Alex Epstein's new novel
about Morgan le Fay...
... magic, legends,
history, myth,
and more.
The Circle Cast website
Email Alex
Wiccan Links
Starhawk
Eclectic wicca at its most inventive.
Gerald Gardner
Q. How many Gardnerian witches does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A. That's a secret.
Margot Adler
Author of the influential survey of contemporary Wicca Drawing Down the Moon.
Historical Links
Butser Ancient Farm
Peter Reynolds runs a recreated Celtic farm, with ancient styles of sheep. The Irish in The Circle Cast would have lived more or less like this..
Ireland in 400 AD
About the time of The Circle Cast.
South Cadbury Castle
A Dark Ages hillfort believed to be the original Camelot.
Camlann
The final battle. A short story.
Camlann Eve
I perpetrated a one-night
live-action
role-playing game set in King Arthur's tent on the eve of the battle of Camlann. It was fun. It was a bit geeky. Who will win the battle?
Amazon:
Amazon Canada:
Other Arthurian Books I Love:
Arthurian Movies I Love:
Wiccan Magic
Archives
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
We're enjoying THE SECRET CIRCLE on the CW. By episode 3, the characters and even the acting have got a bit more nuanced. We stuck with it because it gets magic mostly right: it's not waving around wands and shouting Latin, it's willpower and talent, and a coven has more power than a solo witch. It's not THE CRAFT, but it's warming up.
At the end of episode 2, the teen witches bind their circle, which in the show's mythology means that none of them can do any magic alone. It's a clever storytelling decision. In episode 2, one of the girls calls down elemental power. If you give any character too much power, it becomes hard to tell stories about her. What problem can she have that she can't magick her way out of?
That's why Superman is harder to make a nuanced story about than Batman. He's invulnerable, he can see through walls, he can destroy at a distance, and he can turn back time. Superman stories wind up being all about the villains and the obstacles. Either you need to afflict him with Kryptonite®, or put him up against an equally overpowered menace, or against an enemy he has a weakness to. Batman, thankfully, is only a man.
Magic has to have a cost, or a risk, in a story. I always liked how, in EXCALIBUR, magic exhausts Merlin. Elric's magic is powered by blood and souls. On SESAME STREET, Abby Cadabby's magic just never does what it's supposed to.
When you set out to tell a supernatural story, think long and hard about the rules by which you circumscribe your magic. They are the foundation on which you're building your tale.
0 Comments:
