That Forgotten Childhood Promise

Posted on December 13, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Dory

Long ago, I got into a manga called ‘Love Hina’.  This is what one would call a ‘harem story’ where the male protagonist is eventually desired by all of the female ones.  That has nothing to do with this post.  Sort of.  So, why did I bring it up?

The male lead is driven to get into a prestigious university because he made a childhood promise with a girl that they would reunite there.  He’s not very bright, so he keeps failing the entrance exam.  Yet, he refuses to give up.  The issue is that he does not remember what the girl looks like.  Oops.

I began thinking about ‘Love Hina’ when I watched ‘Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple’ and a childhood promise turned up again.  Kenichi had forgotten about the girl and the promise entirely.  He still had a keepsake from it.  This plot point didn’t show up until way into the second season when the main villain appeared.  Childhood friend turned enemy because of the mysterious promise.  For some reason, I think there were two promises or the bad guy misremembered stuff.  Either way, I was again facing a story where the main character forgets a childhood promise.

What is with this plot hook?

I can’t really figure out why this happens so much, especially in anime and manga.  I took a look and this tends to fall under ‘forgotten first meeting’ tropes.  This is a revelation later in a series where you find that characters have already met.  It’s usually rather strange because you’re led to believe they have never interacted prior to the story.  Explanations for this range from mindwiping, memories fading over time, a long separation, not recognizing each other, or simply ignoring the timeline issue.  This is why many readers can perceive this as a plot hole and why authors might add a childhood promise to the scenario.  At least the promise connects it to the plot.

There was always an issue that I had with this forgotten promise trope.  Using ‘Love Hina’ as an example, I think it was that you could only have the issue go on for so long.  The male lead had this promise quest from the beginning, which got old at one point.  Once you realized the truth, it got fairly frustrating that he wasn’t figuring it out.  He did figure it out before the end of the 14 volumes, but then you had the extra issue of the main mystery being solved.  So, things dragged a bit regardless of the comedy, character development, and action.  As soon as the promise was revealed and kept, a story kind of putters along in search of a conclusion.

Maybe I’m too harsh and critical of this plot twist.  I did used to enjoy it, but I guess it doesn’t work now that I’m older.  Still, it definitely has some interest for short-term plot points.  That’s only if the audience already knows the answer.  It can certainly work better for a long series if there aren’t any blatant clues as to who the childhood friend was or the promise isn’t known.  You have a mystery on your hand, which older readers might be able to connect with.  We all have memories that are faded and some of them have ghostly images of forgotten friends.  So, that’s something you can go along with if you want to write this story and get a lot of mileage out of it.

What do you think of stories with forgotten childhood promises?

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Revisiting Origins: Baron Arthuru Kernaghan

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

By Kayla Matt

(Realized I never did an early origin post for the Baron.  It was just this one right before I released the final volume.  Looking it over, I don’t think I would have changed anything.  There was the temptation to have him be more active, but I think the Baron being trapped until the final volume worked out best.  If he escaped and the series dragged on for a few books, the story might have come off as being padded and bloated.)

The titular Warlord of the Forgotten Age is none other than Baron Arthuru Kernaghan who hasn’t made too many appearances on this blog.  Not as many as you would think in the series too.  Being sealed and trapped, he can’t get involved in the action unless there’s a special situation.  The Baron appears in prologues to show how he’s responding to previous actions and pushing some influence on what is about to happen.  He can appear through communications with his agents or a scene might show what he is doing during the adventure.  The truth is that he’s had to be a powerful, menacing villain who doesn’t get into the action until the final battle.  Needles to say, it wasn’t easy putting him together and I am happy that people have acknowledged his presence.

The origins of the Baron is rather slim since he never made an appearance in the D&D game that Legends of Windemere is based on.  We heard of him and ran into his son, Stephen Kernaghan, as well as the Lich.  Yet, the Baron was a mystery because he was locked away.  Don’t even think we uncovered the reason why, which meant I was working with a clean slate.  He didn’t even have the same name.  Originally, he was Baron Loquacious VonGalderon, but that didn’t work well when I was testing it with beta readers long ago.  That and the first name means ‘talkative’, which didn’t fit him.  He was also a vampire, which had been overdone by the time I got to him.  The other problem was that I didn’t want him to designate how I would do vampires since I was considering moving the Dawn Fangs into Windemere.

So, I had to build the Baron up to make him menacing while absent.  He had to compete with the Lich, Trinity, Stephen, and other villains who were all a motley crew of evil.  He needed to be at the top, which wasn’t easy.  I played around with his name first and then decided he would have magic, swordfighting, and immortality.  Why would he have that last one?  Because he was a mortal warlord who rose to become the God of Destiny, but was swiftly overthrown by Gabriel.  He still had the power to rival a god and now was protected by the Law of Influence, so they sealed him in Vir’s Castle, which is found in the Chaos Void.  Out of pettiness, Gabriel even erased the Baron from history and mortal memory, so his existence has been festering in the subconscious of nearly every living creature.  A reason for this is because he committed some of the most evil acts in Windemere history when he was a warlord.  The only way to eliminate him entirely is to use mortal agents who will adventure to develop enough powers to have a chance at winning, which is where the champions come in.

That’s the overall origin of the Baron that I developed as I was nearing the introduction of his legend in Allure of the Gypsies.  As the series progressed, I designed more and more of him.  One of the biggest pieces for the Baron’s origin was the fact that Dariana was his daughter.  At first, I was going to have it that he had his way with Zaria when he was a god, but then I had Stephen being the monstrous rapist that got what he deserved in the end.  The Baron was coming out more rational than his son, which meant it didn’t make any sense that it would have happened that way.  His relationship with Zaria evolved to a new wrinkle in his legend.  This is a slight spoiler, so I’ll put a break:

Continue reading →

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Are You In the Right Genre?

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Niijima from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple

This is probably more about mixing genres, but I’m not sure exactly how to explain this story strategy.  Seems to be primarily comedy because it comes with a sense of oddness that you can’t really ignore.  So, I’m going to explain the character who got me thinking about this topic.

Haruo Niijima is from the manga/anime called ‘Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple’.  The story is about Kenichi being trained by 6 powerful martial artists to become stronger after a lifetime of being seen as week.  So, it’s a mystical martial arts story.  Niijima is his best friend and tormentor who is always up to mischief.  He wants to use Kenichi’s actions to push his own agenda of global domination.  Just like any best friend should do when you’re being threatened by bullies and gangs every day.  Niijima is really smart and cunning as well as being able to blend into the scenery, sense stuff, and . . . He looks really odd for a martial arts story, right?

Niijima is apparently an alien/demon hybrid set on conquering Earth.

Now, there is a lot of mystical abilities done in a martial arts style and people have superhuman physical abilities.  Yet, this one guy being an alien/demon and showing some actual powers is shocking.  He should be in a science fiction or magical ‘slice of life’ story instead of a martial arts action one.  Sure, he pushes the plot along and his origins don’t take the spotlight at all.  I didn’t even know him being an alien wasn’t a joke until I read about the manga stuff that occurred after the anime ended.  This makes Niijima stand out even more.  Reminds me of a video game called ‘Chrono Trigger’ where you have a robot join your party of medieval and prehistoric characters.  That still makes more sense since time travel is a key component of that plot.

The weirdest thing is that the ridiculous of Niijima doesn’t hurt the story.  It doesn’t amplify it either.  Yes, thinking too hard about his presence makes you realize he’s kind of in the wrong genre.  But you need to ignore everything he is saying and doing in order to reach that conclusion.  Take away his alien/demon stuff and he still plays the same role even though the few powers he demonstrates can’t be used when needed. Niijima is still the annoying, arrogant, boundary-breaking, underhanded, charismatic sneak of a best friend.  This ends up being why so many fans seem to like him too.  The origins are just window-dressing quirks.

I think that’s the why a genre jumper ends up in comedies and the only time when it works well.  They stand out because they’re in the wrong world, but nobody really seems to care about that.  Other characters note it, but they’re still an accepted entity that belongs to that setting.  More importantly, this uniqueness isn’t played to the point where it overshadows the plot and protagonist.  I’ve seen that a common thing is to have the audience wonder why nobody else acknowledges or notices the different character.  It’s even done where the art style changes when it’s a visual medium.  That’s because the difference isn’t added to distract, but to pull you into the setting.  Come for the strange alien/demon with a serpent tongue and stay for the martial arts action.

This is a gamble too.  You will always have purists that don’t want to see any other genre even near their preferred ones.  This happens with comedies too even though the mix up is part of the joke.  An author simply has to hope that they do things well enough that they entertain everyone who isn’t stuck in their ways.  I would think making things mild and not having it take all of the attention away from the main story can help you get there.  At the very least, it gives people a defense in that the majority of what you have written fits within the primary genre.

So, what do you think of out of place characters like this?  Have you ever attempted it?

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Homonyms with Harmony, Part 10–Commonly Misused ‘G’ Words

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

This post explores the origins of homonyms—words spelt and pronounced the same but with different meanings. We’ll discover how we use them in …

Homonyms with Harmony, Part 10–Commonly Misused ‘G’ Words
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Critically Endangered: The Golden Bamboo Lemur

Posted on December 10, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Madagascar has tons of lemurs, which makes it difficult to do posts on them.  That being said, I really wanted to mention the Golden Bamboo Lemur at some point.  Due to habitat destruction and hunting, they are considered critically endangered with only about 630 individuals alive.  250 of those are mature.  Even the protected forests aren’t helping due to illegal logging and people go in for poaching to get them for either food or the exotic pet trade. It isn’t looking good for them even with conservation efforts.

What are some facts?

  • They live in groups of no more than 4 individuals.  This is usually a family with one adult male, one adult female, and 1-2 juveniles.
  • They are diurnal and take midday rests.
  • Gestation is 138 days and they can only give birth to 1 infant.
  • Golden Bamboo Lemurs are monogamous breeders.
  • Babies stay with the family group until the age of 3.
  • They are herbivores feeding primarily on bamboo, which explains the name.
  • They were first discovered in 1985.
  • Golden Bamboo Lemurs eat enough bamboo every day to contain 12x the amount of cyanide needed to kill an animal of its size.
  • They’ve evolved a high resistance to cyanide.

Time for Google Images and some videos.

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Goal Post: Halfway to Holiday Break

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

The title says it all . . . Well, it doesn’t, but that’s the key point.

The goals for last week were all over the place in terms of success.  I finished the online course and wrapped the presents.  Didn’t get to biking until last night.  Sleep wasn’t as great as it should have been even though I got 100 most nights on the CPA score.  A single 98 happened because I didn’t sleep for 7 hours.  Missed it by 12 minutes.  Honestly, the goals were mostly things I had no choice in doing, which made the mayhem of the week less impactful.

First, the Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights were a success even though we couldn’t get into one of the areas before we had to leave for dinner.  It was the newest one and the last on our route.  It is what it is.  I’ll have a post in January with chosen pictures and a possible video of the event.  Too tired to really sort through things, especially since I already have December’s Sundays set up.

Parenting took the bulk of my time because my son wasn’t feeling well halfway through the week.  Weather was pretty nasty and we were in the rain on Sunday for a Pokemon Go thing.  We were supposed to stay in the car, but he joined up with a large group doing the raids and walked around with them.  He was kept fairly dry by the umbrella while I got soaked, but he didn’t get sick until a few days later.  Anyway, the big challenge was making sure he didn’t fall behind in schoolwork.  That was a success and he was able to go back before the week.  Get the feeling it was a small cold combined with him not getting enough sleep.  It’s that time of year.

Writing-wise, I did finish that one character in ‘Phi Beta Files’.  Got a few February posts done and stared at the outline for Darwin & the Joy Path for a few minutes.  That last one might be my Saturday work before and after I get a haircut.  Feel like I need a real lazy day to recover from last week and prepare for the next one.  This time of year is always mentally and physically exhausting, so it’s hard to do any writing.  Nothing substantial anyway.  Still deciding on if I want to start writing this book during the holiday break or wait for 2024.  Might be good to just tinker with other projects for the 6 days I don’t have my son.  I could finish off ‘Phi Beta Files’ too.

This coming week isn’t going to give me much breathing room.  So, I’m scared to make any writing goals.  It’s Hanukkah, which just means lighting candles at night and tomorrow is latke day.  After that, I have my son’s big concert and a day full of appointments.  The ‘life event’ figures prominently into things too.  I’ll just be happy to get some biking in a few nights and sleep well.  The week ends with our big field trip to holiday shop in the mall, which is always fun and crazy.  The following weekend won’t be very relaxing either since I have a Saturday appointment and both afternoons will be Pokemon Go related.  It’s my last weekend with my son before the holidays, so I’m hoping to make it count.  Trying to find tickets to a movie on Sunday morning too.

Maybe I’ll get some February posts done or make progress on the book outline.  I don’t really have much else going on.  Been watching ‘Cyborg 009’, which has been a fun anime so far.  Halfway through and the storylines go by really fast.  Feels like it’s more episodic ‘threat of the week’ stuff, but the characters are good.  With 9 heroes, it’s nice to see that the series is managing to spread the attention now.  Was worried that a few would fall by the wayside.  Not sure what I’m going to watch after this though.  Trying to decide between anime or one of the few live-action series I have saved.  Probably do the later since it will be around the time of the break and I’ll be lounging.  Friends will all be busy, so I’ll just have me time. Might not be a bad thing.

Goals of the week:

  1. Work on Darwin & the Joy Path outline.
  2. February blog posts when possible.
  3. Parenting (this is a given though).
  4. Son’s concert.
  5. Latke day tomorrow!
  6. Work on ‘Phi Beta Files’ during free periods.
  7. Puzzle time.
  8. Get a haircut today.
  9. Continue to sleep well.  CPAP machine is working great.
  10. Appointments scattered about.
  11. Try to do something fun and interesting for next Saturday’s post . . . My life is so dull.
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Happy Hanukkah Funnies!

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah.  Guess that’s how we’re spelling it this year.  Anyway, enjoy these funnies and have a relaxing weekend.  Feel free to grab a copy of Beginning of a Hero too.  No reason other than I haven’t pitched that book in a long time.  It’s free!

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Metaphysical Elements in Fiction Writing – Wrap-up

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Hello, SE’ers! As 2023 winds down, I’m doing a wrap-up of my year-long exploration of ways to add metaphysical elements to fiction writing. I …

Metaphysical Elements in Fiction Writing – Wrap-up
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Poetry Day: Generations of Immaturity

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Seven Deadly Sins

(Fairly certain this stemmed from parental conflict.  Children rarely do exactly what the parents expect, which causes friction.  It can be worse when the parent is so locked in how the world was when they were growing up that they can’t see the new challenges their children face.  So, you have incidents where adult children are treated like toddlers, idiots, or disappointments.  This kind of works off that concept.  Not a fan of the flow or word usage in a few lines, but it is what it is.)

You scoff at our decisions
Because they are not the ones you like

 

You criticize our choices
Because you believe you know best

 

You crow about your experience
Because you refuse to be told no

 

You swear that you took no help with us
Because your parents were always underfoot

 

You remind us of the damage that we do
Because you never made mistakes

 

You tell us about the horrid future that we build
Because you are the parental prophet

 

You pout and curse when we refuse your path
Because you are the most mature around

 

We tell you thank you, but please go away
Because we are not as stupid as you think

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When the Apprentice Takes Over

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Charles Yallowitz

Kosuna and Kanta from ‘Desert Punk’

*SPOILERS FOR THE ANIME/MANGA ‘DESERT PUNK’*

This post was inspired by the anime ‘Desert Punk’.  It’s fun even though it gets fairly crude at some points.  It does something that is fairly interesting as well.  The anime is 25 episodes long and Kosuna (the girl/apprentice) ends up taking over for the main character Kanta on episode 21.  Won’t say why this happens or what the events that ensued, but it was shocking the first time I watched it.  Did it work though?

The truth is that Kosuna was a fun character and she did kind of work with the spotlight, but it didn’t have the same impact as the previous episodes.  The anime was called ‘Desert Punk’ and Kanta was Desert Punk.  So, you watch the final episodes wondering where the twist is going to be.  I would say for something so short, it didn’t hurt the story and it picked up at the end.  Yet, I’ve seen some stories attempt a full switch to a new main character and fail.  What are some reasons?

  • New hero doesn’t have the same charisma as the previous hero.
  • Fans refuse the change entirely and begin to abandon the series or demand a return to the status quo.
  • It gives a sense that the story is just dragging on and should have ended.
  • New hero taking the spotlight results in popular supporting characters being benched/eliminated as well.  So, you have an amplification of the second issue.
  • Author simply isn’t feeling the change like they had hoped, so they go back.

The switching to a new protagonist in the middle of a story definitely comes with a variety of risks.  You never know how people will take to it even if they requested the change.  A group of vocal fans could want an apprentice/sidekick to take the helm, but then realize that some of that character’s charm disappears.  Once the new hero gets their promotion, they get more attention, scrutiny, and responsibility in terms of story.  Their decisions carry more weight because they are one of the major plot progressors.  For example, this shift is very distinct when a comic relief apprentice takes over because they will typically have to shed their goofier habits.  That doesn’t always appeal to fans because they liked the character’s comedic side.

You run into issues with the villains as well.  If the previous villains remain, the new hero has less of a connection.  Even if they are avenging their master, they lack the same depth of history.  As an apprentice, they were probably spending most of the previous adventures as back-up.  The villain knows about them and has probably interacted, but not to a great extent.  Maybe they were a hostage at some point or had a few moments of spoiling the evil plan, but they weren’t the focus.  A connection needs to be rebuilt, but you can’t rush this or take too long.  Doing either will result in a mess and the chemistry needed for a good hero/villain dynamic is lost.

One of the easiest ways to accomplish this switch is to make it a spin-off.  Give closure to the previous hero in some fashion.  Retirement, achieving their personal goal, death, disappearance, or any number of ways to remove them with an ending.  Then, start a new series with the apprentice and have them set out for their own reasons.  If they are only there to continue their master’s quest then some fans will be asking why the previous hero couldn’t be used to finish the job.  Remember, audiences don’t like unnecessary changes in established stories.  You have to justify your reasoning beyond ‘I wanted to’ and demonstrate that the overarching story is improved by the change.  Posing the new hero as getting a spin-off helps in doing this because you establish that things are starting at square one.

Personally, I’m always leery of this kind of change.  I don’t like the idea of doing it myself since my stories are very character centered.  As a reader/viewer, I can get behind it if the event is presented well.  Shock value changes make me finish watching or reading out of begrudging loyalty.  Probably a big reason on why I really don’t want to try it unless I can make a really good reason in my own head.  This might just be me though because I can see how changing the protagonist can erase stagnation and keep an overall story going.

So, what do you think of an apprentice taking over a story?

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