyptic Invader
The most feared alien incarnation, the apocalyptic invader is also the most common in popular fiction. Though AIs can take many forms – from plant-like (think “Little Shop of Horrors”) to reptilian to humanoid – they usually share some basic traits. Many times, they want to colonize our world for their own uses (either to replace a home planet that has run out of natural resources or as a weapons base for attacking other species), pack substantial firepower, and possess supernatural abilities like above-human strength and the capacity to read minds. Occasionally, however, an AI is deceptively small – something like a deadly bacteria or nanobot.

Reading assignment for the week: War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells. Just make sure to remember that aliens aren’t really attacking the earth.

Note: Since I couldn’t post at all last week, I am posting twice this week to make up for my truancy. The post beneath this one revisits my “Ten Rules of Magic” to respond to the comments that some of you have made.

A few weeks ago, I challenged you – and myself – to get involved in NaNoWriMo. In that spirit, I bring you the first two pages of the novel I am currently working on. To share your writing or discuss your progress with others, check out this thread on the Teen Ink Bulletin Board: http://www.teenink.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22871 (I promise to make a thread more specific to sci-fi/fantasy once my bulletin board registration gets approved!). And now, an excerpt from The Twilightlands…

“Apprentices up! Come on, let’s go. Move it!”
Nate Varoski groaned and rolled over in his bunk. It felt like only minutes had passed since he had fallen asleep. Surely it couldn’t be six o’clock already? He cracked open an eye, squinting at the silver dial on his nightstand. The short blue hand pointed to the three.
“What’s going on, Marti?” he asked the boy in the bed next to his.
“The light degree is off again. There are Nightsiders throwing fits in the street!” The apprentice’s voice held an edge of anticipation. “Maybe we’ll finally get to see some action!”
“That’s enough!” barked the apprentice Overseer. “Stop chattering like a bunch of old women and get dressed!”
Nate reluctantly peeled off his sleeping shirt and pulled a midnight blue training tunic out of the chest at the foot of his cot. Like shadows in the night, fleet and sure and light. The nightingale motto drifted through his sluggish thoughts. “The light degree is off again?” he whispered, once he was sure the Overseer couldn’t hear.
“That’s right.” Marti’s tan skin flushed pink with excitement. “Check your wristwatch.”
With a hurried glance towards the Overseer, Nate reached into the bottom of his chest and retrieved the watch. Nightingale apprentices were supposed to wear their Light Sensitive Wristwatches, or LSWs, at all times, but Nate had begun to take his off after-hours once the light degree had started to rise. It was almost impossible to sleep when an omen of impending doom kept ticking in your ear.
Nate felt an uneasy shiver crawl up his back as he snapped the band around his wrist. His watch was a near replica of the clock on his nightstand, with one obvious difference. In addition to the two blue hands that measured Standard Time was a small, black hand that now hovered near the seven. No, wait - seven? He rubbed his eyes sleepily. When he looked back down, the LSW had begun to beep softly, the face of the dial pulsing with an intentionally alarming crimson light.
“That can’t be right. Marti, is your LSW registering a –“
“Seven?” The other boy nodded. “Yep. It’s not a malfunction.”
Nate swore under his breath and hurried to fasten his sandals. He had never heard of it being so light on the Nightside before. The regular nightingales must be overwhelmed.
“All right boys, time to go! Hope you’re dressed, or the Marshal won’t be amused.”
The old nightingale pushed open the barrack doors and led the disheveled apprentice Flock outside. Nate blinked as the too-light air prickled against the bare skin of his arms and blurred the edges of his vision. The sky was an unhealthy bluish-grey - far from the ideal midnight black. His wings bristled as his dark blue feathers pulled in tightly around his body like a protective cocoon. Nightingales did better than most Nightsiders in semi-darkness, but even their thick copper skin would break into a painful rash after too long of an exposure.
The meeting hall was only a few yards from the apprentice dormitory, but it felt more like miles to the young nightingales who stumbled thankfully into the darkened room. Four small torches, one at each corner of the hall, cast shadows on rows of long wooden benches. Although nightingales possessed acute night vision, they still required a trace of light to focus their eyes. Fire, like the moon and the stars, was one of the few forms of luminosity Nightsiders could tolerate.
“Take a seat,” bellowed the Overseer. “The Marshal is on his way.” A ripple of disgruntled muttering swept through the Flock. Slowly, the nightingales separated into groups of three or four to discuss the night’s events.
Nate and Marti sat down next to a cluster of apprentices huddled near the podium. A slim nightingale girl cast a wary eye in their direction, then moved over to allow them into the group. “Hello Nate. Lovely time to be dragged out of bed, don’t you think?”
“They’d better have a good reason why the regular night’ngales couldn’t handle it,” grumbled an apprentice from one of the senior Flocks.
“I heard there was a riot down on Oleander,” said Marti, a glint in his pale blue eyes.
“Oh, nonsense. You just like making up stories.” The apprentice girl glared at Marti, who stuck his tongue out in reply.
“It’s worse than I ever thought I’d see it, Kira,” Nate whispered. “My skin started burning just on the walk over here. Imagine what the more light sensitive Nightsiders must be going through.”
“That’s why it’s our job to take care of ‘em.” Marti’s chest swelled with pride. “Like shadows in the night, er…something something light.”
“You can’t even get the words to our motto right,” said Kira. “I doubt very much that you could take care of anyone.”
“It’s all those damn Dawnies’ fault,” huffed the older apprentice. “That’s what my pa says. Do away with the Dawnies and we’d have all the darkness we could ever want.”
“Quiet down!” roared the Overseer. “I don’t want the Marshal to think I’m raising Flocks of crows.”
“You don’t need to worry,” Nate muttered. An uneasy hush was already beginning to fall over the meeting hall, a silence that rode on the memories of snapped belt buckles or the damp smack of wood on flesh. Or faces pushed in the mud at two in the morning. Nate’s hands clenched unconsciously as he watched the Marshal’s shiny brown loafers strike a measured path towards the podium.
“Good evening, apprentices.” The jagged scar on the Marshal’s left cheek coiled and jumped like a spring when he spoke. Was it weariness that added an extra rasping note to his voice, or merely impatience? “I’m sure you’re wondering why you’ve been woken up at this hour. Although, seeing the present condition outside and knowing how apprentices gossip, I’m sure many of you already have some idea.”
A group of young nightingales at the back of the hall chuckled uneasily. The Marshal glared at the crowd, his strict, emotionless gaze instantly smothering the hint of nervous laughter.
“The Nightside has become steadily lighter over the past few months,” he continued, clearing his throat, “but today, for the first time, we are officially in a state of emergency. Those of you who actually wear your LSWs –“ his watery grey eyes met Nate’s blue ones, and he gave the boy a tiny, malicious grin – “know the light degree is at a level more often seen in the Twilightlands. Nightsiders all across the city are suffering, and panicking as a result. Earlier today there was a riot downtown, near Oleander Street. Several nightingales were injured while trying to hold back the crowd.”
“I told you so,” whispered Marti.
“Be quiet, Stupid!” hissed Kira, glancing towards the ruddy faced Overseer.
“I have decided to discharge you before things get too far out of hand,” said the Marshal. “Go back to your homes and calm down your families. Tell them whatever it is they need to hear. This situation will be dealt with,” he pounded his fist against the podium for emphasis, “but we cannot handle widespread panic among our own civilians.”
There was a moment of silence, and then the hall burst into discord.

That’s all for now. I hope to have a website soon with a synopsis, etc. so stay tuned…

Two weeks ago, I posted a list of what I thought were the ten most important rules governing magic in fantasy. When I wrote them, I was well aware that they (as any “top ten” list) might spark some debate – and I’m glad I was right. Here are some of the problems you identified and how I would address them:

You can’t take the magic out of most fantasy stories and expect to be left with the same story. I agree completely, and I wasn’t meaning to imply that magic should be inserted into a plot as an “after thought” to make it more interesting. Rule #1 was more than anything a reaction to the stories I have read where the plot was completely devoid of reality – characters were inconsistent, events jumped around and did not follow logically from one another, massive hurdles were overcome in a matter of minutes – and the author relied on deux ex machina conventions of magic to hold things together. If you removed the magic from, say, Sabriel, you wouldn’t have the same story, but you would still have a logical plot arch: girl is disrupted from peaceful life by disaster, girl must develop dormant talents to challenge seemingly impossible odds, girl discovers new, exciting places and makes new friends, girl finds a way to defeat evil, etc. Now, I would be very interested in reading a story where magic is integral to this kind of very basic story structure – the harder a rule is to break (and I agree that many of my original rules allow plenty of room for exceptions), the more interesting the story when it is broken successfully.

Protagonists or antagonists can go without magic as long as they have something equally powerful at their disposal. Agreed, but going back to my previous point, some authors make magic so powerful that there is nothing else in their fantasy world that can logically counter it. I personally believe that magic in every fantasy story should involve a price or weakness that characters can exploit, but be careful of writing yourself into a corner where a character just “happens” to discover this weakness without it being hinted at previously.

Magic does not always have to be morally neutral. This rule sprang from a personal philosophical preference more than anything else. Nothing in the real world is absolutely good or evil. Even things like (to take an extreme example) illicit drugs can be used in some cases to treat medical illnesses, and sweetness can be cloying if you get too much of it at once. So what is a moral absolute, really? By making magic purely good or evil, you are destroying this nuance. There are some interesting moral implications in a story where magic only corrupts and people still choose to use it, but in my opinion it is far more interesting when magic causes both ill and good effects (for example, a character must kill an innocent to save their companion through magic).

Any rule can be broken for the better with enough creativity. This week, write a story that violates one or more of my original rules.

Light and Darkness
By Genevieve Marie Noling

Chapter 1

It was dark outside, despite the time, and Leaf Olson couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the cold, though that probably had something to do with it. The eerie silence that was always left when her sister wasn’t there also probably had something to do with it, however, even though she didn’t like to admit it, it was kinda freaking her out. It probably had more to do with the fact that her stomach was growling so ferociously, due to her not eating dinner, that she was sure that there was a lion in it. But that was just plain ridicules, for how could she swallow a lion? She’d have to cut it up to eat it, but then it wouldn’t be able to say anything! Sighing, she sat up, turned on the light, and, blinking tiredly at the sudden brightness, she got up and went downstairs for a midnight snack, dragging her feet as she walked.
Leaf was a very beautiful girl (even with her hair messed up and wearing her blue polka dotted PJ’s), who basically looked good in everything, but her favorite color was blue. She had a different shirt with a different shade of blue for all 365 days of the year, and she had dyed her hair to match. She always wore the same type of jeans during the day, and at night wore one of 180 pajama outfits, all in different shades of blue as well.
To match these outrageous dressing habits was Leaf’s mother, Kasha. Only difference was that Kasha wore………pink. Leaf hated pink. She hated it more than anything else. Likewise, Kasha hated blue. They were always bickering about which color was better, and dragging Leaf’s dad, Train, and twin brothers, Roy and Ricky (who’s real name is Ricardo), into the brawl. The only annoying (and slightly amusing) thing was, they liked to battle it out. They enjoyed shouting at each other, calling each other names, dragging the rest of the family into the fight. They considered it to be a game. They never went so far as to get violent, but they never let the fight get boring either. They would try to confuse the other by using long and complicated words and sentences. However, the only conclusion they ever managed to make was that they would have to continue the fight some other time. Then the whole process would start all over again.
Leaf yawned widely as she opened the fridge and got out the milk. Still yawning, she took out a cup and poured herself a drink. Holding it in her hands, she stared tiredly at the floor a few feet in front of her, not really seeing it. Finally, she drained her cup, put it in the sink, and walked back upstairs to bed. The last thing she saw before sleep took hold of her was the little dragon figure on her bedside table as it looked straight at her.
****************************************
“Morning mom, morning dad, morning Cat.” Said Leaf tiredly the next morning.
“Morning Leaf!”
“Morning honey.”
“Good morning, Leaf.”
“Well, I hope I do well on all these tests today. I’ve got a test on every subject, all in one day.” Said Leaf unconcernedly. “If I don’t ace all of them I might not go on to the next grade.”
“I know! It’s the same for me!” cried Leaf’s little sister, Cat (her real name was Catalia, but everybody called her Cat for short), piteously.
“ Well, they don’t call it Test Day for nothing, do they?” laughed their mother.
“Yeah, but all in one day?” asked Leaf before her sister could say anything. Then, as her dad opened his mouth, “I don’t really care either way, ‘cause I’ve been studying for weeks, and I’m fairly confident on getting all the answers right. Besides, who can worry about tests at 5:30 in the morning on a Monday? Hey, what’s the date?”
“It’s October 27, 2005. Oh, what are you doing? Heeeey!!!” said Cat, as she saw that Leaf was looking over her notes. “You said that you weren’t worried about the tests. If that were true then why are you looking over your notes?”
“It can’t hurt to have another peek while I can. Anyway, we’d better go. Come on Cat!” Leaf picked her backpack up and threw it over her shoulder. With a last, longing look upstairs toward her bedroom, she walked out the door, not waiting for her sister, who was putting her shoes on.
“You know the least you could do is wait for me.” Said Cat unhappily once she had caught up with Leaf at the bus stop.
“Sorry, I just want to get today over with, it’s not your fault. Really, I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
“I guess. But that’s a week worth of Fanta from the school vending machine.”
“Alright, alright!” Leaf threw her hands up in defeat. “By the way, did you study at all?” she asked innocently. Leaf wasn’t going down so easily.
“Ugh! Can I borrow you – “
“No.”
“You won’t even hear me out!”
“I don’t need to hear you out. There’s no excuse for not studying. If you fail all your tests, that’s not my problem. But….” Lily looked slyly out of the corner of her eye at her sister.
“But?” Cat asked hopefully.
“But, if you were to do me a favor, then I might find that my notes slip, right into the hands of somebody right next to me.” Leaf voiced her words carefully. She knew how to handle her sister, and that was likewise for the both of them. They might not look even remotely alike, but they were twins, and knew everything about one another. Leaf was wearing a light blue/indigo shirt which she called “Blue Everon”, a pair of regular old jeans, and had dyed her hair the same shade of blue as her shirt. Cat was wearing a checkered pink and black skirt(it was only pink because she couldn’t find it in any other color), a punk-style top, and her silver chain belt had skulls on it. She had nine different earrings on each ear, two on her belly button, and one on each of her eyebrows and her tongue. Her pure black hair had red streaks in it, and she had a tattoo with a skull with black wings, and the words “if you only knew what I did to your boyfriend last night” right underneath it.
Leaf watched her sister carefully. She knew what was coming next, she was just having fun watching her sister puzzle out whether or not to do as she had asked.
Finally, “Alright, what do you want me to do?”
“I want you to write this report for me. That’s all.” Leaf smiled serenely at her sister.
“Fine. But I had better ace all of the tests, or I’m going to make sure that you get an F on this report. Got it?”
“Sure as rain. Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Said Catalia, just as the bus pulled to a stop to pick them up.
****************************************
“Ugh! I can’t believe we had an English test, math test, literature test, creative writing test, and a P.E. test one after another without a break!” moaned Cat as she made herself fall onto the bed that she and her sister shared.
It was a water bed, and luckily, too, thought Cat, watching her sister plop her school bag onto the desk across the room and begin pulling out her assorted things. Cat’s eyes were drawn to the little statue of a dragon that Leaf had had for as long as she could remember. There was something strange about that dragon that made Cat curious. But Leaf didn’t talk that much about it, so Catalia didn’t either.
But there really is something strange about that figurine, she thought wearily, and not for the first time either. Nor would it be the last, it turns out.
“Hey, by the way, how did you manage to finish the literature test in five minutes? Not to mention the English test that took you all of two seconds!” Cat’s mind was still partially on the dragon figurine, but she tried her best to pull it away from that.
“What, were you timing me, or something? Anyway, all I did was study, that’s all, nothing more and nothing less. It’s as simple as that. Now, where did I put it? Aha! Here it is!”
“What is it you were looking for?” Cat sat up, trying to get a better look at whatever it was Leaf was holding. It was a velvet purple bag, with a pale blue silk in lining. It looked expensive.
“I was looking for - this.” Leaf pulled something out of the bag and handed it to her sister.
“It’s just a regular old crystal.” Said Cat, puzzled.
“But look at its shape!” Leaf said excitedly.
Cat looked closer at the crystal. It was in the shape of a dragon was looking at its reflection in a pool of some kind.
“Well, I guess a dragon needs a companion, right? Here you go, little guy.” Catalia put the crystal dragon next to the other dragon and regarded them critically.
“Hey, you do realize that it’s your turn to set the table, right? Shouldn’t you get going on that now?” Leaf looked up at Catalia from her seat at the desk.
“Crap, I was hoping you would forget, and I could blame it on you. Then I wouldn’t have to do it.”
“Better get crackin’ to it or mom’ll be pissed.” Said Leaf idly.
“Good point. Hey can you come with me? It’ll go faster with someone to talk to.”
“Alright, fine. I was actually going down there anyway so I could get something to drink, so I suppose it won’t hurt to stay down there a bit longer than I intended.” Leaf got up and made her way to the door.
“Well, are you coming or not?” Leaf noticed that Cat hadn’t moved, but instead was staring at Leaf’s dragons as though she had never seen anything quite like them. “Come on, you.” Leaf grabbed her sister’s arm and dragged her downstairs, where they talked about this and that, though the talk was half-hearted, and not very interesting.
****************************************
“Hi mom. Hi dad.” Chorused the two without trying. It was twelve o’clock and the girls had just woken up…and were still tired.
“Hey sweeties.” Said their mom quietly.
“Hey, so the two of you finally woke up, huh? Did you sleep well enough? Cause you still look like you could use some sleep!” said their dad, laughing.
“Ugh.” Said Catalia.
“Ugh.” Agreed Leaf.
They looked at their father and said in unison, “Don’t remind us, dad!”
“Remind you of what?”
“The fact that we’re dog tired and – “ started Cat.
“That we have to go meet our friends somewhere.” Finished Leaf, sitting down next to Cat.
“Well, you guys seem to be in sync this morning. And when I say that, I mean more than usual.” Said their mom, laughing quietly.
“Indeed.” Agreed their father.
The two sisters looked at each other, then looked back at their parents. Finally they looked down at their plates full of pancakes and silently started eating.
Later that day, the two girls said goodbye to their parents, and left for the mall. They met up with their friends outside Old Navy and went inside to completely waste their allowances on clothes and accessories. When the two sisters had said goodbye to their friends, they headed straight for home and collapsed on their shared water bed. They were instantly asleep.
Quietly, two crystalline shapes made their way over to the bed to gaze down upon the girls, particularly Leaf.
“She’s so beautiful when she’s asleep.” Sighed the new dragon the Leaf had just bought. Her name was Crystal.
“Isn’t she?” agreed the other dragon, whose name was David. “But however much I may want to stare at her for an eternity like this, we have jobs to do.”
“Alright.” Muttered Crystal.
They cleaned the mess the girls had made, pulled the comforter that was under the girls up to their chins, fluffed their pillows, opened the window, and then returned to their spot in the shadows of Leaf’s desk, and watched Leaf quietly as she slept.

Magic is ubiquitous in fantasy – much like advanced technology in science fiction – and for good reason. Spells and potions can add intrigue and complexity to an otherwise everyday narrative. When they are used improperly, however, they can destroy reader credibility, erase drama and suspense, and punch holes in your plot. Want to wield magic like a pro? Masterful sorcery begins with these ten simple rules (most apply to technology too, sci-fi writers):

10. When the good guys have magic, the antagonists must have it, too. Conflicts are not exciting if they are one-sided or if the outcome already seems determined. Whatever skills you give to your protagonists must therefore be countered by equal (if different) abilities in your villains.

9. Magic, like any other force of nature, must follow consistent rules. Decide how magic operates in your world, including its limitations, before you start writing. Every violation will be just as startling to your readers as a sudden inversion of the laws of gravity in realistic fiction.

8. Magic takes practice. Could you ride a bike or do calculus perfectly the first time you tried? Probably not. The same is true of magic – to do it well takes practice, and the first few attempts will most likely end in disaster for your characters.

7. Magical skills should not appear all of the sudden, just when a character needs them. The technical term for this is “deus ex machina,” or “God from a machine,” and it is among the worst violations of rules eight and nine. If you find yourself breaking this rule, you must go back and at least hint at where such abilities might have come from.

6. Magic must come from somewhere, even if its origins are unknown to the characters. In Harry Potter magic was inherited, in some stories it comes from Gods or aliens or another dimension or natural materials (similar to radioactivity), but it should never just exist without any explanation (even if you don’t include that explanation in the actual narrative).

5. Magic is not inherently good or evil. This is perhaps the most contended of these ten rules (the idea of “black” or “white” magic is fairly common, after all), and the one for which there is the greatest possibility of acceptable exception. BUT in most cases, it should be the nature of your characters that determines whether their magic is “good” or “evil,” not some property of the magic itself (or magic should run a spectrum from good to evil that all characters can access).

4. Every spell comes with a price. If your characters fought hand to hand, you would not expect them to escape without (at least) a few bruises. The same must be true for magic, whether those “bruises” manifest themselves as physical exhaustion, emotional corruption, or unintended consequences.

3. Magic should never make a character invincible. The easiest way to draw all of the suspense out of your story in a second is to violate this rule. Now, you can make a character close to invincible (e.g. Dr. Manhattan), as long as you factor in all the mental and physical implications that brings.

2. If a scene or story line would read better without magic – if it would be clearer, cleaner, or more interesting – take the magic out. And:

1. The story must still work if you remove every trace of magic from the plot. These two points really go together. Magic should never be more than the “spice” of a story on the “meat” of things like plot, setting, action, character, and moral dilemmas. When so many fantasy stories have magic, it takes more than a pinch of fairy dust to make yours stand out.

Happy writing!