Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
This book is when the champions storyline finally came to light. Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies had a lot of changes happen to the heroes, including a few power upgrades. I felt that this story was easier to write than the others, but it came with a bunch of issues. Most notably, the introduction of Sari and her affect on Luke’s relationship with Kira. More on that later since that was a major sticking point for people. Anyway, this book had some challenges that I feel I handled rather well.
The biggest challenge was that this was stepping into the main story. There were hints and clues about it in the previous volumes, but now the heroes were aware of what they were getting involved with. It had an impact on everything because the weight of the adventure was heavier. Windemere was now at stake or at least the continent they were on. The gods were getting as involved as they could and Luke Callindor was being forced to face his past. It sounds chaotic when smashed together like that, but I took my time fleshing out all of the plot points. This is why Allure of the Gypsies ended up being longer than its predecessors. I had a lot of closure, foreshadowing, new paths, and character development to put into the story. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew, but I always have an issue with ‘Act 3’ sections. Not sure why any chapters or books that are a multiple 3 give me headaches.
This book also got me my first really negative reviews and a few personal attacks. I’ve mentioned before that Kira Grasdon and Luke Callindor were never supposed to have a relationship, but they clicked so well in Beginning of a Hero. Originally, Luke and Sari were supposed to have a simple, clean, unchallenged relationship, which was incredibly boring. It also didn’t seem to fit Sari when she showed up since she was heavily traumatized and I never got the feeling that she was going to settle down out of fear of getting hurt again. This is why I had Kira come from a culture where a person has multiple partners (dating and sexual) until they are married. It’s to make sure they find the right person since her culture was nearly destroyed by rampant cheating and the ensuing divorces. This was always supposed to be something that Luke was uncomfortable with and agreeing to since he wants to make Kira happy. I made this clear in the second book, including how she wasn’t thrilled with it either since they couldn’t follow the introduction of partners protocol. Felt like I had all of my bases covered to explain what was happening without admitting that they are supposed to have a tragic love triangle.
I was wrong because I didn’t expect Kira’s ‘lover’ causing such a stir. Forgot the idiot’s name, but he was supposed to be the opposite of Luke. Brash, insulting, and an unrepentant asshole. He was chosen by Kira’s father and he supposedly slept with her at some point. Looking back, the timeline doesn’t even make sense for how this guy and Kira could have hooked up. Funny thing is that some readers believed this guy and demanded that Luke murder him in cold blood. I had always been toying with the idea that this guy was lying after she rejected his advances, but so many people turned on Kira (who never showed up in the book) that I felt like that option would come off as desperate. I’m still amazed at how some people turned on Kira, Sari, and Nyx within this scenario, but nobody actually hated this male character for gloating about his conquest. Not openly. Sadly, Kira never recovered from this book she was never physically in and I got a lot of hateful comments and messages over the whole thing. Keep in mind that this was a romantic subplot that was just starting and one of the characters did not appear to add their side to the story. This is why I won’t go near complicated love triangles again.
Yeah, that debacle is what I remember most from Allure of the Gypsies and it nearly made me want to quit publishing. I’m thankful to the people who gave me positive feedback even with some criticism. Would I do things differently? Long term, I would probably not try to repair Kira’s image and continue with my original plan. You have three characters (Kira, Luke, and Sari) who are immature and learning making mistakes like a normal person. I should have held to that a lot more. This book certainly taught me that I can’t please everyone and bowing to those who are enraged won’t help because they’ve already made up their minds.
Questions 3:
- Do you think characters should be allowed to make childish mistakes in fiction?
- What would you say to someone who has suffered a major trauma?
- If you were a ghost, what’s the first thing you would do?
Legends of Windemere 
1. I don’t know any people in real life who haven’t, so why wouldn’t fictional character do the same thing? There’s not much conflict in the story if all of the characters behaved perfectly.
2. I would just listen at first. My sister-in-law is a therapist, so I would undoubtedly ask her for wisdom.
3. Fight crime like Deadman in DC.
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It’s amazing how often people get angry at characters for making common mistakes.
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I think characters should be allowed to make childish mistakes in fiction. In fact, any mistakes characters make help provide more balance to a story. In retrospect, I think we find most of the mistakes we make are childish.
I would say to someone who has suffered a major trauma that the rest of their life will be defined by the trauma or not. The choice is theirs.
As a ghost, the first thing I would do is visit my ex-wife and scare the poop out of her. I would hope I could take off my head or something like that.
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I think that ghost thing is fairly common. Can think of many people who would do that.
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😊
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Do you think characters should be allowed to make childish mistakes in fiction?
Depending on the age of the character. A young character is almost expected to make mistakes. An adult is expected to think things through — not that we always do. I would expect such a mistake to be early in the book, so the character learns from it. Exception: if the big mistake leads into events in a further volume.
What would you say to someone who has suffered a major trauma?
I would listen to them when they are ready to tell their story, and let them know I don’t judge them for it. If they wanted ideas, I would suggest small steps toward recovery rather than a massive campaign of change.
If you were a ghost, what’s the first thing you would do?
There are so many limitations on ghosts in legend. If I was stuck in one place I would definitely try to find peace so I could get out of there!
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1. I think characters should and will do whatever the writer wants them. I think there is too big of an emphasis on ‘pleasing the reader’ , instead of a guidance for the reader to experience the character and ‘observe’ their journey through reading. So yes, every character in someone’s eyes will be making a mistake, with their actions, be they good or bad choices.
2. Just a “How can I help?”, and we can work from there. I hate generalizations and assumptions in regards to trauma, because they can, even when they are the smallest, prolong or entirely fuck up someone’s healing process.
3. Try to decipher whatever is keeping me tethered to a place, solve the mystery and move on. First initial thing would probably be passing through walls with dramatic “wooooooooh”s.
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I’ve noticed that the generalizations used to respond to trauma tend to have a dark side. The person uses them to start shifting to their own problems.
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Think there is many, many different factors to it, which all boils down to that the audience / readers are too interconnected with the books and there is a huge emphasis for stories to cater to the reader, and less so to the actual story ( dunno how to explain it properly, perhaps a good example would be anthromorphism for every fantasy world, creature etc – which are always expected to act entirely human and follow human laws; otherwise, it is rumored the reader will have trouble connecting with them because they are obviously not a dragon.) Likewise, mistakes that are beneficial for the stories plot, and not immediate, tend to be overlooked and transformed into common denominators, again because the reader wants to be feel like the character, while reading, and translate the mundane daily life, into, in your book’s case, a great fantasy world and STORY.
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Makes sense. Though I meant real world people giving advice in order to open the door to talk about themselves.
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Yup, and it feels like they often treat book characters the same way 😀
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1. Absolutely, YES. If characters are to be believable, they must act like real people and make mistakes.
2. When I was teaching I did a course in ‘Counselling Skills in the Development of Learning ‘. The main thing we learned was that it’s not about giving advice, nor telling people what they should do, but simply listen.
3. What would I do as a ghost? I don’t think I’d appear to people. It’d scare them too much. I would try to whisper in their heads good advice to improve their lot and hope they think it’s their idea.
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Love that rule for #2.
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Characters should be allowed to make mistakes. It depends on the genre and should help advance the plot or build character somehow. #2 is too broad for me. It depends on what happened, and what I perceive they need. As a ghost, I might tour the world and see things I never could in the flesh. Might find a great place to haunt somewhere.
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If being a ghost guaranteed global traveling, sign me up.
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I think characters SHOULD make mistakes, even childish ones! This makes them more real. As to the trauma question, I would probably get the person some counseling. And as a ghost, go haunt my son!
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Counseling works, but only if the person acknowledges they need it. At least from my own experience, forced counseling tends to make things worse.
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I agree.
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