Goal Post: Exhausted By the Heat

Posted on July 20, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Sadly, I didn’t get to type in a lot of edits this week.  Got through two sections of chapter 1 and that was me pushing through a lot of lethargy.  All of the appointments and events didn’t help much either.  So, what went wrong?

It all started last weekend with Pokemon Go-Fest, which was a lot of fun.  It was two days of catching Pokemon and being in a huge group of people.  There was excitement and conversations.  Unfortunately, it was also REALLY hot and humid, which I thought I had handled with a hat and 3 bottles of water on day one.  Since I had to stop earlier than other people, I tried to push through a little extra instead of resting.  Made it 5.5 hours and began feeling dizzy.  Had to retreat to my nearby car and rest in the air conditioning until I could go home.  Went back out on Sunday with a better mindset, but I was still worn down pretty quickly.  This became the theme of the week.

I will add that I had a block party to go to Saturday night, which wasn’t high activity, but I was outside.  Throughout the week, I had work and that was high activity even though it was mostly indoors.  The exception was Thursday when we spent the day at an amusement park, which was rough on my body.  By the time I got home from that one, I was feeling like I was about to die.  Of course, I had an appointment that evening too and had to drag myself there.  The daily Pokemon Go outings were done at the mall or kept to 20 minutes just to do a few things.  It still wore me down.

Let’s be honest. It’s clear I got heat exhaustion and wasn’t able to let my body fully recover.  I’d like to say this weekend will be different, but I’m taking my son to mini-golf with two of his friends for his birthday.  It’s next weekend, but I don’t have him then, so I’m celebrating it now.  We’re going to do Pokemon Go at the mall and a park on the coast where there’s a breeze and lots of benches.  If I feel too out of it, we’ll come home to play games instead.  Don’t think I’ll be able to touch Darwin & the Avenging Elf until Wednesday if I’m lucky.  Just so hard to focus even on typing in edits for more than 30 minutes when I’m drained.

The only progress I’m making is on the Lego Gotham City set because that’s easier to tinker with before bed.  Not sure if I should be proud of this since it means I’m not getting anywhere with my writing.  Finished the general notes for the thief group idea, so I’m letting that simmer.  I really thought I’d be able to type in 243 pages of edits by this time and dive into Darwin & the Demon Game.  Guess that’s going to be a post-Oswego trip project since I won’t be taking it with me.  I think I’m just going to focus on the notebook stuff like ‘Phi Beta Files’ and maybe preparing the thief group one.  I might take time to reorganize all of my ideas, which I haven’t touched in about 5 years.  Let’s see which ones still possess a spark.

Emotionally, this week has been a real beating.  Tempers have run high in a few arenas and I’m getting tired of bullshit.  Too many people think I’m stupid and unaware of what’s going on, but I’ve just been shrugging it off because confrontation would cost me way too much.  Hypocrisy is a pain to deal with because you can never get the hypocrite to realize what they are.  (Pretty sure I know someone who will agree with me wholeheartedly in the comments since he’s said all of this almost verbatim.)  Anyway, I’ve spent my life playing nice and keeping my head down to avoid messy situations.  Yet, they still find me and stress me out, but with me being more defenseless.  I’m always in a position where I can’t fight back because I’d lose something precious even if I won the ensuing battle.  It just isn’t worth it.

Another source of emotional twitchiness is someone asking me what I could do to sell my books.  I explained that I need money, connections, and time to properly promote.  They asked why I couldn’t just go out and at least find the connections, but it doesn’t seem to work that way.  Even if I could do that now, I wouldn’t have the money and time to do much more than talk shop.  Lack of time definitely means I’m barely able to even writing something much less promote my books and those of other people.  I said this feels like writing is a rich person’s hobby these days, which made my heart hurt because I didn’t say it as a joke.  Maybe things will change down the road, but it certainly seems I’m never going to get anywhere since I have so much else to deal with.  People say my time will come or I can publish more when I retire, but I have to live that long and have enough money to stop working.  Jury is out on either one considering how brutal modern society seems to be.

This week is going to be fairly busy like before with appointments on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I’m going to be trying hard to type in at least a chapter section of edits on the nights I don’t have my son.  Wednesday might see even more progress since the Pokemon Go event is only from 6-7 and I get home around 2:30.  Next weekend is going to be shaky since that Saturday has a ‘big’ Pokemon Go event on Saturday, but I don’t think I have to be out there for more than an hour or two.  Then, I have birthday time with my son on Sunday.  I’ll type in edits around all of that and maybe I’ll get further than I expected.

Goals of the week?

  1. Recover from heat exhaustion.
  2. Birthday outings with my son.
  3. Type in as many edits for Darwin & the Avenging Elf as possible.
  4. Continue working on Lego Gotham City when too tired to edit.
  5. You know what . . . I’m organizing my story ideas this week.  Found all of my old lists and the stuff I never put into notebooks is only the superheroes of Windemere stuff AND a bunch of stand alone things.  I should be able to sort through the mess and reorganize.  Anything I can’t remember will be junked.
  6. Get extra sleep and hydrate.
  7. Catch more Pokemon when possible.
Posted in Goal Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

7 Tips to Being a Fictional Spy

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Loid Forger

I felt like it was only right to do a post on Loid Forger from ‘Spy x Family’.  I already did Yor (assassin) and Anya (telepath).  Loid is the spy whose mission to stop a bad guy requires he pretend to make a fake family.  So, the main plot of story revolves around this guy who is the greatest spy around.  That must mean the character demonstrates a lot of traits that one would want to give their own fictional spy.  Not like this show is a comedy, which requires some exaggeration and character flaws . . . Let’s go.

  1. Caution is great, but overanalyzing mundane situations is even better.  Sure, you should be looking out for danger and risks to your cover.  Those can come from anywhere, including your allies who have no idea you’re a spy in the first place.  If they do anything that you aren’t sure of, you must investigate to the point where you might expose your true identity.  After all, you were raised to be a spy and not a person who understands daily life.
  2. Be really quick with a lie and have proof to support that lie.  If you don’t have time to get proof then keep on lying until only a telepath could figure you out.  Do it with a straight face and steady voice unless you have to appear nervous.  There might be a time where your lie creates another issue, but you’ll just have to lie to get out of that too.  Eventually, things will even out and problems won’t carry on to the next episode of your life.
  3. A spy must be a master of disguise, which involves many skills.  Learn how to change your voice, posture, face, height, weight, and even gender within seconds.  Knowledge about fashion is very important too.  With the proper training, you can look like anybody except children unless you stay on your knees or stand in a trap door situation.  If you’re a male spy, you should figure out how high heels, bras, pantyhose, makeup, and walking around with a different body weight dispersion.
  4. Always have a backup plan no matter how ridiculous it would be to pull one out.  If you must break the laws of physics or reality then do so.  Pretend it is entirely normal and everyone else will go along with it.
  5. Exhaustion is an occupational hazard since you might get side missions along with your main one.  The spy world isn’t filled with employees, so you might have to do double or triple duty at times.  Depend entirely on adrenaline to strike at the most dramatic moment.  You’ll collapse like a marionette with its strings cut right after, but you’ll get the job done.  Pretty sure there aren’t any long-lasting effects on the mind and body from that.
  6. Women will be very important to your job.  Some will be useful in getting information or maintaining cover.  Others will be terrifying when angry, which will hopefully be the ones on your side.  At least one will be your superior in some way and swiftly be tired of your shit.  The rest will be plain confusing to you and make you realize that you don’t understand the opposite sex as much as you thought.  Too late to get a refund on that sketchy ‘Women 101’ course you took in New Jersey as a teenager.
  7. Carry a gun . . . What?  You’d be surprised how often spies forget to bring a weapon with them.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Do We Need to Teach Children How to Read Online?

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

We are writers. Naturally, most of the topics covered in this blog are aimed at us. What about readers, though? I spent the first 30 years of my life…

Do We Need to Teach Children How to Read Online?
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Poetry Day: Let Me Out

Posted on July 18, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Yahoo Image Search

(Battling our inner demons.  Not an easy struggle, especially since it usually lasts a lifetime.)

Everyone has a demon
Lurking beneath the skin
A voice that asks for freedom
To indulge a dark-born craving

From the glutton wanting sweets
To the killer wanting blood
Everyone has a sinister voice
Whispering in their mental ear

They promise to return control
After stretching their stiff limbs
But most know this is a lie
The demons are too dangerous

Once free they will stay out
Returning only with a fight
Causing damage in their wake
That will take so long to heal

For some the voices stay
Causing lives to end and shred
Turning man into a monster
With only himself to blame

We ignore their acidic pleas
Until our wills grow weak
Then we hear the constant growl:
“Let me out!”

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Pros and Cons of Having a Secret Telepath in the Cast

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Anya Forger

I mentioned on Monday that ‘Spy x Family’ has a girl who is a telepath, but nobody knows it.  Meet Anya Forger.  She knows her adopted father is a spy and her adopted mother is an assassin.  By the way, the dog they adopt is a precog.  Again, only Anya knows, which means she could be considered the pivotal character.  She is aware of everything and doing her best to help.  Of course, she’s only 6 (but probably younger), so you know a lot is going to go wrong.  Plenty goes right too.  Hence, her popularity and why I want to write about the pros and cons of secret telepaths.

Pro– You have a character that can act as a narrator.  They are part of the action and know what is going on, so they are able to tell the audience.  This can reduce the amount of dialog and info dumps.

Con–  There are very few, if any, secrets from the audience if you have the telepath be the POV character.  They will act as a spoiler and mean that big reveals are only for the other characters.  The audience will know whatever they know because you need to show when they’re using their power.  You can’t always say ‘they read this person’s mind already’ whenever you want.  So, the audience will have limited ‘shock events’ when compared to a story without a telepath.

Pro– An increased chance of comedy and disaster because telepath’s are still human on some level.  Just because they read a mind, doesn’t mean they understand what is being thought of.  So, a telepath might take action to help or stop a person’s plan only to realize it was something else.  Maybe the target was thinking about ice cream, but the telepath only starting listening when they talked about a stash in the freezer.  Next thing you know, the cops are at the target’s home looking for a body or drugs when there’s nothing more than a secret collection of sweets.

Con– For the author, they always have to remember this character exists and is listening to thoughts.  Eventually, their telepathy can become part of the background for the author like breathing and blinking.  So, they might have this character react in a way that they wouldn’t since they know what is coming.  Keep in mind that they should be hard to surprise if they are constantly using their powers or can’t block thoughts.  Slipping up can make the character come off as fickle and unpolished.

Pro– The telepath can help clarify the intentions and plans of other characters.  With only a formless narrator or the author giving this information, there can be misunderstandings.  That is because those entities are typically portrayed as limited in scope to maintain some secrecy.  It can backfire if you’re being too elusive and careful.  So, a telepath can clear this up by exposing the thoughts of the other characters to the audience.  As stated, it sacrifices some secrecy, but you gain the ability to firmly establish facts.  It also means you can do the ‘thought’ portrayal without having to make it the italic dialogue sections or whatever you use, which can throw some readers off.

Con– The author can end up using this character as a crutch.  By having them know everything, an author might routinely use them to clear up plot holes.  This makes the telepath too central and powerful in terms of storytelling.  They are still characters, so they need limits and faults.  If they are now there to save the author from their own mistakes then they’re now a literary safeguard instead of a three-dimensional being.  It can also cause its own plot holes when the telepath is reacting to information from a character they rarely interacted with.  The idea that the telepath is constantly deep-probing for information turns them into a villain.  So, an author needs to limit the use of this power while making it active enough to be a factor in events.

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Guest Post – Gloucester’s Own – #newbook by Andrew Joyce

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

I am very happy to have Andrew Joyce here to discuss his new book, Gloucester’s Own. Andrew is one of my favorite authors. He tells fascinating …

Guest Post – Gloucester’s Own – #newbook by Andrew Joyce
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Library of Congress: Not Just for Copyright Anymore

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Greetings! I’m Liz Gauffreau, here for my first Story Empire post. I hope you find it helpful! The Library of Congress as a Resource for Writers As …

Library of Congress: Not Just for Copyright Anymore
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Questions 3 and Looking Back at War of Nytefall: Rivalry

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

This the book where things got tricky with the series.  War of Nytefall: Rivalry was going to be a big turning point in the relationship between Clyde and Mab.  It would set up for some darker elements later on.  That still happened, but an in-story shift and a real world event made this book one of the hardest ones for me to write and publish.

At this point, there wasn’t going to be a shock that Clyde and Mab rekindled their pre-series romance.  The entire story is about an old rival of Mab’s showing up to kidnap Clyde and claim him for herself.  Xavier Tempest and Titus Winthrop (Mab’s brother) are snagged too to try and throw people off.  This story really pushes Mab and Clyde to admit their true feelings for each other.  Not that they were hiding it well, but they are the types that need things to be more direct.  It was all going to plan . . .

Then, my divorce kicked off just as I was finishing Rivalry.  Keep in mind that Clyde was a character of mine and Mab was based around one that my wife played.  They were actually the only characters we played who were in a relationship with each other.  So, I was trying to make it solid and romantic and uncomplicated.  Not easy to do when the inspiration for one character has just kicked off an emotionally messy situation.  I had to really sit back and decide if the characters should suffer because of what was going on in the real world.  Unfortunately for my emotional well-being, I realized that I had already planned too much around Clyde and Mab being together.  So, I had to push forward and ignore my own inner turmoil.

While that was going on, I also found problems between bitter rivals Clyde and Xavier Tempest who now had to work together.  I realized how often this was going to happen in the series.  The two did hate each other, but there was this frustrating level of respect between them that I couldn’t break.  Xavier’s actions were bad, but not enough that Clyde would be irrational towards him.  I had made my old action-loving monster an actual leader and I couldn’t get him to be a maniac any more.  So, Rivalry began the awkward shift where the vampire civil war got pushed more into the background and was more of a feud than a full-on clash.  I would later have to come up with a really good reason for them to have a deathmatch.  Thankfully, Nadia Sylvan (wife of Xavier Tempest) ended up having very little honor and I had already left a few hints that she could possibly be the true villain of the whole series.  Given that she was another character based around my now ex-wife, I didn’t have much of a problem doing this.  Let’s be honest, authors have a long history of taking anger towards a real person out on a fictional version then admitting to it.  I still made sure the character was well-developed and had moments to shine.

All of that behind-the-scenes drama aside, the highlight of this book was using Jewelz the Vampire Queen.  She was a character I had bouncing around this series in most of its incarnations.  Jewelz had been the main villain, Clyde’s love interest, a reborn vampire goddess, Clyde’s daughter, and a number of other roles.  Nothing really worked for her until I came up with this story.  Making her a confidant, powerful, and slightly petty rival to Mab turned her into a force of nature.  She no longer had to match Clyde in power, so she could have other ways to keep him as a prisoner.  I think this made Jewelz a much more enjoyable character to write, especially since I got to let her indulge in lording over two of the strongest Dawn Fangs.

Would I change anything?  I know some people may expect me to say I would not have Clyde and Mab become a couple.  Some would even say I should have killed her off, but she already appeared in Legends of Windemere.  I think I would have been angry at myself for letting my characters suffer due to what I was going through.  Once I would heal, I’d see that mess I made and regret a lot.  No, I think the only change I would make is give Luther and Bob a bit more to do.  Titus, their leader and friend, was captured too, so I feel like they should have been more active.  They did things, but it was really more Mab and Xavier’s people.  I might be overthinking this though.

Questions to enjoy:

  1. How can a rivalry be healthy?
  2. Do you think its healthy for a person to only speak their feelings under pressure?
  3. Is it okay for authors to take anger for a real person out on a fictional character?
Posted in Questions 3, War of Nytefall | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

When Characters Need to Hide Superhuman Abilities

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Yor Forger

My son and I watch an anime called ‘Spy x Family’.  It’s a spy comedy and that doesn’t really cover everything, but it’s enough for now.  The general plot is the guy is a spy who needs to create a fake family to do his latest job.  He gets his daughter from an orphanage and has no idea she’s really a telepath.  For a wife, he meets Yor who needs a fake husband because the country thinks unmarried women of her age are suspicious.  She’s really an assassin.  All three are hiding their identities with only the daughter knowing the truth of their situation.  Anyway, let’s talk about an aspect of Yor.

The part I want to touch on is that her training as an assassin has made her practically superhuman.  Her physical and combat abilities are on par with Captain America if not more due to the comedic nature of the show.  Yet, she has to portray herself a regular person to maintain her cover.  She works in a government office as a secretary and is socially awkward due to being an assassin for most of her life.  Her strength slips out when she reacts quickly, but she has to be ‘normal’ for most of her screen time.  When she does demonstrate her abilities by accident, she passes it off as self-defense classes or something mundane.  The comedy part here is that the cautious, attention-to-detail spy she’s fake married too believes her because he’s been a spy since childhood.

Now, we’ve all seen characters who have to hide their superhuman abilities.  Comics are filled with secret identities where they have to pretend to be normal.  Superman and Spider-Man are two of the biggest examples.  This means there is a long-standing tradition of this kind of thing.  You would think in the day of social media where nobody has secrets, it wouldn’t be common in fiction.  It still is and I can think of a few reasons why.

  1. There is an inherent tension when a character is trying to keep a secret.  Verbal ones are fairly easy to hide because you simply don’t say them.  It becomes more difficult when it’s a physical ability that is easy to activate and utilize.  For example, a character with superhuman strength always has the risk of slipping and being too powerful in front of others.  This would reveal their true identity and point their normal life in jeopardy.  Superman, Spider-Man, and Yor are all noted as having to live holding themselves back.  Still, all you need is one slip and a bad explanation.
  2. As far as ‘Spy x Family’ goes, hiding a superhuman ability can create the opportunity for comedy.  There will be accidents to remind readers they can do these things or situations where they have to act.  Not to mention times when they get to cut loose, but that’s typically when they don’t have to pretend to be average.  The comedy of the actual accidents stems from having to explain it or seeing the reactions of the witnesses as well as their rationalizations.  You can get away with some ridiculous excuses too if you establish this is a comedy.
  3. Similar to #1, you also have a future plot point in your pocket.  This would be when they actually reveal their true nature.  Whether it be on purpose or by accident, you can have them be exposed.  Then, you get a new storyline with them living a new life out in the open.  Be warned though that this is something that cannot easily be undone.  One of the most infamous attempts in comic history was ‘One More Day’.  Spider-Man’s secret identity had been revealed and Aunt May ended up getting shot.  Mary Jane makes a deal with Mephisto to make everyone forget Peter is Spider-Man, but she sacrifices their marriage so that it never existed.  Marvel wiped out decades of history and pissed fans off with this move.  So, DO NOT have a reveal unless you’re willing to stick with it or have a simple, non-nuclear fix.

Personally, I like this plotline, but I grew up on comics during a time when secret identities were the norm.  Even the X-Men would go out in civvies and blend in unless they were Beast or Nightcrawler.  I liked the idea that a hero could have a normal life because it increased the sense of their danger.  It was a physical thing, but they had so much to lose by either dying or being exposed.  This meant, they had to act quickly while also thinking about consequences.  Not a lot of people are able to do that these days.  Maybe they couldn’t before and I’m just realizing it now.  Hard to tell.

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Welcome New Authors!

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Greetings, Storytellers. Diana, here, to share some exciting news. At some point, most of us realize that the craft of writing requires us to be …

Welcome New Authors!
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments