Final Goal Post of 2019: Ending on a Break

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

(Maybe I used this video before recently, but I really like the song. Began rewatching the series during lunch this week.)

Well, here we are. Staring at the end of the 20 teens and about to step foot into the 2o twenties.  Is anybody else at a point where the change from one calendar year to another isn’t as exciting?  It isn’t that I don’t have high hopes for 2020, but it isn’t like New Years Eve will end and my life will get reset.  Be nice if that did happen though because I wouldn’t made the chance to leave some stressors behind without having to do more than buy a new calendar.  At least I’m ending 2019 on a better note than it started.  I’d have to work hard to make it worse.  Eh, I’ve got all that stuff for another post I should really double check after doing this one.

Events were rearranged, so all of the room painting and moving stuff around was done last weekend.  Big thanks to my dad for getting half the room painted while I was at work and then the other half while I was running errands. He only has enough brushes for one and my job was more heavy lifting.  Spent Sunday carrying all of my books and dvds back up from the basement.  My room is on the second floor, so you can imagine how exhausted I was by the end.  Really hoped that I could get it all done by lunch, but I’d only succeeded in getting the books upstairs.  Refueled with . . . I know I ate something before I finished everything else off.  Reorganized too, which took me until dinner time, so that whole day was given up to getting my space back to what I wanted.  I had my son for Monday too, so I didn’t want to start anything that would be paused.

My son was with his mom for the rest of the week until Friday night, so I was on my own for the most part.  That meant I had plenty of time to work on War of Nytefall: Ravenous, which I feared wouldn’t be the case.  For a while, it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to touch my book because of the painting, errands, and other events.  By Sunday, I’d cleared a lot of that up.  A few grocery and clothes shopping trips slipped in, but I fit those between writing sessions.  In the end, I managed to finish 4 chapters and start another one.  I might use a few nights to get that 5th one under my belt and I’m on my own for New Years Eve until the evening when I get my son.  Next weekend he’s with his mom, so I might be able to bring the whole story to the beginning of the third act, which is amazing considering how crappy my year has been.

Speaking of War of Nytefall: Ravenous, one of the things that drove me forward so quickly is that a big part of what I wrote involved the villain.  She’d been staying away for a while and I finally got to put her in the action.  This character isn’t a fighter and she’s fairly manipulative, which was fun to write.  Especially when she came across someone who she couldn’t trick and demonstrate why she’s . . . a threat?  That’s the other thing.  She threw me a curve and revealed a surprising origin that may alter what her ultimate goal is.  I had her pushing for power, but then she began talking about only wanting to survive.  This might require some alterations to her earlier chapters, but it may still work.  She’s also the most sexual character I’ve ever written, so the blunt innuendo was fun to write.  Not sure I can call it that either because she was very clear on what she was interested in from both male and female characters.  This is why I call her a less restrained version of Chastity Sullivan.

In other news, I began watching ‘The Witcher’.  I never played the games or read the books, but I heard the series is based on the latter.  Definitely saw a lot of strong opinions on this show.  I’m halfway through and really enjoying it.  Great fight scenes, good amount of humor, excellent world-building, and fun characters.  There are weak moments, but what series doesn’t have that?  From what I’ve seen, two common complaints are things that I didn’t run into.  One is that it ‘Is Not Like Game of Thrones!’ because it was billed as ‘the next one’ by media idiots that thing all fantasy is alike.  ‘The Witcher’ and ‘GoT’ are nothing alike in terms of story.  One is a dark adventure and the other is a dark historical fantasy, which means they run different narratives.  People probably expected tons of main character deaths too.  Another issue I saw mentioned was the confusing timeline because Geralt, Yennifer, and Ciri are each running at different periods.  I assume these combine at the end and understand that this season is based off the first collection of short stories that introduced the characters.  It isn’t easy to tell that kind of story, but I haven’t had any trouble figuring it out.  To each their own, I guess.

Nothing else to really say about last week.  This coming week is going to be a lot of son time since he was away for so long.  We have presents to give, games to play, and movies to watch.  Promised to introduce him to ‘My Hero Academia’ on New Years Eve when he tries to stay up for the ball drop.  Today is potato latkes with friends and family while tomorrow is resting with toys.  He’s accused me and his mom of telling Santa not to bring him any LEGO sets, so we might fudge that rule since he’s been good.  (Screw you, Pandora, for playing ‘Love Walks in’ by Van Halen.)  Nights will probably be for setting up some March posts or locking down whatever book chapter I got stuck in the middle of.  Really hope the weather works with us and we can hit the zoo.  That’s the only real trip we have planned since it’s cold out.  Fingers crossed.

Goals of the week:

  1. Fun with the munchkin.
  2. Read more ‘Black Clover’ while he uses his new drum set.
  3. Watch more ‘The Witcher’.
  4. Slip in some book writing when I can.
  5. Cooking dinner with my little assistant
  6. Need more nice shirts for work.
  7. March post scheduling if possible.
  8. Sign up for Hulu to get access to ‘My Hero Academia’.
  9. Sleep at some point.
  10. Stay up for New Years Eve ball drop even though it’s still a little uncomfortable when I see couples kissing on the TV.
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Author Catch-Up – Francis H Powell

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

eranamage's avatarLibrary of Erana

Welcome back to author Francis H Powell – please tell us your news.

My big important news in recent times, is that after a long wait, my new book Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation, finally got published, by Beacon publishing.

I have written a lot of short stories, a  lot of them revolve around “death”.  While living in Paris, I saw a writing competition, which required writing about the last person on earth.  I sent three stories, the last of which they really liked, but it arrived too late to be published. This sent me on the course of writing about world annihilation. It also introduced an unlikely science fiction element into my writing.

At some point I decided to group all my stories that connected with death into a book.

I decided to try to write a story that would exceed my normal page length. It is called “the Master”. The…

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Can You Recover From A Google Algorithm Update? – by Derek Haines…

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Just Publishing Advice:

For many bloggers, a Google Update can come as a nasty shock.

You might have been sailing along for years with steady increases in your organic traffic and then, crash.

The chances are that because you were unaffected by previous changes, you didn’t pay much attention to Google algorithm updates.

But it certainly gets your attention when you suddenly lose 30, 40 or 50% of your organic traffic overnight.

Continue reading HERE

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Pantser Vs Plotter: Where Do You Stand?

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

I was asked months ago to write about the difference between Pantsing and Plotting, which are considered the two schools of author prep.  The truth is that most people are a combination of the two with more of one than the other.  I’m definitely much more of a Plotter, but I leave an opening for spontaneous ideas and change plans if something comes up when writing.  So, how can I give a fresh take on this topic?

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Tease both sides with exaggerations?  Sure.  It’s nearing the end of 2019, so let’s try to get some laughs.

  1. You know you’re a Plotter when you have more notebooks than articles of clothing.  Only one of them has been filled, but damned if you know where you put that after you cleaned your area ten years ago.  One of these days, you’re going to organize the plans and figure out what you’re doing.  Just as soon as you finish another outline.
  2. You know you’re a Pantser when you put more time and effort into getting comfortable than planning your story.  Thirty minutes to get coffee, spray air freshener on your comfy pants, cook a snack, go to the bathroom, and make sure the DVR is set to tape that show your friends told you about.  Wait, what if the DVR doesn’t work?  You can’t wait for it to be on streaming . . . The idea will still be there tomorrow.
  3. You know you’re a Plotter when you scream and yell at your characters for ruining your outline.  You can’t even find paper to tear in rage since everything has notes that might be important.
  4. You know you’re a Pantser when your story goes off the rails and it’s the first time you notice there were rails to begin with.  First reaction is to point at empty air next to you and say ‘my protagonist’ did it.  This is done whether someone is there or not.
  5. You know you’re a Plotter when you’re asked about your story and you go into extreme detail.  Not only of the story, but the connected tales, your inspiration, and the type of pencil you used to write your character names.  Most people will leave before you finish, but a few will make it to the end because they became too old to hear what you’re saying anyway.
  6. You know you’re a Pantser when you’re asked about your story and you shrug.  When pressed for information, you get the genre right and utter a few plot points.  Only one of those is from your own story while the rest is what you remember from that show you DVR’d.  Oh crap, is this the friend who suggested it?  Just smile and nod until they ask how your ‘real’ job is going.  Then break into tears and run away shouting that they never had faith in you.

You know what?  I’m open to seeing if anyone can come up with others.  Have fun with it and try not to be too mean.  Enjoy.

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Nothing Planned . . . Might As Well Ask For More Volunteers

Posted on December 26, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

War of Nytefall (CLICK ON IMAGE FOR AMAZON SITE)

With Derailing Bedlam done and Immortal Wars not starting for a bit, I have nothing really planned for today.  Almost didn’t realize this also.  In the midst of writing too, so I don’t want to get into anything complicated.  That leaves me with only one option that I really should do a few more times before February:

Volunteers still needed for the War of Nytefall: Eradication release in late February or early March!

It’s going to be a simple ‘Book is Live’ post either in HTML or Word depending on what you prefer to work with.  Simple Amazon link, cover, author info, and teaser, which will be the same thing I put on mine.  Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

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Happy Christmas and Merry Hanukkah! Also, Happy Kwanzaa and Yule. (Miss Anybody?)

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

I know most people are busy, so I’m just going to post a few funny pictures.  Enjoy the holidays.  (All pictures found in a Yahoo Image Search.)

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Legends Revisited: Baron Arthuru Kernaghan the Forgotten Warlord #fantasy #adventure

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

While he didn’t show up a lot, the Legends of Windemere wouldn’t have gone anywhere without Baron Arthuru Kernaghan.  He typically only appeared in prologues with a few mid-book scenes until I reached the 12th book.  Even then, he only got a little more action when compared to his agents and underlings.  This presented a really difficult challenge because my main villain had to move events forward without being a physical presence to the heroes. Honestly, I think I did a good job here.

First, I should explain why this was an issue for those that don’t know.  The Baron is cursed to remain locked in the chaos void, but he did manage to extend his prison to include a castle on the continent of Shayd.  His crime was attempting to conquer Windemere and then declaring war on the gods, which included ascending to be the God of Destiny. Before he could cause too much trouble, Gabriel stole the title and power from him.  This left the Baron as an immortal and he was imprisoned because he was now protected by the Law of Influence.  The only way he could be killed is by the champions who would gain enough power to enter the prison and do battle.  Although, the prophecy did get pretty muddled over the centuries.  Doesn’t help that he was erased from history, so only a handful of people remember that he ever existed. Keep in mind that this is a very quick overview and I didn’t add the nuance.

It did work out better in my mind than in the game since that had the Baron as a powerful vampire.  There was a curse, but none of that backstory as far as I knew.  This made him a blank slate and I had to give all of his scenes enough impact that he was remembered by the readers and showed some growth.  Another trick was having characters talk about him even in vague terms, so there was a mystery.  Many times, the champions stumble onto a piece of the Baron’s past and get a more complete picture.  It wasn’t always stable and I will admit that there was one area that came off as being ‘he said/she said/what?’ by the end of things. Of course, this involves a romance, which seems to be a subplot that is inherently messy.

Dariana, as stated in her own post, is the daughter of Baron Kernaghan and Zaria the Purity Goddess.  At first, I had it that he raped her when he was the God of Destiny and that was where Dariana came from.  Yet, I already had a villain like that and this made it hard for a father/daughter relationship that I wanted to show a little.  Thankfully, I made it vague in terms of violation, so it turned out that Zaria exaggerated and it was more that she slept with him to protect the other deities.  It was still kind of wrong, but then I revealed that they were actually married when they were mortals.  Arthuru helped Zaria rescue the gods and her reward was ascending, which is what led to her creating the Law of Influence.  It meant that he, who was not gifted ascendancy, could no longer be with his wife and that’s what started his dark ambitions.  As I said, this was messy and it meant that I could never tell if they still loved each other or not.

Because of that past, I really couldn’t tell if the Baron became a sympathetic character or not.  He was still a monster, but he had a lot of human traits.  The desire to kill his greatest enemies in front of an audience was very mortal as was his attachment to Melanie and Raksha.  Melanie was a girl he took out of a pack of demon snacks and transformed into a metal girl to play with Raksha who was a kitten that he turned into a monstrous pet.  They would play around in a few scenes, but rarely incurred his rage and I can’t remember if they ever earned his wrath.  They were still tools and agents to some extent, but he did show concern for their well-being.  Still, I think this added some humanity to what was supposed to be an utter monster.

Can’t think of much else to say about the Baron.  He played his part perfectly and I managed to flush him out with very limited space.  Can only hope that most readers enjoyed his scenes.

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Magic Vs Psychic: Are They Interchangeable?

Posted on December 23, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

Professor X and Doctor Strange

Magical Powers–  The use of arcane energy to get results and effects.

Psychic Powers–  The use of mental energy to get results and effects.

Those are the two fields boiled down to their basic definitions.  You can have some overlap in the effects, but the difference is in what they stem from.  For example, a pyrokinetic can create and/or control fire with their minds to unleash a firestorm.  A caster can summon and transmute arcane energy to unleash a firestorm.  Same result, but the motions and origins aren’t the same.  Unfortunately, this has led to people using the schools and terms interchangeably.  This has caused confusion and I’m going to try to clarify.

Same Difference #1: Training

Casters and psychics (or psionics) both need to have some form of training.  With a caster, you will need them to study magic and practice with spells.  This will be done through schooling or working in the field with a mentor.  Psychics either have their powers from birth or develop them at a later age, but they don’t (or shouldn’t) have ultimate control of these abilities.  They usually don’t have a place to go to for training, so it is a lot of self-taught effort and experience.  There is more suffering involved for a psychic too because their powers tend to leave them open to the thoughts and emotions of others.  Normally, a caster doesn’t have this problem unless they fall into a special class.

Same Difference #2: Reading Minds

I’m putting this separately because it is what most people think of when they hear the word ‘Psychic’.  Telepathy is probably the most common power that we give psychics.  So much that many have this and then extra.  Casters are able to do the same thing through various spells and artifacts.  This is another clear case of how they can get similar results from different sources.  Another reason I mention mind-reading separately is that I think this power is the reason people get confused.  It could be telekinesis as well since I’ve noticed fiction has casters just launch things with a wave of their wand or hand.

Same Difference #3: Backlash

Because of the level of power and destruction that comes with both groups, they are susceptible to forms of backlash.  For a caster, they can run out of magic and be left defenseless.  They may also get hurt or killed if they attempt too powerful of a spell or run into an anti-magic countermeasure.  Psychics can overextend their mind to the point of physical injury, mental damage, and even death.  Their inner defenses can collapse as well if they are pushed too far, which opens them up to losing control of their powers.  It’s actually more common for a psychic to lose full control than a caster because of the level of inner focus needed.

Same Difference #4: Focus

This one will be quick.  A caster needs to focus on gathering magical energy and then transmuting it into what they need.  It’s a pull in and push out type of thing, but only when they want to cast a spell.  Psychics typically need to always remain focused to keep their powers within unless they need to use them.  For this, it’s more of a pull in and unleash with direction.

Same Difference #5: Awe or Fear

I’m sure one can say this goes for anyone with a superhuman ability, which magic and psychic powers fall into.  That means casters and psychics can be met with awe or fear when they reveal themselves.  You see more of the latter with psychics because they are typically in a world where such powers are only found in fiction.  A long history of using these types of characters for out-of-control threats doesn’t help either.  Casters can be seen as dangerous too if the world has magic, but it’s frowned upon.  Yet, they do have an easier time being used in a more positive and accepted hero role.  This is really dependent on the world that you build.

So, I did my best to show how these two categories are both similar and different.  One could say that the psychic is the more reality-based version of casters since you find them more in science-fiction/superhero stuff.  Though, both tend to get a lot of attention in superhero stories.  Still, they are not interchangeable like some people think.  That’s a key point that one has to keep in mind when using them.  At least that’s my opinion on the whole thing.  What do you think?

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Time for More Completed Puzzles!

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

This is going to work out since I don’t have my room for a few days. Comments here tend to be easy and it gives me another week to think of another topic. I can’t do puzzles for a while because had to pack up my stash and table for the room painting. Between those and my notebooks, so the choice was easy. The two circular puzzles are from an 8 puzzle set. I’ll do the rest next.

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A Much Needed Break and A Sign that I Need a Nap

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Charles Yallowitz

Today is the first day of a 16 day break.

Kind of feel like stopping there because I’m not sure how to explain everything else that is happening.  I’m writing this post without scheduling it, so this is LIVE.  I’m in a folding chair with my feet on my bed, my laptop on my legs, bags over the ceiling fan, half my room blue, half my room pink, and most of my stuff crammed in other rooms of the house.  My focus is off and book writing won’t happen until things are fixed for a variety of reasons:

  • My desk is covered and I’ve gotten used to working there.
  • My bed (secondary desk) is in the middle of the room and will have a tarp on it soon.
  • The emptiness makes me think of my loneliness.
  • I packed up all three headphones and earbuds, so no working anywhere else.  I needs ma music!
  • The outline for War of Nytefall: Ravenous may have gotten packed up with the other notebooks . . . It’s been two weeks since I touched it and need the spark of memory.

All that being said, my ranting about losing writing time managed to bear some fruit and we’re aiming to get the painting done by this afternoon.  Tomorrow will be putting my room back together, which will also be the perfect time to sort through the mountain of DVDs and books that I have.  That’s a full day project and sacrificing two days in order to gain Monday night through Friday night for writing is a good idea.  That means I may get 4 chapters done instead of 7 and I have New Years Eve and another weekend for writing to bring the total to 7.  This means the only writing goal I have for the weekend is to make a blurb for War of Nytefall: Eradication.  I’m only doing one for Amazon, so I’ll hopefully be using next Sunday as the testing day.

In other news, I’m tired and worn down from a busy week.  My son had his Winter Concert being in chorus.  (Writing this now while my dad is getting the room ready for painting.  I’m allowed to finish this post first.)  Work was a blast with a lot of fun leading into the holiday time.  My nights were spent with my son who was having a little trouble calming down with all the fun stuff coming up.  His schedule is off, so he’s been a wee bit on the impish side.  All of this left me crawling into bed nearly every night.

(Okay, I’m getting bonked in the head here.  Going to wrap this up.)

My plan for this week is to rest and write for most of it.  My son is back tomorrow night and Monday before going back to his mom.  We watched ‘A New Hope’ last weekend, so I’m showing him ‘Empire Strikes Back’ tomorrow night and ‘Return of the Jedi’ Monday while we’re resting.  That will put the original trilogy under his belt.  So far, his favorite characters are R2-D2 and C3PO because they’re funny.  It’s Hanukkah starting tomorrow, so he’ll get a present or two before going back.  Much of life is up in the air right now because I don’t want to plan anything big.  I’ll have more next weekend when I get to talk about what me and him are going to do for our part of the break.

Goals of the week?

  1. Finish watching the original Star Wars trilogy.
  2. Finish watching ‘Altered Carbon’.
  3. Start watching ‘The Witcher’.
  4. Write around 4 chapters of War of Nytefall: Ravenous
  5. Painting and putting my room back together.
  6. Read more ‘Black Clover’.
  7. Try to do 15 minutes of biking every day.
  8. Leave puzzles alone until after the break.
  9. Prepare some posts for March.
  10. Consider doing a few Sunday posts to test chapter titles for the ‘Fantasy Tip Book’.

Final Note!

Still taking volunteers for promoting War of Nytefall: Eradication in late February /early March.  I wanted it to be more varied and organized, but I don’t think I have the time to that.  It will be a standard ‘book is live’ post, so feel free to sign up in the comments.  Thanks.

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