I would like to welcome Charles E. Yallowitz, author of the Legends of Windemere fantasy series and other works such as The Hopeteller. Charles’ latest book, The Compass Key, has recently been published on Amazon Kindle.
Thank you to Sue Vincent for giving me an opportunity to be a guest on her blog. My name is Charles E Yallowitz and I am the Indie Author behind the fantasy adventure series Legends of Windemere. Sue sent me the following questions that cover a wide range of aspects of being an Indie Author. After all, those of us who go outside of the traditional route are author, editor, publisher, promoter, and whatever other role that needs to be filled at a moment’s notice.
Where do you get your inspiration for your characters?
My characters come from various sources, but the heroes in Legends of Windemere stem from a Dungeons & Dragons game…
So this review marks my 400th review since I began my reviewing career. I wanted to do something really special for this milestone, so I decided to go with a volume from one of my favorite fantasy franchises. I have always loved the Legends of Windemere series by Charles Yallowtiz and this story did not disappoint me one bit!
If you get a chance I recommend you check his books out on Amazon, they are all very reasonably priced and they will certainly keep your interest piqued from start to finish! So here’s my review that I posted to Amazon –
I really am loving this series! The author really knows how to introduce new characters and how to develop the existing characters and make us find new reasons to find them more and more intriguing!
I have no friggin’ clue what is going on. The Compass Key is selling, but the Amazon ranking keeps dropping. It’ll leap back onto the lists during slow periods and drop when it’s moving. Typically I don’t pay attention, but it’s a debut month. That ends tomorrow/Monday and I’ve already sold 600 copies. There’s been no sudden surge on the other books though, so I don’t know about that rumor that Book 5 is where everything changes. Doesn’t seem to have made a difference. Then again, I don’t have anything new to add to my marketing repertoire. No new interviews or guest blogs. I submitted a few of those over the last few weeks and not gotten a response. I should be having a marketing guest post appearing somewhere at some point, but I’m waiting for notification.
(Edit- A sudden surge just hit The Compass Key . . . I haven’t had enough to drink for this roller coaster.)
The big event this week was the beginning of school for the son, which was a little rocky at first. Mostly trying to figure out the bus schedule and explaining the concept of homework. I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked while he was away, but I’m falling into a routine. It’s obvious that I can’t get anything done while he’s home because I have to help him with whatever is sent home. Also getting lunch ready for the next day, filling out forms, going over homework with him, giving him dinner, talking to him about his day, reading notes from his teacher, bath time, and whatever else turns up.
This whole thing might be feeling worse because I’m cleaning up the older books. It’s like going to the dentist this time because I always hoped I left this stage behind. I think things will move quicker as I get further along. The earlier books were gone over so many times that it feels like a chore. I’m still hoping I get through all of them by the end of October and start in on Book 9 in November. Sounds like a ways off, but that factors in distractions and events. If you wonder how often such things happen to me then you haven’t been following my blog for very long.
I was hoping to work on a few WIP that I had, but that never happened. I was put in a position where I had to work on those or dive into the editing. Couldn’t put off the big project any longer since I was seeing random distractions kept turning up. I might post them on the blog when I have a moment and get some feedback. I did one of them and didn’t get much, but it was bad timing. I might even take a day between books to do a WIP or set up a week of October posts. I’m aiming to do another week of ‘Monster Mash’, which is people give me fake, made up words (not ones that already exist) and I make a post where I turn the words into fictional creatures. It was a lot of fun last time and October would be the perfect time for it. I’ll post more about that later on this month since doing it now could lead to people forgetting when the event actually occurs.
Goals of the Week!
Continue and hopefully finish editing one of the books.
Get back into the biking.
Help son with homework and keep that part of my life running smoothly. Well as smoothly as it can given how many cooks are in the kitchen.
Start making October posts and work on WIP if finish #1. Just for a daily break.
Edit next book if finish #1 and #4 before next Sunday. Shouldn’t hold my breath here.
In one of the later volumes of ‘Legends of Windemere’, the readers are introduced to a new organization and wanderer type. It showed up by accident because I couldn’t figure out why this guy and Luke kept fighting over monster treatment. Then I found my old notes to explain the other notes. This guy was a Monster Hunter, which is an organization that doesn’t get along with forest trackers.
These are people that kill monsters for money using a bounty system. Some are situation specific like a pack of goblins going after a farmland. They don’t wipe out every goblin in the world. Just the ones causing trouble and it’s typically down to the last one. Other creatures have been deemed too dangerous to exist and are hunted for money. This is where forest trackers get angry because it’s basically poaching and the hunters rarely do much about the body. Forest trackers will typically honor a slain beast with a prayer or taking a trophy. It really hasn’t come up too often with Luke since undead and demons don’t fall into this honor. Many of the other beasts have been enchanted, which is another odd category.
Anyway, I’ve been toying with an idea about a book that follows a bad of Monster Hunters. This will happen after another event occurs that changes their organization to be more about permits, levels needed for certain hunts, and situational bounties. I can’t go into details without spoilers. I do know that I ran into a slight problem because I can’t bring myself to be 100% serious on this idea. I mean that I want a good amount of comedy even with a serious plot. I’m looking at this as an exploration of this organization without being a boring ‘hunt this beast for money’ story. Hard to do when that’s all these people are interested in.
So what if there’s a hunter that is going after something that nobody knows about? What if this person and others in his group were cursed by this monster? So it’s a push to reach the highest level of hunter to get permission to go after this mystery beast and then finding the damn thing. I’d start the book after the level is gained because I’m looking at this as a solitary. I just need to think this idea through and decide on curses.
Most people think a curse needs to be highly debilitating and so harsh that the character can’t really function. Turned blind, dies in sunlight, always hungry, undead, and so many other terrible ailments. Well that’s great and all, but it means the characters will probably fail. I’m all for getting over an obstacle, but I really don’t want to go that dark. Which brings me to the one curse I do have. The main character will change gender whenever he/she is touched by the opposite gender. Think Ranma 1/2 and Fruits Basket. If the character is currently a girl and is touched by a guy then she becomes a he. I’m not sure if it’s any touch or hugging or something else more specific that can still happen.
That’s really all I have on this. I don’t know what the monster is, how the story will progress, or the other curses. I’m thinking of having them go after other monsters that hold clues to the other one or are wrong paths. Like every chapter is a different hunt until they reach their final one. Oh and that title so has to go, but I have no idea what else to call it just yet. Maybe the real name of the monster?
Confession: I don’t really get a lot of fan reactions beyond reviews and private emails telling me what I did wrong. On the plus side, I still find out when some people reach the end of Prodigy of Rainbow Tower. For those that got to the end of that, you probably know what I’m getting yelled at for. Guess the emails count as Fan Mail. Anyway, it means I really don’t know too much about these special rewards. In truth, I see other authors get these and sit there wondering if it will ever happen to me. Not so much jealousy, but a ‘I hope get that one day’ mentality.
That brings me to this ‘reward’ that I rarely see and most times that I do it’s in regards to one specific author. Shannon A Thompson posts when someone on Twitter quotes one of her books. I don’t even know how to explain how this one would make me feel. Not a bad sensation, but I’ve rambled about connections and touching the reader during the other posts. This is something that doesn’t take as much time as the previous honors, but it is very smile-inducing.
It isn’t too hard to figure out why this would be such a great thing for an author. We see quotes by famous authors and characters all over the Internet. Many of those become immortal phrases, so joining those ranks feels like you’ve hit a hidden milestone. Part of your book made such an impact that somebody decided to share it. For some reason, this is a really big thing on Twitter where retweets are common. Especially if a celebrity does the initial quote.
I know this is an odd one since it’s so rare, but that might be what makes it even more special. Truthfully, I don’t know if this can work for everyone. I couldn’t think of any quote from my books that would fit in a 140 character system like Twitter. Maybe a few of the barbs that Nyx and the others throw at Luke when he’s doing something stupid . . . they really let him have it a few times in The Compass Key. Yet those fall out of context, which is important. So it’s really something special when this happens.
This happen to anyone else? Have you ever fallen in love with a quote from a book and used it?
It’s been a busy week and I’m slowly inching into the editing. Getting back into the biking too, so my legs aren’t happy. Honestly, I’m just kind of down. Probably revolving around exhaustion since it’s been a whole new schedule. Sales kind of slowed down too and I woke up to a 2-star review. It wasn’t mean and was entirely fair, but I was in that mindset where I simply felt disappointed. Not in the reviewer since I got the feeling that it was another ‘present tense’ issue. Then again, I also note that writing dialogue in a way that people actually talk tends to get more negative reactions than if you write people talking with perfect grammar and literary flair. Whatever. It was a fair review and at least it wasn’t a 1-star that spent more time insulting me.
I’ll be diving into the editing again today. It’s moving slowly because I’m trying to be meticulous. I’m still trying to figure out a few pieces of this project, but I’ll hopefully get an idea over the weekend. These are really editing runs to make things easier for my editor, but I should be as thorough as I can be. I pray this doesn’t mean I have to read ‘Beginning of a Hero’ again.
Anyway, the thought that prompted this sudden post is the topic for my posts next week. It was supposed to be poems on various hero types. Instead, it became a week of poems on Superman and his various states. Regular, unpowered, Supergirl, future version, and fallen hero came up and I noticed he’s been around for a while. So it was interesting to think of the same character in different roles. Then I remembered that people seem to hate Superman and now I’m worried that next week will be a disaster. I have no other ideas too. Also I’m too busy/lazy to write a full week of posts, so I’m stuck.
So, does anyone else have a hero that they like or hate while everyone else seems to be of the opposite mind? For example, I like Superman and am so over Batman. Yet most of my friends are the opposite.
This one might need a little more explanation and I’m only slightly aware of how to do that. Mostly because I have no costume making skills and my one attempt was so bad that nobody knew I was in costume. To be fair, I didn’t want to dress up due to having glasses and being self-conscious. Also being short and chubby doesn’t help. Enough about me here.
Cosplay is when someone makes a costume of an existing character or based on an existing character. They wear it at a convention or for some other reason. I’m not talking about Trick-or-Treating, which I’m sure one or two people are already thinking of. This is on another scale and it’s simply amazing to see. From what I can tell from talking to others, people pick characters that they have an interest in. Maybe it’s the challenge of the costume or they connect to the character. Either way, it does feel like it’d be an honor to be chosen for such an activity.
Why would it be an honor? Imagine the time, patience, and creativity that goes into the costumes that you saw in the video. Most, if not all, of those are handmade and carefully crafted. I follow a cosplayers on Facebook and they show their process, which reminds me of how much work I put into my stories. There’s planning, outlining, piece-by-piece creation, and even a little ‘editing’. One can only imagine the anguish that an author goes through when having to rewrite a book. Imagine if you’re working on a costume and have to go back. There’s no reset button when cutting and molding materials. Yes, I’m in awe of those that can do stuff like this.
This isn’t even mentioning when a cosplayer alters an idea for an interesting twist. For example, I’ve seen a lot of ‘gender bending’ pictures. This is where somebody makes a costume of a character and changes the gender. There are times this is done for comedy and other times it’s done in all seriousness. I see a lot of female cosplayers do this because there are more male than female characters and I guess you can only do Supergirl, Batgirl, and Wonder Woman so often. Seriously though, these are interesting to see because it shows a great amount of creativity and, most times, respect for the original character. I can hear a few authors grumbling about messing up their babies. Yet, I still see this as entertaining and something to be proud of. The cosplayer put thought into how to do this and they probably wouldn’t if you designed a boring or lackluster character.
Just like Fan Art and Fan Letters, this requires taking time and putting yourself out there, which any artist can understand. Again, this is an area that I only have a brief idea about from talking to friends and reading stuff. Also checking out a bunch of Youtube videos from the San Diego Comic Con. Anybody out there a cosplayer or have a bunch of knowledge to drop on us? What would you think if you saw someone dressed as one of your characters?
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“But you felt it too, Don…”
“Yes, I know exactly what you mean, but ‘it doesn’t feel right’ never has been nor ever will be justifiable grounds for any course of action in a court of law.”
“Who’s talking about a court of law?”
“We might very well be if we charge in there all guns blazing.”
“We don’t have any guns.”
“I know we don’t, we just have our dowsing rods and pendulums… ka-pow!”
***
“…together we shall utter the words of truth, which heaven’s saints are wont to hear and they will come down amongst us.”
“Say what?”
“That’s what he said.”
“That’s what who said?”
“The Master…”
“Don, you’re not making any sense, who is the Master and when did he say that?” “The Master… is the Ninth…
A while ago I made a post about the only series/character that I have yet to phase into Windemere. The galactic bounty hunter has always been the odd woman out because of this even though she predates Windemere itself. I played a lot of Super Metroid in high school. Anyway, I’m still trying to work on the absorption, which keeps hitting snags. Mostly I’m stuck with the following questions:
Do I show any scenes with her in space? The main story is that several criminals reach Windemere through either a portal or a crashed ship. The hunter follows or maybe is brought along unwillingly. So her job for the first book is to capture the dangerous criminals. I quickly realized that I had nowhere for her to keep them unless she returns them to space, but that kind of cuts her story short. So, do I show her in space and have her return to Windemere for another reason?
Do I retain the galactic governments that I made and create a reason they avoid Windemere? Maybe there are too many dangerous beings on the planet or it’s so far out of their jurisdiction that nobody bothers going there. This could even mean that the bounty hunter is punished for stepping on a forbidden planet and made to remain on the surface after returning her bounties. So book 2 could be her being forced to return and having to deal with a few ‘hungry’ locals.
What do I do with the gene splicers, galactic conquerors, and parasites that were essential to the original story? I guess I could slip them in and have the conquerors (the bounty hunter’s own race) come after Windemere and the parasites become the final threat like last time after landing on the planet. I’ll have to change that finale because the original with the parasites had them consuming planets, but I can’t really do that to Windemere without eliminating a TON of important places. That screws up all the other stories. Then again, I can find a way to do both. The gene splicers are the real problem, but maybe they can be replaced by whoever is after her in Book 2. It could even show that she isn’t the first alien to land on Windemere.
I have to admit that most of that (90%) was thought up as I typed this. I’m torn here between holding onto the original and revamping it to fit everything else I’m doing. Again, I suck at science-fiction because I lean too far to the impossible. Ships tend to have outlandish design, which would be the crux of the adventure if it remained in space. I can still do a few space sections, especially if I pull the gnomes into this. Still, I really think I need to bring this more into my comfort zone if I want it to work. It’s not a series I want to experiment with because I’ve been toying with it for so long. Anyway, this is my challenge for the day before I tackle editing tomorrow.
Thank you to Sue Vincent for giving me an opportunity to be a guest on her blog. My name is Charles E Yallowitz and I am the Indie Author behind the fantasy adventure series Legends of Windemere. Sue sent me the following questions that cover a wide range of aspects of being an Indie Author. After all, those of us who go outside of the traditional route are author, editor, publisher, promoter, and whatever other role that needs to be filled at a moment’s notice.
Where do you get your inspiration for your characters?
