Creating Fictional Plants: 9 Times Out of 10 They’re Carnivorous

Posted on March 18, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Audrey II

I realized that I’ve talked a lot about designing monsters over the years.  Always a focus on the animals though.  A plant-based creature might show up at times, but there are still animalistic characteristics.  This seems wrong.  An environment is composed of fauna AND flora.  So, I want to spend a week thinking about plants.

First, I want to make it clear that I’m not only talking about monstrous plants.  This can move than that.  You have fairly mundane plants in a fictional world that still serve a purpose.  Flowers of unique colors, magical medicinal herbs, strange trees, and the like add to a fantasy world.  This gives it a special environment and not a carbon copy of Earth, which some readers might find unbelievable.  This can be a plot essential item or part of the exposition when introducing a new area, which is why you don’t always have to think ‘monster’.

We really do overlook plants when doing fiction, but I’m realizing how foolish that could be.  It doesn’t hurt a story by minimizing their importance, but there is an amazing facet that can be utilized.  For example, a non-Earth or alternate Earth will have some type of medical field.  Like in our world, many medicines come from plants, especially when you go back in human history.  We worked with what we had, so why can’t the same be done in fiction?  If magic exists then it’s not unheard of for there to be plants with special powers, which ancient civilizations could stumble onto.  Same can be said in regards to eating (fruits and veggies), building material (log cabins), and whatever else we use plant materials for.

Of course, we still like having plants that attack and kill people.  Many people go for the toothy carnivores like Audrey II up there.  I’ve seen some pretty cool ones that are dangerous without biting though.  Vines that constrict and suck a person dry.  Flowers that will sprout from the skin and control its host like a parasite.  Poisonous fumes or needles are rather popular in fiction.  You have the good old mimic and replace a person or animal too.  All of these are viable twists on plant life when you want to create a monster that isn’t an animal.

There’s an extra benefit to plant monsters too.  Unlike animals, they don’t always have a central brain or heart.  This means, they are harder to kill.  Hacking away with a sword can still work, but it will take time.  Not like there’s a head to chop off.  Arrows won’t be very good without a vital spot to hit.  Magic and bludgeoning would be the way to go, which makes it a greater challenge for any heroes who lack those options.  It makes senses too because the majority of monsters will end up being animal-based.  A hero might not prepare for a plant-based one.  Not like everyone will have a fireball or stick of dynamite on hand just in case.

This is something that I really want to explore more in Windemere.  I’ve used unusual plants a few times, but not enough for me to really delve into this.  One of my future ideas was a short story collection involving the caretaker of a hidden garden.  This would be a place with unusual plants created by the gods, which can’t exist anywhere else or need to be released under specific conditions.  I should revisit that concept and see if I can flush it out more.  Possibly a lot of potential there, which I wasn’t paying attention to until now.

So, any thoughts on fictional plants?

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Don’t think I’ve ever done a St. Patrick’s Day post.  Since life is still driving me too crazy to do enough research for a good animal post, I’m going to do another holiday.  Enjoy.

By the way, I don’t really know much about this holiday.  Someone I knew claimed to be Irish and talked about this holiday being important, but they only did Irish soda bread and corned beef with cabbage.  That feels like an Americanization of something.  What does happen on this holiday?

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Goal Post: At Least the Week Ended on a Good Note

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Sadly, I can’t talk about a lot that happened this week.  Work was crazy busy, which left me exhausted nearly every day.  The energy I had at the start of the week was used to do Pokémon Go with my son after homework.  Once I got over the hump, I constantly dragged myself through my afternoons.  Glad I didn’t make many goals that weren’t automatic.

I’m finally getting to Darwin & the Halfling Hunt today.  With me being so tired and distracted, I knew I couldn’t tackle it during the week.  My hope is to get through at least 4 chapters by the end of the weekend.  I have stuff to do this morning, so I’ll probably only make it to 3, but I have hope.  Since I’ve never edited this book beyond checking after I finish and random section edits, I know I need time and focus.  This is always the big one where I pay attention to continuity and making sure the scenes aren’t bloated or bare bones.  All of the books going forward are going to be hefty editing projects, so 2024 might end up being the year of editing.  Nothing wrong with that since I crossed the midway mark with Darwin & the Beast Collector.  Looking forward to this project too and hope to tinker with it throughout the week.

Work was busy and it ended with me doing a supervision for a big event called Showdown.  It’s where the grades compete against each other and I went to support a student.  After a rough week, it was great to spend a few hours with this student who is full of energy and excitement.  Another student joined us, so we were a fun trio enjoying the event.  Definitely the pick-me-up that I needed to start off a weekend of editing.  I sure these times are the memories I’m going to hold onto instead of the stuff that happens every day.  I mean, that’s how cherished memories work, right?

The only other success of the week was finishing the April blog posts and starting in on the May ones.  Not exciting, but I like to get things set up far enough ahead that I don’t have to create blog posts every day.  I managed to do this because I kept ending my day with only 30 minutes before I had to crawl into bed.  Didn’t feel like enough to settle down and watch an episode.  Since Crunchyroll was giving me trouble, I started ‘Resident Alien’ on Netflix.  Those are longer episodes, so I couldn’t get further than the second episode before the weekend.  Saw that one of my favorite anime was coming to Netflix on April 1st too.  ‘Great Teacher Onizuka’ was fun and I think I’ll jump over to it as soon as it’s live.

This coming week is going to be as crazy as the last one.  Need to take a day off for medical stuff, which is improving.  Maybe I’ll get more editing done on that day too.  Beyond all of that, I don’t have much else planned.  Pokemon Go with my son as usual when homework is done.  March always seems to be this long slog to Easter/Spring Break.  Even when it isn’t 6 weeks or more long.  Probably the weather not making up its mind if it wants to be the 30’s or 70’s.  That could be what’s giving me some health issues too, so it’s on the list to check.

Can’t think of anything else to talk about.  I would mention the nightmarish puzzle I’m working on, but . . . Ugh.  It’s 500 pieces with a fuzzy picture on the box and pieces.  A bunch of sections are pure white with pieces that all fit together.  I had to flip the thing upside down to match of the letters on the back in the hopes of getting it right.  Took me ALL week to get those white sections set up.  Now, I’m struggling to figure out if I’m looking at one character’s arm or another character’s face.  Can’t wait for this one to be done, glued, and put in the pile.

Oh, my ‘Best of Prince’ CD came in too.  Didn’t realize ‘Purple Rain’ was over 8 minutes long, but it’s nice to have playing on the commute into work.

Goals of the week?

  1. Start editing Darwin & the Halfling Hunt.
  2. Help son with homework.
  3. Pokemon Go outings.
  4. May blog post work when time allows.
  5. Prepare lunches, which might just be rice bowls.  (Tofu and pineapple were great, but I’m trying tofu and broccoli this time.)
  6. Vacu . . . Eh, that one can wait.
  7. Sleep, biking, and laundry.  Not at same time if possible.
  8. Finish watching ‘Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles’ and continue watching ‘Resident Alien’.
  9. Continue improving my health.
Posted in Goal Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Beware the Ideas of March: Doom Omens

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

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I don’t really know much about doom omens beyond what they are.  These are warnings about disaster approaching.  Sometimes they’re specific, but they tend to be vague and riddle-like.  I keep thinking of Casandra from Greek mythology too where she has visions, but nobody believes her.  That seems to be fairly common too.  So, what exactly are the point of fictional doom omens?

I’m not really sure if I’ve ever used them in my stories.  Foreshadowing is one thing, but this is a specific declaration made in the story.  Maybe Gabriel telling the champions that at least one of them won’t make it to the final battle intact counts?  This did make Legends of Windemere fairly interesting to me because my heroes were all continuing on with the knowledge that at least one will die.  I always thought of this as twisting the prophecy/chosen one angle in a way that the audience starts to look for clues about who won’t make it.  This does sound like a doom omen too, so I guess I’ve done it once without noticing it.

The reason I’m not sure is because I’ve noticed that authors tend to create doom omens that are incredibly vague.  Gabriel was fairly direct.  Still, I think this may have created similar reactions.  The characters are made aware of a looming situation, which gives them a chance to prevent it from happening.  Doesn’t really help when it’s vague, but at least they’re on alert and not blindly walking into danger.  That is if they believe the omen, which doesn’t happen all the time.

Authors may use doom omens for the audience’s sake too.  Even if the characters are ignoring the danger, the readers are now aware that doom is coming.  It’s kind of like having eerie music in a horror movie, which plays in a way that you just know a jump scare is coming.  Of course, the difference is that you never know how many pages you have to go before the doom happens.  A reader can become tense at every encounter by thinking ‘this is when things go wrong’.  You run the risk of wearing a person down and they no longer care, but you can also make them think you’re bluffing.  Then, the doom happens and it has a stronger impact.  Honestly, it’s a lot of juggling and emotional back-and-forth, which can be really tough on the author.

Aside from verbal prophecies like the ‘Ides of March’, you have events that count as vague doom omens.  A common usage of this is one appearing when a character destined to cause trouble is born.  Eclipses, comets, mysterious fogs, and a bunch of other celestial and weather events are popular.  Sometimes an author may go further with another character dying right away in a gruesome manner.  Many times its the one wanting to warn everyone about the danger.  So, their death turns into the new doom omen, but only the audience realizes what is going on.  I do enjoy these types of warning because they are so unclear that you can’t have the characters know exactly what is going on.  They just go ‘well, that’s weird and might mean something, but damned if I know’.  It feels realistic because we’d all do the same thing.  How many eclipses have we seen and we don’t think a child is being born at that moment who will destroy the world?  Although, now I’m starting to wonder about that scenario.

Anybody know more about doom omens?  Again, I’m just flying by the seat of my pants on this one, so an expert would be appreciated.

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Writer’s Self-Care – Friends and Family

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today with my second post in the Writer’s Self-Care series. If you missed the first one, you can read it by clicking …

Writer’s Self-Care – Friends and Family
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Poetry Day: I Remember This Day

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

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(Funny meme aside, this was a poem I wrote back in 2011 for 9/11.  I don’t remember if it was for a specific prompt or request.  Weird to post it in March, but I might repost it on the actual day this year.  Forgot I wrote it until now.  Yeah, I’m kind of dreading the comments too.)

I remember that day
Though I was six hours away
I was waking for a class
That would never come to pass
A friend said to put on the news
I thought he meant to simply confuse
Then I saw the twin towers fall
And I had many loved ones to call
I hoped that none of them were anywhere near
But hoping did little to quell my fresh fear

 

I wandered across campus as if I could only crawl
Eventually reaching the large central hall
Filled with students and teachers waiting to hear
If they had lost someone who they held very dear
Many people were crying and weeping out loud
Others were quiet, stunned members of the crowd
I remember the sorrow and anguish in voices
Over the loss of people who were given no choices
Yet something amazing did suddenly loom
A nation united started to bloom

 

People were nice and friendly to all
We were a nation that refused to fall
A bonding had happened to bolster our hearts
That for many were torn into still-beating parts
Our heroes were honored and held toward the sky
While we called for the villains who we wanted to fry
All those who stood up and defied our waged war
Were answered by primal screams from our core
Though there were signs that something was wrong
A festering curse that would not hide for long

 

Ten years have passed and something went sour
We fight with ourselves like monsters with power
Our country is hateful and cannot get along
Everyone is singing their own national song
Right against left and blue against red
Does anyone remember that people are dead?
Our leaders point fingers at any opposite mind
Many follow along as if they are blind
The insults and sniping and immature action
Have beaten our unity into crippling traction

 

I find myself wishing to go ten years past
When it felt that the pride of this country might last
A time when discussing in a big, open forum
Had some level of respect and some type of decorum
I weep for this nation that I leave to my son
Who may never see how a healthy country is run
Yet I hold onto memories that give me some hope
That we will not always ride down this self-loathing slope
I remember this day without being told
And I hope that the unity takes a permanent holdvv

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Characters Falling From Grace on Purpose

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Majin Vegeta

The character above is Vegeta, who is a character from Dragon Ball Z.  He started as an enemy and eventually moved his way into ally.  At several points in the series, his pride gets the best of him and he lets the newer bad guys get stronger because he wants a real challenge.  So, it isn’t a surprise that at one point, he goes evil again in order to get something that he really wants.  Won’t go into full spoiler territory, but the point is that he doesn’t fall by accident.  He does so on purpose.

Ever since I rewatched the episodes with my son, I’ve been wondering about how people would react to a hero falling from grace on purpose.  Vegeta still has a lot of fans, including myself.  I see it as a facet of his character that shows he is still incredibly flawed and hasn’t shed all of his darker nature.  That’s just me though.  I know others have turned on the character and remain hating him even to this day.  Some people expect their heroes to be above falling into darkness, so they don’t forgive.  I expect to see a variety of reactions in the comments because of this too.

I think a hero falling from grace on purpose can be a great character development event, but you have to be careful with it.  There has to be a sensible reason for them to do so beyond it makes the story more interesting.  Having an established desire that is now within their grasp helps.  It can be something they are willing to turn evil for, especially if they believe getting it will be beneficial to everyone.  This could mean that they don’t even realize they’ve gone off the heroic path.  I like this idea because it maintains a path to redemption for when or if you want them to go back to the other side.  Seems like I’m going on about my balancing act concepts again.

The extent of the betrayal is important as well.  If a hero falls by eradicating a bunch of other heroes for their own gain, they probably won’t be welcomed back by the survivors and readers.  Really depends on the world and how the author pulls it off, but most people won’t get back on a murderers side.  Leaving a former ally to die is a safer option since they aren’t doing the deed and are giving a chance of survival.  Of course, this is all with simplicity in mind.  You can make it incredibly complicated, which many tend to do because purposely falling from grace is a big decision.  At least, it should be.

Something that I like with how they did Vegeta’s fall was that there was a lot of foreshadowing.  It wasn’t blatant either.  You couldn’t really sense what was coming until it was officially noted.  Then, you look back and see signs that him turning was always a possibility.  It didn’t go exactly as one would expect, but you could see that there was something ‘off’ about Vegeta even when he seemed fine.  A glare here, a verbal barb there, and a few initially benign internal thoughts, which you don’t notice unless you already know what’s going to happen.  That or you’ve been expected him to become a villain again the whole time.  Anyway, build up could be a key component to an effect fall from grace being done on purpose.

Finally, I think there should be something understandable in the decision.  Not so much agreeable, but understandable.  This is a fine line to walk.  Most people think understanding means agreeing.  Yet, you can still see how a character might decide to fall without thinking they did the right thing.  It works for their personality and development even if you wouldn’t do it.  Not every choice is a good in and many can cause people, both real and fictional, to go backwards.  Again, we come to making sure that you establish flaws within this character.  This can be exploited and made to explain how this action isn’t a far step from what they might do.

So, what do you think about characters falling from grace on purpose?

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Outlining Finesse, Part 3

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

By Stephen Geez Welcome to Part 3 of my Outlining Finesse series. We covered the why and how for developing your own system here in art 1. We started…

Outlining Finesse, Part 3
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Questions 3 and Looking Back at ‘The Compass Key’

Posted on March 12, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Legends of Windemere: The Compass Key was an odd book for me to write.  In terms of the game, it covers half of one campaign and the entire one after.  This meant the previous volume ended on a cliffhanger.  I really didn’t like that, but I didn’t have much of a choice.  Adding the first act of this book to the previous one would leave Compass Key rather slim and empty.  I also couldn’t work a good ending out of the end of the initial battle.  So, I decided this volume had to hit the ground running and hope the long period between publishing didn’t hurt too much.  Thankfully, the whole series is out, so you don’t have to worry about that issue.

Compass Key is the book where the champion temples started.  Each hero had a connected temple, which was part of the seal around the evil Baron.  They had been corrupted though, so they each had to be cleared.  I had been playing A LOT of ‘Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ when the DM came up with this concept.  They were originally elemental like in the game, but I had to shift things a bit.  There is still an elemental theme to them, but they aren’t noted as such.  To be honest, going with elements is always an easy and flexible way to do things.  Given how ancient the champion prophecy was, I could understand why elements would be used.  I would still later note that each hero got their true strength from a virtue such as courage, willpower, etc.  Still, I couldn’t find a way to put that in decent dungeon form and I was still following the game.

The tone of the series did start to shift a bit here.  At least for me, it started to take a more serious tone because the characters were maturing.  Part of this was because the character of Stephen Kernaghan was introduced.  This guy was made by the game’s DM based off my character Clyde, so they had the same color scheme.  I removed the vampire thing from Stephen and made him irredeemable evil, which made him really hard to write.  The difficulty was that I hated him so much for what he was doing that I kept wanting to kill him off before his time.  Some people suggested I soften him and make him sympathetic, but I already knew this guy was a murderous rapist.  There’s no softening that.  Just had to keep using him to push the champions further and find the best, and most satisfying, death.  This became a challenge because I could see how nearly every champion and a few villains had the right finish him off.  Is this the sign of a well-written villain if they do have depth, but that depth is simply more toxicity?

I can’t think of anything that I would have done differently in this book.  All of the champions got their moments to shine and solidify as a team.  Maybe I would have prolonged Luke Callindor contemplating having taken his first non-human life, but I wasn’t sure of that one.  For one thing, he had already killed chaos elves and the one he was thinking about wasn’t exactly a non-monster.  I was leaning that way because it was Luke’s first real war-like battle and the person he killed had a significance to another character.  Doesn’t help that Delvin, a battle veteran, had a really good talk with him and I couldn’t justify it not having an effect.  So, I guess there really isn’t anything that I would change besides a few cosmetic things.

Let’s have some questions:

  1. How far would you go to rescue a loved one?
  2. Do you think a character is weak if they feel remorse for killing even a villain?
  3. If you could ride any magical creature, which one would it be and why?
Posted in Legends of Windemere, Questions 3, The Compass Key | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Vicky’s Vitamin Shoppe: The Ones You’ve Never Heard Of Before

Posted on March 11, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Norman Osborn

Welcome, dearie.  I’ve got the best vitamins outside of the industry.  Betting you saw the posters, which means you’re special.  One would even say chosen to come here and choose from my wares.  Why is my voice raspy?  I have a cold, which nothing on this planet can stop.  Damn things are still angry humans overthrew them back before time began, so this is their revenge.  Anyway, take a look around.  We don’t have those benign types like C and E.  Our vitamins cover the rest of the alphabet.  Enjoy.

  • Vitamin F– Used to strengthen follicles of the leg hair.  Helps keep your lower limbs warm during the winter.
  • Vitamin G– Cleanses the gallbladder.  Take on days you have nothing else to do due to it being a full cleanse.
  • Vitamin H– Helps the person writing this post to STOP hitting Ctrl-H while trying to write this line.  It’s the SHIFT key!
  • Vitamin I– Increases energy, mental focus, confidence, and induces sleep.  All effects wear off after waking up.
  • Vitamin J– Clears mental fog and sinuses.  Extremely spicy.
  • Vitamin L– Improves lung function and helps fight upper respiratory diseases.  Take with full meal and 50 gulps of clean air.
  • Vitamin M– It’s just a capsule filled with cooked meat.  Our most popular seller.
  • Vitamin N– Aides in repair of nervous system.  Can cause a constant tickling along skin and within skull.
  • Vitamin O– *only available for customers above a certain age*
  • Vitamin Q– Helps reverse degeneration of eyes.  Taken in combination of pill and eyedrop form.  Do not mix up delivery instructions of both components.
  • Vitamin R– Hardens bones and repairs small fractures.  Must be taken hourly to get full affect.  Can cause temporary joint and groin pain.
  • Vitamin S– Increases function of the spleen.  Customers buy this without knowing what the spleen does.  Can cause slight red-tint to appear in skin.
  • Vitamin T– Helps reduce anxiety and depression.  It will increase the desire to dance like nobody is watching while everyone is watching.
  • Vitamin U– Take only if you have trouble waking up from sleep.  If taken before falling asleep, it will result in what we call ‘rambunctious urination’.
  • Vitamin V– Improves blood circulation and reduces cholesterol.  Increase chance of nose bleeds and possible triggering of an allergy to tacos.
  • Vitamin W– Helps improve confidence and reduce stress.  Comes in a large, corked bottle.
  • Vitamin X– We have no idea.  Nobody who has bought this has come back for more, but we haven’t found any obituaries or missing persons reports on them.  So, we’re fairly certain its non-lethal.
  • Vitamin Y– Increases the desire to read the Legends of Windemere series.  Does not mean you will like it . . . Author saw the opportunity and went for it.
  • Vitamin Z– Helps with adrenaline regulation.  Also grants a lustrous shine to random parts of the body.  Effect lasts an hour after ingestion.
Posted in Olde Shoppe Stories | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments