Need Help With a "Visual" for Magic

[nofrodelius]

I am currently developing a magic system for my novel, and am running into some creative roadblocks. So far, I have determined the primary source of magic in my world, how it is accessed by various races, and have started to come up with a few ideas on how it can be used. The thing that I am struggling with the most is adding a visual to a particular magic that I have created.

Brandson Sanderson often talks about giving the reader an image to go along with a magic (lines in Allomancy, glowing with Stormlight in Stormbinding, etc.), but my magic is mostly an internal one: the magic user can pull someone's mind into their own, and access as if it were an extension of their own (think of it like plugging a USB into your computer). This is basically mind-reading/telepathy, but functionally operates in the reverse of what you usually see (ex. Prof. X, from the X-Men, who pushes his own mind into someone else's). It may seem like semantics, but the way this magic operates will have serious repercussions for the plot later on.

What I am struggling with is how to make this more visual and engaging. One idea I considered was to have my protagonist "transported" to a visual space that represents the inside of his mind (ex. the black realm that Eleven, from Stranger Things, goes to when she's using telepathy, or even Shadesmar when Jasnah/Shallan are using Soulcasting). I don't want something boring, however, and I could use suggestions for an interesting visual space for these scenes to take place in.

I could also use some help figuring out the visual mechanic for how my protagonist locates minds to reach out to. The way magic works in this world is through vibrations and frequencies, which represent different objects, souls, etc. I don't know if echolocation makes any sense here, and though I considered using a visual mechanic that mimics how Toph "sees" in Avatar (ie. hearing vibrations in the earth), this does not allow for sensing objects in the air or behind walls, etc. The protagonist's power only allows him to connect to the vibrations of sentient, self-aware beings (no inanimate objects, plants, or animals), so I have to be able to have him distinguish the vibrations of people from everything else (otherwise sensory-overload would be a serious issue). Perhaps I could use something similar to the lines in Allomancy, but then again, I don't know how well that translates to the concept of vibrations, etc.

Any ideas, input, etc. would be helpful. Objective viewpoints always seem to bring up something I haven't yet considered or explored.

[Xardan Ta'Caran he/him]

Have you thought of the possibility of him "seeing" the frequencies of everything when he first enters this realm of sensing other minds, but then he "tunes" the frequencies to only be sentient beings since they're the only ones he can affect? That might give you a good way to make his power grow and help others understand it a little better.

That aside I would say that when you say they use vibrations and frequencies to locate people my imagination immediately goes to something like echolocation (I'm picturing the screen from The Dark Knight that allowed Batman to "see" all of the bad guys at the end). Using the "tuning" could allow you to make the place where he goes more interesting because he could begin by being overloaded for just a second while he hones in on the correct frequency, then all he sees clearly are the people and the sentient minds and all of the other "garbage" is kept at bay.

[Karger he/him]

I personally view the mind (metaphorically) like a kingdom.  Perhaps when searching the frequencies the image of this kingdom is fuzzy but as they approach is starts to smooth out?

[nofrodelius]

3 hours ago, Xardan Ta'Caran said:

Have you thought of the possibility of him "seeing" the frequencies of everything when he first enters this realm of sensing other minds, but then he "tunes" the frequencies to only be sentient beings since they're the only ones he can affect? That might give you a good way to make his power grow and help others understand it a little better.

That aside I would say that when you say they use vibrations and frequencies to locate people my imagination immediately goes to something like echolocation (I'm picturing the screen from The Dark Knight that allowed Batman to "see" all of the bad guys at the end). Using the "tuning" could allow you to make the place where he goes more interesting because he could begin by being overloaded for just a second while he hones in on the correct frequency, then all he sees clearly are the people and the sentient minds and all of the other "garbage" is kept at bay.

Hmm, a form synesthesia, where he "sees" sounds? That could work, if I can figure out a dynamic way to visualize that.

When designing my magic system, I was inspired by Nichola Tesla's quote:

"If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration."

I have also drawn a lot of inspiration from the Spiritualist movement (taking some of the principles and redefining them into magical terms). New Age Spiritualist, Cassandra Sturdy, said:

"Your 'vibration' is a fancy way of describing your overall state of being. Everything in the universe is made up of energy vibrating at different frequencies. Even things that look solid are made up of vibrational energy fields at the quantum level."

So the way this magic system works is similar to tuning your radio into a specific frequency.

[Xardan Ta'Caran he/him]

Knowing that I could make one more suggestion that may work.

If you're going for vibrational energy entirely you could have him go to a place where he feels heartbeats. That would allow him to automatically tune in to sentient beings only and it would play in to the vibrations. Then you could have it be more like the beating of when someone senses allomancy as his way of tracking it.

From there he could easily still "tune" himself in to (just for example) the human frequency or the animal frequency. If you do your research right you could even base that on typical heart rates of the different species and have it be those heart rates that let him know what each is. That would also entail a lot of learning about the different creatures in the world to learn how each "beat" applies to each type of creature.

[Nathrangking he/him]

3 hours ago, nofrodelius said:

Hmm, a form synesthesia, where he "sees" sounds? That could work, if I can figure out a dynamic way to visualize that.

When designing my magic system, I was inspired by Nichola Tesla's quote:

"If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration."

I have also drawn a lot of inspiration from the Spiritualist movement (taking some of the principles and redefining them into magical terms). New Age Spiritualist, Cassandra Sturdy, said:

"Your 'vibration' is a fancy way of describing your overall state of being. Everything in the universe is made up of energy vibrating at different frequencies. Even things that look solid are made up of vibrational energy fields at the quantum level."

So the way this magic system works is similar to tuning your radio into a specific frequency.

Another possibility is that the distinct resonance frequency of each person and living thing is part of the learning curve. Each frequency subtly vibrates each person when they open themselves up to it. Experience would allow you to detect the exact location of the via minute changes and other such things.

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

Each mind could be seen as a unique room. It’s simple in concept, so easy to introduce readers to, but can be made complex fairly easily.

For example: Upon entry the mindscape seemed simple enough. A classic sitting room, with scattered couches, a low end table, long rows of books hiding the walls from view. One lay open on the table, words constantly shifting.  ‘Surface thoughts,’ X sniffed.

X wandered the room, searching. Toys appeared and vanished; remnants of childhood, perhaps, or thoughts of children. A new baby blanket sat on the couch now; a future child then. A remnant would be older.

X paused, frowning. Something... She smiled suddenly, teeth gleaming bright in the dim room. ‘Not so simple, are you?’ She murmured, as she reached out and opened a door that had not been a moment before. ‘A room in a room. I wonder, how many layers does your onion hold?’

The door shut behind her, vanishing, leaving the sitting room as still an peaceful as before. End Example.

Essentially, the room alters based on thoughts and desires (the book recording surface thoughts, representations of memories and desires appearing) and there can be multiple layers within a single mind.