Storm Chaser? Not Me? by Helen Henderson

 

Windmaster Legend by Helen Henderson
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For many years at every conference, lecture, and workshop I attended, the most often preached guidance was "Tell a good story." With "Write what you know," so close a second that it was just as often in first place as second.

While I have written tales based in the past and say I like to fly with dragons or hang with mages, I'm sorry to admit that in reality I don't. Research helps as does my imagination. But that isn't really knowing. So add "experienced" to part of the definition of knowing and it is easier to follow the rule. 

One setting (or event) that both myself and my characters have experienced is a storm.

Blizzards from my childhood and later years provided the inspiration for the sandstorm that trapped a character in a cave in Windmaster Golem.  

Winds howled outside the cave. Just beyond the entrance, columns of sand wheeled and pirouetted. Relliq watched the otherworldly dance. Anger mingled with dread. Desert storms were known to last for days. Some lasted season after season until the dunes swallowed up entire cities.

The characters in my current work in progress have to survive a different type of storm -- a tornado. When I started writing the scene my personal experience was primarily with blizzards, thunderstorms, and hurricanes. Superstorm Sandy was front and center in my memory as I didn't live that far from where she made landfall and had just finished archiving the photographs of its aftermath.

Although I now live in what is called the Dixie Tornado Alley, my experience with tornados was limited to local news coverage of the Christmas Eve tornado in Mississippi and  our town warning sirens going off whenever the national weather service issues a tornado alert for our county.  After the first alert and two hours of "wall to wall" non-stop reporting with the storms going farther south, not much thought was given them on later alerts. Then came Mother Day 2021. 

 

The local news broke into regular programming with details of a tornado sighted in our town and the warning to immediately go to our safe room. My husband got out a map and started tracking the tornadoes path by the roads announced. After I put my mother in an inside room, I alternated between a sky watch and the  news with its minute by minute radar reports. Luckily the tornado didn't zig right towards my side of town and dissipated before reaching an apartment complex and the three nearby schools.

 

Considering the weather events experienced in the world of Windmaster will I become a storm chaser in my real life? After the excitement of what could have been a close encounter with a tornado, my answer is an emphatic "No."

 

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination. 

Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter or Website.

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who has adopted her as one the pack. 

 

Research is Fun and Games by Helen Henderson

 

Windmaster by Helen Henderson
Click the cover for purchase information.

Long before my first published novel or byline in a magazine, history held a special fascination. Now I admit while there is a convenience to the Internet, it comes with challenges. One is validating the accuracy of the information. Another is the time sink. One fact leads to another of even more interest. Open another site while you're there and that single click becomes two or three or four and more hours lost.

Then there is the information itself. Is the source knowledgeable? Is the information from the era or written many years later? When teaching seminars on research techniques I also recommend noting whether the material is primary material that is newly available such as a recent transcription making it available on the internet or is the information simply a rehash of a rehash. Diaries written as events happen provide a unique insight into the world and perceptions of the time.

Since I admit a fondness for books, you might think libraries are a favorite research site. And while I have spent hours (actually days) at the New York City Public Library, the Alexander Library of Rutgers University, and the Library of Congress, my favorite means of gathering information for settings or characters is in-person. Over the years I've ridden on horseback with a saddle, bareback, or with a blanket. Summers were passed with target practice with bow and arrow, rifle,and hatchet. No, I am not one of those firing the cannon. My firearm experience is with more contemporary weapons, not those that use black powder.

 

I have donned period garb and mingled with Revolutionary War and Civil War reenactors to immerse myself in those times. To help stay in tune with the events, a wicker basket concealed my notebook and contemporary camera. For a different perspective I've participated in archaeological digs at  Revolutionary War battlefields and a Civil War Training Ground.

Wearing fatigues and combat boots, I rode a jeep as a journalist embedded with a column of restored World War II military vehicles. The trip started when I reported to the airfield. The guard on duty telephoned "headquarters." A few minutes later, a soldier rode up on a restored WW II bicycle with my "orders." At that point I knew things were going to be interesting as I was told to muster in uniform  and report to a jeep in the middle of the column. I was in essence transported to the 1940s.

That was not the only time I felt I was in another era. Now to set the scene. You are standing beneath the wing of a B-17 bomber, surrounded by men and women in uniform. The swing and big band music being broadcast over the loudspeakers stops mid-note. “Pearl Harbor has just been bombed,” echoes over the tarmac. Even after the crowd of thousands realized it was a replay of a broadcast from December 7th, 1941, they remained in attentive silence, many rubbing goose bumps from their arms. As a side note, I had a similar reaction years later when I stood on the boardwalk near where I lived and saw the twin towers shrouded in smoke.

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The storyline and setting for one  short story came from walking a reenactor camp after the public had left for the day. The eerie notes of "Taps" floating over a fog-filled field that just hours before had the sounds of battle created the impression that an ethereal bugler is summoning the souls of those who died on that hallowed ground centuries before.

~ Off to research a new work. Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination. Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter.
 

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky and a feisty who have adopted her as one of their pack.

Continuity by Helen Henderson

Windmaster Golem by Helen Henderson
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The original inspiration for the title was the post,  My Grandmother by J. Q. Rose. It was expanded with the approach of the holiday season and the reflections and traditions that come with it. In many ways, I can blame (oops, I mean credit) my heritage for my writing in the fantasy genre. My mother and both grandmothers taught me a love of reading. I grew up knowing the simple life of a farm and my favorite hangout was the county library. Yet I had the contrast of technology due to the aviation flight crew career of my father.

The past may give way to the present and form the basis for continuity into the future, but not always. My one grandmother was a skilled seamstress. However that particular talent skipped not one, but two generations on one branch of the family tree. As you read through my books you might notice that I don't focus on food. Grammy B gave us her Old World recipes. While there have been many attempts over the years to re-create her halupka (filled cabbage), some dishes, especially lokse and pierogies just don't measure up. So in my writing I turned to another part of my heritage and the themes of duty and honor due to my kin (and kin-in-laws) who served in uniform from the Civil War to the present time.

A heritage recipee- Lokse

 

A question I worry about when writing these posts is not only sharing too much personal information, but also too much about my books, an issue with a series. Sometimes the characters can seem as real as the person next door. They have their own lives and family history and possibly their own version of continuity. However, their full story can give away a book's ending.

To celebrate the release of Windmaster Golem, let me introduce Kiansel, the lovely lady on the cover at the beginning of the post. I first heard of her when her father sent her away to protect her from the attention of the leader of the false oracle's mercenary troops. Now years (and books later,) she is an instructor at the Temple of Givneh, which is now led by her brother.

And for the future? Magic calls Kia with its siren lure. She has an intolerable decision for to study the Way of magic, means abandoning her heritage, her family, and rejecting the teachings of the temple. I don't like spoilers, so I'm not telling what the future holds.

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
 

Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter.
 

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky and a feisty who have adopted her as one of their pack.

Hail and Farewell by Helen Henderson

Windmaster Golem by Helen Henderson
Click the cover for purchase information.

 
First I want to say that although the title traditionally applies to someone leaving, that is not really the case. The hail and farewell is to Captain Ellspeth, Lord Dal, and the other characters who I have lived with for many years. With the publication of Windmaster Golem this month, the tale of the Windmaster Novels is over. At least if the characters agree to do so. Let me just say they have not always been cooperative.

As a reader, I love series. Even if no new stories are written, I still have the option of going back, re-reading the tales, and visiting with characters and their world. Things are different as an author. Even though I can technically go back and reread the tales, the special connection that exists between author and characters during the writing process breaks, or at the very least slowly dissipates into non-existence.

I first met Ellspeth as the captain of Sea Falcon. The visit turned interesting when she hired the archmage, Dal, to help unload her cargo. Their adventures continued in Windmaster Legacy. At that time, I thought the series was complete. Then on a clear, star-filled night, two bright lights caught my attention. They reminded me of the legend of of the star-crossed lovers, Pelra and Iol, and I realized there was unfinished business so I chronicled their story. Eventually Dal and Ellspeth said I needed to acknowledge their friends, Kiansel and Brodie. So that I wouln't get on the bad side of two powerful mages, I fulfilled their request.

There has been scientific evidence that when a book is complete, an author can feel the loss as we say goodbye to friends we have lived with for months, years, or sometimes even decades. The emotion can be even stronger when it is a series of books and we know we will never visit the time and place in the same way.

There is one way to help ease the transition ... Start a new book.

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

 

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter.

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky and a feisty who have adopted her as one of their pack.

Favorite Things by Helen Henderson

Windmaster by Helen Henderson

Click the cover for purchase information

Greetings from Tennessee. I am Helen Henderson and pleased to be the newest contributor to the BWL Blog. Since it has been some time since I was a guest here, I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce myself. A question often asked a writer is when did you first put pen to paper. I won't state the number of years but will just say I've been a storyteller of some shape or form for quite a while. Another authorial hat that is worth mentioning are the local histories and the collection of feature articles under my byline on a wide range of topics including military history and weapons,  archaeology, and antiques. Throw in some museum work and I blame my background not only for a focus on fantasy, but for making the worlds come alive.

Which brings me to the covers from the fantasy romance series, the Windmaster Novels. I love the impression of action and adventure they present. (Special thanks to Michelle Lee for creating them.) I have sailed (notice, I said sailed, not crewed) on a sailboat. And the desert temple inspired by Petra in Windmaster Legacy calls to the historic side of my soul.

There is another story set in the world of Windmaster, however I've stayed with Windmaster and Windmaster Legacy for two reasons. Both deal with the tales of Captain Ellspeth and the archmage, Lord Dal. Their adventures continue in October with the release of Windmaster Golem where a new generation takes over the task of saving the future of magic.

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter.
Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky and a feisty who have adopted her as one of their pack.