Young Writers Society

so, some of you know, I am not the largest fan of twilight, but I still like vampires as a whole, and have been trying to write a story containing them for a while, but nothing seems to come to mind that is original.

As my pic. suggests I'm going to try NaNoWriMo this year (something I just heard about) and since I am wildly unprepared, I thought I'd come to the wonderful people at YWS and see if they could provide some insight.

This idea was initially inspired by a contest I saw to think of an alternative use for vampires, and write a story, then further inspiration came from Buffy. So thats what I did, or plan to do. The idea was spawned while running, so its not super developed, but hopefully you can get the picture.

The story is set in the middle ages and vampires, where-wolves, and all those other scary things that just aren't so scary any more really exist, actually co-exist with humans. Now the humans know the monsters are there, just not that they live among them. Their existence is kept a secret by an organization of vampires that works underground to keep a 'supernatural' peace, called Angels (ironically I picture them wearing all black and having skull masks that would cover their face if they need to go out in day).

So the 'villain' would be Dracula, the most notorious vampire so far. Now of course the Angels want him dead for several reasons, first he is telling the humans how to kill them (vampires), and he is making himself known to the people. So the Angels take action. Dracula is the king/ruler of an obscure European nation and he has assembled a court of Vampires to rule, with humans intermingling among them, but as of yet oblivious to the things around them. The Angels assemble a team that will infiltrate Dracula's court and are supposed to take him down.

A love story could be incorporated into this, and it might actually give the story more depth, but then again it could destroy it.

So three things-

1. Once turned vampires loose their souls. They kill mindlessly, and feel no remorse. The Angels are vampires that have been extremely terrible in their lives, that have been given their souls back, as punishment for their crimes and almost revealing the monsters.

2. Dracula is a good guy. He wants to bring a peace between the two worlds. He doesn't want a war, he just wants to arm the humans against the people so that they can co exist.

3. The story/world is dark. The vampires, even with souls, must feed on humans, so they have to kill. And, if they stop regretting their past, or what they've done, they loose their soul (again adding love story potential).

As you can tell it is not very developed as far as characters go, but for me its an idea I would like to delve into.

BUT I had another idea while writing this. It would be interesting to make this a prequal to the twilight world. The Angels would become the Volturi, and then the premise would still be the same, Vampires made to take down Dracula. And it would also be cool if the main character were James, it would give him more depth, and if there was a love story (that possible does not go all gooey) it could explain why James hated Edward so much.

Just ideas, so tell me what you think, or if you have any suggestions. I will undoubtably be coming back and adding things in that I forgot, so yeah!

Although your prequel twilight idea is really good, I'd say leave twilight alone and pursue your own story. Your ideas are too great to be mixed with the copyrighted characters of Stephenie Meyer.
But that's just my opinion. And I think I'll be doing nannowrimo too, for the first time.
I did scriptfrenzy and was way ahead on my word count; then I got sick, went to Catalina, had my birthday party and ultimately failed.

that sucks! and thanks, I think i migh go ahead and start this and do something different for NaNo.

If you want to set it in the middle ages, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do research. Inaccuracies do add up, and they don't ever reflect well on your story.

Here's how you should research: First of all, start writing. And then when you get stuck, say you want the characters to eat something but don't know how they got food back then, look it up. Whenever you're not sure about something, just look it up. Then have it looked over by fellow peers, and hopefully they'll give you a heads up whenever something's inaccurate.

Or, you could look up anything you might be wondering now about the middle ages, like how people traveled long distances or how a majority of people lived, or politics--anything. Odds are, whatever you find out may give you ideas.

You definitely should develop it more, I think. Get a better sense of where exactly it'll take place (I can't imagine vampires congregating ALL over Europe; traveling was not easy back then. Unless you want to make your vampires lame and super powerful so they can just travel across the continent in a second--but if that is the case, why the heck are they staying in Europe?!) and when it'll take place, and definitely get an idea of who the story is really going to follow. Just brainstorm it more and it should be fairly interesting.

I think if you have romance, it should very much avoid cliches (try not to have a vampire and a human together, hm?) and should be secondary to the plot line. I only say that because this is a vampire story, and these days, all anyone expects out of vampires novels is romance, and yours seems to be about more than that.

if there's romance, i guarantee (spoiler alert) it will most likely involve human and vampire, but the human will die, and the vampire will probably kill her, and go on a maddening rage, or just go on living. . Cliches are what I'm worried about most. I havent read many vampire novels, so i dont really know what they are.

Compliments and then critiques...

I had a faint idea of Anne Rice more than Stephenie Meyer, so I'm pretty interested. Thank God creativity still lives in a Twilight reader. It has a very Gothic undertone to it. Very bleak and stark, but I love the fantasy touch to it.

It seems interesting. My question is: what is the point of view? Is it omniscent, single-person, third-person?

Also, I did smell a whiff of 'New Moon' and the books that followed (by Stephenie) in the way you described the "Angels" in the story. The Volturi (Aro, Jane, Demetri, etc.) seem to fulfill the roles that you have described. And personally I've always wanted more to know about the Volturi, so...

And also, I smelled even a bit of Harry Potter. The Angels' appearance comes close to what the Death Eaters wore in the HP movies. Story traits aren't bad if you just blur them so that they're not instantly recongizable.

This seems interesting so far! Let me know what you've delevoped!

I was planning first person from one of the angels, then from his position he learns that what he had previously classified as black and white, is really grey in all sorts of shades. In the end I want him to do something that his soul will never be able to reconcile with.

Now here is my element. Vampires ^_^
With the threat of repeating something here it goes:
Leave Twilight alone. While you write on this, stop reading other vampire books. You will influenced. Try to make your own vampire history, type, birth, genetics etc. There is nothing like an authentic original story. Don't make them sparkle please (Don't get me wrong. I am not a Twilight hater. I would be beaten up if I said that and accused of A BIG FAT LIE.
Middle Ages, and in general historical settings are touch if you don't research. I am with you on the, both vampires and the historical setting.
It will be a lot of work, and a lot of detaching from the real world and possible influences that you have tune out and select.
Good Luck ^_^
Vampires for the win :