How do you prevent a plot hole when coming up with a hard magic system? Creating a hard magic system means that magic must follow the rules that you set, but when you have a complex hard magic system, you don't know if the magic in your universe sometimes break the rules you set, how do you minimize the amount of plot hole from a complex hard magic system?
2 Answers
Newtonian Physics:
When you're talking about a magic system, you are by definition breaking the world in a small way. But careful attention to detail should cover you. As long as you diligently follow the rules, everything is internally consistent and works.
The problem comes when you realize you're 300 pages into an epic novel and some small detail you didn't account for violates the rules of the magic system, invalidating a plot element you REALLY feel is essential to the story. This has happened in real life, and offers a solution.
First, let me say it's a magic system in a fiction story. You control the entire universe, and are the only one that can violate the rules semi-freely. If you don't like the rules, change them. Sometimes, you need to make some small adjustments throughout the story to fix it. But until you publish something, the rules aren't in stone.
But secondly, our world felt they understood exactly how physics worked for centuries. Newtonian physics explained the world exactly as it was (as far as almost everyone understood) and any discrepancies that were noticed were assumed to be in measurements, understanding, and unforeseen variables. Even today, 99.5% of the time, Newtonian physics does a perfectly adequate job explaining how everything works.
Only Newtonian physics increasingly came under scrutiny because there were small things that just didn't fit. So physicists tried to piece together a better model that accounted for the missing pieces. We are still trying to account for it.
It is easier to adjust the world (as an author) than to perfectly follow a rigid magic system. You can even allude to this in the story, inoculating your readers to the idea that there are small things mages/witches/psionics don't fully understand. Most readers will love the mystery of it, especially if the mage involved is as shocked as everyone else. Working out the discrepancy in the magic system can even be a sub-plot of the story.
So a good, internally consistent magic system must be rigidly adhered to to maintain internal consistency. Until it's inconvenient and gets in the way of a good story. Maybe your universe is a little different than what your characters understand it to be. They are mortals compared to you (even the ones that are gods). Remember that as a writer, you are THE God. As long as the universe has wiggle room, feel free to wiggle.
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The key to making this fun for the reader, especially in a hard magic world, is for the inconsistency to be hinted at many chapters before it becomes plot-relevant Commented Jul 18, 2021 at 23:12
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1This works particularly well if you characterize magical studies as "just another branch of science." You don't have wizards, you have magical scientists. They don't know everything about magic, they just know the stuff they've been able to work out by experimentation, observation, etc. There isn't some Great Big Book Of Magic that tells you all the rules, you have to figure them out on your own.– KevinCommented Jul 19, 2021 at 5:23
In my case, I like to ask myself all the questions a potential reader would ask. Better yet, I go to someone who is either into the fantasy genre or not, and I tell them to ask me questions. That way, I have to come up with a solution and if I can't there must be something I can do to tweak to have their be an answer. However, you can absolutely have a small plothole that isn't such a big deal to leave reader with mystery as long as there's a way to have it make sense why it should be a mystery.
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Thanks for answering my question. Here's an upvote, new member.– user36239Commented Jul 24, 2021 at 16:11