There is a wonderful Disney+ documentary series titled Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2, and I encourage anyone interested in the creative process to watch it.
And given that Frozen 2 is a fantasy film, writers of fantasy and magic should especially check it out.
One of my favourite quotes in the series is when Marlon West, head of effects animation on the film, says:
“We don’t do realism here. We do believability.”
I can’t stress enough how vital this concept is for writers of magic to understand.
“No Rules” is Not the Same as “Good Writing”
Some writers hear the word “fantasy” and think, Great. That means I can do anything I want. No rules.
While the written page should absolutely be a place of creative freedom, the anarchistic “no rules” mentality can unfortunately lead to trouble.
As a writing coach, I see this all the time: manuscripts that read like a fever dream of cool concepts without connective tissue or logic. There’s teleportation here, dream-magic there, talking skeletons over yonder, and nothing tying it all together. Even if the plot holds together for a while, before long, the lack of rules almost inevitably results in confusion, frustration, and worst of all, a broken reader experience via loss of emotional investment.
Fantasy Thrives on Consistency
Let’s be crystal clear: fantasy doesn’t mean lawless. Magical stories, like any story you write, need to be internally consistent.
In fact, the more magical your world is, the more logical it needs to be. Why? Because you’re not just bending the rules of reality; you’re replacing them. If gravity works differently in your world, you need to show us how. If magic can heal mortal wounds, we need to understand who gets that power and at what cost. If time can be reversed, we need to know what prevents your heroes from doing it every five pages.
Hugely popular fantasy author Brandon Sanderson’s first law of magic articulates the concept like this:
“An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.”
On that note, I’m sure I’m not the only one who checked out of Superman: The Movie (1978) once Superman managed to travel back in time and bring Lois Lane back to life by flying around Earth at super speed. Not only do the physics of the action not make sense given what the viewer has been told about the universe the story takes place in, but it also introduces a world-building mechanic: death is no longer permanent in the film’s universe. Given that death is often a major stake in adventure and superhero storytelling, when it is removed, much, if not all, narrative tension collapses.
Rules Create Drama
Logic creates boundaries, boundaries create tension, and tension creates drama—tension being the feeling of concern your readers have for the safety of your character. The clearer and firmer your rules are, the more interesting your system becomes to write, and, more importantly, to read.
Think of a great board game. What makes it fun? The limitations. The structure. If you could move anywhere on the board whenever you wanted, the game would collapse. That’s what a rule-less magic system does to your plot.
Game Theory, the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions, is based on the same principle. Game Theory argues that when outcomes depend on rules and agents’ choices within those rules, strategy emerges.
Or to put it in story terms, rules create decision pressure, decision pressure creates strategic choices, and strategic choices create narrative tension, i.e., drama. Without forcing your characters to make difficult decisions within established rule sets, their actions will lack both agency and narrative weight.
Which is a complicated way of saying: If Superman can fly around the world and turn back time, nothing anyone does in his story matters much.
But let’s get back to fantasy specifically.
Build Reader Trust with Internal Consistency
Fantasy thrives when the world it is set in feels structured.
Your readers don’t need to know everything, but they do need to trust that you know the rules and that those rules won’t change on a whim. Every time you break your own logic without reason, you lose reader trust. And once it’s gone, it’s incredibly hard to win back.
Remember what we learned from the creators of Frozen 2: you don’t need realism, but you do need believability, and believability comes from internal consistency.
Want to include flying frogs that speak in riddles? Go for it. But once you establish how and why they fly (and when they don’t), those rules need to hold throughout the story. That’s what makes even the wildest worlds feel real.
Think of Middle-earth. Magic exists, but it is rare, costly, and often subtle. Gandalf can work great power, but he can’t simply solve every problem with a spell. His magic has limits tied to purpose, timing, and consequence, which is why danger still feels real and victories still feel earned.
Or consider Earthsea, where magic is governed by true names. Power comes from knowledge, but knowledge demands balance. Every spell risks upsetting the natural order, and mages must live with the consequences of their actions. The rules are clear, the costs are real, and the tension flows naturally from both.
Your characters need to make logical choices within the reality of the universe you’ve created. A mage who knows a certain spell that could kill them wouldn’t cast it for a minor inconvenience, and a society built around fear of the undead wouldn’t leave a graveyard unguarded.
Ask yourself: Do my character’s actions make sense in the context of the narrative world I have built around them?
As we have already discussed, moments of magic should follow cause and effect. If someone casts a fire spell, something of their own burns. If someone uses mind control, they lose something else, such as time, clarity, or part of themselves. When every action has a reaction, your story feels grounded even if your world is made of starlight and shadow.
Rules Fuel Fantasy
As every writer of genre fiction eventually discovers, rules don’t limit creativity; rather, they channel and amplify it.
Rules give your reader confidence in the story’s logic, and they give you the joy of finding new ways to solve problems. And they give your characters moments to shine when they use the system in unexpected, clever, or courageous ways.
Fantasy isn’t a free-for-all. It’s a system of your own making, and once you make it, you’ve got to respect it. Magical logic and consistency are the scaffolding that lets your imagination soar without collapsing under its own weight.
So yes, break the rules of our reality, but also build rules for your magical world and follow them like your story depends on it. Because the moment your rules collapse, so too does your reader’s belief in your story.
Kevin T. Johns is a Canadian writing coach who helps writers build powerful stories through craft, clarity, and consistency. He specializes in guiding fantasy and genre authors to design magic systems—and narratives—that actually hold together under pressure. Book a consultation call with him here.
