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:
- What would you do with magic?
- What is one of the most important factors in a friendship?
- Where have you gone on a road trip or would like to go?
Legends of Windemere 