Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A Novel idea

So I'm writing a book, well I've been writing it for the past two years. It started at a Sci-Fi convention. One of the authors, a friend of mine asked those of us on the committee if any of us would be interested in writing some short stories for a collection from the convention.  We said yes and Sci-Fi From The Rock got published.



For my part, I created a story with the classic Vampire vs. Werewolf angle and Legacy Of The Full Moon was born. It turned out well and got good reviews and led to a sequel, Vengeance Of The Full Moon. I kept my two main characters, Frank Kennington and Ryan Murphy and decided to try and put together the story of how Ryan became a Vampire. Yeah my main character is a Vampire, but a classic one, not one of those emo, pseudo-vampire wannabes that books and movies are filled with these days. Ryan harkens back to characters like Barnabas Collins, Jander Sunstar and Nick Knight.

I crafted a world where the monsters are real, things do go bump in the night and Vampires are legal citizens. I also point out that I did that before I, or the world knew about Sookie Stackhouse, trying to figure out how to make them legal was not an easy task either. None of this synthetic blood either, willing donors or blood banks work just fine in my world.

Anyway, after two short stories, one with Ryan as the focus and one with Frank as the focus, I decided to write the story of how Ryan became a Vampire. It started with creating his sire, Kenna Moore. I created her to be a quick note in the book, meant to have one scene and then get killed all within one chapter.  Problem is the more I developed her, the more I wanted to keep her around as an antagonist/big bad for the boys to face off with. Now I'm at the point I don't know where to go or how to proceed with the story. I'm at a lull in the action and I've got to get to the next action beat.  Putting in the non action in the middle is where I'm stuck. Dialogue and exposition and minutia are slowing me down and causing roadblocks.

If that wasn't confusing enough, I have a second, side story developing that I have even less of an idea about or the direction that it's taking. At the beginning of every chapter I have hints about a larger event coming together, a quick description of something starting to stir, things ready to happen. The strange thing is, at least to me, when I write those parts it's almost automatic. There's no conscious thought from me to direct how that's going to unfold, it just seems to start working out on its own.

I've got the four parts of that unfolding story copied here, partly to put them in the open and partly for me to see them all laid out close together and hopefully see the next step that I'm going to take with them.

Something was waiting in the darkness. Something old, older than time, older than the darkness itself. It had been waiting when there was nothing, and it watched as the universe came into being. It watched as galaxies were created and worlds were formed, and it waited. Decades turned into centuries, centuries turned into eons and still it waited. Nothing lasts forever though, and on one tiny planet in one little corner of the galaxy, events were unfolding that could shake the pillars of creation. And in the darkness, something was beginning to stir....

​Patience is a virtue they say, but could something devoid of virtue have patience? It waited because it had been content to do so, to watch nothing become everything and become nothing again. The cycle repeated countless times and would continue for countless more, and through all of those changes it had been the only constant. But now there was no more contentment in watching, there was a growing need to act, to influence events. To become both cause and effect and relish the resulting terror and chaos. The need was there and it was growing, the time was not right yet to act, but it soon would be....

Hunger is a powerful force. Hunger is an incredible need. Hunger divides groups into hunter and prey. But there are different types of hunger. There is the hunger sustenance, the hunger for knowledge, the hunger for power and many many more. The different hungers started to gnaw away at it from the inside. It needed to feed, it needed to learn, most of all it needed power. In the time before time it's power had been absolute, but now it held just a fraction of that power, much had been lost. These hungers would only be ignored for so long before they became unbearable. Soon the hunters and the prey would start to take notice that things were changing. The darkness they each relied on for concealment and safety was changing. Soon they would take notice that the darkness was also hungry....

Fear, everyone knows it, everyone feels it at some point. From the hooker turning her first trick to the mouse sneaking past the sleeping cat. Fear, we evolved it as an early warning system, an alarm that danger is near. It heightens our senses, puts us on guard. We are taught not to fear the darkness, but to be wary of what may be concealed within. Hunters learned to use the darkness to hide their movements while stalking prey. Some even take comfort in the darkness, finding solace in the shadow after the harsh light of day. But now that is all starting to change. Darkness is no longer safe. Hunters are on their guard, prey is now terrified and everyone is starting to flock to the light. Fear is no longer about what is hiding in the shadows, it is now a fear of the shadows. It is now fear of the darkness and the darkness is fear and the darkness is starting to enjoy the power it is gaining feeding off people’s fears.

That's all I've got for that so far, and the actual main story is at four chapters at this point. I'm hoping to get further, I've got to create the time to sit and concentrate on writing. I've got to get this book finished and in print. I want to see it through and I want to hold the actual book in my hands before this year is out. I'll have to see how it goes, and more importantly, what Ryan and Frank tell me they want to do next.

Later

Steve.

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