Serious Weapon Issues

[virginsuccubus]

Excuse me, I'm a serious newbie, and I'm not even sure if this is the correct forum for my search for advice. I'm trying to write a story about an 11 or 12 year old sorceress (she's precocious). What sort of magic weapons do you think a cute little girl could carry around? I really don't want to give her a cheesy magic wand or an overdone spellbook. Any ideas? Thank you for your time. Oh, and if this is the wrong forum, I apologize. I don't even know how to fix the problem, if it is a problem.

 

[Trudy_Antone]

Virginsuccubus, go wild. She could carry anything, have any magic powers that your vast imagination comes up with. It's your story, invent whatever you like. One of the reasons I love Harry Potter is all the clever devices JKRowling came up with, in particular, the Pensieve.

Sorry if that's not much help. And nothing wrong with a wand or a spell book. It's her frailties and strengths, how she uses the wand, or the type of spells contained in the book that make it interesting.

Good luck x

 

[virginsuccubus]

Hhmmm . . . Thank you!

I would love to go wild, but I really want her weapons to be . . . something a child could carry around without tiring out. She's still a little girl. I've considered a thin staff, a Sailor Moon inspired scepter, a magic orb, exploding hairclips, even underwear that turns into a cage! Maybe magic handfans? My brain is just to overwhelmed! Oh, and I loved Harry Potter, by the way!

 

[oggbashan]

Beware! This is an erotic site.

If your character even thinks about sex before her 18th birthday - your story will not be accepted.

Og

PS. Ideas: A scarf that becomes an unremovable blindfolding and gagging hood, a belt that becomes a lasso, a hair bobble that becomes a bolas, - anything small that can grow to entangle, confine, constrain, manacle etc.

 

[virginsuccubus]

Not for this site!

Thank you for the warning, and your advice! Seriously, this story idea will definitely NOT be placed on this site! Although, I willingly admit it is a tale about a child being forced into an adult role, but no children will be molested. I typically write in notebooks, for my own viewing pleasure.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I know that magic wands seem overdone, but honestly, they are the most basic of magical tools-- like a pencil to a writer...

I LOOOVe the idea of sooper-seekret-powers magical hairclips, though!

her shoes could talk to her, warning her of danger ahead. She could use the toe of one of them for a crystal ball.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I have to agree with the foregoing. Since in RL, anything can be used as a weapon if you know what you're doing that has to apply equally to magical weapons, too. Hmmm . . . magicians/witches usually have familiars. How about a teddy bear as a familiar?

 

[virginsuccubus]

OMG! So Happy!

Lol! The magic shoes made me laugh! I also love the idea of a teddy bear familiar! Anyone else have ideas? I love the responses I'm getting! I'm seriously going to play with the idea of magic shoes and a teddy bear! Thank you guys!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Lol! The magic shoes made me laugh! I also love the idea of a teddy bear familiar! Anyone else have ideas? I love the responses I'm getting! I'm seriously going to play with the idea of magic shoes and a teddy bear! Thank you guys!

A precocious eleven-year-old might still have her childhood teddybear. But a precocious eleven-year-old reader will be pretty defensive of her maturity, and you'll want to make it clear that her having the teddybear is by choice-- she's not a little girl.

Other plushies abound... even including plushie Cthulhu
http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

 

[voluptuary_manque]

A precocious eleven-year-old might still have her childhood teddybear. But a precocious eleven-year-old reader will be pretty defensive of her maturity, and you'll want to make it clear that her having the teddybear is by choice-- she's not a little girl.

Other plushies abound... even including plushie Cthulhu
http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

Or the teddy bear may have been something she got four years before and now won't leave. I think a teddy bear with an attitude will appeal to a bright sixth grader, in fact I know it would. I recall one of my stars who decided that her online avatar would be a mean tweety bird. Not much difference, IMO.

 

[bronzeage]

Lol! The magic shoes made me laugh! I also love the idea of a teddy bear familiar! Anyone else have ideas? I love the responses I'm getting! I'm seriously going to play with the idea of magic shoes and a teddy bear! Thank you guys!

She carries a Hello Kitty purse and all her spells start with the title of a Justin Bieber song.

 

[Liar]

Wanna go classic, there's always the ring.

 

[virginsuccubus]

Why not?

A precocious eleven-year-old might still have her childhood teddybear. But a precocious eleven-year-old reader will be pretty defensive of her maturity, and you'll want to make it clear that her having the teddybear is by choice-- she's not a little girl. Other plushies abound... even including plushie Cthulhu http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

My little sorceress is a child that literally longs to be a normal girl. Other girls her age are in school, being cute. She has to work hard with magic. Maybe she holds on to her teddy bear because she wants to hold on to her childhood? And a magic teddy bear seems awesome! Oh well. I never played with teddy bears. I had Barbies. Oh, maybe she was killer fashion dolls?

 

[JackLuis]

Is the setting modern day?

How about a Teddy bear that transforms into a grizzly, 12 feet tall! but only when the girl is threatened. "Protection that fits under the arm" a gift from her Fairy God-Mother?

 

[virginsuccubus]

Amazingly . . .

Wanna go classic, there's always the ring.

I never bothered to get into The Lord of the Rings. I'm certain it must be an amazing story. It's just not my cup of tea. How about . . . um . . . I don't know. Here's another hint about her character. She doesn't go to school like normal girls, but she adores their school girl uniforms, and she made a few outfits modeled after them (the idea of her knowing ho to sew doesn't faze me; it's a fantasy tale, after all). Maybe her faux school girl outfits have magic in them?

 

[virginsuccubus]

Fantasy world.

Is the setting modern day? How about a Teddy bear that transforms into a grizzly, 12 feet tall! but only when the girl is threatened. "Protection that fits under the arm" a gift from her Fairy God-Mother?

In the world my sorceress lives in, there are multiple gods to worship, all sorts of magic, and a slightly modern/industrial feel. There are telephones! Oh, and a child sorceress is very odd in this world. Everyone thinks she's a fluke or something.

 

[JackLuis]

In the world my sorceress lives in, there are multiple gods to worship, all sorts of magic, and a slightly modern/industrial feel. There are telephones! Oh, and a child sorceress is very odd in this world. Everyone thinks she's a fluke or something.

So/1937~ish? different than "earth normal"? GOtcha.

My Sorcerer's apprentice story involves Amazons to prey on human men, but politely, mostly.

Are you using the Hero's Journey form? Campbell (?) makes a case that a truly legendary Hero/Heroine has to undergo all the steps of the journey. Makes for a Long Long Story, unless you cut out the characters. I believe a coming of age story only needs one conflict at a time, so the characters can develop.

So what's her conflict?

 

[virginsuccubus]

Her conflict?

So/1937~ish? different than "earth normal"? GOtcha. My Sorcerer's apprentice story involves Amazons to prey on human men, but politely, mostly. Are you using the Hero's Journey form? Campbell (?) makes a case that a truly legendary Hero/Heroine has to undergo all the steps of the journey. Makes for a Long Long Story, unless you cut out the characters. I believe a coming of age story only needs one conflict at a time, so the characters can develop. So what's her conflict?

Let's see . . . I haven't 100% figured it all out. There will be a perverted and possibly pedophile guy, a truly evil sorcerer or sorceress, inner struggles with the girl's desire to be normal conflicting with responsibility, maybe some seriously violent deaths. I was thinking of a really cool prophet too. Maybe the girl has something everyone wants?

 

[Weird Harold]

My little sorceress is a child that literally longs to be a normal girl. Other girls her age are in school, being cute.

I have a 12 yo granddaughter, she and her friends got over "being cute" a couple of years ago. I'd be real careful about under-selling the maturity of 12 yo girls.

FWIW, Witches have familiars, not sorceresses.

As for sorcerous weapons, all she needs is a focus of some sort -- ring, wand, bracelet, belt, necklace/amulet.

JC Hines' version of Snow White specializes in Mirror Magic and wears a choker of small mirrors. David Drake has a sorcerous character in his Lord of the Isles series that refuses to reuse a wand for a second spell, using a reed or twig as her "wand" when she needs one and discards it after the spell is done; perhaps your junior sorcerous could use something from her pencil case when she needs a "wand?"

You need to sit back and define your magic system better and decide just exactly why a sorcerous would need a wand or other device: does it store power, or just focus/modulate her innate power?

 

[JackLuis]

So a precocious 12 yar old, with a Gift, she despises 'cause it makes her 'different", a mentor of some type, who is both task master and mother figure/ god-Mother/?

Opposed by a evil Over Lord/Principle/Relative who want to take her away form (?) and have her powers all to himself!

Can she learn the "Way" in time to avoid the meeting, fore ordained by the (Magic tea leaves?) .

WIll it take her on a six year journey so she comes back at 18, brimming with confidence and ready to take on the world, only to find she can't go to Harvard, cause she didn't go to school, only Muddville Masters Acadamy will have her.

You know the one with the Quiddich team that always looses spectacularly!

 

[TE999]

She should have a live familiar...cats are overdone and a tad clichéd...possibly a lizard or a snake...even a spider...something handy to carry around...she's not a typical 'little girl' anyway...telekenisis is always a handy attribute...she's not skilled at it yet, but she can defend herself if needs be...fire raising is always good...and knowledge of a few basic spells of paralysis, transmutation, animation of inanimate objects, etc. would serve her well.

 

[Songcatcher]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB26AO-ecP0&feature=related

 

[OzoneRed]

Excuse me, I'm a serious newbie, and I'm not even sure if this is the correct forum for my search for advice. I'm trying to write a story about an 11 or 12 year old sorceress (she's precocious). What sort of magic weapons do you think a cute little girl could carry around? I really don't want to give her a cheesy magic wand or an overdone spellbook. Any ideas? Thank you for your time. Oh, and if this is the wrong forum, I apologize. I don't even know how to fix the problem, if it is a problem.

I definitely agree that the spellbook is way overdone; it's become a cliche. If she needs a teaching aid, an oracle residing in a crystal ball might be a good alternative.

She should have a live familiar...cats are overdone and a tad clichéd...possibly a lizard or a snake...even a spider...something handy to carry around...she's not a typical 'little girl' anyway...telekenisis is always a handy attribute...she's not skilled at it yet, but she can defend herself if needs be...fire raising is always good...and knowledge of a few basic spells of paralysis, transmutation, animation of inanimate objects, etc. would serve her well.

Or maybe a stuffed tiger as a familiar. I will never look at Calvin and Hobbes in quite the same way again.

 

[Weird Harold]

I definitely agree that the spellbook is way overdone; it's become a cliche. If she needs a teaching aid, an oracle residing in a crystal ball might be a good alternative.

A thoroughly modern Sorceress would have an internet enabled smartphone to connect with her online sorcery advisor.

 

[JackLuis]

A thoroughly modern Sorceress would have an internet enabled smartphone to connect with her online sorcery advisor.

Or she is searching the "interweb" ( on her world) and finds a site that isn't like the others, she tells her one friend about it and when her friend signs on, nothing!

The site is a cyborg-mentor of "gifted Youth". The Cyborg tells her to run away from her wicked step mother and when she does she finds herself on the road with "Calvin"/Teddy.

That way you can take Earth normal and twist it, by allowing Magic to carry the 'Improbable/Impossible'.