I am writing a vampire novel and my main character in the story (in his past life) apprentices under an enchantress/sorceress in order to learn the craft of magic. She only allows him the opportunity because he posseses a special gift. He leaves her in the end because she plans to do something to harm humanity or someone of a higher power, but who and how? She curses him with ultimate death by a human figure, and unknowingly he finds a loop hole when he is bit by a vampire when he is in hiding. I am stumped on those aspects of my preface. The preface is set in the 18th century. Thanks.
First, what you are talking about is a prologue, not a preface. But forget about a prologue, at least for now. Write the story, and don't worry about chapter breaks until you're done with the first draft (at least). More often than not, prologues are a bad idea. Stick to the main story, and NEVER begin with background.
Cogito is right as far as not letting yourself get bogged down with prologues and story segmentation, but it is usually a good idea to have at least an outline of key points to write towards. Pick your starting scene and then some key plot points to hit on your way to the end. Then just worry about getting from point A to point B, then from B to C, and so on. If the specifics of the how/why he is a vampire directly influence a scene, then you would need hammer out the details. But until then, the reader only needs to know he is a vampire as a result of some curse or another. Drop little details in throughout the piece, at relevant points. That way, the reader gets all the history without having to slog through an info dump right at the beginning of a book. Start out right in the action. Your character is somewhere doing something. This fist section should be focused on character and setting development. You of course need to add some conflict to spice things up. But, right at the outset, the reader doesn’t need to know everything about the character, just enough to hook them. If they know everything, then there is no reason to continue reading.
