Lucy Jane Wood is an online content creator, avid reader, and coziness-seeker from the Wirral, UK. These days, you’ll find her living in London, giant coffee in hand and being headbutted at any given time by her cat.
If you’re anything like me, it’s always been witches.
Growing up in the 90s meant that there wasn’t a whole lot of choice in the matter. So much of popular culture at that time revolved around fantasy and magic, and the witches that featured in those beloved books, shows and movies came in all spells, shapes and sizes. There was a witch for everyone.
But the witches who raised me, my own personal coven of Sabrina, Charmed, Practical Magic, Hocus Pocus… all had something in common. They were all a celebration of funny, feminine chaos, and discovering the power in your own mistake-filled magic. Fast forward to 2020, and when writing my first novel Rewitched, my main character seemed to show herself to me quite quickly. The book was always going to be cozy, comforting and 90s witch-inspired, and my character Belladonna Blackthorn was a 30-year-old accumulation of all those witches that I’d held so dear.
But once you’ve settled on the influences and the genre of your story (whether that’s high fantasy, cozy fantasy, historical, romance…) how do you know which kind of witch is the right one to live inside it?
Before getting tangled up in magic systems and the complicated confines of what it means to ‘be a witch’, the best place to start is always going to be getting to know the character herself, followed by the feel of the story that you want to tell. Your unique version of witchery will need to reflect these things.
The power of personality
A witch’s personality and her powers have to work in tandem. After all, her supernatural streak is only one facet of her, and magic has to stem from something deeper. Any character’s magic or witchery style should be an extension of who they are, rather than be the first and only thing that defines them. Understanding your character first—her quirks, her insecurities, her lived experiences and her arc as a whole—will be the most helpful way to illuminate her magic type and its purpose.
After all, in a fantasy story, the magic is usually only a metaphor for something else. What does your witch’s magic really stand for? In Belle’s story, it represents her self confidence, and her own fading potential as she’s grown older. In my second book Uncharmed, main character Annie Wildwood’s magic is solely dedicated to perfectionism and people-pleasing. She only finds true happiness when she learns that her most authentic magic flourishes outside of these habits.
For both stories, the magic is really just the vehicle that shows how these women are reclaiming their own power and changing for the better. It’s a happy, extremely fun bonus of the genre that we can also turn that magic into something cool, pumpkin-spiced, and filled with fun storytelling.
Magic to mirror her arc
Once a witch’s personality and character traits begin to fill in the early blanks, then it’s time to dig deeper to the roots of her magic. In Rewitched, Belle’s magic had to start small scale, relatable and domestic to begin with (stirring tea, folding the laundry, feeding the cat…), allowing it to grow with her as she reconnects with self-belief and potential. Magic had to mirror her arc. As a bookseller who enjoys a quiet, calm life that she’s somewhat fumbling through, it made quick sense to me that Belle’s witchery would lean to the written word and incantation. It would have been jarring to have a main character like her suddenly revealed to be a keen, confident necromancer or a dramatic divinatory power.
A witch’s age, her location, her interests, her job, her loved ones, her greatest fears and deepest dreams—all of these traits combined with your destination at the end of the book will help to illuminate the magic that she would naturally step into. Making these personality-magic connections will mean that the choices around writing a witch become easier.
These early building blocks were then hugely helpful in terms of structuring the rest of the magic system for my books. If Belle was going to be naturally inclined towards Incantation, then logically there would then have to be other branches of magic which different personalities would be drawn towards. That’s how my six branch system came to be, and how each reflects a particular type of witch—Incantation, but also Earth Sorcery for someone more grounded, calm and drawn to nature. Animal Affinity for the quieter, kind-hearted witch, usually bonded to her familiar. The exact art of Alchemy is for a more scientific, pragmatic brain. Divination is for those that feel more complicated, with secrets and a back story to be discovered. And finally, Necromancy reserved for darker, edgier characters.
Write the ‘Why’ over the ‘How’
In writing cozy fantasy specifically, I soon learned that for the sake of story pace (and word count) it’s perfectly fine, and often preferable, to not get tangled up in explaining your witch too much. The pedantic details of how her spells work, and the science behind her sorcery, almost go against the fundamental point of a book like this, which is simply to accept that magic is afoot and to embrace the fun.
Obviously, there is a minimum that does need to explained for the structure to make sense—who has access to your witch’s magic? Are there more like her? How was her magic gained? Is her magic open or secretive? What are the risks involved for her? An author should be confident in these answers behind the scenes, but for a reader, it’s the witch herself who is engaging and loveable (or hateable), rather than a complicated magic system. I’ve often said that my own magic system is ‘point and spell, no thoughts just vibes’… Maybe not for everyone! But there’s so much power written between the lines of a witchy story rather than the explicit ‘how’. To me, the true ‘why’ of her magic and what it really means for her to be a witch is much more interesting to discover.
The kind of witch you choose should serve the heart of your story—whether that means a high fantasy sorceress, a small town healer, or a fumbling bookworm who’s just turned 30 and lost all of her confidence. Genre and character arc are the most powerful guiding forces for my own witches, as well as the many brilliant influences that stole my heart decades ago. But the true magic of fantasy writing and spellbinding witches is that literally anything goes. A witch can be whatever you want her to be, and do whatever you want her to do, so don’t feel confined to certain stereotypes or story expectations.
And if all else fails, there’s always my favourite response—‘well, she’s magic, that’s why.’
Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood
Annie Wildwood is a perfect witch with a perfect life who wants nothing more than to please those around her. When she’s tasked with helping Maeve, a teenage orphan witch, learn to use her magical powers, Annie sees it as the perfect chance to make everyone happy. But as Annie, Maeve, and the owner of the cabin they’re staying in form an unlikely bond, Annie is forced to confront the people-pleasing habits that have left her lonely and disconnected from others.
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