This is actually something I ponder often when it comes to my own stories, since I write in the urban/cont. fantasy vein, and with the confusion of magical realism, the elephant in the urban fantasy room is (for me): is the magical really an integral part of the story?

I've not yet figured out how to answer that. Perhaps I'll ruminate on it in my own journal -- been awhile since I've held forth as analytical reader/writer -- and besides, I'm stalling on putting a new desk together. Heh! Sounds like a plan, rumination it is.