THE WINDFALLOW CHRONICLES Q&A
BOOK I: The Great Bell

Swanson: I’ve had Melynda Leak, owner and operator of the Williamsport Day School and a Master educator, read this series and give her questions and comments. I will use these as a starting point for discussing my books.
First, let me give some background for the series.

Windfallow is a small world, created at the same time as Earth. It is totally fictitious but rules are in place – as they must be in any realistic work of fiction – and are followed throughout. At one time Earth and Windfallow were connected by easily accessible gates or openings from one world to the other. But when the first humans disobeyed their God and allowed sin to enter their world, it set in motion changes that took the humans farther and farther away from the innocence of Windfallow. Gradually, that difference created such a chasm between the worlds, that Windfallow closed the gates and no longer allowed interaction with humans.

Windfallow is close enough to the eternal plane, as they call it, that time is of little consequence. Therefore, what might pass as days or weeks on Earth would be reckoned in lifetimes on Windfallow. Fallowfolk and especially the Alari or Angels can manipulate time which is quite convenient in special events.

Some have likened Windfallow to Eden or Paradise. This may or may not be the case; the author never explains that theory. Some things are best left to the imagination of the reader.

Three species of humanoids inhabit Windfallow. The Fallowfolk are the equivalent of humans on Earth. They enjoy long life, but not eternal life. Their speech is like chiming music, but they ‘mindspeak’ to humans so their speech sounds normal in any language. They have a limited ability to time travel which grows stronger as they age.

The second species of inhabitants are Alari or the Earth equivalent of Angels. They are ageless, having been created at the beginning and given immortality. They can change size at will and are visible only to those who have the Maker’s (God’s) Spirit within them. Their most noticeable characteristic are wings, feathered and barred like those of a bird. They wear slim leggings and tunics of iridescent fabric, like the Fallowfolk, but are capable of changing into the glorious beings they actually are if necessary and during the annual Festival of the Bells.

The third species is called Mindless. These are a subspecies of fallowfolk who live in tunnels beneath the Barrier Wood that circles Windfallow at its equator. They are slow of thought, and degraded in mind and spirit from living too close to humans. Eventually, they are sealed into their tunnels and no longer allowed in Windfallow.

The most famous characteristic of Windfallow’s geography is its gemstone. Where Earth’s rocks are granite, flint, sandstone, etc., in Windfallow they are ruby, sapphire, emerald, diamond, etc. This has been used as a tool of the demons to lure humans into Windfallow trying to seduce it.
There are no oceans on Windfallow, so there is plenty of land for the population. Two great rivers encircle the globe, each in its own hemisphere. The Barrier Wood, the second most prominent feature of the landscape, encircles the equator and is impenetrable to all but the Alari who open paths through it for the Fallowfolk when needed.

Now to the Questions and comments.
Book I: The Great Bell
(Chap. 1)
LEAK: “Oh, they used to know it, but I guess they let the knowledge die out.” Will someone from Earth still know it?

Swanson: This is in reference to the gates that opened from Earth to Windfallow. At the time of Zach’s entrance, all knowledge of the gates was supposedly lost. It is not explained how the demon, Jackal, learned of the planet. That may be a subject for a later book. Zach’s entrance into Windfallow was ‘accidental’ to Zach, but the Queen tells him later that an accident in one place may be by design in another.

LEAK: Angari is an angel. What is Stilts?

Swanson: Stilts is a fallowman, an elder whose powers have grown as he aged.

LEAK: What makes them get small or grow taller? A universal law?

Swanson: This has not been explained in the books and I thought about removing it since the first book actually began as a fairytale. However, it becomes a major part of the plot later, so I’ve had to leave it in. The powers the Jackal uses in his dealings with Windfallow are never addressed. Maybe someone who reads the books will come up with an idea.

LEAK: Where does the Queen come from and why does her skin change color?

Swanson: The Kings and Queens are ordained by the Maker and can be from any of the countries on Windfallow. When they are chosen, their skins change from whatever it was in their native country to one that incorporates all the skin tones of Windfallow; especially, the Queen’s hair, which turns to snowy white, a true blend of all colors of the spectrum. The children’s skin tones remain as they were. The citizens of Windfallow have differing skin tones, similar to earth, but slightly different.

LEAK: “The Magic” Rules. Will we find out soon?

Swanson: Since I began writing this book as a fairytale, the word magic for the powers of the fallowfolk is somewhat ill conceived. I may take this term out of future versions of the book. I have already indicated that what the humans mistook as ‘magic’ was actually the inherent powers of the uncontaminated fallowfolk.

LEAK: You’ve referred to beginning this work as a fairytale. Can you explain?

SWANSON: When I began writing the Great Bell, I was simply doing an assignment I’d seen in Writer’s Digest where they suggested taking something you’d written as a dated piece and ‘bringing it into the 21st century’. I had written a standard fairytale titled, “Peter and the Enchanted Castle”. I decided to update that work. However, as I wrote, the 1500 word story became longer and more involved until I was stuck with a 15,000 word novel. It was so much fun to write that I almost immediately began on the second book, “Of Rocks and Gold”. As the books progressed, it became more and clearer to me as the author, that these stories were much more than fairytales. A mindset and rules of behavior were becoming clear and they were not fairytales, but fantasy. Fantasy based on a conflict between good and evil.
I do not write from an outline. I have something of a plot in mind as I begin and certain situations that will take place; but as I write, the characters – the world itself – begin to shape the story. I do not hold to the theory that some ‘entity’ takes over my mind and writes the story. But I do believe that we invent as we go along and the texture of the narrative holds true to the ‘rules’ we have instilled in that narrative.

LEAK: The shower/pool is really cool! How did you come up with it?

SWANSON: Well, I think the germ of the idea was planted from a book I read years ago called “No Man in Eden”, later titled “Escape from the Twisted Planet”. It described a universe where man had never sinned. Creativity had never been ‘dimmed down’ and there were all kinds of inventions. There was not a shower/pool, but my mind took a note from that book and others, such as “The Chronicles of Narnia”, the “Hobbit” books and a lot of scifi. I believe a writer has an extra capacity for taking in and storing information, ideas, experiences both personal and observed. Then when writing, that ‘mix’ swirls in a kind of holding tank and bits are retrieved and reworked, almost subconsciously, to make up a new story. Then as the words put on the page are read, the reader sifts them through his own life experiences and ‘makes up his story’.

(Chap 2)

LEAK: Where did you come up with the rule about sleeping and the bed that puts Zach to sleep?

SWANSON: As usual, I have no idea where that came from, although the time spent is again, the phenomenon of time in Windfallow. I think some of it comes from the truth we learn about God’s timelessness, ie. He has time to listen to each prayer as though it were the only one prayed; time to walk with each of us as if we were the only person on earth. In Windfallow, time serves fallowfolk, not the other way round.

LEAK: What does Sparrow look like?

SWANSON: This was not addressed in the first version. I have since added a description. // The man had a kindly appearance but also one of great strength. His chiseled features and curly black hair were more like a movie star than an alien. // this might be enlarged later.

LEAK: Are there ‘mindless’ on earth?

SWANSON: Mindless is a term used by fallowfolk to denote persons who do not have the Maker’s Spirit within them. Zach and Sparrow pick up on it and label crooks from earth with the same name.

LEAK: Who else went to earth and ‘did not return’?

SWANSON: Another one of those questions unanswered in the book. Perhaps another version or a later book will deal with it.
(Chap. 3)

LEAK: We need a map of Windfallow to which we can refer. We also need pictures of all the characters.

SWANSON: I have put maps in the ebooks, but I’m not really satisfied with them yet. They are hard to read as they are now. I may take them back to black and white and take out the lines marking the countries – something like Tolkien did in Lord of the Rings. As for pictures of the main characters; some I’ve worked on, most I’m not satisfied with. I can draw anything but people. Anyone out there want to help?

LEAK: I’m seeing the whole chapter in my mind! Wow! I can smell the horses and the soft breezes. Bravo! Want to know more! How do you write so descriptively?

SWANSON: I don’t know about other writers, but I can only describe the ‘things’ I see in my mind. Though the words come out in black and white, I am actually seeing a ‘video’ of the scenes in my head. The real work comes in trying to accurately describe those pictures.