Well, it’s the second night of Passover. I’d do something more in-depth, but I’m going to be spending time with my son. This way, I don’t have to worry about responding to detailed comments. I’ll save more ‘future story’ posts for next weekend. Enjoy and have a slice of pizza for me. (Don’t even think of suggesting matzah pizza. Gross.)
Well . . . Spring Break is here. I’m alive, but yesterday totally unraveled within the span of 10 minutes. Plans are shattered. A rough situation has emerged, but I’ve been sidelined due to the circumstances. I’ve told a few people in private since I really can’t make this public. No, I don’t have Covid. That’s the only thing I can say.
Today is the first day of Passover, so family is coming over. Last year we couldn’t do anything, so this is an upgrade. There’s still a bittersweet taste though because of the above situation. Going to be very hard to socialize when I just want to stay in my room and edit. I’ve got two projects right now:
Nothing else happened this week. I did learn last weekend that I can’t drink beer without getting violently ill. This isn’t a bad thing. I never truly enjoyed it, so now I have a better and more solid reason for avoiding it. Watched ‘Snyder’s Justice League’, which was really good. I started watching an anime called ‘Bofuri’, which isn’t too bad. Cute and short, but it helps when I’m don’t have much time or energy. Think I’ll start watching ‘Doom Patrol’ this weekend.
Okay. I think I’m out. I’m desperately trying to be interesting here, but I’m really on the verge of tears. This is being written on Friday within 2 hours of the disaster that I can’t talk about. I’m going out to a party with coworkers who I’ve told and asked to make sure I don’t have more than 2-3 drinks. My mind is in a bad spot because it feels like the universe gave me a massive kick to the groin then followed it up with an eye gouge. Then I landed face first in a pile of sliced onions. Seriously, I’m miserable and I don’t know what to do. My luck has been nightmarishly bad for a few years. It almost feels like a joke since injury is the one thing that doesn’t happen, so I’m always capable of walking into the next stumbling block. Today is family and I’ll do my best. My anxiety may get the best of me at times. Tomorrow may be TV, wine, and editing. Passover means no pizza as comfort, but I might break that at some point if I’m left unsupervised.
Hope everyone has a fun week. I’m not doing any goals since I already said the two things I’m planning. Everything else has been shattered or delayed. Think I have some funny memes tomorrow. Later.
Drusilla from Buffy
This might be a short post only because this isn’t a big part of the book. I think. It is a hallmark though. Desirae Duvall was the major villain of War of Nytefall: Ravenous and she is currently the only one outside of the main group of baddies to survive. This wasn’t the original plan either. Sort of. I think?
Here’s the thing about Desirae. She’s the character who moved in and out of this series the most. Some versions had her as a key member while she never appeared in others. I had this idea of having her show up once and then let her survive long enough to be brought back as a better villain in another series. Part of the reason for this mess was that she wasn’t a very flushed out character when used in the game, so I didn’t have a good feel for her. I had ‘seductive vampire whore who loves money and manipulation’ as her only explanation. There wasn’t much more to her. The original plan was to gather information, but Chastity Sullivan had that role. What to do?
I had no plan, so I just wrote her with the intention of her holding out long enough to make the book fun. Surprisingly, my not having a plan and some other lingering emotions resulted in her being a scene stealer. At least for me. Desirae ended up taking the strength of Kai Stavros and Chastity Sullivan, mixing in a playful demeanor, and running circles around everyone. I found that she fit into a vampire niche that I never attempted to fill, which was the cunning seductress. Not that I write sex scenes, but she makes it clear that she’s a lustful being. That threw some characters off. I also did a power change during the final outline and adjusted it throughout the book, which ended up answering some other questions. Ever find a piece of a story puzzle that you didn’t even know was missing? I think that’s Desirae here.
Now, what’s her role? Well, it’s very small here and it connects to the newest monster on the block. Those who read War of Nytefall: Ravenous already know and it gets explained more here. It doesn’t shed her in the best of light either, but she has her reasons for it. The blow to her ego and reputation is easy to recover from. It’s why she may be showing up a few more times during the rest of the series too. This gives me a more active villain who doesn’t really care about Clyde’s dreams, Xavier’s ambitions, or the vampire civil war. She’s probably the monkey wrench that everyone else in the series needs thrown into their plans at this point. Hopefully people enjoy that aspect since it could be what starts the finale ball rolling.
Let me open the floor. Have you ever had a character that you thought was a toss away turn into a major player in story events?
Ciao, amici! I’m ashamed to admit how long this one took me to post. And wish it hadn’t. Because I enjoyed it so much once I finally had a chance to sit down with it and read it.
The following is my review of John Howell’s Eternal Road: The Final Stop.
Talk About A Wild Ride
Author John W. Howell took the concepts of “the road to our eternal home” and “our final stop” quite seriously when he penned this afterlife journey novel. And it was an adventure quite unlike anything I’ve read in quite a long time—kind of Kerouac meets What Dreams May Come.
There’s love and hope in this novel, but there’s also danger and warning. The paranormal and metaphysical elements are necessary vehicles for the story, but the author doesn’t turn the tale into a religious one. It’s…
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(Disclaimer: A warning to those who continue. This is a sequel to a previous story. Both of these were written in the mid-1990’s. While the first one was slightly edited and vanity press published, this one has not been touched in over 20 years. I figure I should do something with it and people may get a laugh or fright from how I used to be. Every author comes from somewhere, so this is part of my origin. To that end, I am deeply sorry for whatever nightmares I will inflict on the literary world and the American English language. Enjoy?)
The armory is a room filled with hundreds of sun-forged weapons and eerie, red light. On a hovering weapon rack is the magical item that many immortals have a deep desire for. The Mars weapon is a beautiful and slender blade that gives off a torch-like glow. Two glistening jewels are embedded in the black hilt. One is a ruby that is in the center of the hilt and a yellow diamond is in the pommel.
“Security off. Codename is Hydrana, the Neptune guardian,” says the redhead into a triangular voice checker. Once a nearby lightbulb turns off, she reaches for the glowing sword. A brick wall suddenly appears in her way. With a savage punch, the wall disappears and the angry guardian turns to face her opponent.
“We don’t have to do this. Delila,” announces Miracle, who walks out of the crimson shadows.
“Then leave, Kelly. Go back to the people that love you and let me walk into hell by myself. Nobody needs to follow me.”
“Well isn’t that dramatic. I won’t let you do something that’s both stupid and insane. You need our help whether you know it or not.”
“Stupid? Insane? First of all, I am not insane. I am crazy. And this is not a stupid act. But, of course, your kind wouldn’t understand any of the things that my kind has to do to survive.” Hydrana swiftly kicks Miracle in the face before putting the sword’s leather belt over her shoulder.
“What do you mean by my kind? All of us are immortals and we were humans before that.”
“I don’t mean race, religion, or gender. Your kind are the ones who are always happy and enjoying life. Unlike me, you never went through a day of mental anguish in your life. You never found yourself cowering in a dirty corner for hours like a terrified, wounded animal. You never lived with a family that used you and never loved you. And I know that you were never touched when you didn’t want to be touched. Your family protected you.” Tears streak down Hydrana’s face and she starts to back up against the wall. She suddenly leaps at Miracle with incredible speed.
“I’ll admit that I don’t fully understand what you went through. But that doesn’t mean that nobody loves you. You’re like a sister to me,” cries Miracle as her head gets slammed into the solid floor. She manages to get Hydrana in a headlock before picking the redhead up and throwing her into where the ceiling meets the wall. Hydrana pushes her fingers into the metal and hangs in the corner like a deadly spider.
“A sister? You consider me something like a sister? Well I never had a sister, but I did have an older brother. The family’s favorite child, who surprisingly left and never returned to save his eight-year-old sister. I hate him for abandoning me. Am I still a sister to you?”
“Yes. We confide in each other and act like best friends. But we’re more than that. We’ve become sisters in both battle and spirit.”
“I guess you’re right, Kelly. What should I do? My head feels like it’s burning inside,” says Hydrana after she holds her head and drops to her knees.
Miracle helps the other guardian get to her feet before saying, “I’ll bring you to Fate. Maybe his birthright powers can help you. Come on. Use your legs because I don’t want to drag you all the way to the space skimmer bay.”
“Fate? The orphaned guardian. You’re right. I have to see him. Of course, not for the reasons you would think.” Hydrana stomps on her friend’s foot and spins the Venus guardian like a top. She knocks Miracle into a large gun rack and tries to leave the room. But the black-haired immortal viciously tackles her.
“I thought you said that I was right,” Miracle grunts as she gets flipped over Hydrana and onto her back. When she gets up to her knees, Hydrana has one of her boot blades against Miracle’s neck.
“I did say you were right. The only excuse I have is that I lied. Maniacs like me tend to do that to naïve suckers like you. That whole sisters in battle and spirit crap sounded so idiotic that I couldn’t help but play along with the drama. I mean, you couldn’t actually believe it would effect me at this point in the game. I’m too far-gone for you to stop me with simple words. One of the boys could probably stop me from this journey, but not you. Not in a million years. You’re way too nice to correctly deal with people like me. Of course, you know that and still had to try and save me from myself because it would eat you up inside if you did nothing. Well, Miracle. Since you think of me as a sister, consider this a small taste of severe sibling rivalry. Pleasant nightmares, illusionist.”
Miracle relaxes with a loud sigh when the retractable blade is put away, but she is immediately nailed in the face by a sledgehammer made out of solid ice. The impact breaks her nose and the sledgehammer shatters. Hydrana is gone long seconds before the Venus guardian’s body hits the armory’s floor with a low thud.
Godzilla vs Ghidorah
Power and strength
That quivers the ground
As every blow connects
Neither has been challenged
Until today
Blood is not drawn fast
And bones resist
Like no opponent before
The monsters
Are more mortal
When in each other’s presence
No other force
Can do them harm
So they battle
And bleed
Across the landscape
Until
One
Falls
(So, this poem is to promote War of Nytefall: Savagery that should come out next month. Clyde is due to fight a being that equals him in strength, so it’s a Monster vs Monster fight. Funny thing is that I totally forgot that ‘Godzilla vs Kong’ is coming out around the same time as I schedule this in February. I remembered halfway through and couldn’t figure out which I was talking about. Odd coincidence there.)
Unsplash photo -LeeAnn Cline Hi SEers, John here with you again. Today I want to discuss authorship in light of the changing environment within our …
Avoiding Insensitivity in Characters or Story
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In the previous volume of War of Nytefall, Mab ended up having a problem. It wasn’t hidden from the audience, but her family didn’t know. This would be that she developed an addiction, which wasn’t easy to pull off with a vampire. Of course, this had to be magical and have big side-effects. Did she get over it or not? You’ll have to read War of Nytefall: Ravenous to know about that. Then again, the title up above can be a big hint. Maybe?
Here’s the thing with Mab and writing addictions in general. I realized as soon as I started that I couldn’t have her be an addict in one book and then clean in the next. First, the two books aren’t that far apart. Weeks if not a month or two. That isn’t enough time for her to get clean and through withdrawal. Dawn Fangs can regenerate from damage, but this felt like it was on a different level. If this addiction was enough to have an impact on her then it had to be able to circumvent her healing abilities. Otherwise, she’d never feel it hit or it wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. This is why I felt like I couldn’t end it in a single volume that happens so close to the start of it. It simply didn’t make any sense.
Ending it so easily also made it feel insulting to anyone who has survived addiction. I know that’s a difficult battle, so I wanted Mab to face such a challenge. It’s not the same here since there are certain factors in her withdrawal and recovery. That’s a big story point, but I wanted to really amp up the pain and anguish that happens to some who try to kick a habit. Probably exaggerated it at times since this is a vampire who was messing with a magical addiction. It needed to be rough and messy. Again, there are extenuating circumstances here. Did I really manage to spell extenuating right? Guess I did, which was surprising.
This whole storyline was a spontaneous decision that popped up when I was doing an outline rewrite. Things had changed in War of Nytefall: Eradication, so I needed Ravenous to get altered. Mostly, I really wanted either Clyde or Mab to be suffering from a major loss. I couldn’t get it to work with Clyde because of his personality and him being upset to this level would normally result in thousands of corpses. This left only Mab and the addiction appeared in my head. So, I’ve been crafting it as I go along and looking up information on recovery to get an idea of how it will work. Nothing has helped that much because of the reasons I previously stated. There’s the other issue that she shows up in Legends of Windemere: The Mercenary Prince and there were no signs of her having an addiction. I mean, at least 100 years passed between the two series, so that’s plenty of time for her to fully recover. It’s still going to be something that gnaws at me for eternity though.
I’ve already written tips about writing addiction into fiction back in September. So, I don’t have anything else to add there. Thought I might when I began writing this post, but the only thing I could think of is making recovery difficult. Having it be too easy feels like an insult or mockery of the challenge. That’s the last thing I want to do, but I wanted to take on a heavy topic as well. Seem to be doing that a lot in this series. Not a bad thing, but definitely a change from the original plan of pure escapism.
So, what do you think about writing about addiction in a fictional setting? More importantly, what about the recovery stage?
(All pictures found in a Yahoo Image Search)
Legends of Windemere 