Check This Out: War of Nytefall—Rivalry

Thank you to L. Marie for being a great host and helping me promote my newest book, War of Nytefall: Rivalry. This is the third volume of my vampire action-adventure series, which takes place in the same world as Legends of Windemere. Okay, I think I covered the promo bases, so let’s get to the meaty stuff. Wait . . . My name is Charles E. Yallowitz. Knew I forgot to introduce myself. Oops.

The overarching story in War of Nytefall involves the Vampire Civil War that takes place right after the Great Cataclysm. During this global disaster, a vampire named Clyde is about to be executed by the followers of the Sun God. Magic is going haywire, so their spells actually turn him into a new species. Unlike the old-world vampires, Clyde and his “children” don’t lose their strength in the sun, they possess heartbeats, can eat regular food, and each has a triad of powers in place of the ability to cast magic. Since his blood can turn old-world vampires into what are called Dawn Fangs, Clyde sets off a war with those who consider him an abomination and a threat to their society. Every volume touches on a different event of this lengthy, but slow-moving war that happens in the shadow of Windemere. It’s the old-world vampires versus the Dawn Fangs . . . most of the time.

A twist in War of Nytefall: Rivalry is that someone has shown up to threaten both sides. The Vampire Queen has been a rumor for centuries, but has revealed her existence by kidnapping the leaders of both factions. Her intention is to choose a Vampire King from the strongest of their species and then conquer the world. Well, there’s another goal, but that’s more personal. Either way, she has turned herself into a common enemy of the old-world vampires and the Dawn Fangs. This isn’t an easy thing to write about considering the characters, especially Clyde, have monstrous tendencies towards violence and grudges. Why wouldn’t he just take out his most hated enemy, Xavier Tempest, and deal with the Vampire Queen later? Taking out the leader of the old-world vampires would end the war and give him victory. So, how does this story even work while keeping the war going to the next volume?

       

Mostly, this comes down to Clyde not being a reckless idiot. Yes, he’s the strongest vampire and hasn’t lost a fight. His confidence and brutality are incredibly high, so he could make short work of everyone around him. Yet, he doesn’t know what the Vampire Queen is capable of or if she has something else going on. Also, Clyde is a man who has always had a gang to work with, so he doesn’t even realize that there’s a discomfort towards working alone. This is why he needs Xavier on his side even if he does have the strength to win. What Clyde has in brute strength and cunning, Xavier has in magical power and intelligence. So, they actually work well as a team, which is why they used to be friends. It’s almost like they are being forced to fall into ancient habits in order to survive even though they really want to kill each other. Left alone with the Vampire Queen, neither man is sure they can survive. One could see why the war has been raging slowly for decades here because Clyde and Xavier are both cautious.

That only covers the character motivations though, and most readers will accept that if it remains in the realm of possibilities. I’ve established that these two are careful survivors, so a temporary alliance makes sense. Of course, this brings in another problem: How do I write this without making Clyde and Xavier good friends and endangering the war with a truce? If they get along so well, then you can’t really believe that they hate each other enough to continue fighting if they survive the Vampire Queen. On the other side of the coin, you need them to get along enough to work as an effective team. My answer to this came in two parts:

1. Clyde and Xavier settled for insults instead of punches. You can demonstrate that the bad blood is still there by how they talk and act. Maybe they don’t really try to protect each other from harm, but only step in to prevent death. Insulting names instead of real ones is an option. There has to be at least some animosity that can grow as the climax nears since stress can make them more hostile to each other.

2. I accepted that they might mellow out a bit in regards to the hate. This is something I considered while planning this story. It wasn’t something I liked, but I knew it was a strong possibility. Hard to truly hate a man who you just survived an ordeal with. This is why I had to come up with an event that will reignite the hate in a later book. Xavier and Clyde do accept that they cannot coexist and will continue the war if they survive, so they’ll need another push. A real nasty one too.

I have to admit that this was probably the hardest aspect of the book. Putting everything else together was a cinch, but I had to keep an eye on the overall story. You see in many stories that enemies will unite against a common threat, so I did some research. A big part of this was seeing what not to do because it didn’t make sense. Won’t say what that is because of spoilers, but this one part really did take up a lot of my attention. It even forced a few outline rewrites because Clyde and Xavier were getting too chummy. Needless to say, I’m happy with how this shaky alliance has come out, but I’m also nervous. One false move on something like this and I’ll have to rethink the future. Part of the job though.

Hope everyone enjoyed this post. Catch you in the comments and check out War of Nytefall: Rivalry on Amazon!

About the Author

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn’t working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. Truthfully, his tales of adventure are much more interesting than his real life, so skip the bio and dive into the action.

Blog: www.legendsofwindemere.com
Twitter: @cyallowitz
Website: www.charleseyallowitz.com

L. Marie here. Comment below to be entered into the drawing for a copy of War of Nytefall: Rivalry. Winner to be announced on April 10. Double post this week, y’all.

Covers and author photo courtesy of Charles Yallowitz.

Building a Unicorn

Over the past year or so I’ve bought or been given unicorns by friends.

    

Just writing that statement makes me laugh because it sounds so ridiculous—or would have if you and I were talking on the phone and you did not see the above photos. It sounds like, “Yes, I own some unicorns. They’re parked out back.”

Lately, I’ve been crocheting a unicorn for a little girl’s unicorn-themed birthday party. The pattern was designed by ChiWei at OneDogWoof. You can find her blog here.

First, you crochet the head, then the ears, and the alicorn (what the horn was called way back when).

Next comes the body, which takes almost twice as long as the head, then the legs and hooves (both thankfully crocheted in one piece).

   

Lastly, you have to crochet the tail (made of multiple curlicues) and cut strands of yarn for the mane. I chose this yarn. A unicorn must have a rainbow tail and mane.

   

Once all of the pieces are crocheted, I have to build the unicorn—at least that’s what I think of the assembly process, which involves a lot of whip stitching to keep the pieces together.

It’s sort of like the process of writing a story with a unicorn as a character. Okay. I see that look. You’re thinking these processes are very different. But character building of any sort involves putting pieces together: characteristics of people you know, characteristics from your imagination; quirks of your character that affect relationships with other characters; dialects shaped by the setting; etc.

I have loved unicorns since I was a kid. I wrote a fairy tale about unicorns probably twenty years ago for my own amusement. But that was then and this is now. When I made the decision to include unicorns in a more recent novel, I did some research.

Maybe you wonder why I would bother. Aren’t unicorns pretty standard? Though they come from the mythology of many countries, they all seem to heal with the horn on their head and seem ethereal. Well, the thought of writing about a “typical” unicorn, one like cream floating on a breeze, offering a healing touch without saying or doing anything else, was not very inviting. I wanted to write about unicorns that had more personality.

I read books by Diana Peterfreund who has a killer unicorn series for young adults. Not killer in the slang sense of “That dress is killer,” but in the sense of “those unicorns kill people.” You can find details about it here.

I also read this series (photos below), which has more books than just the ones shown here. I love one snippy warrior unicorn character who demanded vows of service from people in exchange for assistance. So much for giving away free stuff like healing. I love a feisty unicorn.

   

Well, I’d better get back to getting the mane situated on this unicorn. It’s going to take awhile. (The unicorn might look small on the photo. But it is about 15 inches tall.)

What do you think of unicorns? Do you like to read stories about them? Are you indifferent to them? Please share your thoughts below.

Rampant book cover from Goodreads. Other photos by L. Marie.

Guest Post: Chosen for Greatness

Whoowee! I can relax in this here comfy chair, since Charles Yallowitz is guest posting today. Please take it away, Charles, while I have something cool to drink and put my feet up.

Thank you to L. Marie for helping to promote the first book of my fantasy series, Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero. It’s been out since 2013, but I’ve made it permanently free to help get people into the series. All of that is beside the point since I’m here to talk about the Chosen One trope. You know that character destined to destroy an evil villain and has everything handed to him? Well, that’s the lazy way to do it. Let me explain how I did it and use poor Luke Callindor as an example. He’s the half-elven warrior you see on the cover and he’s not nearly as shiny these days.

Authors who use the Chosen One template have to be careful and avoid the trap that has people hating this thing. That trap is having the hero destined to DEFEAT the obstacle. For example, Harry Potter was destined to defeat Voldemort. There is no ambiguity there. His path is to win the fight no matter what. Chosen Ones of this school worked way back when, because people didn’t want their heroes to lose. Times have changed and people don’t always want the victory to be handed to the Chosen One.

In Legends of Windemere, six champions have been crafted by the Destiny God to face an ancient evil. Not win, but merely face the villain. The god admits that he can only lead them to the final battle and the victory is entirely in their hands. There isn’t even a promise that they will get there in one piece or all of them will survive. In fact, it’s mentioned that the heroes will reach the final battle “in some form” and one of them has to die. So here you have multiple Chosen Ones continuing on with the knowledge that one of them doesn’t have a future beyond the big battle. That’s if they win anyway.

This addition makes the Chosen One trope more like a curse, which is how it should be from some perspectives. Luke Callindor starts the series as a young warrior looking for his first adventure. He takes beatings, nearly dies multiple times, and has his ego brutalized all in the first book. This is before he learns that he is destined for greatness. When that happens, things get even worse for him. Powerful creatures are out to kill and torture him and terrifying powers are offered to him. A Chosen One really shouldn’t step into the role and carry on like it’s a natural thing. They’re simply humans with a great story to tell and a big target on their backsides. Luke has doubts, fears, and comes close to breaking so often that a few readers have dubbed him weak. They haven’t even seen the worst that happens to him.

I think we forget the downside to being hoisted above the crowd when we read or write about Chosen Ones. Those characters are exposed and targeted because the villains always know they’re coming. Loved ones are in danger and those who aren’t chosen may become resentful enough to turn into enemies. There is no flexibility of path and they can’t think too much about the future since they are a pre-written story to some extent. All of this can create some level of anguish or distance for the character. Without that, the heroes are empty and can come off as arrogant.

So, should the Chosen One trope be retired? No, because it isn’t really any different than being born with natural talent. I’ve met artists like that and it isn’t always pretty. Instead, maybe authors should make it less of an honor and more of a Sword of Damocles. Personally, I don’t think a Chosen One should reach the end of the road without baggage, scars, and being less shiny than they were at the beginning. For example, quality of movies aside, Neo in The Matrix lost a lot before he came to the end. That’s what I’m hoping to do with my champions if they win the final battle. The survivors will not be getting away clean and become symbols that being a Chosen One isn’t as great as one would think.

Cover art by Jason Pedersen

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 Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn’t working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. Legends of Windemere is his first series, but it certainly won’t be his last.

Harry Potter and Voldemort from blog.wordnik.com. Beginnings of a Hero cover courtesy of the author. Keanu Reeves as Neo from 21stcenturywire.com. Target on back from peacebringer7.wordpress.com. Comfy Chair Shopkins figure photo by L. Marie.