so this is what info I have about it so far: -basically it's a love story, but has a twist of action and drama in it. -it takes place in a world where vampires "rule" humans (they're the high class while the humans are in the low class) -the vampires can only mistreat the humans in a minor way, they can't just kill them or hurt them severely for no reason. and biting a human is illegal, though some vampires still do it. (think animal cruelty) but general disrespect towards humans is socially acceptable. - the two races live in different parts of town, go to school & work separately, but when it comes to shops and things like that they're basically allowed to mingle. -any vampire can turn a human. -I want the time to be able to have cars, and electricity, but computers should be either non existent or rare. -the love story goes on between a human girl and vampire boy. -when their relationship gets discovered by the vampires, it's turned over to the media as entertainment. this helps with the campaign to combine the vampires and humans as equals I'm stuck on how to get started with it, what do you think? also, I'm not sure what time period it should be in.
Create your characters give them names, ambitions, goals, conflicts, interests. Settle on a location or setting - a schoolyard, the local abattoir, a bedroom, an airplane. Start with a problem or a choise the hero has to make or a change that has come about. Give his reactions, choices, conflict over the problem. It can be as minor as passing a pop quiz to as heavy as discovering his sister is a vampire. Your characters are your key. Their interests can help sway the story from the happenings to location - if your character is interested in kariokee - bar settings, if your character loves to fish - out door settings. The less interests and the more cardboard the character the more trouble you'll have in keeping the story going.
You would start it like every other story. Exposition - Setting the stage. All the info that you gave about this world needs to be told to the readers, but in a way that is not an info dump. This is where you get creative. Some ideas: Pick either the boy or the girl and start from their perspective. What if the human girl comes across a back-alley beat-down between a band of vampires and a helpless human? What if the boy vampire was there too? How would she feel? Maybe he isn't mean like his friends? Maybe she judges him at first? Maybe she is angry with him? What if he was part of a rich vampire family and she was poor? What if the boys family is running for office and this would ruin their chances if it was found out? There's a million storylines, you just have to get the creative juices going and start putting pen to paper! Good luck! J. J.
"It was a dark and stormy night..." Okay, seriously. Start by describing everything you can think of about the world you are writing about. That's not part of the story, that's just for you. If the time has cars and electricity but no computers, then it does. Just make sure you don't throw something into the story part way through that would require computers. Make sure your world has logical consistency to it. Then figure out who your main characters are and why. What are they like? What should the reader like about them? Dislike? That's not part of the story, either, that's for you. Then work out a basic outline - where does the story start, where does it end? What are the main characters trying to do? Why? Who is trying to stop them? Why? How? What other conflicts and stories emerge? Once you have this all set down (I use a spiral notebook for this purpose), then you're ready to get started. Take your MC and stick him/her in the middle of a conflict, or quandry or dilemma, and let them start working their way out. Don't tell us about your world, show us through action in the story. At various points, new ideas will emerge you never thought of. Follow them. Develop them. Make your story rich with conflict. Easy when you know how. (Just kidding). Good luck.
