A haven of magic, myth and mayhem! Blog stops, books, reviews, interviews and more. The site of fantasy author, poet and blogger A. L. Butcher.
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CHARACTER NAME: Clyde
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. I’m a vampire. Not the kind you’re thinking of, but a species called a Dawn Fang. In fact, I’m the first one due to this thing called the Great Cataclysm. It washed over the world and turned my execution into a rebirth type of thing. Now, I’m faster, stronger, and immune to the sun. A few accidents later and I realized I could make more of my kind, which resulted in me creating a kingdom called Nytefall. I’ve been leading the Dawn Fangs for a few decades now and it doesn’t get any easier. Running a gang of vampiric thieves is one thing. Now, I have to run a kingdom in the face of a civil war, sun-worshipping priests, hunters, usurpers, and all manner of enemies. The worst part is that I can’t kill all of them if I want to prove to mortals that Dawn Fangs aren’t monsters. Not that I haven’t considered it.
The mess I’m in is rather complicated. As far as I know, I haven’t done anything to anger this vampire hunter. He calls himself Alastyre and keeps ripping the heads off vampires. Swears he’s the one who’s going to kill. Scary part is that he might not be wrong since he’s the strongest enemy I’ve ever faced. Nobody else has managed to match my power and primal brutality like this guy. So, I’m going to have to do something I haven’t done in over one hundred years. I have to train and get stronger in order to stop this maniac from killing my people and destroying my kingdom.
Of course. I am one. Don’t go thinking all monsters are heartless beasts that can only destroy. Sure, that’s basically the definition, but that way of thinking is why Dawn Fangs are having trouble. We are vampires, which makes us monsters. Yet, we’re able to live like mortals, so we’re in the middle. Personally, I think any species can be seen as a monster in certain situations.
I guess you could say that I do. Hard to tell since I use illusions to trick people, especially in battle or when I’m stealing. Guess you could say that my moral code depends on who I’m dealing with. If I’m facing an honourable person then I’ll act the same. Pit me against a jerk and I’ll do whatever it takes to either kill them or knock them down a few thousand pegs. One constant rule I have is that you don’t draw children into your fights. They can join when they grow up, but let them be kids before that time.
I’ve proven that I would on several occasions. Not only for the woman I love, but my friends too. They’re my family and I’m going to protect them with this great power I’ve been given. In return, they watch my back and make sure I don’t surrender to the monster in my soul. Guess that desire to retain my humanity makes the whole killing for loved ones rather strange. It makes sense if you’re a vampire.
Tough one here because you can only do this once. It would have to be a very specific situation. My sacrifice would need to result in my family being safe for the rest of their existence. Otherwise, I’d get myself killed and they’d still be in danger, which means I made a mistake.
Heroism is the ability to stand by your convictions and defend others. It’s very easy to change your mind or abandon people to save your own skin. In fact, I’d say most people do this once they’re challenged. Those with heroism ignore their own survival instinct to make the world a better place. Although, to be honest, I don’t have that much use for the mortal version of heroism. For a vampire, it’s closer to having the ability to control your destructive tendencies for the good of your people.
I would have to go with my illusions, which work off my cunning. Sure, I can shatter mountains with my fists. My Lord’s Rage allows me to get even stronger at the cost of my self-control. Those work for slaughtering enemies and physical obstacles, but they can be undermined. My illusions are much more difficult to get around and they create opportunities for my strength to be used. I can create decoys, false attacks, or mask my true form to confuse my enemies. That and it’s simply fun to mess with people.
This is the big question. In fact, it’s the reason I’m on this ridiculous training quest while my friends are trapped with Alastyre. I need to figure out my greatest weakness in order to overcome it. After decades of never feeling threatened, I can’t imagine what it would be. Could be overconfidence, but I’m trying really hard to stay humble while I rule a kingdom. I really wonder why people can’t just show up and tell me the answer here.
Definitely. I come from Windemere, which has active gods. There’s a whole pantheon that lives on an island and watches the rest of us. They have this rule against physically interfering in events because of past mistakes. Actually, I recently had my first god encounter. The guy was a jerk and I’d have punched his face in if I didn’t think he’d smite me.
Yes to both quests. I believe I will find a way to become stronger and defeat Alastyre. There’s no reason it wouldn’t happen since I always find a way to win. I need to be patient and think hard about the problem. That or beat up whatever’s in my path until they give me what I need.
My other quest is the big one. I want to prove that Dawn Fangs can live amongst mortals without posing a danger. This is possible since we can eat regular food and drink blood without killing. The biggest hurdle is that we’re still vampires, so people see us as monsters. Doesn’t help that we have a civil war going on between Nytefall and those who wish to stay in the shadows. Once I get that cleared up, the big quest will be nothing more than a simple test of patience.
He’s got a pretty good imagination, but I have a major grievance. It took the moron about 15 years to get to my series. He pretended to be me in this imagination game for about a year, but then shelved me for nearly half of his life. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy that he’s given me the spotlight, but I waited so long and I can see that my time isn’t going to be as long as that of his previous heroes. We’re definitely going to have to chat once he goes to bed.
For the author:
Books in which this character appears:
War of Nytefall Series– https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KBFS2LK
Bio-
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After spending many years fiddling with his thoughts and notebooks, he decided that it was time to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house with only pizza and seltzer to sustain him, Charles brings you tales from the world of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and drawing you into a world of magic.
Social Media
Blog: www.legendsofwindemere.com
Twitter: @cyallowitz
Facebook: Charles Yallowitz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyallowitz/
Links etc
Title: War of Nytefall: Savagery
Author: Charles E. Yallowitz
Genre: Fantasy, Vampires, Action Adventure
Main character description (short):
In the magical world of Windemere, Clyde was your average vampire thief who ran a gang of criminals. Then, the Great Cataclysm struck in the middle of his execution and transformed him into a new breed of monster. Able to retain his strength in the sun and possessing a heartbeat, Clyde realized he could pass as mortal. He also learned that he could turn old-world vampires into what would come to be known as Dawn Fangs. For years, he has defended the hidden kingdom of Nytefall as he waits for the day vampires and mortals can coexist. It doesn’t help that he really enjoys fighting and keeps looking for trouble.
Synopsis:
After years of defending Nytefall and the Dawn Fangs from all enemies, Clyde may have met his ultimate challenge. Matching the destructive vampire in power and ferocity, Alastyre the hunter is the first to make him feel fear. Before he knows what is happening, Clyde has been driven from his home while his friends remain trapped with this new threat. His only hope is to find a way to become stronger and return to reclaim his kingdom. Yet, how can a monster who splits mountains with a single blow become more powerful?
Brief Excerpt:
The instant the longbow clatters on the floor, Clyde and Alastyre vanish for a moment and reappear on opposite sides of the courtyard. The force from their failed strikes create matching blasts of air and they whirl around in unison to face each other once more. Another charge results in the combatants crashing together, the shockwave sending a circular wall of sand billowing away from them. Palms pressing against each other, they appear to be evenly matched until Clyde is struck by a swift headbutt. Having been caught by surprise, his back-leg bends and he loses the leverage that was preventing him from being forced away. With his knee on the ground, he is bent backwards and left open for another shot to the face. It is only by increasing his Lord’s Rage that he avoids falling and musters the strength to shove Alastyre to the side. He dislocates his wrists to free his hands from the hunter’s grip and creates four illusions of himself to gain time to heal. With his own body masked to blend into the nearest boulder, the Dawn Fang crouches in order to pounce on the first opportunity. Instead, he has to leap away when his enemy ignores the decoys and punches exactly where he is lurking.
“I’ve studied your tactics, so your tricks are pointless,” Alastyre says as he throws the cracked boulder over his shoulder.
“Guess I’ll have to take you seriously then,” the Dawn Fang retorts with a grin.
Why should readers buy this book?
The only reason to buy this book is because it’s a fun adventure. I write to entertain with humour, exciting action scenes, and colourful characters. Like my other books, War of Nytefall: Savagery is pure, relaxing escapism.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0921ZGG44
Most creative writing classes treat writing characters and writing fantasy characters as one and the same. They provide run-of-the-mill tips (create conflict, establish flaws, etc.) and you end up with run-of-the-mill characters — well-developed, but nothing out of the ordinary.
But what fantasy writers need are legendary characters — characters that stay with you for a lifetime, like those that occupy the worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien and George R. R. Martin. Unfortunately, these writers haven’t exactly revealed all their secrets to the rest of us. But by working backwards, I’ve put together five top tips, exclusively for fantasy writers, that should help you think outside of the character-profile box.
Whether you adopt the tactics of a police interrogator or Oprah Winfrey, interviewing your characters is a great way to flesh out their motives, weaknesses, history, habits, and hobbies. Sure, the same advice is given to authors of all fiction genres, but when writing fantasy this exercise calls for more creative flair.
For instance, most questionnaires will ask your character about their career: What’s your dream job? What job would you never consider? When writing contemporary fiction, it’s easy to fall back on conventions: I want to become a writer, a football star, a successful entrepreneur. I’d never be a high-school teacher, a telemarketer, a pest control worker. Your fantasy characters, however, will need to produce answers that make sense in the context of their world.
Let’s take the Harry Potter series as an example. Some Hogwarts graduates will join the Aurors — an elite group of Dark Wizard catchers — others take soul-crushing jobs in magic middle management, and I imagine someone has to clean up the mess made by the post-office owls. These jobs are recognizable; we can place them in the real world, and even make assumptions about a character based on their magical nine-to-five. But at the same time, they place the character firmly in the unique world of the books, seamlessly weaving the two together and adorning the bigger picture with original details.
When a story takes place in a world that’s not our own, its characterizations should reflect that on a deeper level than just creative job titles and otherworldly hobbies. Everyone in your world, good or bad, leading lady or forgettable friend, will share a baseline set of assumptions informed by the world they inhabit, which means that their inherent ways of thinking won’t always resemble our own.
Let’s say your fantasy novel is set in a world where gods regularly show their faces to interfere in everyday life. Though atheism might be common here on Earth Prime, it would make no sense for anyone in that world to be an atheist. This doesn’t have to mean that everybody thinks and feels exactly the same way about the gods; some characters might fervently believe that they reward devotion and punish sin, while others might quietly think of them as meddling pranksters.
Setting up coherent belief systems and knowing where your characters stand on your world’s “big questions” will help you to build more complex relationships among your characters, and between your characters and their world.
In general, creating some diversity in your cast of characters can be a really useful thing to do. Meaningfully different perspectives and experiences will add complexity to your world, and hopefully create intuitive conflict or tension among your characters.
If your world is divided into different regions, for example, then the people in each region might have vastly different cultures due to the influence of climate, landscape, or the way they’re ruled. Take A Song of Ice and Fire. The people in the North live, think, and dress very differently from the people in King’s Landing: the first being sparsely populated, harsh, and independently ruled while the other is crowded, coastal, and right under the thumb of the Iron Throne.
Even within distinct groups, one member doesn’t need to have the same mannerisms, views, and values as the next. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien has creatures that are familiar to fantasy readers, and certainly employs generic tropes. But his elves, dwarves, hobbits, and wizards are not carbon-copy fantasy races. Among the dwarves, for example, there are good and wicked, eloquent and crass, loyal and traitorous characters.
Lots of fantasy writers love character archetypes — which is not necessarily a bad thing, because fantasy readers love them too. But if you rely too much on clichés, you might stray into overly predictable territory. There’s also no reason to get anywhere near that black hole when there are so many great ways to revitalize common character tropes. Here are a couple to get you thinking:
You may have noticed that in fantasy writing, worldbuilding and character development often go hand-in-hand. And nowhere is this more evident (or more important) than in the mood and tone of your story. Whether you build your setting or your characters first, the general tenor of both elements should work together to create the perfect atmosphere.
The easiest way to think of this is to look at some more examples. In the Song of Ice and Fire books, where the dead stand up to fight and swords are forged with blood, even our favorite characters are flawed — Arya is obsessed with revenge, Tyrion is morally ambiguous, and Daenerys is proud and stubborn (and burns down a city). These gray characters meld perfectly with the grim and somber tone that shrouds this highly cynical series.
Meanwhile, the first few books in the Harry Potter series are full of wonder and whimsy. Its magical world features bat-bogey hexes, dodgy spell-checking quills, and wacky divination lessons. So it makes perfect sense that the protagonists be quirky teenagers who are always bickering, fumbling first crushes, and failing to get to grips with Muggle technology (I’m looking at you, Ron).
So take inspiration from fantasy legends JKR and GRRM. Don’t just fill in a character profile. Think about the emotional texture of your book and the kind of reaction you want from your readers. Then approach the task of character development with your mind on the bigger picture.
Writing YA Novels as a Pop Culture Fan
Many of us have been binging all our old favourite TV shows and movies over the past year. So, we’re not surprised to see nostalgia making its way into the novels of 2021. Today, author Christine Hart is sharing the scoop on all the pop culture influences that shaped her new book, The Electric Girl.
Christine, can you tell us a bit more about the role pop culture plays in this novel? So many people have a love/hate relationship with pop culture, but the older I get, the more I realize that I should be writing what I want and drawing inspiration from what I truly like. Rather than trying to be a literary author, I’ve embraced genre fiction – and it feels like the right choice for me. And with The Electric Girl, setting a story in the 1980s was an irresistible opportunity to infuse my worldbuilding with the pop culture of the time.
Which movies and television shows influenced this story? The most obvious first influence is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle – both the book and movie, drawing on the idea of a unicorn becoming a girl. When I picture Psyche opening portals to another world, I can’t help but remember the inter-dimensional doors opened by Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife.
I also believe the nebula imagery and the concept of an alien that exists primarily in astral form comes from my days watching Star Trek: The Next Generation every day after school. I also watched a lot of Twin Peaks and I’ve always loved David Lynch’s ability to be delightfully bizarre just for the sake of it.
Most recently, getting addicted to Stranger Things, and combing through old toys and games that I saved for my children surprised me by having the power to evoke both memories and positive emotions.
Do you see The Electric Girl ever being made into a movie? I have a very clear picture of the story in my mind, mostly because I used my hometown of Vernon, BC for the real-world side of things.
If The Electric Girl could become a movie, I’d like to see it done with as much historical authenticity as possible. I tried my absolute best to make my readers feel like they’ve been drawn into 1988. So that’s what I’d want from a movie as well.
But at the end of the day, I’m a pragmatist at heart. I used to indulge in daydreams about one of my novels getting an upgrade to film format. Now, 40-something me knows it’s not very likely, so I don’t think about it as much.
To keep the retro 80s fun going, Christine has put together a playlist including a handful of songs and bands mentioned in the story.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Oibmyx7Wmu9X1vFPOPQgd
