Is There a Point in Character Bios? – Written By Charles Yallowitz

On the ‘Legends of Windemere’ blog, Charles Yallowitz published an interesting view on character bios. Thanks a lot for this post, Charles!

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I can already hear at least once pantser preparing to explain why they don’t do this.  If it helps, person with fingers at the ready, you’re right.  Character biographies don’t work for everyone.  They aren’t even universal because everyone has their own way of doing them because every author has different needs.  Some even change from story to story or as our own skills grow.  I know that I’ve been all over the map as you’re about to see.

Character bios are where I started since tabletop games were my first inspiration alongside fantasy books.  This resulted in my originals being more about numbers stats and basics instead of depth.  I had hair, eyes, height, weight, skin, and physical attributes with very little variety.  I couldn’t tell you what the real difference between a 4 and 5 in strength really was.  A 1-5 ranking was probably a dumb choice.

CONTINUE READING HERE

The Binge-Worthy Book Festival Week 1! – Written By Charles Yallowitz

Charles Yallowitz, owner of ‘The Legends of Windemere’ blog, informs us about ‘The Binge-Worthy Book Festival. Thank you, Charles!

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As I mentioned on my Saturday post, N.N. Light is hosting a Binge-Worthy Book Festival through the month of August.  Every weekday will have a new set of authors.  Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero is on for today alongside others of various genres.  It’s a great selection, so I recommend checking it every day.  There are contests you can enter as well.

Click here for the  Festival!

Clicker here for the Rafflecopter!

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The Legends Of Windemere – Charles Yallowitz – Physical Description Posts

Charles Yallowitz published two blog posts about the difficulties of physical descriptions on his ‘The Legends of Windemere’ blog. I decided both are worth sharing. And here they are. Thank you very much, Charles!

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The Physical Description: A Necessary & Surprisingly Difficult Piece

I think we can take this for granted.  Physical descriptions come off a little like a ‘duh’ concept.  We need to know what our characters look like to some extent.  Otherwise, every reader gets their own visual with no similarities.  Not necessarily a bad thing until people begin fighting over it.  You also lose a dimension if you avoid it entirely.  Yes, we have a personality, actions, and words, but there can be a sense of lacking if we don’t have even a basic appearance.  This goes for places too, but we’re going to focus on characters for this week.  So, why is this?

Readers have these things called the five senses . . . Oh, that’s going too far back into the details.  We all know this.  We also know that an author should try very hard to hit as many of them as possible.  This is much easier…

CONTINUE READING HERE

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Questions 3: How Do You Describe the Physical?

It’s been a week with a topic that was more difficult than I expected.  You would think doing a physical description is basic and easy.  It’s part of a foundation for a character and a story when your goal is to create an image in the reader’s head.  Everyone has their own opinion and strategy.  So, let’s not beat around the bush and end the week by opening the floor:

1. How important is physical description to you as an author?
2. What tip would you have for a new author struggling with this?
3. What is the funniest thing you’ve done with a physical description?  (This can be accidental or on purpose. For me, it would be the switching eye color on Luke Callindor.)

CONTINUE READING HERE

 

Should You Know Your Ending? – Written By Charles Yallowitz

Charles Yallowitz of the ‘Legends Of Windermere’ blog provides us with an excellent blog post posing the question if we should know the ending of our book. Thanks a lot, Charles!

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I’m pretty sure a lot of people are going to disagree with this sentiment. The path of the pantser if fairly common. Not the way I do things, but I’ve run into many who simply fly into a story to see where it goes. There could be an ending in mind or it could just be a beginning or middle that they have. One thing I can be sure of is that it differs from person to person. Then again, I’m a severe plotter, so I shouldn’t speak as if I understand the other side of the pasture.

While I don’t come up with my endings first, I do like to have them in mind before I start writing. This helps me keep things on track and avoid running the story into a brick wall or minefield. Some would say that the downside is that your writing becomes too linear and dull because you remove the chaos of creation. I can see how you can come to that conclusion, but deciding on the ending doesn’t mean you know how you’re going to get there. Most of my books had the finale planned out, but I only had a general idea of how to get there. That goes for chapter and book endings. Probably why I had the outlines and still had that excitement of not really knowing what will happen.

To read the entire blog post go to:

Should You Know Your Ending?

7 Tips to Ending a Series: Buy Stock in Tissues

Charles Yallowitz provides us with 7 tips to ending a series which to me is an extremely important and interesting post to read since I am currently writing on a series. Thank you very much Charles

Legends of Windemere

Looney Tunes

It isn’t easy coming to the end, which is something I’ve certainly been saying since I finished writing Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age.  So, let’s go over some tips for those that are coming up on the same milestone.  Warning:  There is no promise of tips working because every journey is different.  If there are any failures, we will assign you the proper scapegoat for free.

1. Actually have an ending.  I know it sounds strange, but there series out there with nothing.  The whole thing simply ends with no real conclusion as if the author simply feel asleep on a comfy pillow.  You might think it’s done, but everyone else is waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Even if it isn’t a final battle, at least show the hero realizing they left a wild boar in the crock pot and should probably see…

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A Brief Guide To A Fantasy Arsenal

Nicholas Rossis, ‘in cooperation’ with Charles E. Yallowitz provides us with this amazing list of weapons for fantasy writers. (Being a writer of paranormal romance I might profit too!). Thanks so much, Nicholas and Charles!

Nicholas C. Rossis

I hosted the other day a guest post by my author friend, Charles E. Yallowitz, but today I’m sharing his excellent series of posts he has written on fantasy (Medieval) arsenal. Charles has recently shared posts on the types of swords, shields, and projectile weapons used in fantasy (and inspired by real-life Medieval and ancient weapons). I hope he continues this series, as it’s a great resource for all of us fantasy writers (by the way, if you haven’t checked out his blog yet, you should do so for his great tips on writing rounded characters, his fun fantasy short stories and a lot more).

So, let’s start with that staple of fantasy…

Swords

Here is what I’ve been able to find out about swords:

Two-handed swords

• the European longsword, popular in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
• the Scottish late medieval claymore (not to be…

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7 Dating Tips from Delvin

If you EVER need dating tips, ask Charles Yallowitz where to find Delvin… So much fun!

Legends of Windemere

Art by Jason Pedersen

We asked an expert to swing by and give some tips for putting romance into another genre.  He made a wrong turn and ended up in the Bedlam series, so now we’re stuck with Delvin.  Take it away, Mercenary Prince.

1. Always remember their name.  Seriously, nothing will get you hit quicker than saying the wrong name.  In fact, you’re probably in a bad spot if you have to juggle so many women.  That’s how you get beaten in an alley by a mob of angry women.  Totally justifiable, which is why I avoid this situation.  That and I’m a one woman type of guy.  I have a specific . . . is it getting hot in here?
2. This tip is a little tricky.  You can compliment other women, but be careful with how you do it.  Going too far will get you in trouble with…

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