I've had an idea of my main character being unable to equip magical gear, but i don't know how i should execute it

[Fogged_Creation]

Hello, I've been mainly theory-crafting and writing mini-stories involving my story cast of characters i wanted to create, rewrote it multiple times even, in different styles when i was in the mood to write. Since the idea of my story is very ambitious indeed, i at least need practice to put it well on paper.
(Thanks to you guys for helping me out on my procrastination problem on my last thread i made here, most of you guys/ladies had given quite helpful info! I just gotta keep up a good habit and hopefully i won't snooze.).
Aaaanyways, to my question at hand now.

I've been thinking of this idea that my main character..(Let's call him Chad) would have some kind of disability of being unable to equip or possibly even touch anything that is concentrated with magic as one of his main weaknesses, would also mean he could be more susceptible to magic damage. My problem here is i am not sure how i can explain why Chad has this annoying nuissance in a fantasy world that is sprinkled with magic, i can't really think of anything other than maybe allergies? Although... It would be funny to see him sneeze because there's some magic nearby , but is that explanation a bit too boring and completely under-powering my character by doing that? It's like being allergic to polen, but that polen is widely used by magicians and monsters and stuff.
Would it better off as a curse? A thing where my main character is just unworthy and keeps on getting rejected no matter what?
Perhaps maybe he doesn't have anything that physically affects him, perhaps something that traumatized him, mentally affecting him to never want to ever use magic for himself?
I want to hear on whether you agree or disagree with this idea, explain how i should and shouldn't change this disability, or if i should completely think of something different because it's a bad idea or something.

Thank you for reading! I patiently await your responses

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

To link someone's weakness to their backstory is always going to make a more interesting character--e.g., he was cursed magicless as a child because he was a juvenile delinquent and broke into some magician's house. You could even give him a hope of someday reversing the curse, or something, which gives him a quest and a motivation. Allergies does seem rather random at first, which may be why you're thinking of it as boring. But allergies don't always just appear on their own. An overindulgence in coconuts, for example, and then abruptly stopping for a while, can give you an allergy to them when you try to eat them later. Or, as with certain pollens and dust and things, simply not having the chance to build an tolerance to them can make you sensitive.

Which raises some interesting questions about your particular magic system. Is it the sort of thing that the characters have to build an innate resistance to, otherwise their bodies react adversely? (Anaphylactic shock, hives, heavy sneezing and watery eyes, etc.) Perhaps being allergic to magic is something of a default state for babies on your world, which most normal people manage to gain an immunity to through some natural or artificial process. Natural, of course, being immunity passed on through the mother's milk, or exposure to it from a young age, or something similar. So maybe Chad was deprived of that at some point in his history, hence the allergy.

Not random anymore.

The relative value of ideas depends heavily on the context. An allergy might be a weak or random idea, if you're simply using it without thought. But if you tie it into the way magic works in your world, it can still make the universe that much richer. Whether an idea is good or bad is quite fluid when it comes to invented worlds.

 

[Fogged_Creation]

To link someone's weakness to their backstory is always going to make a more interesting character--e.g., he was cursed magicless as a child because he was a juvenile delinquent and broke into some magician's house. You could even give him a hope of someday reversing the curse, or something, which gives him a quest and a motivation. Allergies does seem rather random at first, which may be why you're thinking of it as boring. But allergies don't always just appear on their own. An overindulgence in coconuts, for example, and then abruptly stopping for a while, can give you an allergy to them when you try to eat them later. Or, as with certain pollens and dust and things, simply not having the chance to build an tolerance to them can make you sensitive.

Which raises some interesting questions about your particular magic system. Is it the sort of thing that the characters have to build an innate resistance to, otherwise their bodies react adversely? (Anaphylactic shock, hives, heavy sneezing and watery eyes, etc.) Perhaps being allergic to magic is something of a default state for babies on your world, which most normal people manage to gain an immunity to through some natural or artificial process. Natural, of course, being immunity passed on through the mother's milk, or exposure to it from a young age, or something similar. So maybe Chad was deprived of that at some point in his history, hence the allergy.

Not random anymore.

The relative value of ideas depends heavily on the context. An allergy might be a weak or random idea, if you're simply using it without thought. But if you tie it into the way magic works in your world, it can still make the universe that much richer. Whether an idea is good or bad is quite fluid when it comes to invented worlds.

Ah i see! So you mean, if i want to make an idea of something that might be a little unusual, if it has context or backstory it will make it more interesting? (Though at the moment i haven't really done much world building or anything like that, perhaps i should start thinking of how my world will be?)

Though, now knowing that with backstory/context makes most unconventional things better. Are there times when there shouldn't have any context? Like if it were some sort of secret to even the viewer? Teased to be revealed only later on perhaps?
How deep of a context should i make something for example?... I mean, i can't really explain the deal with all of my other characters in the story, i even have one who's origins is entirely unknown, with only showing their actions. Perhaps there should be a threshold on how much a viewer should be allowed to know in order to retain excitement and mystery, and to instead let the viewer try to decipher what may be happening?

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

Well, what information you allow the reader to know from the beginning is a little bit different from coming up with the backstory. As long as you plan to reveal the secrets at some point, you can make rather an art out of keeping the information ambiguous, or mysterious, or simply pretending it's something different in order to reveal the truth later. That's all up to you! I'm just talking from your perspective on the book, knowing everything there is to know. If the story makes good sense from that vantage point, then the reader's initially bestowed trust, thoughtfully cared-for, should carry you through to the payoff at the end.

But I don't think there's any set threshold for how much information a viewer ought to know in order to keep the mystery up. It comes down to just how mysterious or clear-cut you want it. A lot of the primary details of world-building are going to come down to what you're excited to write and read about about. There are simply some good general principles out there, especially when it comes to magic systems and characters. Brandon Sanderson, for instance has a lot of good advice about world-building; and if you stick around on Chrons, the people here will be able to direct you to many more of their favorites. A fun resource I've found is the Writing Excuses podcast, hosted by Brandon Sanderson and a couple of other authors. They have about fourteen or fifteen seasons by now. They talk about a variety of character development and world-building topics, along with actual writing technique, and occasionally they have brainstorming sessions and interviews with other authors and publishers, and critiques of their own work. Quite often they're hilarious. And they try to keep the podcast length under fifteen minutes per episode.

But beware of World-builder's Disease! Once you start, you may never be able to stop.

Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with unusual or unconventional. It's actually going to be more the reverse--the more usual or conventional an idea is, the more it may need the help of an interesting backstory to be intriguing. The unusual and unconventional ideas are typically going to be the ones that are already interesting.

Which doesn't mean an unusual idea wouldn't be helped by a well-grounded backstory.

 

[tinkerdan]

There should always be some explanation that fits the world--world-building--in the story. Anything that is context-less would tend to be like a loose thread that eventually leads to a reader asking, 'what is this even doing here?' I'd be leery of characters that show up out of nowhere--even seemingly innocently--and contribute important acts to the story. That seems to come close to the old Deus Ex Machina; or at least the perfect formula for that.

e.g.
I love the Odd Thomas Novels by Dean Koontz. However around the 3rd novel a recurring character enters into the story who is enigmatic and has unexplained origins--her only purpose seems to be to tell Odd Thomas that he will learn more about her when he is ready and add a frustrating mystery to the whole series. Sometimes she offers ODD some helpful insight through some ability to predict things-those too are couched in mystery and metaphor. Add to that a second enigmatic character that shows up in the final books and this one has a complete organization that seems designed to help Odd Thomas to a small extent. This second character has a much better tolerable explanation for being there; however, in most respects they both are more like Deus Ex Machina when they help ODD THOMAS and, unless I missed something, the reader doesn't really get a firm idea of the origin of the first enigma.

Those two aspects almost ruined the final stories for me. However I enjoy the man's prose.

So for some readers you might get away with not completing an explanation of important characters; however you should keep in mind what that does to the overall story.

In the instance of the magic-less in a magic world--I'd think that either something that happened early in their life of perhaps some sort of birth defect if they all are born with a 'magic-spoon' in their mouth. And if this is the only one with this problem--that makes them unique and possibly open to some peer pressure problems. Maybe the defect is bad enough that society would kill a child born that way. Maybe his parents subverted some law and now they have to hide the problem somehow. The possibilities are many and they are up to how you build the world.

 

[Fogged_Creation]

I see... Alright! Thank you for the helpful responses, perhaps i may also consider reading/watching some of brandon's books as well!
Il try to think of a backstory to his condition, and then hopefuly it will turn out alright with the rest of the story! It's real nice to have people here who can help, teach and understand one annother, really helps out a lot! Tops to ya Margaret and Tinker!
If there's some other things you want to share or perhaps it is something i should keep in mind, don't hesitate to share it! I would be most grateful!

 

[Star-child]

Hi, could someone explain what "equip" means in this context? Is that a common term in fantasy?

 

[tinkerdan]

I'd define it the way I assumed it was meant.
In this case I assumed it was meant that they would be supplied with magic items or the ability for magic necessary for magic to work in the world.
But, most basic, supplied as defined.

e·quip
/əˈkwip/
verb
verb: equip; 3rd person present: equips; past tense: equipped; past participle: equipped; gerund or present participle: equipping

1. supply with the necessary items for a particular purpose.
   "all bedrooms are equipped with a color TV"

 

[Fogged_Creation]

Hi, could someone explain what "equip" means in this context? Is that a common term in fantasy?

As Tinkerdan explained, yes that is what i meant when i said "equip magical gear"
Like for example, putting on your everyday overlord's crown of fire power, (by equip, i also mean wearing, putting on, holding, ect...) So in this context, My character wouldn't be able to equip it for one reason or another because it's enchanted with fire magic.

Funny i saw your same question in my comment section when i posted the discussion in the wrong topic last time! Sorry if you had trouble re-finding my discussion, since it got re-moved/deleted

 

[Star-child]

As Tinkerdan explained, yes that is what i meant when i said "equip magical gear"
Like for example, putting on your everyday overlord's crown of fire power, (by equip, i also mean wearing, putting on, holding, ect...) So in this context, My character wouldn't be able to equip it for one reason or another because it's enchanted with fire magic.

Funny i saw your same question in my comment section when i posted the discussion in the wrong topic last time! Sorry if you had trouble re-finding my discussion, since it got re-moved/deleted

I asked about the usage because I have never heard anyone say they were "equip scuba" or similar and it sounded like a new usage.

 

[tinkerdan]

Yeah, no one would say Equip Scuba they would say scuba equipped or equipped for scuba.

 

[Fogged_Creation]

I asked about the usage because I have never heard anyone say they were "equip scuba" or similar and it sounded like a new usage.

Strange, i don't ever recall ever saying "equip scuba" though

 

[Star-child]

Strange, i don't ever recall ever saying "equip scuba" though

You didn't. You said "equip magic", and I was illustrating that it sounded peculiar because we wouldn't normally say "equip roller-skates". So I was trying to find out if your usage - lacking words like "with" - was a type of vernacular common to fantasy, because it has that quasi-French feel to it.

 

[Fogged_Creation]

You didn't. You said "equip magic", and I was illustrating that it sounded peculiar because we wouldn't normally say "equip roller-skates". So I was trying to find out if your usage - lacking words like "with" - was a type of vernacular common to fantasy, because it has that quasi-French feel to it.

Perhaps it is because i have a french nationality! Didn't mean to cause confusion though haha

 

[tinkerdan]

Even in English I think equip magical gear or equip with magical gear makes sense. However they could possibly mean two different things.
You could equip magical gear that you were equipped with earlier[perhaps meaning you had it on and now you activated it].
Equipping Magical Gear to mean putting it on, does sound a bit strange.
Where as it might work as Magical Gear Equpped (meaning he has the gear on).
On the other hand you could Equip your present gear with magic and that would be something totally different.
However I've only spoken English for ~67 years of my 68. So really very little experience here.

 

[Spectrum]

You might be able to get some useful inspiration from the concept of "wounds in the Force" from the Star Wars universe.