In our world, this would be called photographic or eidetic memory. I couldn’t really see those terms appearing in Windemere, so I came up with Bard’s Memory. This is because bards are known to memorize a lot of lore and information. This is an ability that Luke Callindor was born with and it comes up from time to time. Yet, he still tends to forget things and this gets pointed out as an issue. I will admit that I forget about Bard’s Memory during first drafts, but I made it to be an imperfect ability.
You see, Luke does remember everything that he sees, hears, and senses. The information is rattling around in his head somewhere. This does not mean that he immediately recalls everything. Luke has to think about something to draw it up from the recesses of his mind. Depending on the details and his concentration, it could take seconds or minutes for him to remember. So he won’t spew out information at the drop of a hat and you can trip him up with questions if you catch him off-guard.
This tends to be a minor thing in Legends of Windemere, but it does get brought up to me a few times. Personally, I prefer that it works this way because having a character who remembers and knows everything can be annoying. They fall into the know-it-all category, which can turn readers off.





Love the picture 🙂
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Thanks. It made me chuckle when I saw it.
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Eidetic memory also more closely resembles your description of Bard’s Memory than it does Spencer Reid. Television, after all…
Love the pic too :-).
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I wasn’t sure. People have told me that eidetic memory doesn’t require a lot of concentration for recall. Bard’s memory does. Not sure who Spencer Reid is.
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It doesn’t necessarily, but it may require some thought, as opposed to being able to constantly recall any and every minute detail on command without pause.
Spencer Reid is one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows, Criminal Minds :-).
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Got it. I still get the vibe that Luke has a watered down version. Though it might be because he keeps forgetting to use it. This far into the series and I’m starting to think he really is an idiot.
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Only a writer can understand that statement!
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Everyone else would be confused. I can’t even say it’s a bad thing. Maybe because it isn’t so much stupid, but impulsive and reckless. So people don’t really pay attention when he’s thinking.
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I get strange looks when I state things that I “think” about my characters.
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I do it over a computer because not many people on this side of the screen listen to me for more than 2 minutes at a time. It gets really bad when I talk about Stephen, the newest villain. You’d think I wanted to put myself in the story to kill him myself.
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Interesting. I have a Stephen that I would like to put myself into the store to kill as well.
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Maybe it’s in the name.
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Great combination of image and details in your blog!!
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Thanks. 🙂
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I have the film, too, but those batteries are never charged. 🙂
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Really sucks when you lose the charger too.
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When I finally do get all the elements to cooperate, I wind up photographing my thumb…
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Is that better or worse than only taking selfies? That sounds like narcissism given the conversation.
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The thumbie is more of an accidental selfie, makes one feel kinda dumbie…
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Thumbie . . . think you just invented a new fad. 🙂
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