Revisit: Religion . . . in Fantasy

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

Originally posted on March 6, 2013 . . . Well, it was definitely something.  A true precursor to when I started to real story-crafting posts.  Looking at how I was posting multiple times a day with poems, random stuff, book news, and teasers, it isn’t surprising that I was all over the place.  Geez, I covered a lot of ground and my love of lists in posts seems to have been born here.

God from Monty Python

I’m sure at least one person made one of those hissing inhales in preparation of a conversation on religion.  I can go into it, but I’m sure religion and politics are the reasons people stop being friends and the phrase ‘mortal enemies’ appears.  Yet, religion is an important factor when creating worlds of fantasy, so I can’t avoid the topic.  For every race, there is a pantheon with overlapping gods, in-fighting, histories, and other details that make the gods of fantasy almost as interesting as the main characters.  I’m still going to apologize if I offend anyone.

There are many ways that a new author can go, so I’m going to list the most common ones (and one baffling one) before I reveal what I’ve done.  I’m sure I’ll miss a few though.

  1. Jesus . . . I’m not kidding here.  I’ve seen fantasy movies and read fantasy books where the entire world is Christianity with no sign of any other Earth religion.  I find this to be lazy and a little insulting to other religions that didn’t cross over.  I can’t figure out how a person can rationalize having a world of magic and the only religion is one that comes off sometimes as anti-magic.  I guess if you want it to be religion versus magic, but that’s still rather insulting to the Christians.  My advice on this one is to not do this without a lot of thought and work to make sure it fits.  This goes for if you pick any of the other monotheistic religions, but I’ve yet to see a fantasy book with Judaism in it.  If there is one, let me know because I’d be curious
  2. Greeks/Norse/Roman/etc. gods acting like they own the place.  It can work if the author puts in a lot of work to make sure they don’t take the gods exactly from their myths.  I’ve seen books with these gods where they’re made more human and others where they’re the bad guys.  This one could work if you want influential gods, but you simply can’t come up with your own.  Though, like the first one, it can be perceived as being lazy.  Oddly enough, you can get away with this to some extent when people aren’t up on their mythology.  I’ve met people who think Thor was created by Marvel Comics or Ares is nothing more than a zodiac sign.
  3. Two god system with one good and one evil.  This is a simple system for those who don’t want to delve too far into the religious aspect of the world.  Any character that follows a religious path tends to be either a villain or an obnoxious supporting cast member.  I’m not saying this is a bad system and it’s great if you don’t want to bother with religious subplots.  It also makes it a lot easier to design temples, religious symbols, and everything else that goes with a detailed pantheon.
  4. Gods that are worshiped, but are never seen.  This is another easy one, but it allows a fantasy author to be more detailed.  The priests worship the gods for holy magic or try to convert, but their gods are never seen or heard.  You can throw atheists into this world too, which is always fun.  The trick to this one is to have phrases from the characters that incorporates the gods’ names, so the reader gets the feeling that the gods are important to the world.  Otherwise, they may come off as lackluster.
  5. Warring gods to push the plot.  This one is simple.  Every god hates each other according to their priests, so every war and event has something to do with them.  Not much else to explain on this one.
  6. Gods that are present.  This is probably the most difficult because you have to give personalities and details to your gods instead of them only being a name, a symbol, and a group of followers.  You have to decide on their histories, their relations, how they interact with mortals, and so many other details to make them be a factor in your stories without taking over everything.

This brings me to Windemere and what I’ve learned about making religion in a fantasy world.  I have learned that it’s a lot of work.  I have a file that is a 3-4 page pantheon with the gods, what they’re in charge of, and their symbol.  This can be helpful if you want a lot of gods to choose from, but you have to accept that some of them might not ever appear in the books.  I found that making pantheons are difficult because you have to make multiple gods for each category.  You can cheat to some extent, but typically every pantheon needs a chief (Odin, Zeus, etc.), war, love, wisdom, and death god.  Dwarves always need an alcohol god and elves always need a forest god.  Orcs get fury, gnomes get invention, etc.  I decided to go another route and make an event that forced the pantheons to merge in order to survive after many of the gods died.

Another challenge here is the influence that your gods will have.  If you go for the Greek method then they’re going to be causing trouble everywhere and you better be ready for it.  In fact, you might find yourself writing a story where mortals head out to kill or battle the gods just to get them off your back.  There are various ways to solve this influence problem.  One is giving the gods a simply apathy toward mortals and they’re only interested in the attention.  Another is that the gods act rather human, which means most of them won’t get thoroughly involved in the lives of mortals.  A third option is that there is a self-imposed law on the gods that prevents them from getting physically involved.  I did a little of the first two ideas, but I created the Law of Influence to keep the gods at bay.  Personally, I think this law brings a sense of caution and fear to the gods that allows a reader to be more interested in them.

Now, you can do a fictional religion any way you want.  You can make sure every character has a god to follow even if they never mention it in the story.  You can make religion only for the priests and those who need guidance.  The great part about designing religion in a fantasy world is that you can do almost anything. You can even leave religion out entirely and never mention a god or use a priest.  This option might be the easiest because I will admit that keeping track of all the gods of Windemere gets a little confusing.

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Poetry Day: Wrath Rondelet

Posted on July 31, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

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(A rondelet is a 7-line poem where the first line is repeated on line 3 and 7.  The refrain lines are usually 4 syllables and the other 4 lines are 8.  These were tough, so I hope I got them right.)

Is Wrath your sin?

Do you rage with every slip?

Is Wrath your sin?

Anger is your natural phase.

Without it you are lost and scared.

Looking for a reason to snap.

Is Wrath your sin?

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Where to Sell Books

Posted on July 31, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

Hi SEers! Denise here to talk about where indie authors can sell their books. For most authors, Amazon is the most popular platform for selling …

Where to Sell Books
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Revisit: The Perfect Style Is . . .

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

First published on February 20, 2013, I think this one still stands.  Can’t think of anything else to change about this post.  I am wondering if I should keep this old post revisiting going through September though.  Just to make things easier for the start of a really crazy school year.  Are people enjoying this?

I was in a writer’s workshop years ago and somebody asked what the perfect writing style was, so they could adopt it. This led to a lengthy conversation about what would constitute the perfect style and I played my part of the conversation.  I was young and foolish and probably exhausted from a long day of work.  It would be the following morning that I woke up with the true answer in my head.  It’s really quite simple if you think about it.  The perfect writing style is:

Your style

No, I’m not being lazy.  That really is the most simplistic and true answer.  I hear young authors worry about how their style sizes up to the masters or their peers.  Many of them begin to adopt the praised parts of various styles and create a mess that takes years to untangle.  A shed full of tangled Christmas lights can be easier to fix than a Frankenstein writing style.  So, one thing I would tell young authors is to find their own center style and evolve. What works for one author might not work for another, but you could always try.  Just be ready to say ‘that didn’t work’ and try again.

A key word that I just said was evolve, which is essential for a writer’s style.  I remember several classmates using styles that I found atrocious, muddled, or simply sloppy.  There was one person who wrote with horrible spelling and claimed it was his style.  I would put myself into a category of poor style during this time because my writing was all skin and bones with very little character development and subplot.  I stubbornly considered it my style for a month before I accepted the fact that I was using that as an excuse to never grow.  An aspiring author’s style must remain fluid and adaptable in order to absorb new aspects of writing.  Again, don’t absorb everything and be ready to reject certain things.  We can evolve our writing in a way that goes back and forth.

The tricky part is to know what works and what doesn’t because we are our own worst critics and greatest fans.  We can have blinders on about an aspect of our writing that doesn’t really work while at the same time despising a part of our style that does work.  I’ve got no idea why it works like this, but it’s the way the muses made us.  This is where family, friends, and anybody else who is willing to read your work can come in handy.  They will give you an outside eye about your style that can help you fine-tune it.  I stated a while back that critics and reviews are very important to a writer’s growth and this is true as long as the criticism is constructive.  I’m not talking about the ‘this author sucks and should jam their pen into their eye’ criticisms that I see on Amazon at times.  The only thing we learn from a review like this is that some people shouldn’t be allowed near the internet without a psych evaluation.

A final important note: develop a style that’s comfortable.  If you’re writing in a style that garners heaps of adoration while you despise your own work then you’re doing something wrong.  I know the reader is the main target of our art, but we cannot abandon our own enjoyment from the act of writing.  That will lead down a rather empty path.

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Teaser Tuesday: The Scrumptious Siren Tavern

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

The Scrumptious Siren is probably one of my favorite settings.  I’ve made plenty of cities, dungeons, wildernesses, ruins, and more, but this place was always fun.  Chastity Sullivan always brought a positive energy to a scene, so I had her home and place of business do the same.  So, it was a nice escape for myself when real life was getting me down.  Maybe all authors should create a setting that they can write about when they need an emotional pick-me-up.  Check out the full scene in War of Nytefall: Loyalty!

Continue reading →

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INTRODUCING FOOD TO YOUR WIP

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

Noelle Granger here with my first post on Story Empire. Over my next few posts, I hope to add “Food” to your writing menu. I don’t know about you, …

INTRODUCING FOOD TO YOUR WIP
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Revisit: Unstoppable

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

This was first published on February 16, 2013 and it’s a weird one.  Only because I would go on to make Nyx and Clyde more susceptible to losing.  I still think a ‘versus’ between characters from different worlds is inherently flawed because people will always choose their favorite.  I also think Luke Callindor now has a better chance at defeating Skywalker since I know his powers now.  Still, I can’t even say it would be a full trouncing or even entertaining.  For one thing, I don’t even think they would fight unless there was a misunderstanding and that’s what these ‘versus’ things tend to revolve around.  So, the entire activity seems fruitless.

By Kayla Matt

I’ve mentioned once or twice that I don’t like perfect characters.  I love flaws in my characters and I love flaws in other characters.  It makes them more realistic and the reader can relate to them more.  Still, I do have a few characters who I would label as unstoppable.  They aren’t perfect, but for some reason, I can never see them losing in my head.

This came to mind when somebody was talking to me about how my character, Luke Callindor, would lose to Luke Skywalker.  First of all, this isn’t a fair fight because Skywalker has the Force and an energy sword.  My Luke is out of his league and will probably lose 7 out of 10 times because of a Force push, Force choke (I know he isn’t a Sith Lord), or his sabers getting sliced through by the lightsaber.  I could argue about situational and sneak attacks, but that’s why I’m still giving my Luke a chance at winning.  When he gets more abilities then I’d up him to 5 out of 10 times, but that Force thing is still a challenge for a close-range fighter.  So, I conceded the point and then pointed out that Skywalker would be slaughtered as soon as Callindor hit the ground.

Here’s my reason: Nyx.

She has the power to incinerate cities and she’d go berserk on the person who kills Luke, her ‘little brother’.  This guy continued to argue in favor of the Force and I continued to argue in favor of my walking magical powerhouse.  Eventually, it got ridiculous when I had Nyx scorch earth the entire planet.  It was at that point that I realized that I couldn’t rationalize Nyx losing in a fight that she could use her magic in.  I mean, she loses a few fights in the books due to having to use restraint or something else that minimizes or negates her magic.  Yet, here I was basically saying that she was unbeatable and getting angrier the more I’m being denied.

In the end, I left the conversation in a funk and continued dreaming about Nyx laying waste to every Star Wars character that I could think of.  Eventually, I calmed down and tried to figure out why I do this.  I still don’t have a good answer.  Though, I did realize that Nyx isn’t my worst offender.  That would be Clyde, my progenitor vampire.  Unlike Nyx, I don’t think I ever have him lose in his series.  Maybe once or twice, but those times are because he didn’t feel like fighting.  I would assume that this is because I never lost a fight with him when I played him in a game.

Maybe my main confusion is why I’m more than willing to concede that Luke Callindor would lose a fight, but I get angry that somebody states that Nyx would lose.  Luke was me for two and a half years, so one would assume that I’d make myself out to be the constant winner.  It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but it also makes me wonder if this is unique or common.

Do any other authors out there have characters that they can never imagine losing a fight or hold them up to an insanely high pedestal?

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Happy Gary Gygax Day

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

So, who is Gary Gygax?  He is the man who helped to create ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ and tends to be the main name associated with it.  This game was clearly based on Tolkien’s work, but Gygax allowed people to live out their fantasies.  That’s probably why certain groups thought it was evil and demonic.  Anyway, the game has evolved a lot over the decades.  I stopped at 3rd Edition and I think it’s on 5 or 6 by now.  Many fantasy authors have indulged in DnD to get ideas, test out characters, or simply have fun.  I know this game is a main inspiration since it’s the system where I played Luke Callindor, Darwin Slepsnor, and Sin.

So, Happy Gary Gygax Day.

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Goal Post: Inches Crawled

Posted on July 26, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

The title pretty much says it all.  Since the last post, I only managed to type in one chapter of edits for Darwin & the Beast Collector.  I was hoping for more, but last Sunday was busier than expected.  Well, I slept in later than I planned and several errands turned up between Pokemon Go outings instead of me getting to return home to edit.  By the time I got back, I was exhausted and my feet were hurting too much for me to focus on typing anything in.  Although, I did have a plan to get one more chapter typed in before this weekend . . .

Let’s just say this week started off physically and emotionally brutal then decided to keep sliding into the abyss.  Not a single day where there wasn’t some drama, which resulted in me dragging myself to bed early.  I can’t talk about any of this in public because it involves confidential stuff.  The things that don’t fall into that category are subjects I can’t publicly discuss for now.  Emotions ran high a lot in various arenas, which wasn’t made better by the increasing temperature.  I only had one good night’s sleep thanks to getting to talk to a friend for a while beforehand instead of anxiety spiraling.

Outside of editing and surviving in general, I tried to tinker with ‘Phi Beta Files’ a few mornings.  I did manage to create the supporting cast for one of the short story arcs in Book 3.  It felt good to do that even though doubts kept slipping into my mind.  I was going to do the set for the last story arc in that book, but my old baby name book isn’t drawing my attention these days.  Wondering if I’ve drained it of what I need, so I should buy a new one.  Not an expense I should concern myself with at this time since I will probably be writing a new book before the end of August.  I really need to keep up with the notebook work, which might be what I do when I take a trip with my son.  Told him we would take time for him to draw and me to write since we aren’t making a detailed itinerary.  I really want to get ahead in ‘Phi Beta Files’ this year.

Haven’t touched that thief idea again aside from running through character concepts and wondering how to sort them.  A part of my mind keeps pointing out that there was the ‘Oceans 11’ movies where they had a large main cast.  Does it seem like such things work better for movies than books?  I was only going up to 9, which might be less if I switch a few out of this series.  Not sold on the divorced couple who are forced to work together being in the guild.  They might go to a cursed monster hunter series where their curse is that they can’t get away from each other.

This weekend isn’t going to see any progress since my son’s birthday is coming up.  So, today is a small party with his friends and then a family dinner.  We’re going to enjoy a Pokemon Go event between the two.  Tomorrow is in the air with only pizza and a movie for lunch being locked in.  It’s unclear how bad the weather will be, so we don’t know if we can go out or not.  Come to think of it, the predicted rain is either missing us, showing up at different times than stated, or not being anywhere near as bad.  I know meteorology is all about predictions, but it feels like my weather app is doing a mediocre job with the rain warnings for the last few months.

That’s really it for what’s coming up.  I think I can get some editing done on Wednesday or Thursday, but I won’t hold my breath.  Next weekend will definitely be better, especially since I have to bring my car in for usual maintenance.  With 4 more chapters to go, I really want to finish before the summer school session is over.  Maybe I’ll get really lucky and get them all done this week since I just realized I have some time on Monday.  Then . . . I will do notebook work until my week with my son is over and then . . . I will enjoy a big Pokemon Go event and then . . . Fine, I’ll start writing Darwin & the Joy Path like I’ve been saying.  Friggin’ terrified of that act no matter how much I say it’ll be like getting back on a stationary bike.

Goals of the week?

  1. Birthday time with my son.
  2. Type in more chapter edits of Darwin & the Beast Collector.
  3. Tinker with ‘Phi Beta Files’.
  4. Pokemon Go when weather and energy permits.
  5. Survive drama and stress.
  6. Make sure Lego pre-order is still locked in.
  7. Watch more of ‘The Sandman’ on Netflix.
  8. Work on puzzle to clear table for Lego.
  9. Complete several October blog posts about ghosts.
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Revisit- The Critic: Ally and Nemesis of the Artist

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

This was first posted on February 6, 2013 and it’s pretty clear.  A critic can be seen as helpful and harmful.  I think my opinion has changes slightly in that I’m much more cautious about listening.  This is more with many modern critics going straight for tearing an author down and finding nothing good.  I would listen more to those who try to help you improve than those that seem more interested in making you quit.

First, I’m going to be clear that I have no problem with critics. They serve an important purpose and are really helpful.  I’m inspired to work hard because of the fact that there are people out there whose job it is to analyze my work. Without critics, an artist might be tempted to stagnate and refuse to evolve.  The words of a critic can help an artist grow as long as they develop the thick skin to take it.

So, this post isn’t to declare war on critics, but to give some advice from personal experience with critics.  Though, I might let the defensive claws out from time to time.

Early on, I had thin skin for criticism, but the worst part was that I also had a skewed concept of what a critic was. I thought every person who criticized my writing knew my style and path better than me. It was a really bad attempt to make everyone happy and it resulted in a series of mistakes.  I became confused with my own writing, my characters didn’t feel right, and my style steadily became a horrific mess of suggestions that buried my natural tendencies.  It was only last year that I managed to clean up everything and get back to the style that I was comfortable with.  All of this is on my head.

One of the ways to get an aspiring writer used to criticism is the round table or class discussion.  This is when everyone in the group or class reads an author’s submitted work between sessions.  At the next session, the class spends 15-20 minutes discussing the work while the writer silently sits there.  You’re not included in the debate and you get no real chance at rebuttal.  Trust me when I say that you get in a lot of trouble if you try to get into the debate.  This is a form of peer review, which I believe is designed to toughen your skin.  Honestly, I still don’t like this method of criticism.  It’s multiple voices at once instead of a solitary critic, so there is arguing over various points.  I saw this method fall into chaos many times and a lot of writers simply shrugged the entire event off.  Again, I understand the method, but it isn’t that direct and focused.  I remember talking to a few classmates after their time in the hot seat and they were annoyed that the class focused on some trivial section or grammar, but never mentioned anything about how the story or characters were.  It can be frustrating if you think the entire experience was a waste because you didn’t learn anything other than people are jerks.  Still, the benefit is that you get a taste of being criticized and unable to defend yourself, which can make you a tougher person.

My advice is to listen to a critic, but don’t always follow their suggestions.  They are masters at their trade, not masters of your story and characters.  A good example of this is one criticism I got years ago for Beginning of a Hero.  The part that stood out in the review was “it would be a guilty pleasure if the book had more teenage angst”.  This is good advice to help a blossoming writer focus his book.  Unfortunately, this writer didn’t want to go in that direction and angst didn’t really fit any of the characters.  Angst shows up in later books, which a critic wouldn’t know.  They live in the now while the writer lives in the past, present, and future.  So, this put me in a difficult spot where I wanted to respect the critic’s opinion, but I always didn’t want to go in the wrong direction with my characters.  I remembered my teenage angst and it wasn’t something I wanted to put my characters through simply to appease someone.  It’s a difficult decision when you are given advice by an expert, but you feel strongly against using it.  My suggestion is to follow your gut on characters and plot, but grammar and spelling should be listened to with a more open mind.

To be fair, I will tell a brief story of a time a critic helped me.  I had published Beginning of a Hero and a few people had read it.  A problem was brought to my attention.  Stiletto was introduced, showed up at the school, and . . . vanished into the stables never to be seen again until near the end.  The critic mentioned that it was hard to believe Luke actually cared about Stiletto since the dog was never around and Luke never thought of him.  This led to what I called the ‘Stiletto Editing Session’, which was a week long mission to make sure Luke’s furry friend got the attention he deserved.  In this case, the critic made me realize a mistake and I was able to fix it.

Now, this post might be more story than advice, but the handling of a critic is very important for any artist.  If you take it too personally, you’re going to be spending a lot of time angry and fighting.  If you ignore every criticism, you’re going to miss some very useful advice that can help you grow in your trade.  It is an act of balancing your own style with the helpful advice from people whose job it is to help you grow.  Always remember that the critic is doing their job and, typically, is not trying to be mean.

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