Young Writers Society

I need help seriously, when it comes to the development of a good plot. I have been working on this vampyre story for almost 3 months now and really all I have are the characters and about 3 spiral notebooks full of how I want the story to go. Though alot of people say don't make your characters attractive at all it makes them less real. Though that means I have to destroy most of my characterizations and start from scratch. Though my main protagonist is beautiful but its only skin deep she is quite insane [and if you could read my brain storms you would be like 'omigosh' that is crazy and yet I want more] due to her finding out a dark secret everyone in her society had to keep away from her. When she found out she went on an insane killing spree, leading her to believe she isn't beautiful and she meets Artheleos "Audi" Losier whom is her central love interest a vampyre just like her with a dark secret who is the complete opposite of her. He is kind hearted while she is really cold hearted. [due to the fact I based her off of Elizabeth Bathory] and then there is her enemy Mirage who is jealous a girl like her could reach the throne when her family couldn't. When the countess sentences Mirage's family to death, for treason and Mirage's husband only sparing her because she has been loyal she gets angry. Though there are other sub conflits.

I can't decide how the story should go and I was planning on turning this into a novel, though it needs more work.

So can anyone help me or give me some useful tips on how i can proceed forward to making my dream come true I would greatly appreciate it.

I wouldn't worry so much about what your character looks like. Most of the warnings out there are so that people don't take up half the novel describing how beautiful their character is. And I really think that you do have well rounded characters. It sounds like part of what makes your MC a real character is her beauty, the beauty disguises her insanity. Audi isn't well described in your paragraph, but that's just a lack of information on our part. If you really look deep into his character, I'm sure he'll come forth(if he hasn't already). And Mirage has real flaws, which does make her into a real character.

So, make sure that they aren't Mary Sues, and that you don't spend so much time on describing how perfect they are, and I'm sure you'll do fine. It really doesn't matter how our characters look, just make sure that they are real characters. Think 'real world;' there are so many people in our world who are beautiful, pretty, normal looking, and maybe a bit ugly. Though, as with everything, it all depends on who is doing the looking: ugly to one is beauty to another. So, keep the image in your mind's eye, and see if you can get that across without pounding it into the reader's brain.

Snoink has a great article about making convincing characters, and while she does say to make our characters ugly, she's also saying to make your characters real. No fantasies, just humanity. Five Tips for Writing Convincing Characters.

Also, I just have to say:

I have been working on this vampyre story for almost 3 months now and really all I have are the characters and about 3 spiral notebooks full of how I want the story to go.

Three months and three spiral notebooks... For my story, I have an unfinished first draft that was written in a month, and I have a couple pages of general thought, and several character profiles. I think you're doing okay, and maybe you just need to start writing. And maybe the only think that needs to change about your characters is Mirage has a high pitched voice when she starts talking about the MC, and Audi really doesn't like to be dirty at all. Of course, they could have flaws already...

[due to the fact I based her off of Elizabeth Bathory]

Isn't Bathory the woman who killed over 450 girls and bathed in their blood in her belief that it helped her stay young? *Watched Ghost Hunters International, and wonders if she remembers the correct name...*

I can't decide how the story should go and I was planning on turning this into a novel, though it needs more work.

Finally, is there anything besides the characters that you want advise on? You kind of start and stop on the topic of plot, and then you fill in the bulk of the message about characters... So, what part of your plot do you want advise on?

Hoped this helped

- Tatra