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"Follow the characters," this is the advice that I've been following after reading interviews with Stephen King's, Orson Scott Card's and Brandon Sanderson's advice.

However, I noticed I have come up with a hyper realistic story based on the town I grew up only changing some minor things(exagerating some and downplaying others.)

The problem is that I'm not sure how to start introducing fantastical elements? The main element that I want to introduce is anime style fighting(Avatar, Full metal alchemist). I'm not sure how to since there's multiple ways.

Are there articles or books that discuss this? I'm more interested in an "integrationalist model" similar to the Scott Pilgrim's book where there's all these fantastic fights but people don't make a big deal about it. It's part of the world.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a shopping question, even a fairly narrow one. $\endgroup$
    – Trish
    Commented Jun 8, 2019 at 19:25
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    $\begingroup$ Pleask ask on writing.stackexchange.com. $\endgroup$
    – The Square-Cube Law
    Commented Jun 8, 2019 at 19:25
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    $\begingroup$ @Trish Asking for resources is perfectly fine here, it's why we have the 'worldbuilding-resources' tag. This question is off-topic because it's about writing a story set in a world, and not about building that world. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Jun 8, 2019 at 19:29
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    $\begingroup$ Hello user16019. I regret this was quickly closed, but @F1Krazy is right. You're not asking us about how to build a world, but how to write - and that's not what we do. I can give you some advice, though. Copy the masters. You may never find a book that explains "how to write actions scenes like in the Scott Pilgrim books." But you do have the Scott Pilgrim books. It's like painters learning how to paint by copying the old masters. Take an example scene and rewrite it to your story. Repeat until you're comfortable doing it without copying another book. Cheers! $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jun 8, 2019 at 21:54

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On Writing and Worldbuilding

Yes, a book that has recently released covers how to integrate magic systems into story telling. I won’t tell you how you can do it, firstly because I feel that will take away from the author’s hard work they put into writing the book, secondly I simply wouldn’t have the space to write a chapter of a book in this answer. I will however provide you with the introduction from that chapter of the book which explains what it is about:

So you have a magic system with meticulous limits where only gay wizards can shoot lightning bolts as well as it having an air of mysteriousness and possibility so nobody knows when a demon will eat characters without plot armour. That is fantastic, but what comes next? Having an interesting magic system is not just about how nuanced your rules are, or how much of a spectacle it can be. Fireworks and fireballs are great, but they can feel hollow unless your magic system is integrated into the story in a meaningful way. As a case study, we will look at how one magic system is integrated into its story in Avatar: The Last Airbender and the sequel series The Legend of Korra. We will discuss where DiMartino and Konietzko did it well, and a couple of times where they… didn’t.

The book is written by Timothy Hickson who also runs the Youtube channel HelloFutureMe which explores writing and worldbuilding techniques. The book can be bought on Amazon as either a paperback or as a downloadable book for the kindle or kindle app.

Note that, as I bought the book, I may be biased in favour of it. However, I am in no way affiliated with Timothy Hickson, I am simply a fan of his work.

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