It was magical! How often have we heard that said?
People say it about special moments in their lives. About Christmas. And weddings. Birthdays and trips and even unplanned and unexpected moments.
Just what do we mean by magical?
A couple of weeks ago, magic was the topic of a fabulous workshop I attended, led by Giselle Green – a brilliant writer and a friend of mine.
Giselle prodded us about the meaning of magical – she asked to think about moments we might have described that way – and why.
We came up with a good collection of descriptions. “Magical” is hopeful. It makes us smile. It makes us feel good. It is the realisation of a dream or a hopeful new beginning. It’s about making connections. It’s what we have as children, then tend to lose as the ‘real world’ intrudes.
Magic in books can be overt – with fairies and witched and casting of spells. But a touch of magic in a book doesn’t mean it becomes a fantasy.
The can be more subtle. It can be as simple as the use of a magical symbol – but all that happens within the book is within the realms of possibility. There can be a hint that magic may have been involved, but we leave it to the reader to decide.
And sometimes the magic comes from within us – we dream of something wonderful. That dream is realised, not through some outside mystical force, but through the magic of our own desire making us work to realise that dream.
I have used hints of magic in my short stories – the hint of a fairy or perhaps a dragon – which may or may not be ‘real’ depending on the readers’ desires. You can read a couple of them for free here.
Giselle’s workshop was thought provoking. It got me to thinking – I have had letters from readers telling me that my stories have touched them. Helped them through a difficult time or perhaps made them cry (in a good way).
To me that’s magic… to make that sort of connection with another soul. The world needs as much of that magic as we can find.