I think that it's best to make it quantitative, rather than qualitative (what makes one wizard more powerful than another?) but on a more physical level than most RPGs. Instead of having "700 MP" you can, say, cast one hundred and seven accios in quick succession, and if you afterwards wait for ten minutes before casting another one, you will just become completely exhausted, as opposed to dying. Or, if you want, you can just have him be unable to cast something, but, I'm not a big fan of that.

I've always thought that you have to make up a new magic structure for every one of your stories/series, if you want to keep it interesting.

I understand what you mean by your magic program, but it goes a little too in depth. For example, instead of saying, "color <> green" or whatever you did, maybe green is because the program is imperfect, and leaks out some excess energy. First the excess energy is converted into light, but if there's a lot of excess energy, it will maybe be turned into, say, heat.

Having magic be sentient is completely unnecessary, but your call.

A few more things-- neurologists have been looking at the brain, and have gradually decided that your brain visualizing something is no different from actually seeing something, to your brain. It is physically impossible to visualize better than that.

Also, we do live in a world of four dimensions.

EDIT: I was rereading the thing about the wizard's brain, and I remembered a really horrible fic where Harry had a revolution in magic: Instead of putting, say, Dragon's heartstrings into his CD player to give it power [which is still a little idiotic], he put PITUITARY GLANDS INTO HIS CD PLAYER. I kid you not. He explained that they worked because they give off endorphins, and endorphins create emotion, and emotions power magic. This somehow reminded me of an interesting Batman movie where they decided that Catwoman was somehow involved because he was dropped into shark infested waters, and sharks sometimes live in the sea, which sounds like the letter C, and you know what starts with c?!?!

I quickly sent a review asking why he didn't shove a load of heroin into his wand to become the next Merlin. I was not responded to.

 

I personally like the idea that magic has rules similar to physics. While not the same mind you magic has limits. Well perhaps not magic but what humans can do with magic has limits. After all if teaching magic is simply training the mind to expect a certain result when a certian spell is cast then Harry wouldn't have been able to cast any of those spells that he found in Snape's book. Since he didn't know what they did. There either must be some sort of channel that a spell travels through or magic is in some way seintiant and remembers what previous casters have done. This idea is supported by the fact that prophecy plays a large role in the story. For future events to be recorded before they happen something must be looking forward and chose these events in the first place. Otherwise seers would just predict all sorts of things rather than important moments.

On a different but slightly related note I think that there is a fundamental disticntion in magic, Dark and Light. Not in the sense that dark magic is bad and light magic is good but on a simpler level. Light magic is the type of magic that can create something from nothing, like conjugation. While dark magic transforms something into something else, be it one object to another in transfiguration or some of your life force into no life force for the target Avada Kedarva. The idea in the first paragraph has been discussed to death in many treads but I haven't seen anyone weigh in on distinction between magic and how it operates in creating what it does.

Is it simply a case of snap whatever you wanted is there, or is something transferred to do it and wizards don't notice because they are drawing upon something as large as the universe.

 

Yeah, I made it in my story that there a few things that you just can't do under any circumstances. For example: there is a kind of voodoo charm in which you can move one object with another object. So . . . let's say I cast the charm on two keys. I move one key to the right, the second key also moves to the right. However, if I move the second key to the right, then the first key doesn't move. Now, here's the tricky part. Cast the spell again, but backwards, so that when the second key moves, the first key moves at the same time, and suddenly-- *bang* time travel (things are moving faster than light, they're not allowed to do that, end of story.)

So . . . instead of messing with physics, if you try to mess with physics, bad stuff happens. Everything is still affected by gravity, but it's possible to alter the volume and mass more perfectly with magic. (Think nearly invisible gold leaf. Maybe an atom every few centimeters.)

Edit: Naga: if you want to keep in Fanon, then that's wrong. JKR has stated that all hexes/curses/jinxes are dark curses, but transfiguration isn't listed as a dark art (ergo, it is taught at Hogwarts.) You might notice that the DADA teachers haven't tended to teach what JKR classifies as the Dark Arts. Remus taught mostly charms that would ward off creatures, Lockhart didn't teach anything, Quirrel I have no idea, 'Moody' only practiced the dark arts on them. Snape is quite possibly the only one who didn't, although I don't remember much from HBP. I mostly think of shields, wordless casting and sectum sempra when I think of Snape teaching.

Also, it appears that Ginny is the person most adept at the Dark Arts. Bat Bogey hex anyone? I'm surprised that there aren't any DarkLord!Ginny fanfictions. Maybe she turns the bat bogey hex into a massive torturing machine that when she finally dispels rips up through your nostrils and into your brain (like the ancient egyptians) crushing your brain to death before disappearing. That would be pimp. OoCGinny FTW!

 

I have read a lot of theories about how magical ability must be genetic, yet I have read the counter arguments about if that was so, how could there be squibs and muggleborns (as squibs come from families with magic, and muggleborns come from families without magic).

What if magical ability is genetic, but it requires more than one genetic sequence to be magical? For example, if it takes a minimum of seven genetic sequences to be able to use magic, it would explain why muggleborns exist, as both parents could have anywhere between 4 to six of those sequences, and the possibility of a child with magical abilities being born would exist. However, because ova and spermatozoon are randomly thrown in genetic mixes, the chances of a child being born in a magical household with six or less of those required genetic sequences would exist, and ultimately result in a squib.

It would keep with the number seven being something special, it would explain away muggleborns and squibs, and it could be used a plotdevice for some bored writer. I ramble though...

 

I like! Very nice!

Hmm. That's about it for now...add more later.

 

JKR has said on her site that magic is genetic.