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I know in an earlier posts I made a mild statement about witches being sexy thanks to Charmed. Then I go and use the above picture. Honestly, it was the best one I could find and it highlights the stumbling I had with this idea.
Coven of the Gray started rather oddly compared to my other ideas. Instead of a character or a plot appearing in my head, I got this title stuck in there. I had been subjected to Charmed during this time even though I wasn’t interested. I happened to be in the room at the time people watched it and I was too lazy to move. By this point, I had stories about vampires and others about werewolves. So, my mind drifted to the other horror staples like witches and ghosts. This began the confusing snagging of other ideas.
Originally, the heroes were sisters and you can see where this is going. It never made it beyond character creation even though I started maneuvering them into more of a Norn/Fate-like system.
A few years passed and I left the idea alone, but then I saw Hellboy. Coven of the Gray returned as a secret organization that investigates the paranormal. This time the main character was the grandson of the founder who is put in charge. There was a ghost, a blind truth seeing boy, a soulless golem, and the three witches with specialties. One was potions, one was wands, and the other had powers because she was born from a Haunted House that wanted to learn about the rest of the world. There was a story where the house tries to reabsorb her. I also had a bad guy that absorbed ghosts for powers and a ghost that was angry about being sent to Hell for a horrific past life mistake, so he shatters the barrier for the final adventure. It was fun, but still felt like things were missing and I left it alone again.
Next attempt was in a world where the Greek Gods returned to Earth, so the plot was the witches (male and female) were trying to revive Hecate. That’s all I had this time.
This brings us to today where Coven of the Gray is in limbo while I search for a place to set them in Windemere. The vampires transferred well and the ghosts got their series in a way. Werewolves (lycanthropes) are still posing a problem though. Anyway, the witches have a little bit right now. Beings who have magic, but are rather weak in power unless they work within a group. This differs from the solitary casters like Nyx and Trinity. So, the story might revolve around them being hunted because too many gathered might pose a danger. Maybe a pilgrimage to a place they can be safe. I’m a little sad about losing the Haunted House idea unless the head witch was born from something like that. This is feeling like it will be a one-shot.
Now, I could fit this under the Project Phoenix umbrella like a few others ideas. That’s really going to be a beast of a series.
Legends of Windemere 
“Coven of the Gray returned as a secret organization that investigates the paranormal. This time the main character was the grandson of the founder who is put in charge. There was a ghost, a blind truth seeing boy, a soulless golem, and the three witches with specialties. One was potions, one was wands, and the other had powers because she was born from a Haunted House that wanted to learn about the rest of the world.” I love this idea. Hash this one out, it sounds fascinating.
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Parts of it remain like the witch specialties. Moving it into Windemere makes it a little more challenging to work the secret organization. My issue with that version became that the witches took second fiddle to the other characters in the planning, but I always wanted to delve more into them. So, I’d be dropping many of the other characters.
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I would leave them out of Windemere. They sound like they could be their own series, and I would leave it like that.
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They will be their own series and in a different region of Windemere. Maybe Canst’s Fields, which is lacking some adventures or the Conifer Forests of north Ralian. Got an entire planet to play with. They do work better in Windemere at the core, but the issue is to figure out their purpose. What’s the plot is the big question.
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It wouldn’t let me reply to your latest reply in this conversation, so I’ll reply to this one. Do you have a world map for Windemere? You seem to have a lot of places, and I find maps fascinating…
(Also, I’m half way through Beginning of a Hero, and I am enjoying it so far. The style was odd to read at first, but I quickly got used to it!)
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The present tense is tough at first, but I’m learning to make it easier. I’m told I improve as books go on, so I guess I’m becoming an author while Luke becomes a hero.
I have a map of the Ralian continent and I think I have one of the Canst’s Field continent somewhere. Unfortunately, I lost my maps years ago and I’m not that good of an artist anyway. It was really bad. Like a ghost with various shapes of acne. 🙂
Glad you’re enjoying the book. I’m hoping to get the 3rd book out within a few weeks. Fixing a few story issues that I didn’t realize until last minute.
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I love witches most out of all of the fantasy characters, and have since Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. As a plot device I would go with “healer”. They have notious healing powers and have throughout history, even during the Christian Crusades, women were put to death and condemned as witches for what they could accomplish as healers. In Anne Rice’s successful trilogy “The Mayfair Legacy” there were good and bad witches watched over centuries by the Talamasca organization. Rowan, a very good witch and the protagonist, is also a master surgeon with tremendous healing powers in a contemporary world. Using local herbs, roots, mushrooms, animal parts,and tonics as well as spellcasting are devices, so having them in a location where those are readily accessible would be important.
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I was leaning toward the more realistic healer witch from the olden times. Known a lot of Wiccans in my time too, which influenced the characters. That’s why I’m still leaning toward making the three main witches based on that gives a lot of influence. The major issue I’m having is an element of story. It isn’t interesting if there’s no conflict and I don’t want to go for the ‘Burn the Witches!’ Putting them in Windemere brings in the conflict between the aura-using casters and the more traditional Witches. Maybe I can make the Witches a type of sorceress that works differently than the Casters, so they’re dying out. I really don’t want to go with the stereotype of ‘people hate them and want to roast marshmallows over their bones’.
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I don’t want them burned, but I would like to see healing brought in. It is a way to get what I relate to as a nurse in there. If some other character is wounded and the witches have a way to repair that, that would work for me.
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Should be able to work that in there to some extent. In Windemere, priests tend to be the healers with their magic. Yet, I could see Witches being the more rural healers and anti-poison experts.
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