7 Tips to Writing in 2021 (Not That This Year Is Really Any Different Than Previous Ones)

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

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Last year, things were a really wild road in terms of writing.  Not only for myself, but for others from what I could see.  It either felt like we had all the time in the world or couldn’t get a second to ourselves.  I managed to write the last 4 volumes of War of Nytefall last year while doing remote working.  It wasn’t as easy as one would think in lockdown since I also had to work, help my son with school, and avoid going mad from either being cooped up or watching the news for more than 15 minutes.  Again, I’m not the only one who experienced this.  It was exhausting and oddly exhilarating, which resulted in me learning a few things about writing in the future.  (Okay, I knew them already, but this experience renewed the memory.)

  1. Notes are incredibly valuable.  You never know exactly how long a writing period will last even when things are slowing down.  Sickness, family time, waking up with no author mojo, or simple fatigue can push you back in the midst of a roll.  If you maintain some notes about where you are, you will need less time to get back into the story once you return.  It doesn’t have to be detailed.  It can even be about how you were feeling or where you think they story is going.  Whatever works for you to get back into the swing of things.
  2. Just because you have all this free time, doesn’t mean you need to put it all into writing.  Of course, this comes from the guy who would do a section in the morning, another after lunch, and a third after dinner if he had a free day.  I did make sure to give myself some resting time between those and I’d stop if friends or family wanted me to make an appearance.  Now, this can be frustrating in the moment because you may feel like you’ve been gifted this writing time.  That’s very true if it’s usually hard to come by.  Still, you need to step back from time-to-time to avoid going stale as well as recharging.  (I am talking about a little time though instead of getting routinely yanked off projects for months.)
  3. Savor the writing experience because you don’t know how long it will last.  Once I got back to work, things slowed down again.  It was a little jarring since I’d been creating at a rate that I hadn’t felt for years.  This made me realize that I really should have enjoyed the previous moments a lot more instead of whizzing by them.  I mean, I loved what I was writing as you’ll see throughout this year, but I certainly didn’t savor every moment.
  4. Doesn’t hurt to sleep in every now and again.  You don’t even have to sleep.  Just stay in bed with a book or listening to music.  Having one day that’s a slow or non-starter can help give you the right amount of energy for the other six.
  5. Decide who you’re really writing for.  This is something that I’m going to make a post about, but I wanted to mention it here.  Many believe authors write solely for their audience while many authors feel that write for themselves first.  Last year, I sat back and tried to figure out where I fell on this spectrum.  Who was I really trying to entertain, especially since sales were abysmal?  Definitely helped a little when I thought about it.  Still cried about the lack of sales . . . Hey, I’m still human.
  6. Editing can wait.  You don’t have to jump into this stage right away and there’s no perfect period to wait.  Get to it when you get to it.  Give another story some time to earn a first draft.  Maybe outline a few others.  Read more.  Aside from you getting to go back fresh, you don’t stress yourself out about deadlines.
  7. Writing can be as big a stress reliever as TV, reading, video games, and movies.  I could argue more so since this is all in your head.  There’s no risk of reality really treading on what you’re doing with an advertisement or somebody else trying to make a personal statement.  If you want escape from reality for a bit then plunge into your own fictional world instead that of another person.  (If you are going to go to another person’s world though, I highly recommend War of Nytefall.)
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Immortal Wars: Light, Blood, & Tears Intro . . . Here We Go

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

Last year, I put the first book I wrote on my blog by sections.  This was called Immortal Wars: The Summoning and I wrote it in high school.  It was cleaned up a bit in college when I sent it to a vanity press.  One would call this science fiction and superhero instead of fantasy.  Still, it didn’t sell and I’ve moved all of the characters to other locations to be repurposed for Windemere.  Now . . . why am I bringing this up?

There was a sequel!

I never published this one.  Since the first volume didn’t move, I tossed the entire series away, but I’d already written Light, Blood, & Tears.  Never knew what I wanted to do with it, but I couldn’t throw it out.  This piece of work has never been edited or revisited since I finished it back in high school/college.  Common sense tells me to leave this in the dustbin, but I’m genuinely curious about it now.  It really boils down to a strange and awkward fact:

I don’t remember what happens.

Seriously, I haven’t touched this book in over 20 years.  If you asked me to explain the plot, I’d have to shrug.  I vaguely remember events going to Earth and the Museum of Natural History in NYC appearing.  Beyond that, I don’t know.  This could be the most horrible thing imaginable.  So, it could be hilariously fun since this is probably a much better example of my original attempts than the first volume.  At least I edited that at some point after college.  This one has been festering.

Come back next week for the awkward humiliation.

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Stanford’s Stylish Sword Shop: Don’t Lick the Merchandise

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz
Final Fantasy 9 Store

Welcome!  Come on in out of the rain and put your umbrella in the bucket.  I assume you’re looking for a magical sword.  Why else would you have ventured out into such a maelstrom?  It did strike without warning, but you know how the weather is around these parts. Very unpredictable.  Now, what can I get for you?

The first part is to choose the type of blade that you want.  Too many think a sword is just a sword, but you need the right tool for the right job.  For example, you can’t take this claymore and use it for stealthy assassinations.  It’s too big and unwieldly, so you’re looking more at daggers or a shortsword.  Probably not the best example, but you get the point.  Consider your build, fighting style, and intentions before you think about what looks good.  I can only comment on the first part, which makes me want to direct you to the lighter weapons.  Straight blades are for our piercers and curved blades are better for slashing deep.  We’re out of Kilij, but a Shamshir has a similar curve if that’s what you want.  Great.

Hilt decorations and scabbards are next.  Not the most important part, so we get them out of the way.  We have tassels, gems, studs, etchings, and more for the hilt and handle, but the Shamshir doesn’t have a lot to work with.  The hilt is thin and simple, but maybe we can shape it to your liking.  A man with his arms out holding obsidian orbs can be done.  Do you want his body and legs to be the handle?  Then he can be standing on . . . I believe we got a pearl shipment in yesterday.  Now, the scabbard gives you more variety.  You want us to make it look like a rusty piece of junk?  Good point. That would dissuade thieves.  I will add some faded pictures and maybe some spots where one would think gemstones once sat.

Time for the fun part.  What kind of enchantments do you want?  We have everything you can imagine.  Healing, elemental, illusion, nature, cosmic, enhancement, demonic, angelic, psychic, transformation, cooking, and the list keeps on going.  If you can dream up a spell then our casters can put it into a sword.  In fact, our shop is known for having exceptionally potent weapons.  The trick is to cast a very specific moment, which is a trade secret.  For the Shamshir, I would say you have a three spell limit depending on the combinations.  One large would be everything, but you can do three small or two moderate with one small.  Maybe a small could be squeezed in there with the large if it’s restricted.  What’s our most popular enchantment?  Surprisingly, it’s weather control.  I don’t know why.  Sell about five of those every week.  Hey, looks like the storm stopped.  Now, have you made a decision on the spells?

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Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Man in Hole

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

Ciao, SEers. I’m back again to talk about story structure (admittedly an obsession of mine). Love him or hate him, one of the twentieth centuries …

Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Man in Hole
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Music of Legends of Windemere: Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

Art by Jason Pedersen

I’d like to say that I had an easier time with the songs for Legends of Windemere: Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue, but I’d be lying.  There were a lot of aspects that I had to choose from here.  This introduced Dariana, had a big evolution for Luke Callindor and Kira Grasdon, and gave a boost to Nyx.  Speaking of Nyx, I just realized that she’s on the cover and this thing was published in April of 2015.  Anyway, I ended up finding songs that worked better for other books than this one until I finally figured out 3 that really stood up.  It’s one for each of the key points too.

I was going to use ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash (a cover of Nine Inch Nails), but I put that somewhere else.  This one deals with the painful evolution of Kira Grasdon, Luke Callindor, and Sari.  It’s heart-wrenching in some aspects and still has this one spark of hope that I get from the tone.  The more I listened to this song, the more I felt that it worked in both words and tone.

Genuinely surprised that I forgot about this one, but I guess that comes from having finished Legends of Windemere a few years ago.  This was a song that I played a lot whenever Nyx was the focus.  We’re back to the fire theme for her, but that was really her thing.  At one point, this was being used as her battle theme and I played it on loop whenever she fought Queen Trinity.  Fits well for this story.

Now, the previous two took a while to get.  This is the one that snapped right into my head to represent Dariana.  We’re talking about a powerful psionic waking from a magical slumber.  In fact, she’s been awakened and put back to sleep for centuries.  The idea that she’s got these weird, strange dreams makes sense.  It isn’t digital or dealing with a computer program, but there’s also a storyline that somebody is threatening to put her away again.  Dariana is a character who fights for control at times even though it’s more subtle than her companions.

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#5 Post of 2020: 7 Tips to Writing Characters with Anxiety

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

(This post was originally from April 10, 2020.)

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A few disclaimers here because we’re heading into delicate territory again. Eh, I’m just copying and pasting here.  I am not an expert on mental health by any means.  I read up on it and have my own experiences to work off, which is what fuels these posts.  Also, I always try to add some humor into my posts, especially the 7 Tip Lists.  I find that humor can relieve tension and allow for serious stuff to be listened to and swallowed more easily.  So, let’s get to this one . . . Okay . . . Yup . . . Staring it now . . . I’m really twitchy about this one because I’m not striking close to home. I’m hitting the roof dead center.

  1. Like depression and sadness, be careful using anxiety as a synonym for nervous or mixing the two up.  This can be done and I do it a lot too.  A person can be momentarily anxious and that’s fine.  When it comes to the mental illness, it’s much heavier and long-lasting.  A character with anxiety will see a small problem and have a reaction that one could say is ‘too big’ for it.  For example, maybe they are texting back and forth with a friend, but there is a sudden stop.  An anxious person will fixate on it for hours and imagine that they offended the friend, something bad happened, or any number of horrible ideas.  The possibility of the friend being busy, showering, bathroom, phone losing power, or anything innocent doesn’t click very often.
  2. Anxiety can make for awkward social situations, which may be tempting to play up for laughs.  It’s easier to do it for this than depression because people may focus on the physical side to the anxiety issue.  They may flail while babbling or comically rush out of the room in some fashion.  If this is the tone of the story then it can work since the character isn’t the only one being the source of humor.  If they’re the only ones that it happens to then you may want to rethink things.
  3. Panic attacks are a thing and they aren’t pretty.  Stereotypically, it’s shown as hyperventilating and nearly passing out.  There can be more to it and the severity isn’t always the same.  Chest pains, rabid heartbeat, chills hot flashes, and trembling show how some are visible and some are internal.  If the attack reaches the point where the character has limb spasms because of the shaking or even locking up entirely then it shows the severity.  Another symptom is itching, which I’ve noticed getting used in a few recent shows and animes.  The more anxious the character gets, the more vicious the scratching.
  4. Unlike depression, a character with anxiety can voice a source even if it’s something that isn’t a big problem.  The point is that they are worrying about whatever it is that has set them off.  It could be a clear issue like fighting with a loved one or needing to pay bills.  Yet, it can just as easily be that they have a small pain in their arm and start thinking they’re about to have a heart attack.  Could also be the wrong arm for that or it’s clear to everyone else that it stemmed from earlier physical exertion.  Again, a person with anxiety has a high chance of overreacting.
  5. Anxiety hampers the decision-making process.  Once you go past the level of thinking clearly, you can’t immediately reel it in.  So, these characters may have trouble acting under pressure.  They can lock up or focus on a small part of the problem instead of the overall issue.  Yes, the red button to save the world is in the locked safe and it’s good that you know this, but there’s also a fire-breathing dragon, lasers, and a very angry leprechaun that we have to handle first.  Anyway, these characters may be snapped back to attention in some fashion, but it isn’t easy and you need to have them work up to this.
  6. These characters don’t always have to be hyper and constantly talking when they’re really anxious.  In fact, there’s a higher chance of them turning inward because their thoughts are racing.  They are stuck in the avalanche of paranoid thoughts that they no longer realize what is going on around them.  This is not something that should be played up constantly, but it is a possibility.  Don’t use the anxiety to routinely sideline the character for the majority of scenes.
  7. You will probably be tempted to have other characters attempt to calm the anxiety one down.  Go for it, but decide on which tactics will work.  Slapping and being aggressive probably won’t help.  If anything, it will make the panic attack worse because now they’re upset that they made their friends mad.  Positivity without any meat such as inspirational sayings or mindless cheerleading will fall on deaf ears or irritate.  At least, I think they would, so feel free to ignore that one.  Personally, I think having a character softly and gently coax the anxious one out of the attack is the best thing to do if you want interaction.  Physical contact isn’t necessary, but an acknowledgement of emotions and slowly talking them out of the spiral can help even if it takes a lot of time.
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Top 5 Posts of 2020 Coming Soon!

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

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Figure I’ll use that again.  Especially since I’m going to be quick and to the point.  Just here to give a heads up since I’m sure everyone is still celebrating the first weekend of 2021

As per the tradition set by me at some point in the past, I’m going to be doing a countdown of the Top 5 2020 posts.  They will be on Mondays, except for #1, which is going to be on a Sunday since I had an idea for the first week of February.  Anyway, these posts meet the following criteria:

  • First posted in 2020.  Older posts don’t count here.
  • No reblogs.
  • No promo posts.

That’s really it.  Hope everyone enjoys.  I have to admit that I didn’t actually see these coming.  3 of them are all in the same category.  In fact, I think they were all from the same week too.  Definitely fitting for 2020 as well.  See you here tomorrow for #5!

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First Goal Post of 2021: Survival is Still on the List

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

First, a little fun news for 2021.  Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age won a cover contest.  (Cover art was done by Jason Pedersen.)

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I don’t really know where to go with this one.  Maybe it being the first goal post of 2021 has me thinking it should be big.  After all, I had most of the week with my son and there were many adventures to be had.  I’m actually not getting to any writing until today, so I have no news on that front.  Guess I should do the day-by-day for organization.  There’s going to be a fun slideshow after everything too.

Sunday

This was the first day of the full week of break for me and my son.  We didn’t sleep in though because it was the Bronx Zoo Virtual Meet & Greet in the morning.  This was a lot of fun.  Only 30 minutes, but my son got to ask questions in the chat as he saw the animals.  There were three.  First was an Emu, which was amazing to watch walk around the room.  The second was a broad-tailed porcupine, which was chowing down and being adorable.  This animal looked more like a rat than a porcupine, but it’s considered an old-world species.  The main event was the binturong, which was big, cute, and really curious about the camera.  My son was giggling and excited the whole time, so it was money well spent.  The rest of the day were errands and . . .

We watched ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ that afternoon.  I’m not going to get into the movie because I’ve witnessed so many vicious Internet fights over it.  My son enjoyed it.  I enjoyed it.  Was it perfect?  No.  Most movies aren’t.  There were some flaws, but I had fun watching it.  That’s the whole point for me.

Monday

Okay.  I might have exaggerated the adventures every day.  We did a lot of hanging around with video games and Yugioh cards since it was cold and miserable.  Thankfully, this day was different.  We got to go for a long walk in the park since the weather was nice and my son spent several minutes watching a pair of ducks.  They were sitting maybe 4 feet away from him, so he wasn’t moving until they did.  I think this was the cooking and baking day for him and my mom too.  Cinnamon buns in the morning and then chili with rice at night, which leads us to the big Monday event.

We went to something called ‘The Magic of Lights’, which is a 2.5 mile route at a nearby beach that is covered in holiday light displays.  You stay in your car with your lights off because you don’t need them.  Drive slow and enjoy the show.  There’s a stopping point halfway through where they had this color and pattern changing pillars that resembles Christmas trees.  I think.  I’ll have a small slideshow at the end with some of the pictures, which are going to be shaky.  A lot of fun had by all of us and my son was still talking about it today before I brought him to his mom’s.

Tuesday

I genuinely don’t remember what we did this day.  We were tired from the late night beforehand and it was crummy weather.  This was the big video game and Yugioh day if I had to guess.  Since I bought Sephiroth for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, my son kept wanting to play it.  He’s gotten pretty good with the character.  We did some manga reading time too.  After all of that, my son helped make pigs in a blanket with my mom.  It was with croissant roll dough, which I thought was the norm.  Either way, he thinks he came up with the idea to wrap full-sized hotdogs in croissant dough.

Wednesday

Just me and my son for the day, but it started with appointments and errands.  We made a pizza for lunch, which was easy.  It didn’t last long as we watched a few episodes of ‘Last Kids on Earth’.  Afternoon was when we settled in for a movie that has been a long time coming.  I finally showed him ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’.  He likes Star Wars, but his memory of the other movies is shaky.  Still, his seen the originals and the prequels.  We never got around to Mandalorian Season 2, but I think he was out of patience for anything that had a lot of talking about this point.

Thursday

New Years Eve!  Of course, an errand had to show up at this point.  By the time my son and I got back to the house, we had some guests.  We finally got to meet my niece (his cousin) outside of a Facetime call.  My son hovered and wouldn’t stray very far from the baby who was staring at him most of the time.  Some awkwardness when he sat down to hold her a bit, but he was gentle.  There was a point when he offered to help change a diaper, which I had to talk him out of.  Been 11 years since I held a baby that small too, so I was a little off.  Eventually, I took my son to his mom’s for the evening and I spent the rest of the night watching ‘Harley Quinn’ on HBO Max while drinking a little sake.

Friday

I got my son for the day, but it was low key.  We went to Barnes & Noble, but didn’t get any books.  I got a 1,000 piece Boris Vallejo puzzle though.  It’s next on my list once I can figure out this current one.  There were some issues with today that I can’t get into, so we only did chores and played Lego Harry Potter.  It’s pretty much the end of the holiday break here.  Just going to rest and write this weekend before going back to work on Monday.

So . . . goals of the week?

  1. Write this weekend and try for a few nights.  Focus is Do I Have to Use a Dragon?
  2. Back to work schedule.
  3. Outlining when I have time.
  4. Finish ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 2 and start ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3.  2nd and 3rd Kenshin movies will be watched if I finish those too before the weekend.
  5. Lots of laundry.
  6. Try to get some biking in, but it’s so cold in the morning.
  7. Work on puzzle a bit.
  8. Remember to use the oil diffuser to help me sleep.

Now the slideshow:

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Hello, 2021! You’ve Got a Really Low Bar Set for You

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Charles Yallowitz

Some Superhero Guy

Like I said yesterday, I’m writing this in early September.  Shows how much faith I have in the rest of . . . the year that shall not be named.  Seriously though, I post about my weekly goals every Saturday.  This is just a yearly one and I’m going with a simple list.  No reason to go into details because last year was an absolute crushing of that kind of wishful thinking.

  1. Spending as much time with my son as possible.
  2. Continue working hard at the day job and enjoying it.
  3. Finish publishing War of Nytefall.
  4. Write Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips)
  5. Finish outlining and start writing Tales of the Slumberlord.
  6. Tinker with other ideas as usual.
  7. Become more consistent with biking.
  8. Try to lose some weight.
  9. Try to become more positive . . . I’m not holding my breath on this one.
  10. Revive the social life to some extent.

These are simple things.  As usual, the real focus is on parenting, working, and writing.  Good luck to everyone this year.  Hope to continue traveling along with you.

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Good-Bye 2020 . . . And Good Riddance

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Charles Yallowitz

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Well, here we are at the end of 2020.  Hopefully.  I think.  Look, I’m writing this in early September just in case there’s a reason I can’t at this point.  You know what I mean . . . Unless we somehow reached a point where there are multiple reasons that could explain why I can’t make a post closer to the date.  Seriously, this year has been bad at nearly every level of life.  It’s hard for me to remember all of the stuff that happened as if my mind is blocking a bunch.  Whatever it takes to keep the psyche semi-intact.  Keep slapping tape on the thing, mental defenses!

I can’t say I learned any lessons in 2020.  Spent most of it in a state of anxiety and ‘what else could go wrong’ even before the ‘you know’.  On the plus side, I managed to write the rest of War of Nytefall.  Got a bunch of outlining done too.  I’ll touch on the plan for next year tomorrow when most people are trying to sleep in or sober up.  This is all about 2020 . . . May you be the epitome of societal horror and everyone coming up is a slide towards peace and stability.

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Also, fuck you for everything you did to us.

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