I'm looking for tips on how to write a wizard as a main character without him being already to powerful. Also are there any good books with wizards as a main character? (for adults preferably) Any advice is appreciated
CS Friendman has the Magister series with a female nagister main char. I don't know if their necessarily for adults, but Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books have a wizard as main char and if you can do Forgotten Realms there are the Elminster books. I think the most important thing to do is make sure there are strict and believable rules for the magic system. Having rules will avoid making him/her too powerful.
Decide on the "rules" of magic from the beginning and stick to them. Give magic limits. If your world is filled with wizards, then suddenly a wizard doesn't seem so powerful--it's all relative (ex. Harry Potter); if he's the only wizard out there, or one of few, give him obstacles and conflicts that outmatch him (ex. Gandalf in Lord of the Rings--powerful relative to the Hobbits and to the others in the Fellowship but he can't just cast a spell and defeat Sauron).
Hmm... read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It has a clever and interesting magic system, and the main character is a wizard essentially. Create your own way for magic to work, and make it have limits. HP type magic isn't terribly common in fantasy novels, and it works in those books because everyone else is also a wizard. Create laws and rules for the magic. But remember, rules can be broken in fact thats why rules are created. Laws, however, are unbreakable. (scientific type laws of course)
If we work from the assumption that magic is more than just saying the right words and performing the correct motions--if we work from the assumption that magic requires full commitment from the heart and the complete surrendering of yourself to the higher calling of what you are doing--that gives us plenty of terrain for finding barriers and limitations within our leading wizard that he needs to overcome. After all, wizards are also human, right? So they have human hang-ups and self-doubts like everyone else. Screw him up a little bit, and that is sure to throw some serious monkey wrenches in his mojo.
What Marktx said- great books, great writing, great mechanics. I also suggest the Dresden Files, and urban fantasy about a wizard detective.
set up your own magic system, a way for doing things. Then place limits and rules. You can have your wizard start out as a apprentice mage as well.
