Sanderson’s Third Law

Expand what you already have before you add something new.

Sanderson’s Third Law of Magic

I discovered this while going through Brandon Sanderson’s lectures on writing science fiction and fantasy, available freely on YouTube. He talks about how “bigger isn’t always better”; instead you can focus on fewer magic systems and add depth, allowing you to do more with less. I love this idea, especially thinking about design systems and software as well as magic systems in a fictional book.