Journey with me through a magical world (Chapter 26 | Book 3)

The 27th excerpt (including Prologue) from "Do You Believe in Miracles?"

Nov 29, 2024

Each Friday, I will send you the opening paragraphs from a chapter of Do You Believe in Miracles? (book 3). I will also break down the excerpt with comments about context, themes, and conflict. Finally, I will include writing tips. Previously, I did the same for Do You Believe in Magic? (book 1) and Do You Believe in Monsters? (book 2).

Though my series is appropriate for ages 13 and older, I’m finding that readers younger than 13 — and many who are a lot older than 13 — are enjoying it.

Here is a brief synopsis of the series: When Charlie Magus enters a fantastical world hidden deep in the forest, his life is turned upside down. The timid 13-year-old transforms into a powerful wizard wielding formidable powers.

Below are the opening paragraphs of Chapter 26 of book 3. My author’s breakdown follows this short segment, though it would be great if you checked out my promotional notes at the bottom.

Spoiler alert: This excerpt unavoidably contains spoilers. Don’t read any further if this is a concern.

Context: Let the celebration begin.

CHAPTER 26 — RETURN TO SHIMA-SHI
A thunderous ovation greeted them.
When Charlie stepped out of the portal into the main courtyard of Shima-Shi, tens of thousands of warriors, citizens, and even guests from faraway places chanted excitedly.
“CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE!”
Besides his ears taking a beating, bright sunlight blasted his eyes. It was morning on a flawless day, the nineteenth day since he had returned to Pacchann. The battle in the catacombs of Kar-Pathu had taken an entire night. It was then that Charlie realized just how exhausted he was. He wondered if the dark circles beneath his eyes were back, though at this point he didn’t care. Joy washed over him and swept away his weariness. They had done it! They had won. Zola, his mom, his dad, Virgil, Garrick, Blue … everyone! … were safe. The Niddukk was destroyed.
When Charlie did finally have time to sleep, he would never have to worry about nightmares again. At least the kind that could kill you.
But as tired as he was, he didn’t feel like sleeping now. He felt like celebrating.
Zola ran to him and hugged him. Then she kissed him once lightly on the lips. “Charlie … we’re free of him forever!”
Garrick and Kate also hugged and kissed. Their long wait was over. Their reign as king and queen could officially begin.
End of excerpt.

Themes: Celebration; victory; happy ending.

Between the lines: Are you a happy ending kind of person? (No sexual innuendo intended.) Or do you prefer some bad mixed in with the good? Or do tragically dismal endings have the most powerful effect on you?

In life, happy endings are not guaranteed (depending on your spiritual beliefs, I suppose). Even if you win the lottery and travel the world in joyous splendor, you’re still going to die one day. You can’t buy your way out of that.

But authors have the power to guarantee happy endings! When I was younger my reading tastes tended toward darkness, but as the years have passed and I’ve endured life’s rigors, I now lean toward more hopeful endings. This doesn’t mean the entire book will be all glad tidings and joy, but my endings are happier, both as a reward to my readers and to myself.

Writing tips: If your book does have a happy ending, why is it that these tend to be quite short—usually only a few pages—while the more torturous parts go on for hundreds of pages? We see this a lot in television soap operas, where it takes a man and woman a year to overcome all their roadblocks and finally get together, only to divorce a week later. Is happiness … well … kind of boring?

Happiness in real life isn’t boring, IMO. But you can make the argument that it doesn’t play well over the course of an entire book. Slapstick comedies might be able to pull this off, but even the funniest books and movies have some pathos woven into the narrative.

One of the few writers to pull off a long happy ending is my often-quoted pal J.R.R. Tolkien. But even LOTR’s extended happy ending has some tense moments.

As mentioned above, I’ve grown to favor happy endings. But should they—by necessity—be relatively short? This appears to be the case.

Past episodes of Book 3 (Do You Believe in Miracles?)

Past episodes of Book 2 (Do You Believe in Monsters?)

Past episodes of Book 1 (Do You Believe in Magic?)

Promotional notes

Dark Circles is on special promotion today through Dec. 3. The Kindle version of Do You Believe in Magic? is free. Also, Do You Believe in Monsters? is 99 cents and Do You Believe in Miracles? is $1.99. This is a great week to purchase the entire award-winning series for less than $3. So, if you’re feeling generous, please purchase all three books if for no other reason than to help boost my rankings. High rankings lead to higher sales for self-published authors. (I know a lot of people roll their eyes when they read something like that, but the marketing part of our role as authors compels us to say such things. 😀)

Thank you!!!

DARK CIRCLES (13 and older)
Book 1: Do You Believe in Magic?
Book 2: Do You Believe in Monsters?
Book 3: Do You Believe in Miracles?

All told, 27,500+ copies of books 1-3 of Dark Circles have been purchased, with an additional 117,500+ pages read on Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP).

Jim Melvin's Realms of Fantasy

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