Finishing a Long Series – Guest Post by Author, Charles Yallowitz…

Posted on by Chris The Story Reading Ape

Thank you to the Storyreading Ape for letting me be a guest and helping me promote Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age. After 19 years of writing, editing, outlining, and toiling, my big fantasy adventure series comes to an end. I no longer wake up ready to write about Luke Callindor’s latest obstacle or how Nyx is worried that her family is about to get destroyed. I’ve given Fizzle his last apple and Timoran Wrath his last bottle of Ifrit mead. Yeah, this is fairly melodramatic, but these characters have been a part of my life longer for nearly two decades. Is it odd that part of me wishes I held out long enough to make it for an even 20?

Dwelling on the recent past makes me think back to the beginning where I never considered it would end. I had plenty of other stories to work on, but Legends of Windemere was the first and biggest. Even though I’d always planned for this series to also set up the world where many of my other stories will take place, I kind of thought it would go on for most of my life. So, there’s still a sense of denial that I find myself falling into. Almost like this is a dream and I’ll wake up with one more volume to write. I have a loosely connected spinoff that I was going to write for next summer, but that’s not the same. Funny thing is that I’ve already started working on my next series and this one is lingering. Maybe there will always be a part of me that never fully let’s go. That makes sense considering how long I worked on this series. It’s a comfort zone that I escaped to when I reality got too rough.

The truth of the situation is that I know very well that Legends of Windemere couldn’t go on forever. With long series, you run the risk of going stale before the end. It’s unavoidable because you’re carrying the same characters through the books with only some changes to the roster. Only so many times you can knock a hero down and have them rise or have a villain fail before they plateau. My goal was to make sure every character had at least one book that gave them the spotlight. I accomplished that and going beyond would have been nothing more than me refusing to accept reality; Baron Kernaghan and the champions needed to meet and battle to the death. It was time to let go and no amount of procrastinating could stop that. Not only for my own progress, but for my characters. Since I look at them as my mental children, I couldn’t let them keep fighting or staying in limbo. They deserved to retire just as much as I deserved to move on to other casts and adventures.

Am I excited to get it done and move on? Yes and a little scared, but I think I found a way around most of the inner turmoil. Aside from that spinoff I have planned for the future, the surviving characters can still be used in some capacity. My next series takes place prior to Legends of Windemere, but many of the others involve new heroes that are populating what the people of Windemere are calling the Age of Heroes. The champions can act as mentors, be run into for a cameo, and come up in conversation, so they won’t really be gone for good. It’s like how we talk about the heroes of our world even after they’re gone or retired. The champions are famous figures, which means I can’t leave them entirely on the shelf. They probably won’t have another adventure, but they still have a purpose. This helps put my mind at ease about putting a bow on this series and creates more of a foundation for what I plan on doing next. Still, I might need a few weeks of wandering in a daze and reading over my old notes.

Again, I want to thank the Storyreading Ape for letting me be a guest and for everything he does to help authors like me. It’s always appreciated. Please check out Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age and witness the end of one era and the beginning of another.

Author Bio & Social Media

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 his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere.

He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you, and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.

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All cover art done by JASON PEDERSEN

Catch the rest of the LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE on Amazon!

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34 thoughts on “Finishing a Long Series – Guest Post by Author, Charles Yallowitz…”

  8. Quite an accomplishment, Charles!. I like that you let every character have their own book before wrapping things up. And I know how attached one can get to one’s characters. “Mental children” is a good way to describe it.

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      • You are right Charles, with some characters there’s just no way to tell the story without creating a long series and letting each main character have their own book because the characters will appear flat and one dimension if the primary protagonists interact only with each other. Congrats, I can tell you, there are still fans of long series out there. 🙂

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        • Exactly. Since this was an ensemble story, a book to highlight each hero feels like a necessity. Otherwise, one or two will overshadow the others, which makes future events that shine on them feel off. Supporting characters don’t get the big victories, so you have to put extra effort in to make it clear that the heroes are on equal footing. Not sure I’ll be doing a series like that again. Was pretty exhausting.

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