Cassandra
I’ve touched on a lot of characters from War of Nytefall, but I haven’t really talked a lot about Stephanie Talon. I gave her a post to explain her origin a little over a year ago and haven’t gone back. One of the reasons is because I’ve touched on psychics and various types of fortune telling styles before. She doesn’t really fall perfectly into those categories, but there’s enough overlapping to make it previous territory. That doesn’t mean I can’t talk a little about the role.
Fiction, especially fantasy, has a long history of characters who can see the future or scry on distant events. Stephanie can do both, but usually focus on the latter by using her blood scrying powers. These characters can be central and tragic like with Cassandra in mythology or supporting cast like The Oracle in ‘The Matrix’. Others can turn into villains because of their powers, which many demonstrate to be hard to control. There is a trend of one being able to see the future causing insanity. Still, you most commonly find a seer as a stopping point during a quest in order to continue on.
When writing, having a character who can tell the future may seem like a great idea. In the planning stages, you can see this as a way to create foreshadowing. Everybody loves those quirky hints about what’s to come. Unfortunately, this has a high chance of backfiring because it lacks the subtlety of regular foreshadowing. People know the character is talking about events that are about to happen, so you could easily eliminate the story’s tension. There are ways around it such as having the visions be vague or working with riddles. Yet, you can end up being too vague or run into readers who find your riddles to be fairly easy. So, this is a character type that you have to use very sparingly.
That risk is a big reason why Stephanie Talon is called a ritualist in the books instead of a seer or oracle. Although, I may have called her a seer a few times. I have it noted that she can see into the future, but I don’t like having her do it. Solely because of that risk and I always wonder if she would be asked to do so. Xavier Tempest can be a little paranoid and he’s intelligent. He strikes me as a person who would consider the possibility that knowing his future might change it. For example, he could be told that he is going to kill Clyde, so he goes in cocky and gets his head torn off. Pretty sure the guy has had nightmares about that, so this one aspect of Stephanie’s powers isn’t depended on in the stories themselves. Guess you can see how almost any oracle can become a Cassandra if a person is cynical or cautious.
So, what do people think about using these kinds of characters in fiction? Is it something you’ve done before or considered? Are they a role that should be eliminated from genres entirely?
Ever have a week that is busy, but you can’t really put words to the whole thing? I know a lot happened over the last week. Can’t categorize it and having trouble sorting it because I was running full tilt. So, I’m going to try my best here and hope people enjoy the journey that will be vague in a few parts.
I’m going to start with my day job, which has been busy. Gearing up for the end of the year and there were a lot of events. As busy as the week was, I really had a lot of fun with a few things. Again, I can’t talk much about this because it isn’t only me involved. Finding that I enjoy having days where I get home and talk about positive stuff. Going out with people after work is fun too. I’m developing a non-Internet social life. The job has definitely been good for me even though I can’t write as much as I used to. I’m working on getting used to outlining during lunch and free periods though.
Phasing into the writing side of stuff, I didn’t get as much done as I wanted because my afternoons and evenings were exhausting. I had a lot of trouble focusing for some . . . Did I forget the laundry? Be right back . . . That’s pretty much what it’s been like. My best shot at making progress was last weekend and I only got stuff done on Saturday. That was with a lot of phone calls, requests, and a morning of watching what the munchkin has accomplished in gymnastics and robotics (more later). Sunday was struck down by the life event rearing up. It resulted in me having to go through my 12 book comic collection to pull stuff. There was a lot of emotion in looking through that and carrying the heavy boxes up two flights of stairs might have contributed to my back pain. That didn’t help either when it struck full force on Thursday morning. It becomes a mild discomfort within an hour, but it’s hard to write when you’re feeling like this. No idea how to make it go away quickly either.
I got off-topic there, but I only accomplished 1.5 chapters last weekend and it’ll be less this time. I can finish the one chapter and maybe get into the next one. I’m at a point where I need 5-7 days to get it done. My goal is to complete War of Nytefall: Eradication by the middle of June and that’s not looking possible. So, I’ll be happy with getting most done and only having to get the final chapter done while I’m getting into the summer job. I won’t be around much in July and August outside of nights and weekends. Not allowed to use my phone outside of designated times. Not like I’m going to be losing any sales since nothing is moving. This means I can focus more on the special project that I might announce along with a few other future ideas. This won’t be until next Sunday, which is also when I’m seeing ‘Detective Pikachu’.
I will admit that I was also distracted by two things. Three if you count what I did last night. First, it was the debut of ‘Lucifer’ Season 4 on Netflix, so I was trying to watch as much as I could. Didn’t have the time to binge and I wanted to savor the fun. Only made it through 4 episodes because my nights were booked. Took some time to work on my puzzle as well, which is reaching the point where I have mostly all black pieces. That’s going to be the hardest part, which is why it’s the second distraction. I kind of lose track of time there. Finally, I went to a small Magic: The Gathering Tournament last night. I’ve never played before and had no idea what I was doing, but a friend invited me. Lost every match and was only trying to get at least one hit in. It was fun and I hope to do it again when I can. Might not be for a while since it’s Friday nights and the next few for me are going to be busy.
Now, on to the munchkin’s victories. He had his gymnastics show and did great. The paper at the end said he could go into the advanced classes when they start up again. He also promised to return to his robotics class next time. They ended with a sumo wrestling type of competition between their robots. My son and his partner made one that had a wall in the front, which was a good strategy. They weren’t the strongest, so they had trouble with many of the matches. It wasn’t until the battle royale at the end that they won and were very excited about it. This was a nice way to start my Saturday and it was great seeing him so happy. The robotics also means I can show him this coding program I was shown in school. Maybe it will help him.
This week doesn’t have a lot planned before the weekend. It’s work and appointments as usual. Then a birthday party, communion, Detective Pikachu, and another birthday celebration. I’m only going to focus on the June blog posts and maybe start a topic list for July during the nights. Feel free to give suggestions if you wish. This way, I’m not trying to force my writing. I can possibly get some stuff done during other nights once I get a few things settled. The end of the month will prove to be interesting. Can’t say any more than that.
Goals for the week?
(Leave this bad pun from Season 4.)
Spy vs Spy
Lurking and listening
A shadow within the darkness
Or a smiling face
Sitting across the table
Masters of secrets
Both their own and others
Essential to a cause
And those who rule
Some are loyal
While others have no heart
Following money or excitement
Yet all ply the same trade
The spotlight is shunned
Wearing a shroud of mystery
That keeps them safe
And distant
(I tried to make this one work, but ran into a problem. WordPress seems to hate me hitting spacebar when I do a Shift+Enter to create stanzas. I have to do another Shift+Enter then go back to add the spaces to the sentence. Really frustrating and makes it hard to maintain the flow. Sorry . . . Check out War of Nytefall: Rivalry.)
As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Staci Troilo is one of my closest author friends. She’s got something new for all of us under her pen-name of D. L. Cross. Let’s make her feel welcome and share this around today.
“No Idea” Excerpt from New Sci-Fi Novel: THE GATE
Thanks for inviting me here today. I’m excited to share an excerpt from The Gate, Book 1 of the Astral Conspiracy series in the Invasion Universe.
Excerpt:
“You do realize I’ve never done this before. I have no idea what’ll happen up there.”
“You better hope it’s what I want to happen. Or you won’t be coming back down.”
Landon gulped, no longer certain he’d made the right choice to stay on Lorena’s behalf. So far, the mercs had been more or less gentlemanly toward her. She’d probably walk out of this ordeal alive.
The same couldn’t be said about him.
They followed a path…
View original post 565 more words
Hi ya! (See what I did there? Yes, I laugh at my own bad puns. If you’re still wondering what on earth I mean, think higher. Get it? Air? Higher? Okay, I’ll stop.) My guest is nudging me to focus, so, with me on the blog today is none other than the amazing Laurie Morrison. She’s been here before to discuss her debut MG novel, Every Shiny Thing, written with the awesome Cordelia Jensen. Click here for that post. Today, Laurie’s here to talk about her solo flight, Up for Air, published by Abrams on May 7.
Laurie is represented by Sara Crowe.
Stick around to the end to learn of a giveaway for Up for Air and to find out who won the $25 Amazon card I announced in this post. Now, let’s talk to Laurie!
El Space: Four quick facts about yourself?
Laurie: I’m very…
View original post 1,332 more words
Legends of Windemere 