Not Hard, Not Soft, but Firm
The hard magic system and world are not dead.
I think things can be misconstrued (as in, it’s likely not what you think) when it comes to complex situations and magic systems of a detailed caliber.
The big thing in the sphere of literature seems to be romantasy and dark-academia-style novels. Those frankly don’t appeal to me to write in, so I stay away from them—though I have a dark romance novel coming out in Spring/Summer 2026 about a sea nymph and a jaded loner who lost his son on the western coast in California.
A large majority of these romantasy novels have soft world-building and soft magic systems, if they’re even touched on at all.
I believe Studio Ghibli does the soft method the best out of the currently working film studios.
My novel series has a mixture of soft and hard magic, which I refer to as firm. This film studio is one of my influences in both storytelling and world-building potential.
An author must leave a sense of whimsical wonder, while also having room to explain the strict rules of how it all works.
The Harry Potter series is a prime example of a firm-style magic system. It’s wondrous enough to make your imagination soar but grounded enough to be believable.
My magic system is based on genetic legacies passed down through genes in eye colors, and eyes are quite important in my world.
The main character, Stanzielle Quintette, has green eyes; thus, she is associated with iroseva verdant. However, since she wields the alucinized instrument, Stellatina, she can use more colors than green alone on the alter-chromatic spectrum.
Characters who have heterochromia might be able to use multiple affinities, while colorless eyes have the least effect on the musical powers of Orchestrylus.
If I dive into the potential power of eye colors by itself, the magic is bound to certain rules by default, seeing as each color has a special ability tied to emotions.
My world does not have elemental magic, though a song might affect the elements of the world in certain ways.
The musical magic system has battles carried out in poetry and verse, meaning battles are as physical as they are fought in the mindscape of the characters, damaging the psyche equal to or further than the physical body.
These novels play well with longer lengths, to further divulge details and world-building aspects as each book progresses.
My most recent work is a story that ended up being better told in a far more concise way, because reading chess moves repeatedly gets boring. There’s only so much “this piece moved to this space” that can be written about before it gets stale.
The Orchestrylus Odyssey, however, is a fantastical yet science-fiction world journey that takes place in a world that would be impossible in our reality. The weather patterns are impossible here, as well as the creatures that exist in that world. The world plays music as the characters interact, whether in a city from the work of the masons and construction efforts, or in the fantastical scenery.
The world is alive and a character.
Maybe instead of choosing between two options, the best is to meet them somewhere in the middle and take them to a firm foundation rather than outright soft or hard.
That leaves the writer with one choice.
The correct one.
The right one for the story.
And the right one makes all the difference.
