The “magical systems” panel turned out to be a lot of fun. One audience member asked for advice on writing magic systems based on elements. I responded by telling the story of when my brother Eric and I used to build armies of robots out of Legos and smash them into each other in epic battles until all the robots were destroyed, and only the professors who created them were left to battle to the death. The professors would usually die at the same time. But even after all that carnage, Eric and I weren’t satisfied, so the wind would blow the dead bodies of the professors around and continue the fight. The wind would even enter their nostrils, fill their lungs, and cause their vocal chords to vibrate, very coincidentally, so that they could continue to talk to each other. This was my example of elemental magic.