I finished Camp NaNoWriMo. This time I did not have the satisfaction than I normally have. I am toying around with incorporating the undead and werewolves into my story. However I am not going to do it though until I know I am going to do justice to the characters. Placing undead creatures and necromancy in a fantasy setting is a difficult thing to do. You are essentially incorporating two genres. It does not matter that tales and myths of werewolves existed during medieval times. I am not going to have an evil presence flow through the land turning everything in its path into zombies. That idea has been overdone. I have not started the latest season of Game of Thrones but this concept flows through the nightwalkers. The difference though is that it is done in a more complicated and classy manner.

So far the only memorable cross genre episode that has done justice to werewolves is in Doctor WHO: Tooth and Claw. Of course Werewolves are creatures of the night rather than undead. Apart from that the only other fantasy book that has done an excellent job is Stephen Aryan’s Age of Darkness trilogy. Raymond Feist has done a decent job but his attempts in his later books essentially spoilt his initial work.

I have epilepsy and one of the the things that I want to do in my book is raise awareness of this issue. I support using cannabis for people with epilepsy as long as traditional medicines do not work. This is where my problem lies. I made my character that has epilepsy a herbalist. Unfortunately of all my characters; this character seems to be most suited to be a werewolf. Therein lies my dilemma. Making that character a werewolf will be counterproductive. As it is people are ignorant about epilepsy. Making an epileptic character in my book a werewolf will probably just add to it.

I like setting benchmarks. This is probably because I am an investment analyst. My benchmark for undead creatures or creatures of the night is clear. It should equal or better the way Stephen Aryan has portrayed them. I have experimented with various ideas regarding werewolves and vampires but so far I have yet to write an idea that I am satisfied with. I will keep trying and I hope I will be able to write something that is good sooner rather than later. I think I may take a small break and start reading his Age of Dread series.

I look forward to your comments and would love to hear any thoughts that you may have about placing creatures of the night in a high fantasy setting.