First, I hope everyone enjoyed the August Interviews. I had a long month without much activity on social media. The heat and kid being home left me drained. I still am, so it might be a while before I recover. All of my energy will be going toward the new project, which is why I don’t have a Tuesday Teaser. With luck, I’ll have one next week that reveals the city of Nevra Coil.
Second, I’m really sorry to all the body who volunteered to help and have been waiting and/or forgot they volunteered. Next time, I’ll be getting volunteers after I get everything and probably even after the release. Other projects got big, time ran away from us, and it’s just been one of those years. Hopefully when I get everything and send out the email, I don’t get a bunch of confused responses. Now on to the real post:
Project Phoenix . . . Ducks the rotten fruit hurling
This is my W.I.P. albatross. I can’t get it to work, but I can’t let it go. So many characters and stories in here. It is about superheroes and used to be its own world, which I called Super Earth. Now it’s part of Windemere and these superheroes are known as Mylrixians who mysteriously disappeared. They get a mention in one of the Legends of Windemere books, so I’m dedicated to the storyline where they’re revived. The only problem is how to do it and carry the story.
The problem is that this is a huge cast and multiple stories, which have enveloped others over time. I won’t waste time listing it. The best examples are that it’s been in the form of a 19 book series and an unconnected set of books during its evolution. One thing that has always been consistent is that I focused predominantly on the group and every hero got his/her own adventure. The current thought process is that I might have been stretching myself too thin. What if I choose one hero and had everything revolve around their actions? Who would I choose out of the army of superheroes?
Heroes Unlimited from Palladium
My mind immediately went to a character who came out of a college project called Mutant Wrestling Federation. My roommate, Tom, and I made this for our college’s first role-playing convention using a system called Heroes Unlimited. The test run was a disaster, so we developed more rules and teamed up with another friend, Matt. Each of us had our signature characters and Matt was one called Savior who was based on a wrestler named Hurricane Helms. Matt played this character so amazingly well that we kept wanting him to do it. Then I gave Savior a book and made him a new hero in a city overrun by villains. He became tech-based and used a suit to manipulate gravity, which he figured out as he went along. I’d already made an X-Men and Avengers type of series, so this was my Spider-Man level. That’s kind of where Savior stayed when he wasn’t wrestling until I had him get absorbed by Project Phoenix. Suddenly, an interesting evolution began with other people taking up the mantle at times. There was even a future one with the Savior League, which acted like the Green Lanterns and Nova Corps. Even when I brought him over to Windemere, the only thing that changed was that Savior became a gnome. The suit, stumbling onto it in a city of villains, and the desire to save others stayed the same. His Rogues Gallery is pretty immense too from superpowered thieves to assassins and even a corrupt Judge/Crime Lord who takes on the role of arch-enemy.
Now, how can Savior the street level hero be the focus of something much bigger than his city? I haven’t figured that out. Sacrifices might have to be made. The Mylrixians might even end up debuting in a second book after Savior establishes himself and gets involved in their revival. Maybe they’re back and he dons the suit to figure out what’s going on, but that goes back to focusing on them. After that, he could be called to their team or they could be supporting cast in his adventures. The alien bounty hunter is another who can get a book with Savior, but that’s fairly easy to do. I’ll be doing a lot of chopping and maybe spread out his enemies. Unlike other Windemere heroes, Savior will be taking his opponents alive so that will be an extra challenge.
What if I have the Mylrixians show up in a later book? As I hinted, there are several people who take up the mantle of Savior. I won’t say what happened to the original, but he is called the ‘First Savior’ for a reason. Maybe his time ends with the revival of the Mylrixians and a new one steps up for a bit to keep the legend going. I wanted to do a ‘Battle for the Name’ storyline with multiple Saviors running around to prove they’re worthy to be the only one. That might have to be how a third one shows up though and my head is spinning.
People who read this far might see the issue. I don’t know how to fit the Mylrixians into the Savior mythos. Him into their world is easy, but this would be like fitting the Avengers into Spider-Man’s stories. It’s been confusing to say the least even though it feels like the right move. Maybe I’ll take out all of the smaller Mylrixians and put them in earlier, so it’s only the heavy hitters that make their appearance like Samson, Eryx, and Gearhead Princess. I’m still looking at a huge cast though. Tomorrow might be the day I sit down and try to write all of the characters that I remember. Whoever I have to look up will be tossed aside unless it’s only a name check. It’s entirely possible that I can categorize the baddies into debut book and then the one where Savior is more established. Be nice if I can drop this from over 20 books to even 10.
Sorry about the rambling post. Didn’t realize it went for that long.
Legends of Windemere 
It’s great that you had a roommate who was so interested in what you were interested in. I can’t help also thinking of the Inhumans and their fit within the Marvel Universe. I’m not saying your characters are like them. I was thinking of how this was yet another set of storylines in Marvel’s vast universe.
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I never really got into the Inhumans when I read comics. From what I remember, they were superhumans that lived in a hidden city. There was Crystal who ran with Avengers and that’s pretty much it. This stuff does stem from my comic book days, but that makes it a bigger headache for some reason.
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Seems like a lot of work, but a good project to tackle. Some storylines seem to have an uneasy fit (like Inhumans and the Eternals)
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Uneasy is a nice way of explaining this mess.
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I know it’s agony for you, but to me it’s exciting. Another set of storylines emerges from your creative genius. What’s not to celebrate? 🙂
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I’ve had these in notes and brain form for a decade. Think I’ve gone from celebrating to considering them a mental parasite. Most days it falls in the middle. Hopefully this clears them up.
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Ah yes, author problems. Many worry about not having a worthy idea. Most of us have too many, and they never stop coming.
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Staring at the list now. I gave this guy 29 villains and that’s not counting those that will transfer over from Project Phoenix. I can attest that I have no idea how to do this. Probably need to sort all of them into street level, big baddie, and assassin. Or something.
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No idea, but I’d probably try to combine some, and team up some.
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Combining might not happen, but putting some into a group might work out. There’s a superpowered gang leader, so I can put several of the less ambitious ones under her control.
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I need to lay down. I don’t know how you do it. Pass that cold cloth will you please?
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Much of this is from when I was in college or working retail. A lot more free time back then. These days it’s harder to find the time, peace, and motivation. For example, I haven’t been able to get anywhere near my notebooks. Guessing a lot of authors who are the stay-at-home parent of little kids have to hang up their trade for the summer.
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Are some of these villains affiliated with each other? Kind of like a League of Doom if you watch Lego Justice League. (That shows you where my mind is these days.)
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Not really. Closest is a duo of henchmen, so I’ll have to see how many of them can be connected to each other.
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Superheroes are awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes you, Charles. BTW, the name Mylrixians is one of the coolest names ever. Good luck with it!
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Thanks. It’s funny how that one came about. Mylrix was the name of the fantasy world I made in high school. Then I made Windemere. So the shape of Mylrix eventually became Pre-Cataclysm Windemere and the name turned into the Plane of Magic. That area crashed and merged into the Physical Plane, so the sudden surge of power created these superhumans. Hence, Mylrixians.
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Love these epic backstories!
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I have to say I laughed at your mental parasite comment in the thread. Given that’s how you currently feel, it’s a good thing you’re cataloguing now and sorting through the characters. Once you work off a little steam the answers might become clear. I’m no help to you in that respect, because I usually go with the flow and see how things turn out, which is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard to a planner such as yourself 😉
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I went with a lot of flows here and they just swirled into a destructive eddy. It might require a few days of thinking too. Maybe I should come up with the book divisions before I make other decisions.
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That sounds like a good plan 😀 Things have a habit of slotting into place.
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Wow, you’ll be busy for a long time! Sounds fun and exciting though.
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And that’s only one ‘series’. Think I need another lifetime or two.
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