War of Nytefall: Eulogy has a set piece that involves peace talks. Between who? I’m not going to say because that can be a little spoiler-y. Just know that there are scenes where people are arguing, debating, and discussing. For an action adventure series, this can really slow things down and cause some trouble. I had more of the peace talks scenes planned, but realized right away how they take away from the bigger plot of another Clyde running around. Still, this event had to be shown to some extent, so I needed to do so and maintain the pacing. Was it perfectly done? Doubtful. Did it work? Yeah, I’m happy with it. So, here are some tips.
Introduce the peace talks or any form of negotiation as early as possible. You don’t want to get far into the action and then drop this more mellow event into the mix. It can derail the momentum, especially if it doesn’t connect directly to the higher octane scenes. A reader will be able to handle the jumps to the peace talks scenes better if they know from the beginning that they will be there. This is only necessary if they are to be lasting the entire story too.
Use the peace talks scenes to denote passing of time to allow the other plotlines to move through pauses. You can move back to the talking section if you need the other characters to change location or activity. Even without clarifying how much time has passed during the peace talks scene, you give a sense that a less interesting period is being skipped in the other plots. Readers won’t be upset because it will be clear that nothing of importance was sacrificed and they’ll see how the talks are going.
Show periods where the diplomats and others involved in the talks are resting. If this event is going to last for days then they’re going to need breaks. Groups with shared interest will be meeting and coming up with plans. Secret alliances and deals will be made before returning to the table. These scenes can help build interest in the peace talks without having the actual arguing going on.
Occasionally show how the peace talks and other plots intersect. If it feels like this event is running entirely independently of the action plot then readers will wonder what the point is. Have events happening in one storyline influence the others by making it easier or more difficult. For example, War of Nytefall: Eulogyhas it where the actions of the imposter Clyde makes the peace talks more difficult. In return, the peace talks start requiring actions that make handling the imposter more difficult. This shows they are connected.
Try not to draw out the peace talks scenes for too long. They will involve a lot of talking and very little action. Not unless you have an assassin turn up every time, but that gets silly. Short, contentious, aggressive, and to the point can really help when the actual negotiations are going on. More passive talking can be done for those pre/post negotiations scenes I mentioned in #3.
Do NOT use cliché movie lines when diplomats get angry. It doesn’t matter if a character can handle the truth or not anymore.
Know when to step away from the peace talks and leave them in the background until the action plot is finished. Once you hit the final push for the action part, you cannot safely step away to show the more passive storyline. This only works to help with building things up and can be a hazard if you try it when you are at the height of tension. Don’t be afraid that readers will be upset about ignoring the peace talks while the big fight goes on. They should be too interested in the action to care about the arguing characters.
With War of Nytefall: Eulogybeing live, it’s time for some teasers. This book moves at a different pace than the others because there’s more mystery. So, it was harder to choose a riveting teaser to start with. Decided that it’s best to start with Clyde and how he starts this adventure. Enjoy.
One of the toughest things is introducing new characters to a series when you’re at the final volume. It isn’t necessary, but sometimes you need fresh faces to get certain events over the finish line. I had that issue with War of Nytefall: Eulogy. That’s where Alexis Nucian comes into play and the character has a rather wild creation history. Kind of a shame that he gets so little time in the series, but that’s what happens at times.
Alexis is not a combat character at all. He was designed as a diplomat, so his entire thing is talking problems away. I realized early on that the story would need a character like this at some point. Various incarnations had Alexis showing up in the middle and others at the end. There were two versions where he wasn’t around at all and another where he was an evil diplomat. Poor guy was all over the place. The most common version, which wasn’t the final one, was a vampire who stepped in to force peace between Clyde and Xavier Tempest. Sometimes he was successful and it was the end of the series. Other times he failed and made things worse. This is why I omitted him a few times because he caused too much trouble.
The physical description of Alexis wasn’t any better. The current incarnation is a halfling while all previous ones were human. For a while, he had tiger-striped hair, but no powers to explain that. He was tall, short, handsome, ugly, and the list goes on until it feels like I tried every combination. At this point, all of the Alexis versions bleed together and I can’t differentiate between the early versions and what came before he was turned into a peaceful halfling. Of course, the change of species came with another big alteration, which was needed really badly.
Alexis was originally named ‘Brian Hunter’, which is a name I may have mentioned once or twice on this blog. This is the name of the super spy character I made in high school and kept using in college for various non-fantasy action stories. As expected, he was based on James Bond. I’ve since moved him into ‘The Ether Thief’ series and given him a short story collection afterwards. Yet, he was retired for a while because I wasn’t sure if I could move him to Windemere until I came up with a story. Of course, him returning meant I couldn’t keep the Dawn Fang diplomat as Brian Hunter. To be honest, the name didn’t work for a peaceful character either, so I toyed around with sites until I came up with Alexis Nucian. That last name showed up because I remembered he was a werewolf during one version of this series. A rather clunky road to what I have now, but it got to where it worked.
Like many of my War of Nytefall characters, there’s a role-playing game connection here. This one isn’t too great. Most of my friends were playing a live-action game of vampires, which is called a LARP. I was avoiding it for a while because it felt like too much work, but then I got lonely and left out. So, I created the first Brian Hunter version who was to be a diplomat among a group of warriors who kept getting into trouble. I thought it was good, but it was a disaster. My first gaming session resulted in the group getting exiled and marked as enemies, so I couldn’t do any diplomat things without being a traitor or killed. I quickly realized my desire to simply have fun was being squashed by just trying to keep the character as it was supposed to be. I’m also really bad at playing politics and my, at the time unrealized, social anxiety kept making my diplomat be dumber than his stats and abilities would suggest. In the end, he was killed and I tried two more times to play this game. #2 would be Kai Stavros who was an archaeologist that lasted 1 session because his reason for being in the game was eliminated by the end. #3 was Lou who I played off as Lenny from ‘Of Mice and Men’. That went better, but he was inevitably killed in a way that left a sour taste in my mouth. It all started with this diplomat, who never met his potential.
Thankfully, Alexis Nucian gets to shine in this book. Maybe. Sort of. You’ll have to read War of Nytefall: Eulogy to find out.
As you can see, I released a book this week. It’s the last volume of War of Nytefall, which means Clyde and the Dawn Fangs are effectively retired. The survivors may appear as cameos or get name-dropped, but that’s it. Their story has been told and you can buy it all for $8.
Rest of the week was entirely about work and helping my son get ready for tests. I figure I’m going to be busy like this until Christmas Eve, which is the next day off. Gives me time to think of things to do. I’m not touching Darwin & the Fate Bracelet until January at least. So, I’m going to focus on gathering my energy and get into the right mindset to go from Clyde to Darwin Slepsnor. It’s a much bigger jump than going from Luke Callindor to Clyde too. Darwin doesn’t really know what’s going on half the time and has be more random than his more focused predecessors. Tough to have a hero who isn’t the smartest, strongest, or most aware in the room. Really hope he works out.
There were other small victories this week. For one thing, I got a defensive driving course done in one night. Second, I finished the January posts. Finally, I designed the third of the Phi Beta heroes, which leaves me with one to go. I might design the recurring villains before diving into plots, but I haven’t decided. Realized that I had a third story style beyond chapter novels and short story collections too. The titled chapters with contained stories like I did with ‘Bedlam’ may work out for the ‘Phi Beta Files’. It’s given me new focus and I may work on it tomorrow . . . If I’m functional.
In an hour, I’m going to get my covid booster shot. Working in a school, I feel like this is a smart move because there’s a lot of traffic even with people wearing masks. I’ve heard that the booster is going to wreck me the next day. As long as I make it long enough to enjoy latkes with the family today. I’ve got some shows and movies on various streaming services to keep me occupied too. Depends on how I’m feeling since I could end up sleeping most of the day. At least it’ll be done.
Let’s see . . . Hanukkah started last Sunday and ends tomorrow. It’s a rather low key holiday outside of the nightly candles and the latke day. Coming so close to Thanksgiving didn’t help here. As much as I love this holiday, I know it’s rather mild and it’s not as exciting as an adult. I mean, I don’t get presents like I did when I was a kid. That’s not even a real tradition, but one to make use feel like we have our own Christmas. Potato latkes, dreidel, chocolate coins, lighting the menorah, and jelly donuts are the big ones I remember as being real traditions. Does an apple crumb donut count since it had apple goo inside?
I’m genuinely worn down to a nub here. Work was tough and I think I used the last of my energy to get things ready for the book release. I’ll probably pass out right after I finish laundry in 2 hours. Gives me enough time to finish watching ‘Trigun’ and see if I want to start anything new. No clue what I want to watch after that one. I have ‘The Witcher’ coming in a few weeks and I think ‘Kobra Kai’ isn’t far behind that. Guess a short anime may do the trick. I’m boring right now, so I apologize.
Next week isn’t going to be that different from this one, but with more tests. I plan on taking it easy and not pushing myself too hard. Have a long way to go before I reach my next day off. Burnout is bad and the covid stress isn’t helping there. Hope everyone else is handling modern society well.
You know what could help? A vampire action adventure like War of Nytefall: Eulogy. Click on the cover above. 😁
Once War of Nytefall: Eulogyis published, it will mark the end to my second series. It’s a true finale too instead of the series that I dropped due to time issues, no reactions, and other reasons. This puts the series alongside Legends of Windemere as being a complete tale. Means the Dawn Fangs are the second cast I’m putting into retirement outside of cameos. So, how does that feel?
I have to admit that the emotional impact isn’t as big for War of Nytefall, but that comes down to three reasons:
I spent 15-16 years working on the Legends of Windemere stories. That was a longer series, but also my first one. It was where I was getting the kinks out of my writing style. So, there was more time spent with those characters.
I knew what was coming this time, so I could brace myself for the finale. It wasn’t a sudden surprise to be done because I’ve been through it before. Kind of like the difference accidentally falling off something and intentionally jumping. You can cushion the impact on the second scenario.
My series take place in the same world. This means I’m always going back to the same place. I see familiar faces in the monsters, cities, and deities even if the story and characters are different. Even if I don’t see them, I know they’re around as new regions of Windemere are introduced. So, the ending of a series doesn’t always have the same since of finality as it would if I walked away entirely.
That isn’t to say that I didn’t tear up as I wrote the finale. Like before, I wanted to go for an emotional blow here. If I’m not feeling bad for what I’m doing to characters and how this is the end then I shouldn’t expect readers to care. A lot of deaths and punishments this time around too, which meant I couldn’t shrug it off as any old ending. I had to still put heart into it and that meant going for sadness. Felt down for a while too even after I did editing runs because it was like saying good-bye another time.
I guess people do assume that your second series doesn’t hit as hard as the first when it comes to putting it to bed. This probably depends primarily on the author too. Some will have trouble and cry at the end of every book. Others will simply move on to the next story that they have in mind. I braced myself for it and have that shared world/cameos thing going to help. Every author has their own methods and thoughts on this, which I’m sure people will see in the comments.
Outside of the fact that I’m retiring characters here, there’s a sense of accomplishment that comes from this. I finished a second series. That doesn’t always happen with authors since they might not have more ideas than the one. Others can find that they aren’t able to leave the first series because the stories keep going or it doesn’t seem lucrative enough to step away. I know I lost a lot of support once I finished Legends of Windemere, so it’s true that not everyone will follow an author. Many readers will stick with characters, which means they leave once the retirement happens. Those risks can give authors, myself included, some pause into actually finishing a series. Although, I will admit that facing that demon the first time made it easier to make the decision a second time. Been there, done that, and suffered the consequences.
I’m really kind of mellow on this right now. Part of it stems from a rough couple of years, so I’m a little emotionally tapped out. Who isn’t these days? Hope those who give this series a chance enjoy it now that it’s all done.
As his dream of peace becomes a reality, Clyde faces his darkest challenge.
With the Dawn Fangs’ existence exposed, the time for negotiations has begun. Mortal rulers and the council of Nytefall gather to discuss terms, but chaos is already stirring. It does not take long for Clyde’s dream to become a nightmare as villages are slaughtered by a Dawn Fang who is rumored to be the newly crowned Vampire King. Bodies of friends and enemies pile up as this mysterious imposter reveals why mortals should fear Clyde. Will Clyde’s final adventure see his dream of peace fail before it is realized?
The truth is more horrifying than the Dawn Fangs ever imagined.
*****
Curiosity piqued? Check out this teaser!
The Truth?
Coming to the windmill, Magrus coats his body in a protective shell and carefully climbs to the top of the broken structure. Slowly turning in a circle, he scans the area to get a full sense of the remaining magic. He ignores the auras of the guards, who are sifting through the wreckage to find more bodies. Those who have been located have already been moved to the outskirts where they are being prepared for transport. Peering down the narrow road, he can see an oxen-driven cart is getting closer and sighs at how it will not be enough to collect all of the dead. Magrus considers warning the lieutenant, but he fears it will lead to a long conversation and waste more of his precious time. He turns to where the man is helping to prop up a wall, which has crushed a family of four. Shaking his head, the Zarian climbs down from his perch and uses his staff to help him navigate his way out of town. Nothing catches his interest, but he stops momentarily to send a few more lost souls to the afterlife.
“Let us see what really happened,” Magrus whispers as he reaches the woods.
Turning back to the village, the man plunges his staff into the earth and grips it tightly to prevent himself from falling over. His eyes develop a rainbow shimmer over the gold as he wavers on his feet. Fighting through the looming fatigue, the priest lets his magical vision change from what is in front of him to revealing phantoms of the past. Transparent buildings rise back into place and ghostly figures go about their lives even though he can still sense a little of what is truly there. Magrus scowls at the sight of a black-haired figure landing a few feet away, the puff of dirt revealing an illusion covering the small crater. Within seconds of appearing, the man rushes at the town and begins destroying everything in sight. Using only his fists and feet, he breaks houses and shatters people. The attacker’s speed is almost too much for the Zarian to follow, so he focuses on examining the phantasmal carnage for clues. He spots bite marks on several necks and sees the chickens were devoured in the blink of an eye. Torches and candles are knocked over to start the fires, which explode into an inferno connected to the illusionary plume of smoke. Magrus is not sure what caused the sudden blast since the attacker had been tearing the local blacksmith in half at the time. Deciding he has seen enough, the man freezes the vision before falling to his knees from the exertion. He is able to hold the image for another second before it disappears, but it still gives him a clear view of the rampaging figure.
“This cannot be shared,” Magrus says as he takes out a piece of paper. He mutters a spell to transfer the image of a black-haired man with a corn-shaped necklace from his brain to the parchment. “It would appear that Clyde of Nytefall is not as big a fan of peace as one would believe. Yet, I still see mysteries here. The fires grew without his influence and I see no reason why he would want this place discovered. I have many questions, Lady Zaria, so I cannot purify the Vampire King until I have answers. There has never been a man or monster who has escaped my thorough investigations. This one will be no different. I swear on my goddess’s crimson hair that Clyde and the Dawn Fangs will be judged. Then, if necessary, they will be punished.”
Interested in more Windemere? Then don’t forget to check out Charles E. Yallowitz’s first series: Legends of Windemere
Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
About the Author:
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After spending many years fiddling with his thoughts and notebooks, he decided that it was time to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house with only pizza and seltzer to sustain him, Charles brings you tales from the world of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and drawing you into a world of magic.
Legends of Windemere 