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A weekly column from children’s author Simon Rose

Magical stories can feature beings that are able to access the mind of their adversary to determine their deepest fears to learn what really scares them and thus immobilize them at a crucial moment. This may not necessarily immobilize physically, but mentally render someone incapable of any resistance. Sometimes this is only for a limited time, giving the hero precious time to escape and replenish his energy or allowing the villain the chance to slip away to fight another day.

Another common weakness exists in magical powers that are ineffective against a particular thing or in a particular situation. This can be something simple or commonplace, such as water, fire, certain colours and so on.

Another device commonly used in stories is magical books, from which the hero or villain derive their powers. In this case, the power actually come from the spells in the book rather than from within the person’s body, so power can be restricted, if only temporarily, by denying the person access to the books. Of course they may have studied hard to memorize the enchantments, but a story of this type is usually a classic quest tale where the plot revolves around the plan to steal the book or destroy it to finally vanquish the villain.

A weekly column from children’s author Simon Rose

Magical realms have had a place in folklore and legends in cultures around the globe for thousands of years and play a major role in fantasy literature. Sometimes, these are the author’s own wonderfully detailed imagined worlds, complete with a form of government, architecture, currency, natural features, history, myths and legends, flora, fauna and traditions.

Middle Earth and Narnia are two of the best known examples, but there are countless others. And even within these enchanted realms there are other special places, too - areas where magical forces or auras are strongest or where special rituals have to be performed for spells or curses to work properly. Parts of the kingdom where only fairies can go, rivers only certain people can cross, the lake where Arthur first receives Excalibur, enchanted woods, mystical mountains, forbidden forests, caves where monsters or demons dwell and so many more. These fantastic universes are nothing like the real world in which we live, yet still have to be realistic.

An author’s own invented fantasy universe in which magic is commonplace can be inspired by non-fictional beliefs and deeply rooted in the history of mankind’s many cultures. However, even if based on real practices, the effect, strength and rules of the magic are usually what the writer requires for the plot of his or her story. And yet, magic should never be used when it is merely convenient for the writer, to simply solve a tricky problem in the plot or to save the hero’s life. Otherwise, the use of it will lose all credibility.