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 