Hard vs soft magic systems - Advantages and disadvantages

 

I've used both hard and soft magic systems, and this article is a summary of my thoughts on the matter as a writer.

To start with, definitions:

A hard magic system is a magic system where the rules of magic are defined. The audience can learn knows what a character can do with their magic, essentially (or you know what they can do). If they can use, say, fire, they will always use fire. Or they may be able to use multiple types of magic, but maybe they know a few fixed spells which do something that is well-defined. They might able to do something under specific conditions (i.e., a type of magic that only works on full moon days).

A soft magic system is the opposite. The rules are less defined, there are no concrete laws that the magic system has to follow, and so on. This is the type of situation where there is little to no explanation on how the magic works.  

Of course, this is a spectrum. You could push a hard magic system to a level where you can calculate the exact power levels (though maybe this would get boring). Or you could have a soft magic system where your character just uses magic of the sort necessary when the situation calls for it with no explanation other than the character being a magic user. You could also have basically every point in between. The balance you want here really depends on the type of story you want to write.

Let's start with hard magic systems, the type I tend to write the most.

Hard magic systems

The biggest advantage to me, here, is that hard magic systems introduce a level of structure to the story. Usually, when you're going for a fantasy setting, you end up throwing some limiters of a real-world setting out of the window. A hard magic system can help remedy this and help maintain some tension in the story.

For example, assume your character is someone who can manipulate memories, but the rest of the story is based in the real world or something analogous to it. By giving your character such a power, you've removed some constraints on them. For example, they might be able to get out of a certain situation (say, if they were stopped for speeding in a vehicle) via memory manipulation. However, by limiting their powers to memory manipulation, you've also limited what they can do significantly. They can't necessarily get out of  physical altercation using it. It works even better if there are limits to what your character can do. Say they can manipulate one person every ten minutes. This would force them to rely on their wits to buy time, or just run away, or avoid using their powers during some confrontations. If the effect wears off within a set time, your character may have to get out of there fast before they're caught.

Basically, letting the audience know (or deduce) what your character can and can't do in advance lets them be more invested in the story because it makes the stakes real. There's tension in the story if your character can't just wave a wand and get out of the situation. There can be a different kind of tension if your reader is internally screaming at your character to do something (say, solving a problem with creative application of their powers, which can only work if said powers are defined already).

This is why some level of hard magic system works best when many or all of your cast can use magic (depending on genre, of course). If you don't define what your characters can and can't do in such a situation, your setting, logically, would be going into a complete meltdown. Another possibility is you could end up with a story with no stakes because it feels like the writer tosses a coin every time they need to figure out the results of a conflict.

Hard magic systems can also be used to force creative problem solving from your characters. This is certainly possibly with a soft magic system, but if the rules are already established and your character works around them, it becomes infinitely more satisfying. It is much easier to create that lightbulb moment when the reader has an understanding of the possibilities.

However, it is also necessary to talk about the disadvantages of a hard magic system. A hard magic system can kill a little bit of the magic and wonder of the setting based on implementation, pushing the feel of the setting from fantasy to somewhat similar to sci-fi (I'm not saying it makes the setting sci-fi, I'm saying it can give your setting a similar feel). That's not necessarily a bad thing though.

Another potential issue is, again, depending on the complexity of your setting, you might need copious amounts of notes. This isn't necessary to start with (I am an incurable pantster myself, but I make up a lot of details as I go and iron it out later in editing), but if you have a lot of characters or a complex setting, it might be necessary to make notes about the what certain characters can and can't do. You might think you can remember all the details (and sometimes you can), but with multiple iterations of characters, it might become confusing really quickly. Besides, readers will notice inconsistencies, especially if they affect the plot in any way. 

Soft magic systems

Let's talk about soft magic systems.

These can be a bit more nebulous, a bit more ill-defined. But there are definite advantages to that, as this same nebulous nature can give your story a more fantasy-like feel. 

This also means soft magic systems can be useful if there are few characters who can use magic, and they appear rarely / use magic rarely. In this kind of situation, it serves two purposes. It helps maintain an air of mystery about the character that uses magic. You can also use a soft magic system to limit your magic user when they appear. Maybe they can't do a particular thing when they appear because, say, the stars are wrong. Whether that works or not depends entirely on the type of story and how closely your POV character knows the magic user (though it is entirely possible to pull this off if your POV character is the magic user). 

You can also shift the stakes from what the magic user will do to whether they will appear / help. Maybe they like to test the other characters. Maybe they're unwilling to interfere unless absolutely necessary. If your magic user's utility is unpredictable, it can make the entire situation unpredictable and therefore interesting.

You can also use a soft magic system in a situation that doesn't fit what was discussed so far, if the stakes in the story are not necessarily related to magic. An example of this would be a situation where the story is more about the relationship between characters and less about battles between magic users. In that case, every single important character could have ill-defined magic powers, but your main focus would be the relationships between characters or their day-to-day hijinks.

When you talk about the disadvantages, well, the biggest disadvantage is that a badly used soft magic system can kill the stakes of a story instantly, as discussed above. Think about it, if you have the type of story where all your characters use magic, how ridiculous would it be if the effectiveness of each party depends entirely on what the writer wants, with no way to predict it in advance?

In conclusion

The important thing to remember is that this is very much a spectrum. Where you want to be depends on the story you want to tell and frankly, what kind of magic system you want to use. 

However, I personally don't really think about this process when designing a setting or coming up with a story idea. What happens happens. Sure, I might tweak it one way or the other depending on the feel of the story and the type of plot I'm going for, but that's about it. 

That might not be how it works for you, but you can figure it out fairly intuitively once you actually start writing. You just have to figure out what works for you.

I hope this helped you gain some understanding about this topic. Please do tell me your thoughts in the comments, and if you have anything to add, please do so.

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Until next time!