What Inspired My Magical College
When you think about the most famous magical school, what do you think first? Hogwarts, probably. There are some other notable mentions: Roke, the Scholomance, St. Vladimir Academy, Hex Hall and The University from Kingkiller Chronicles.
But today, I’m going to talk about what inspired me to create a magical college.
The main inspiration came directly from the real world. Universidad Simón Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela and The University of Calgary. Both institutions where I was a student and graduated (Biology and Software Engineering). Of course, I would be lying if I don’t talk about other magical inspirations: The College of Winterhold.
Universidad Simón Bolivar
The original academy setting was my alma mater. Universidad Simón Bolivar. It was a public university, where you didn’t have to pay tuition and it was prestigious. La Simón, like we called it, had a campus in a valley surrounded by pines trees—which translated well into Kananaskis, where my academy college is.
It was small and there was a mix of the greenery of gardens and brutalist architecture with Spanish colonial buildings like an hacienda. It had art pieces everywhere and you can imagine how a beautiful campus in a temperate climate would impress a seventeen year old like me.
This place is where I found my best friends, and that boyfriend that ended up being my husband. It holds a special place in my heart.
The University of Calgary
The second campus that inspired heavily my magical college was The University of Calgary. It was my direct experience with a North American University as a student. UCalgary is definitely bigger than Universidad Simón Bolivar.
I didn’t know how much it was going to serve me as raw inspiration for the book. I also made some good friends there and almost all my coworkers went there. The campus is also beautiful and it does have a mix with old and new buildings.
College of Winterhold
Other places like the College of Winterhold, from the video game Skyrim, played a smaller part as inspiration too. But the inspiration was more on the magical element that you can also find in my own magical college; not so much architecture or system.
Winterhold is a bit of a small part of the game, it's designed to be a series of magical quests. There are no classes or exams or student life(the town is remote and something terrible happened), but there are some field trips and missions. I did enjoy playing this part of the game even if the other NPCs were not as friendly or useful.
Kananaskis as a setting for a magical college
Here comes my own magical campus. Located in a valley in Kananaskis, Alberta. Is it plausible for a campus to exist there? Of course, why not. The area is one of my favourites areas to hike and it has already some development (Nakiska Ski resort), plenty of hiking trails and a Tim Horton Children's Ranch (it doesn't get more Canadian than this).
From my manuscript, I can tell you that my magical college is often compared to a glorified ski resort—due to its location in Kananaskis. My magical college is not as elite as more traditional magical colleges, sure. It is supposed to be an experimental institution with the objective of being a bridge between two worlds: the magical one and the human one. Just like my own identity as a Venezuelan-Canadian, a bridge between two worlds that have accidental overlaps but never fully integrate.
Was the metaphor of having a place that serves as bridge reflect my interior life as a immigrant that was born in Venezuela but is also Canadian planned? I don’t think so. But I’m going to pretend to be smart and say: yes! It was all part of the plan!
