Do You Believe in Magic?
Everyone believes in magic of some kind, in my experience. I don’t mean the ingenious sleight of hand, but the effect of something that cannot be quantified, or cannot be detected with the five senses.
The Magic Scale
Magic in stories ranges from Sleeping Beauty to Chucky. It stretches from the good fairies bestowing blessings on the princess all the way to the horror genre. It comes in a variety of flavours from sweet to sour. So how does a writer decide what to put in the magical world she or he is building?
Why Handling Magic is A Risky Business
Too dark, and cozy paranormal mystery (think Miss Marple with magic) becomes dark fantasy; darker still, and it moves into occult and horror. By the same token, horror fans will be disappointed by good fairies and joyful Easter Bunnies. This delicate management is the challenge facing any writer of supernatural or paranormal fiction.
On a more serious note, to many, magic is an article of faith. It’s a feature of Wicca and, on a broader scale, of Paganism, religions unofficially recognised in several countries. Of course, a writer wants to entertain without causing offence.
For example, here in the UK, on dark moons, (Kali moons, moonless nights), and at Halloween, people gather in isolated or rural spots to cast spells. They may mix potions, for example, for love or to harm. Even if reduced to purely psychological effects, magic is very real to these practitioners. In some cultures, there are built-in practices of protection against harmful enchantments.
Magic during centuries past has had its lot thrown in with superstition, ignorance, evil and fraud. In short, it’s had a rocky road, and prejudices take time to be soothed away.
A Rose By Any Other Name
On the other hand, magic is also seen as something good, wondrous, extraordinary.
‘It was a magical event.’
‘There was something in the air that evening.’
‘Our eyes met. A magic moment.’
With all the fairy lights and the decorations, the hall looked magical.’
‘As I stood by the waterfall, a rainbow formed. It was magic.’
What do we mean when we say these things? That something that cannot be measured or perceived by touch, taste, smell, hearing or sight was present. Maybe it was something that helped events fall into place, so we were at the perfect place at the perfect time to have a life-changing experience.
You might call it synchronicity, serendipity, or the power of positivity. Let me give you an example.
The Aquarium
I like to have a DVD of a fireplace playing on my TV. Even in summer. But one day, it was so hot that I decide to change it for one of an aquarium of tropical fish. This was an exceptionally rare occurrence.
That day, an engineer came to keep an appointment to do a structural check on the building. I invited him in, and he noticed the aquarium. We began discussing keeping warm water fish, and he told me he’d been a diving instructor. This was something I knew a little about, and as we chatted, he revealed his dream to go back to the work he loved. I encouraged him to trust that there was a way.
It was a delightful interaction, a platonic connection between strangers. And it all happened because that day I changed the DVD, almost as though I’d known that person — whom I’d never met before — was coming. Magic?
Magical Meetings
I love to ask happy couples how they met. I remember reading about a man who’d taken a route home he’d never walked before and seen a beautiful woman and thought, ‘I’m going to marry that girl.’ The couple had a lasting and joyful relationship.
Another couple — let’s call them Geoff and Sally — met at a dance. It was a place Geoff never went to. But that night he was so thirsty he took the door to the first venue that served refreshments. It so happened that Sally’s friend suddenly felt unwell and had to go home. Sally might have left too, but Geoff asked her to dance … and the rest is history.
How often do people recall, ‘Something told me to … go there, do that’ with the happiest of outcomes? Magic?
Magic and Cozy Paranormal Mystery
Within ‘magic’ is the light and the dark: Samantha from Bewitched and Voldemort. JK Rowling does an excellent job of showing that ceremonial magic is not all beer and skittles, that magic used for destructive purposes backfires. However, she also has her characters having fun with it.
Where does this put magic in a cozy paranormal mystery? For me, I had to construct a world that I can believe in. Yes, I’m writing fiction, but there has to be truth in it. I do subscribe to the Shakespeare quotation that appears in the books: ‘There are more things in heaven and earth … than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’
Some of the ‘magical’ events or conditions in the books I have experienced first hand. I have also known two ghostbusters in my life and heard their accounts. Yes, actual professionals employed often by businesses that have moved into new premises erected over old buildings. Paranormal manifestations spook the staff. Who you gonna call?
Magic and the Characters in the Amanda Cadabra Books
Amanda has been a witch since she was six years of age. Her witch grandparents, Senara and Perran, teach little Amanda both the joy and danger of wielding the wand. Rule number one: no spells on humans, or there will be dire consequences. They impress on her the responsibilities of being a witch, even if no one knows that you are.
By contrast, Detective Inspector Thomas Trelawney insists it’s all nonsense and mumbo jumbo and no subject for a rational man. Throughout the series, his scepticism is eroded as he discovers some truths about his past. He comes to understand why his mother won’t have magic mentioned.
There are two wicked Cornish witch-clans, closely connected to Amanda and Thomas, who wield magic only for their own power. On the other hand, the gentle farming family of the Cadabras holds to the credo: a witch does not strike out. In Book 4, The Rise of Sunken Madley, magic is manifested all its forms in the villagers of Amanda’s endearingly quaint home hamlet.
Above all, in Amanda’s world, good and light and enchantment triumph over evil and dark and sorcery. In the end, I had to create a world with hope, humour, adventure, suspense and love, a world where I would want to live. I hope you find it too, both in the real world and in Sunken Madley.
Wishing you a magical day, in the best possible way!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cat adorer and chocolate lover, British author Holly Bell is a photographer and video maker when not creating novels. She had long experience of non-fiction writing before a serendipitous meeting with a successful fiction author. He convinced Holly that she could pen cozy mysteries.
Holly devoured all of the Agatha Christie books long before she knew that Miss Marple was the godmother of the Cozy Mystery genre. Her love of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings meant that her first literary creation in this area would have to be a cozy paranormal.
Having derived immense delight from the adventure of writing Amanda Cadabra and The Hidey-Hole and its sequels, Holly has more in the pipeline. The fifth book in the series Amanda Cadabra and The Hidden Depths has just been released and the next book is already in the making.