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Hello, fellow writers! Got any question that you can't find answer from Google or Wikipedia, but you don't think it needs a separate thread for? You came to the right place!

Don't be shy, and just ask away. The nice folks here, writers and non-writers, experts and non-experts, will do their best to help you.

The folder below contains links for special interest threads, mostly at OTC, but also from Yack Fest and Troper Coven.

    Special Interest Threads 

Also take a look at Useful Notes on various topics. They can be pretty useful.

Now, bring on the questions, baby!

edited 11th Apr '18 6:31:51 PM by dRoy

alethiophile Shadowed Philosopher from Ëa Since: Nov, 2009
SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8302: Sep 30th 2013 at 5:59:21 PM

[up]No, I meant the elements that make witches witches. You know like every kaiju has ferocity, fortitude, agility, and power?

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alethiophile Shadowed Philosopher from Ëa Since: Nov, 2009
Shadowed Philosopher
#8303: Sep 30th 2013 at 6:03:05 PM

Magic and femaleness? Actually, the latter isn't even a requirement, per some portrayals.

The word has been used so diversely that it's hard to answer the question. I would intuitively say "female magic-user who has greater focus on prepared effects than spells cast by innate power", but all the parts of that definition have been violated somewhere. Pointy hats are also a plus.

edited 30th Sep '13 6:03:19 PM by alethiophile

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)
ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#8304: Sep 30th 2013 at 6:11:08 PM

Indeed, usages seem to vary to a similar degree to usages of "wizard": a "witch" may be a spellcaster that specialises in curses, or a female magic-user that specialises in the services that a rural village is likely to want, or a practitioner of Wicca (I think), or a member of a specific non-human species, or simply be the feminine of "wizard", etc. As with "wizard", I'm not sure that there are many fundamental elements any more, save — perhaps — an association with magic.

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SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8305: Sep 30th 2013 at 6:19:29 PM

What about good actions; like kindness, honesty, perseverance, etc . .

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CrystalGlacia from at least we're not detroit (Living Relic)
#8306: Sep 30th 2013 at 6:41:16 PM

Honestly, when I hear the word 'witch', I think of evil women and pointy hat-black magic-Hansel And Gretel-type witches who exist solely to cause pain, or simply female magic-users.

In a worldbuilding context, it makes absolutely no sense to me to associate any group of people with specific personality traits or qualities. Sure, there's nothing wrong with having your witches value certain things, but they're not all going to exhibit them.

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
greedling Since: Feb, 2010
#8307: Sep 30th 2013 at 6:48:45 PM

Witches are (often female) (usually human) beings who can use (usually western/European-flavoured) magic and that's... it. It's not a very specific term. Witches can but don't have to be kind or honest or persevering. Witches can but don't have to be evil, exaggeratedly ugly, cackling caricatures. If this is still your LWA-notfanfic then you shouldn't be able to fit them all to a few characterisation tropes anyway, since with a school's worth of people you should have a diverse cast.

You will not go to space today.
SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8308: Sep 30th 2013 at 7:02:47 PM

I get what you're saying, I do plan to have a diverse cast, I just trying to make a mythology to go with the story.

Feel free to visit my yokai blog.
greedling Since: Feb, 2010
#8309: Sep 30th 2013 at 7:10:57 PM

Aren't you making up your own magic system? Folklore related to witches is tied to the sorts of magic people believed they could use. The actual folklore related to them is going to be of limited use to you. Instead of the cultural view of witches you should look at the history of whatever magic systems you're ripping from for your magic system.

edited 30th Sep '13 7:12:26 PM by greedling

You will not go to space today.
SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8310: Sep 30th 2013 at 7:11:55 PM

Well yes, I am trying to make my own magic system, it's a work in progress.

Feel free to visit my yokai blog.
greedling Since: Feb, 2010
#8311: Sep 30th 2013 at 7:17:23 PM

...the point wasn't answer the question, that was directly related to what I said after. If you're not using historical folklore as your base for your magic system, it doesn't work to use tropes associated with witches from that source either. Rather than looking at witches you should look at the magic system you're inventing, because you're not using a witch as it exists, you're making practitioners of a made-up magic system and calling them witches.

You will not go to space today.
SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8312: Sep 30th 2013 at 7:48:11 PM

[up]Okay, I'm making my own system of magic. I understand. I'm just doing a little research is all.

edited 30th Sep '13 7:48:40 PM by SPDUDE48

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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8313: Sep 30th 2013 at 8:09:50 PM

Thematically, the only reason for calling them Witches is to emphasize their femininity. So you should decide how you feel about "female" magic, and how that might fit into your story.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8314: Sep 30th 2013 at 8:13:07 PM

You know what's funny? I was actually doing research, and it turns out there is such a thing as a male witch..

edited 30th Sep '13 8:13:30 PM by SPDUDE48

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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8315: Sep 30th 2013 at 8:20:19 PM

And so? Men can have a feminine side as well, you know.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
SPDUDE48 Michael G. Since: Apr, 2011
Michael G.
#8316: Sep 30th 2013 at 8:23:56 PM

I'm fully aware of that, and I think it's pretty interesting actually.

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edgewalker22 Lawful neutral Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Lawful neutral
#8317: Oct 1st 2013 at 2:29:16 AM

Well, during the Salem witch trials men were accused as "witches" and referred to as such. Of course, these were the same people who tried to bring back thee/thou/thy and did it wrong (admittedly, I think this all predated Johnson's English Dictionary or any other formal codification of the language so blah) so I wouldn't exactly trust their usage.

I always preferred "warlock" as the male counterpart to "witch," but that's because of the meanings I've heard attributed to the words- "witch" is "one who knows" while "warlock" is "liar," ...Or So I Heard. I thought it was a nice yin-yang contrasty thing going on there.

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#8318: Oct 1st 2013 at 8:43:37 AM

Yeah, modern day Wiccans use warlock to mean "oathbreaker," a pretty severe insult. The etymology of the word is actually a little unclear, so that might not technically be what it means, but it's hard to tell.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#8319: Oct 1st 2013 at 8:59:31 AM

witch being female-only really depends on the universe though, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Buffy made it pretty gender neutral.

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demarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8320: Oct 1st 2013 at 10:44:59 AM

Various people deliberately subvert the trope, but the general norm is that the term "witch" is associated with women and symbolically represents the "feminine" aspect of human nature. If your work doesn't concern itself with gender issues at all, why use the term? Just call everyone a "magic user" regardless.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
greedling Since: Feb, 2010
#8321: Oct 1st 2013 at 11:07:05 AM

Anthropologists use it in a gender-neutral way (though the definition's a little more specific than "generic magic-user") and Wikipedia claims

The Malleus Maleficarum, (Latin for "Hammer of The Witches) was an infamous witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. This book was not given the official Imprimatur of the Catholic Church, which would have made it approved by church authorities, but was used by the Inquisition nevertheless.

so it's more like witchcraft is a thing and it tends to be women who practice it, hence female witches. That makes male witches rare but not impossible, or at least the term doesn't by default exclude males nor does the magic system. (So this was basically a book that helps select people to kill so they didn't exactly have an academic interest in folklore but they also codified a lot of other things so if you use any of that, then. Well. The main important thing is that the concept of male witches has existed in culture for a long enough time that you're not just making something up if you use one.) If you've got a specific magic system that follows witchcraft tropes it's not that weird to call practitioners witches. Most of the terms for magic-users (sorcerer, mage, witch, wizard, etc) are used in a generic enough way that you can just choose what sounds prettiest, with only vague connotations with whatever tropes.

edited 1st Oct '13 11:08:55 AM by greedling

You will not go to space today.
ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#8322: Oct 1st 2013 at 9:19:59 PM

Okay, strange question.

We have this group of kids (2 or 3 13-15-ish-year-old kids) who are kidnapping people.

So they successfully kidnap (and later murder) a grown man. Now he was no weakling, and he did have experience fighting but it was against things that were very animal-like and had no experience fighting people at all.

Their next victim is a teenage girl (17-ish). Pretty average stature, pretty strong, maybe a casual athlete? However any training or "programming" she has had was definitely against people and to be very suspicious of people.

Will my readers believe that the girl got away because she was more aware of her surroundings, more wary of children, and caught on to what was going on much earlier than the man?

MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#8323: Oct 1st 2013 at 9:39:55 PM

Probably, so long as you write it right. I mean, if the group of kids under estimated her, that also makes sense.

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ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#8324: Oct 1st 2013 at 9:51:23 PM

Well we don't actually see this happen in the story. None of this is explained the reader kind of has to put this part together, but I'm just wondering if it makes sense.

alethiophile Shadowed Philosopher from Ëa Since: Nov, 2009
Shadowed Philosopher
#8325: Oct 1st 2013 at 10:28:42 PM

If you're worried about whether the reader will get it, that's a matter of execution. If you want to make it explicit, then write the scene.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

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