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So I’m nearing the end of writing Book 7 of Legends of Windemere. After that a break for birthday and Passover with future series outlining. Then I either jump into Book 8 or start editing Book 5. This post is about Book 8 because the plot has me worried.
First of all, I like this idea and I think it pushes a lot of events forward. It brings some supporting characters into the spotlight for a bit and develops characters. The core of the story is that the child of a previous character has started up a business selling figurines (action figures) of the main heroes. They find out and visit the place because this shows signs of something changing that I can’t get into detail due to spoilers. One of the villains is the Goddess of Chaos who has been exiled by the other gods for breaking their one rule and she’s been in hiding. She’s also insane and childish, so she gets upset when there’s no figure of her. So, she attacks and merges several of the heroes with figurines that are shipped to Gaia. This leaves the newest one and a few supporting characters to retrieve the possessed figures and revive them before someone can destroy their bodies.
Now this is rather silly and lighthearted, especially after the psychological destruction I threw down in Book 7. Yet here are the lasting effects:
- Yola Biggs evolves as a character.
- Nyx and Trinity are caught in the transformation spell, but are driven insane instead. They spend much of the book in a Caster Asylum being told that their previous lives were vivid delusions.
- Newest hero has to fight on her own for the first time.
- Introduction of a new supporting character and an old one get to save the day.
- Events that cause another hero to leave and get a big adventure in Book 9 occur.
- Fizzle’s view of the world changes.
All of this stems from them being combined with action figures that they can move around like possessed dolls. That’s what scares me here. Fantasy readers seem to be very serious about their stories and I’m not sure how this would go over. The surface idea sounds childish even though I’ll be using some heavy themes in the book. Again, I like this idea because it will be fun before the storm of heavy hits that the rest of the series is going to have. That’s just me though. I know one should write what they love, but I’m unsure about this. Worse part is that I have no idea how to get all of those important points into a book without the action figure thing. Do I have them get put into something else like paintings or statues? I could but that doesn’t fit the new supporting character and she’s not that kind of artist. Also, it’s easier for a character to sneak around as a tiny figure than big statues.
Anyway, I’d love to have some input on this. Is a ‘silly’ setting for a mid-series book good to recover from a heavy installment and push some character development?
*Edit after writing this and being too lazy to change it all: Seems I have to fix up the outline anyway to implement a few relationship changes and foreshadowing. Still the main ideas of Yola’s evolution, crazy spell, and the asylum are remaining for now.*
Legends of Windemere 
I like something lighthearted in the middle – Harry Potter 6 did that with the love spells and the shenanigans (love that word). While there were some heavy things going on and it ended so very sadly, it had a definite lighthearted tone, which was a welcome break from the angst of 5. 4 was similar. Besides, to me, your action figures sound a lot like articulate voodoo dolls – and there are different ways to describe such figurines that takes the childishness out of them, if you’re really concerned.
Now, I’m probably not a serious fantasy reader, but at the same time, I’m up there with write what you love. I’ve had similar questions over the location of book 2 in my books – it takes place in Scotland and a lot of the action is during the Jacobean revolt in 1745. There’s another time travel series that goes there (brilliantly – love those books) and is getting its own Starz series. I could change the location, but I’m not going to because there are enough differences that it’s not the same, but on the surface it could be seen as such.
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The difference between these and voodoo dolls are that they really are action figures. The Luke one transforms, the Nyx one fires a harmless light from her hands, etc. They were created by a gnome who wants to capitalize on their growing fame and ends up making things pretty bad for them. Hard to save the world when you’re being swarmed by fans. That’s where things get a little wonky with the figurine description.
I think I saw a commercial for that series. Forgot the name of it though. I say stick with the location and focus on the differences. The Starz show might even help in some way.
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I see your point – and personally, I love the idea of the action figures. I think the way you explain it makes it appropriate to the series, and a fun idea. People are always going to find ways to criticize something if that’s the angle they want to take.
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True. I’m preparing for some backlash, which is why I’m going to retool the outline. I realized it takes more chapters for them to find the production city than actually being in the figurines. Want Nyx and Trinity to spend more time in the asylum too.
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That thread will be really interesting, I think. It’s always fascinating how characters/people deal with those kind of psychological pressures.
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Especially when one of their group is so new that nobody knows about her. Honestly, there’s about 3-4 issues going on here. That rewrite is definitely going to help.
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It will – it helps realign everything (just rewrote the outline for book 2 now that I know what the heck is going on with everyone. Very excited). Good luck, Charles! 🙂
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Thanks. I’ve got my work cut out for me.
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I’m a huge fan of fantasy books and movies and I think your idea could work. I think staying true to a character is important. so if your character is not that kind if artist then having them in paintings or as statues wouldn’t be believable. You are an excellent writer, Charles, who can make the action heroes work. Write what’s in your heart for your characters and story. The other plots of the story sound great.
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Thanks. The character is a gnome inventor, which makes a mess of most other ideas. This was a fun idea up until I saw how some fans react to humor in fantasy.
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The action figure idea brings the story to a present day in my mind (if that is what you want). Of course I am finishing the second and don’t know where the others have taken us. You could use Chess pieces and have the world of Windemere as a board.
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I’m leery of using Chess because it’s been over done and it wouldn’t have the characters get lost and separated. Nobody really wants to hold onto a King piece without the rest of the set.
There is a lot of modern tech in Windemere like indoor plumbing and some medical treatments. Yet action figures might be pushing it due to them being seen as a ‘child’ item. Even adults who collect them are seen as immature. Though it’s really hard to say a fantasy book goes to ‘present day’ since it’s a different world.
I’m going to have to rewrite the outline to clean it up, but I’m having a lot of trouble thinking of an alternative to action figures that can still get the job done.
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Change appearance spells? Could be anything then
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It could be anything, but then it would miss a specific connection to the heroes. That would pose another problem. The Chaos Goddess casts her spell specifically because there’s no figurine of her even though the Lich and Trinity each have one. I mention in another comment that part of the issue with these items is that they bring a lot of attention to the heroes and make it difficult for them to move around because they now have fans.
As I said, it’s a mess and is starting to feel like a badly balanced jenga tower.
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My question is whether small figurines for sale would be consistent with the technological level of the world. It’s not if such things could be made–of course they could–but could they be made quickly enough that the artisan could offer them for sale without being prohibitively expensive? If each one is handmade (I am assuming that mass production techniques are unavailable) then each figurine would have to cost enough to support the artist for however long it takes to craft, plus supplies and overhead.
Toys in pre-technological times tended to be crude, except for the extremely wealthy. I would think that the average farmer would be unable to pay a week’s wages for a toy.
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Actually, gnomes have mass production techniques in the city of Nevra Coil. It’s a floating city/factory that they’ve just built. Good point though since that fact does make the existence of action figures a little easier. In fact, action figures could be one of the reasons they created such a system.
I never really understood how fantasy was always plunged into pre-technology times and magic never rose to fill the void. The exception being Harry Potter where magic seemed to replace technology in many fields. With Windemere, I’m leaning toward a dawn of a technology boom because a lot of modern day things have been introduced. Indoor plumbing has been mentioned as a new luxury and blood transfusions are being worked on. Though I don’t know if this means toys are too far-fetched.
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Actually, if the technology is being used for other things, then toys are a logical extension. One of the first uses for plastic injection molding, for example, was the making of toys. I can see a magical “industrial revolution” changing the world. Again, it’s a matter of economics–how much time and effort from a caster (who I assume would be considered a highly skilled tradesman) to set up the process, and then how much semi-skilled labor to produce individual units.
Technological innovations often are adopted in luxury items first. People who are unwilling to trust their livelihood to new-fangled inventions are more likely to test them out with items that they don’t really need. So a farmer might be willing to buy a magically produced toy for his children, but would insist on a new cart that was built the old fashioned way, because that’s what he trusts to keep working.
Also, savvy manufacturers might be willing to produce toys at a lower profit margin in order to get the kids familiar with the technology. Kids grow up to be adults, after all.
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Funny that you mention plastic because I’ve hinted at there being a group of gnomes working on that invention. Came from a failed attempted at lightweight armor. The ‘benefit’ of doing this through the gnomes is that they’re entire society revolves around inventing through both technology and magic. Think the term used most often is magi-tech, but I believe that’s copywritten.
I like the idea of the action figures being used to test other things. For instance, these figurines might be able to do harmless tricks that have a more advance use if done on a bigger scale. I have one of them able to fire a burst of light from her hand, which can be a test for modern day lighters and signal flares. Currently, they use either magic or medieval methods.
Another thing you’ve made me think about is how an inventor might create a hot children’s toy to bring in money. With that funding, they can continue other projects.
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This has nothing to do with your post, but that’s an amazing Star Wars collection. I wish I had had that ages ago. 🙂 Well, I got by pretty well with a small slice of that…
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I never had any Star Wars figures. It was all He-Man, Thundercats, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were well-used too. 😉
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I do. Along with Gerry Anderson stuff and Dr Who figures. We have things here called car boot sales – imagine an organised garage sale of epic proportions – and you can pick them up there. I’ve been collecting them for about 20 years and I have a room of shame full of them.
Cheers
MTM
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Silly mouse is double-clicking on me. Here it double-posted on me. So I’ll make it worse and triple post. (Or if you kindly remove the extra, and this one if you wish, I’ll be grateful.) 🙂 Now I need to find another mouse…
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Done. Just realized I have nearly 500 spam comments too.
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Thank you. WordPress’s spam filter is a blog-saver. 🙂
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Definitely. Scary seeing what can come through without it.
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I’d say write what you like and if you do it with enough conviction it’ll stick. If you feel it jars you can always heavy it up a bit but the actual idea flies for me.
Cheers
MTM
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Thanks. I’m going to work on streamlining it, but so far the concept is staying.
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I like the action figure idea, it is different which will differentiate your series from others of the genre and if this is how you envision the story progressing why not. Readers that love the series will continue to love it with the new twist and this twist may actually bring in readers that you might otherwise not have had. Nothing is “silly” if it is well done. Go for it.
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Good point. It’s only as silly as I make it.
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I like it. Piers Anthony often did similar things with his books and they were all brilliant.
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You know, that makes me feel a 100 times better about it. 🙂
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