Yahoo Image Search
Long ago, I created a character named Sin. He was a cunning thief who got himself caught up in a grand adventure. I made him in high school and I’ve mentioned him a few times on this blog. He’s one of the The Four in my head, so he has a lot of big things planned for him. Unfortunately, Sin keeps getting into trouble with his stories. At first he was 1 story and then a trilogy and then 5 and then 7 and then 9 and back to 7 and now back to 9. Did I lose anyone there?
Here’s the thing with Sin. Unlike Luke Callindor, his destiny is very unclear and he doesn’t go along with what he does know. So, he gets into grand adventures that he has very little business getting into. Unlike Clyde, he isn’t a violent monster involved in a power struggle of near immortals. Unlike Darwin, Sin knows exactly what he’s doing, which allows for a longer story and more twists and turns. This makes him the perfect character for tales that are global, high action, and major explorations of Windemere. Whenever I come up with an idea that has tiered villains, ancient weapons, and a gathering of new heroes, I find that Sin fits into the entire scenario.
You might be wondering what this has to do with a ‘Theme’. Well, I had it set up that each of his main villains would embody a deadly sin. Honestly, I never planned that when I originally designed Sin and gave him the name. I simply liked the sound of it and it worked with his thief background. I still haven’t given him a birth name, which is something I might have to look into at some point. Anyway, I ran into the following problem as you can see from the first paragraph:
I have 9 books in the series!
So, what does one do with this? I considered dropping 2 of the stories, but they’re all good stories with a lot of development for Sin, his recurring friends, and Windemere. So, I’m thinking of fudging the theme. I have the 7 Deadly Sins along with ‘Original Sin’ (though more sin of the creator) and something I’m calling ‘All Sin’. That last one is a villain who will embody all of the 7 Deadly ones. It’s a stretch and can fall apart, but what else can one do? Guess I could ditch the theme. I’m glad it’ll be years before I get to this one.
Legends of Windemere 
I like the seven deadly sin theme.
LikeLike
It’s a classic. 🙂
LikeLike
I like the theme of seven deadly sins with the addition of original and all. Sounds like interesting possibilities for the series. Good luck in the future with this one!
LikeLike
Thanks. It was a little tricky to fit the other two in. I’m hoping the whole thing works out too.
LikeLike
What about condensing the content of the 9 stories down into 8? Then you could do the seven sins, plus original sin (or the all sin), and potentially the plots of the books would be tighter and more action-packed as a result. Just a thought 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks. If it was any other series, I could probably do that. The challenge is that each book has a major 4-Act adventure with multi-tiered villains and a grand threat at the end. I’m going to be trying to do a ‘Final Fantasy’ style story with world-spanning travel and all the twists and turns, so they don’t really allow for combinations.
Though it is funny that my favorite Final Fantasy game is 9 and I can’t condense this series any more.
LikeLike
That’s a lot of work, but I like the theme. I can imagine tying it together with a story arc could be tricky. Curious now…is Sin ever forgiven sin?
LikeLike
Sin isn’t really ‘sinful’ to the point of evil. He’ll do a few edgy things to win or undermine his enemy. He’s more of a thief turned adventurer and its the villains that embody the sins. His name was given to him by his birth father who never wanted him.
LikeLike
An orphan like character. There is a belief that foster children and orphans are automatically wayward souls. I got that as a child and a teen even before I ever started getting into any sort of trouble. many times I was accused of things I had not even begun to think about doing.
LikeLike
More or less. His actual back story is that his mother died in childbirth, so his father blamed him. Hence the name Sin. At the age of 4, the father threw him off a ship and he washed up to be adopted by a merchant. Sin became a thief as he grew up, but it was more for the thrill and he tended to give away most of what he took. I’m looking forward to the day I can write one of his stories, but it’ll be a while. His comes after a few others, which would be spoiled by some of the things he gets involved in.
LikeLike
I’m already intrigued 🙂
LikeLike
Okay, after reading all the comments I’m even more intrigued. It will be interesting to see what you do with Sin. I can see why it will have to be 9 books! Geez, you’re mind is always in “action” mode! My mind is like that, but you channel yours much better that I do!
LikeLike
It has its downside. Attention span and awareness can take a hit when the imagination starts screaming.
LikeLike
You can definitely have too much Sin. You’ll probably never be at a point where you don’t have enough of it. 🙂
LikeLike
If I get too much then I’ll do a career change. Lawyer? Politician? You know, the classics.
LikeLike