Goal Post: A Busy Week of Break

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

I’m writing this from a desk that is more cluttered than expected.  Guess the plus side of that is it means I got some work done.  Not just errands, laundry, and cleaning up around the house too.  Maybe that’s why I don’t feel like I’ve gotten enough sleep to be ready for Monday.

Writing-wise, I finally managed to finish the edits of Darwin & the Fate Bracelet.  It was all by hand though, so now I’m working on typing it all in.  Enough things happened to make me come up short before I got time with my son.  So, I still have 8 chapters to go, which I should be able to tackle throughout next week and weekend.  Then, I’ll dive into the printed copy of Darwin & the Halfling Hunt.  Made a bunch of continuity notes that I put into my editing folder too, so I’m prepared.  A few things got dropped after the first book, so I need to explain why they disappeared. Really it’s just cosmetic stuff about Darwin’s magic, which I’m locking in as far as colors and effect.  Then again, would an easily distracted mind have spells that don’t always have the same range of effect or be slightly different every time in terms of visual effects?

Another event was going with a friend to a Korean BBQ and Hot Pot restaurant, which I’ve never done before.  My friend did one of them long ago, but he didn’t remember how things worked.  You get 2 hours to order food to cook and get charged $13.99 for every pound you waste.  So, we showed the greatest restraint . . . No, we had no idea what we were doing.  Ordered a lot of meat to cook in the hot pot and not as much as we thought for the BBQ.  Everything tasted great and we finished everything except a few of these long, white mushrooms.  Then, it was off to some video games at Dave & Busters, but we were definitely stuffed.  Surprised I could sleep at all with my stomach feeling like it was three times its normal size.  Glad I biked for 20 minutes and ate a small lunch too.  A very good time.

Only other thing that happened was a trip to the zoo with my son.  We do this every time we have a long break and the weather is good.  Kind of chilly, so it wasn’t that crowded.  A bunch of areas were closed for maintenance since the big season is coming up.  So, we were out after 3.5 hours instead of the usual 5 hours.  Not a bad thing since we took our time and got to see a few animals that aren’t normally active.  Forgot to get the pictures of those off my camera, but I have these from my phone:

Tree Kangaroo

Burrowing Owls

Gibbon

Only two more days of break.  Big Pokemon Go event happening all weekend, so I’ll be out at the park a lot.  Family is coming over this afternoon too, including my 3-year-old niece.  So, my son and I are going to have to balance stuff.  Hopefully, it won’t be so exhausting that I’m dead on my feet for Monday.

I’m not going to make any big plans for the week though.  Doing more blog posts for April and putting in the last 8 chapters of edits for Darwin & the Fate Bracelet will be enough.  If I can do more then that’s a bonus.  Work is going to be crazy with the kids coming back from a long break.  My son probably has a test or two coming as well, so home life won’t be calm.  So, I’m going to focus on just getting to the next weekend and finishing up the one project.

Oh, I’m not sure what to watch on the streaming services.  I have 3 episodes left of ‘The Dresden Files’, which I’ve always wanted to finish.  After that, I don’t really know what I want to put on.  Hate it when I hit a point where nothing appeals to me, but I can’t stand to be in a room without either music or television on.  Maybe I’ll just grab another older series and start watching again.  Highlander Season 2 is a possibility.  Is there any new fantasy or science fiction out there worth my time?  Everything seems like a reboot, remake, or bland.

Goals of the week:

  1. Get back into the work schedule.
  2. Help son get back into the school schedule.
  3. Finish Darwin & the Fate Bracelet.
  4. Work on April blog posts.
  5. Puzzle time.
  6. Biking and continuing to eat better.
  7. Start editing Darwin & the Halfling Hunt
  8. Whatever I’m forgetting
Posted in Goal Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

What Would You Use the Cardinal Directions For?

Posted on February 23, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Four Beasts from Yu Yu Hakusho

I probably messed up my general plan here.  Thought doing a Questions 3 would work, but then I thought otherwise.  Then, I thought about talking about how the words ‘north, south, east, and west’ are used in non-Earth worlds.  That just brings up how Earth languages are being used at all.  Makes things easier for the reader to understand and immerse themselves.  Finally, I thought about letting people make their own cardinal symbology in the comments. Can’t really force that, so that’s just optional.  All I can do is ask the question above once more:

What would you use the cardinal directions for in a fictional story?

Not sure for a character to give directions or what they’re typically used for.  What do you think they can be used for on top of their normal usage?  Enjoy.

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36 Plots and Mad Max

Posted on February 23, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

My husband and I watch a lot of action and superhero movies. Did I mention that he’s 10? A suggestion that we watch something with an actual plot …

36 Plots and Mad Max
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Babylon by Michelle Cameron

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

“Babyon” by Michelle Cameron is an intriguing foray into historical fiction, encapsulating the harrowing yet resilient journey of the Jewish people …

Babylon by Michelle Cameron
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Poetry Day: I Love You . . . But

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Yahoo Image Search

(Kind of extreme in a few examples, but you get the point.)

I love you, dearest.
And I found a surgery for your bald spot.

 

I love you, honey.
And I chose a diet for you to use.

 

I love you, sweetie.
And I found a medicine for your sweaty pits.

 

I love you, hubby.
And I picked out your new hairstyle.

 

I love you, handsome.
And I bought you strips for your snoring.

 

I love you without fail.
I just need to make some adjustments.

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Various Cardinal Symbol Systems

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cardinal Symbols

I mentioned that there have been plenty of uses of the cardinal directions to create fantasy and mythological systems.  Sometimes, you even have a 5th direction of ‘center’, which is important when we get to Wu Xing.  I wanted to give a list of various cardinal systems that have been created in mythologies.  Many authors use these for inspiration even though only stick to the one that is from their own culture.

Four Classical Elements

This is very common in Western fiction because it is what we are used to.  Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire are the elements that we focus on.  They’ve been connected to many fictional stories such as ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’.  Now, authors may mess around with the connections here, but the traditional version is:

  • Earth is North
  • Air is East
  • Fire is South
  • Water is West

Authors will occasionally switch things around to make Fire vs Water and Earth vs Air oppositions.  This is because the compass is used as compatibility tool.

Wu Xing (Five Elements)

Similar to the four classical elements, Wu Xing comes from China with 5 elements.  They also use a 4 element system that ditches Earth, but this is typically done when the beasts are involved.  I’ll get to them next.  Before you ask, ‘Air’ is not one of the elements for a variety of cultural reasons.  This Five Element/Direction system looks like the following:

  • Wood is East (One theory is that air is part of life and falls under wood)
  • Fire is South
  • Metal is West
  • Water is North
  • Earth is Central

It’s interesting how fire is in the same spot as the previous system.  Earth being central makes sense if you think of it more as the planet than dirt.  Don’t really know about the others off the top of my head.

Wu Xing Four/Five Auspicious Beasts

These guys get used in anime a lot. I can think of three series right off the bat that used them as either villains, monsters, or plot points.  Each of the beasts is a god-like guardian of each direction.  They are connected to a direction, color, season, emotion, and many other things.  Authors may use them as a simplified Zodiac sign determined by birth season or person’s natural temperament.  Either way, a direction tends to be associated with each one.

  • Azure Dragon of the East
  • Vermillion Bird/Phoenix of the South
  • White Tiger of the West
  • Black Tortoise of the North
  • Yellow Dragon or Qilin in the Center

Japan uses a 4 beast system off this with names too.

  • Seiryu the Azure Dragon of the East
  • Suzaku the Vermillion Bird of the South
  • Byakko the White Tiger of the West
  • Genbu the Black Tortoise of the North

Greek Skies and Winds

Greeks actually had two cardinal direction systems.  Not sure if Rome copied the one that was about astral phenomenon, so I’m going to leave them out.  Does look like they made a 12 cardinal direction system. Anyway, the Greeks had one cardinal system to work off of sky events and another with where winds came from.  It was originally only North and South winds, but East and West were added.  These systems can be useful if you’re working with a large sailing culture who would be focused a lot on stars and wind.

  • Arctos (Ursa Major) and Boreas the North Winds
  • Anatole (Dawn) and Eurus the East Winds
  • Mesembria (Noon) and Zephyrus the West Winds
  • Dysis (Sunset) and Notus the South Winds

This is a simplified version of this.  From what I’ve read, more complicated systems were created over time.  Homer may have implied that there were 8 wind directions.  Aristotle made a 10-12 wind/direction system, which the Romans seem to have copied.  This just means authors have a lot to work with if they use Greek mythology and history for inspiration.

Native American

This one is difficult to look into because every tribe had their own symbols.  At least from what I can tell.  So, take this with a grain of salt because I’m trying to find connecting information.  Basically, the four cardinal directions can be connected to the four seasons AND the four stages of life.  This can be depicted on what are called medicine wheels in some cultures.  Each one has a season, stage, and an animal connected to it.  For example:

  • North is Winter, Elderly/Death, and the Bear
  • East is Spring, Birth/Childhood, and the Eagle
  • South is Summer, Youth, and the Wolf
  • West is Autumn, Adulthood, and the Buffalo

Now, this can be very problematic if you take it as this across the board.  First, not every area in the Americas has the same weather during each season.  Summer in Florida is WAY different than summer in Alaska.  So, the life stages might differ if you don’t have harsh winters and the summers are the most brutal season.  Second, those animals are not found in every region.  This is an important note for fantasy worlds too.  If an animal does not live within the territory of a culture, why would it be a symbol?  It shouldn’t even be known unless talked about by foreigners, which wouldn’t put it on the same spiritual level as the local fauna.

So, those are a handful of cardinal direction systems.  There are plenty more out there and much more details for each of these.

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Questions 3 and Looking Back at ‘Prodigy of Rainbow Tower’

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower is the book that really fleshed out the world of Windemere.  Luke Callindor and friends had to travel across the kingdom of Ralian, so I had to design the terrain.  Cities, towns, rivers, and the like had to be included to make Windemere feel like a real world.  Things didn’t simply appear when the heroes were there and vanish when they left.  I needed more meat on the skeleton I created in the first volume and a ‘road trip quest’ helped with this.

I really liked this book even though it was more episodic than the rest of the series.  That might make it stand out a bit.  Not to mention it was more an adventure than the localized quest in Beginning of a Hero.  I had to shift the group due to players leaving and entering the game too.  A cross-kingdom mission really helped with this because it gave a reason for Nyx to join and for other characters to leave.  Major events and dangers helped to shake things up as well as allow Luke and Nyx to suffer some character developing tragedies.  This episode style really helped me do this too.

Speaking of tragedies, Prodigy of Rainbow Tower is probably where I really stepped into the concept of punishing my heroes.  I began to think about how I didn’t want it to be too easy.  Luke and Nyx were out to save the world.  Why should they get through it barely scathed?  So, I made sure to give each one a major ‘failure’ in this adventure.  Nyx definitely recovered more than Luke, but there was still a lasting effect that made her be more cautious with her magic.  I realized how much more a character can learn and evolve from a loss than a victory.  Makes sense in retrospect, but it was like a lightbulb moment back then.

I should probably talk about Nyx too.  For those who don’t remember or know, this was the character my ex-wife played.  Game version and book version are very different in power and personality though.  People have asked if I would abandon the character or go back to rewrite the series without her.  Seems a common thought is to simply erase characters based off people who end up hurting us.  The thing is that the series was already done and published by the time of my divorce.  Rewriting 15 books out of what sounds like spite doesn’t make sense.  Future cameos of Nyx might not be what I originally planned and her brother/sister relationship with Luke is always going to be a challenge to write if it comes up again.  This is where separating the character from the inspiration can come in handy.  Nyx is not my ex-wife and I shouldn’t treat her as such.  Wouldn’t be fair to her since I put so much effort into making her a fun character.

Almost forgot the biggest world-building piece to come out of Prodigy of Rainbow Tower.  With Nyx’s introduction, I had to reveal my magic system.  This might sound simply to people.  Caster points finger, says words, and things happen.  Unfortunately, making something that simple causes a lot of magical abuse and questions of why it isn’t used to solve every problem.  Systems create limits and rules, which is what I needed even if Nyx was breaking them.  I had already tinkered with the aura concept, which was inspired by the idea of using life energy/ki/chi/whatever.  Giving everything on Windemere an aura meant that I had a high magic world too, which opened the door for a lot of my other ideas.  This has always been a fun juggling act between showing off the magic and having restraint.  Since finishing this book, I’ve found that it’s better to have a flexible system instead of a solid one that can’t be altered for situations.  That means, Windemere’s magic system is still evolving and probably will continue to grow until I finish writing all of my books.

Questions 3:

  1. What would you do with magic?
  2. What is one of the most important factors in a friendship?
  3. Where have you gone on a road trip or would like to go?
Posted in Legends of Windemere, Prodigy of Rainbow Tower, Questions 3 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Road to Surrender

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

by Evan Thomas “Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II” by Evan Thomas is a complex read that offers a fresh …

Road to Surrender
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Cardinal Symbols in Fiction

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cardinal Directions

Come to think of it, do people still care about the cardinal directions?  I remember being taught by my dad how to find north, south, east, and west.  It never stuck since I was supposed to use the sun.  I ended up figuring it out by remembering where the local parkways go in conjunction with my location.  As long as I can picture the nearest highway, I can figure it out.  Don’t think they have this advantage in fantasy worlds and I’ve probably undermined the original intent of this post.

Using the cardinal signs for more than directions has been a big thing in fiction.  I believe this stems from mythologies doing the same thing.  For example, Greeks and Romans had a god for each of the four winds.  Ancient Egypt had the four sons of Horus and positioning of bodies.  The list can keep going, but it seems using at least the four major directions has always been important.  Kind of funny considering this appeared in cultures across the world without contact.  Not that they called the directions the same thing, but it was similar on some level.  Makes me think that part of human nature is knowing where we physically are in relation to the rest of the world.

You might be wondering why I’m bringing this up on a fantasy writing blog.  Well, the cardinal directions are very popular in fantasy themes.  They’re an easy-to-use group of four that can be utilized for monsters, kingdoms, oceans, and whatever else you want to create.  Need to make a variety of elves?  Have each one come from a different direction and associate specific weather patterns/environments with them.  That’s just one example of what you can do with cardinal directions.  You can branch it out to 8 as well if you include the diagonals.  There are the other ones too, but I never understood the 3 letter ones very well.

Early on, I used a compass for my fantasy world, which was called Mylrix.  There was a continent in ‘each direction’ and a central collection of islands.  This became Windemere prior to the Great Cataclysm, which I still need to figure out.  The problem with doing this with landmasses is that you’re working with a globe.  As a teenager, I didn’t think about this when I made my map and still haven’t figure out how to make this work.  Right now, it’s looking like I’ll jettison the whole concept and have the continents located in approximately the same area.  Really makes one realize how much ocean is on a planet, but I don’t think Windemere is as big as Earth.

My favorite thing with cardinal directions is when they’re used for symbolic creatures and systems.  I’ll get more into these on Tuesday, but the general idea is that each direction has an associated ‘thing’.  It’s so simplistic in its creation, so it works when you want the audience to catch on quickly.  There’s so much you can do with this and everyone will understand it on some level.  Even if the words are different, most places have the cardinal directions.  There is something equivalent to north, south, east, and west as long as you’re on a planet.  Outer space and similar regions might be the exception, but then you kind of get up, down, left, right, forward, and back.  Not sure if that’s an equivalent, but it can be worked with.  Like I said, there is a great amount of versatility in the cardinal directions’ simplicity.

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

The Homefront by David Wickenden

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

**This is my favourite book of the year so far. David Wickenden’s “The Home Front” is a novel that skillfully intertwines the poignancy of historical…

The Homefront by David Wickenden
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