Investigation story with vampires.

[SmT3040]

I was hit with an idea after class one day, it's a none sexual story about a 30 year old FBI special agent named Alyssa who is requested to solve a series of murders. She is accompanied by a privet detective named Reggie, who is a vampire from 1800th century England. They both set out to the town and begin their investigation, but between anti-blood sucker groups and the town's local ruffian wanting in to Alyssa's pants. This isn't gonna be as easy and smooth sailing as they thought.

I know the vampire theme is over done at this point, but I've been itching to try and writing something that I have not tried before, which is investigation.

So maybe some feedback could help me get the ball rolling, don't outwardly say its stupid, help me make it strong and not another vampire story. Because i don't want it to be.

 

[PacoFear]

I think you mean 18th century, unless your Reggie is from the far future.

I'm not sure what you're looking for as far as help. "Help me make it strong" is a smidge vague.

If you don't want to duplicate other folks' stuff, the first step is to know what other folks have written. What you're describing is what the trade calls "urban fantasy." Reading it might give you a couple of ideas as you go. If you're like me, you'll need to jot the ideas down somewhere or you'll forget them.

FWIW, some of my favs in urban fantasy are/were:

Laurell K. Hamilton's Vampire Hunter books (a P.I. Necromancer)
Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books (a P.I. wizard)
Faith Hunter's Skinwalker books (a skinwalker bounty hunter ) - bonus points: the character "Bruiser" is a period Brit pseudo-vampire so he might be good research for your Reggie.

TV-wise: you got your "Angel" and your "Supernatural." Both are just a Netflix click away.

Hope this helps,

-PF

 

[SmT3040]

I think you mean 18th century, unless your Reggie is from the far future.

I'm not sure what you're looking for as far as help. "Help me make it strong" is a smidge vague.

If you don't want to duplicate other folks' stuff, the first step is to know what other folks have written. What you're describing is what the trade calls "urban fantasy." Reading it might give you a couple of ideas as you go. If you're like me, you'll need to jot the ideas down somewhere or you'll forget them.

FWIW, some of my favs in urban fantasy are/were:

Laurell K. Hamilton's Vampire Hunter books (a P.I. Necromancer)
Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books (a P.I. wizard)
Faith Hunter's Skinwalker books (a skinwalker bounty hunter ) - bonus points: the character "Bruiser" is a period Brit pseudo-vampire so he might be good research for your Reggie.

TV-wise: you got your "Angel" and your "Supernatural." Both are just a Netflix click away.

Hope this helps,

-PF

I did mean 18th century, sorry. What i mean by "make it strong" is that help me or give me advice on how to make the plot not so point A to point C with a small point B. Give it meat and detail and go in to depth without confusing the reader. I have trouble with rambling on about nonsense in most of my works or getting caught up in small talk. I'd like it to flow. But so far what you've suggested will give me a good starting place, I will look in to everything mentioned and take notes. You've helped greatly already, thank you.

 

[PacoFear]

Happy to help.

You might try outlining your plot beforehand, at least in chunks. Knowing where you're going will keep you focused.

 

[Etaski]

I can second the selection of books: read those and you'll get a good idea what makes that kind of story tick.

However, on Laurell K. Hamilton, focus on the first 3 books, maybe 4. They go downhill pretty fast after that (and I think there's something like 13...)

I've read the first 3 of the Dresden Files, and they're quite good for getting ideas of how magical ideas might work in the modern setting.

Both series have different versions of vampires, too, with different rules, so be sure you THINK about the rules of your vampires and define them well when you do your story! That's important!

And one tiny, tiny detail, just so you don't make the mistake in your work:

18th century is actually the 1700s.

19th century is the 1800s.

The first century was 0-99, so the second century was 100-199, and it went on from there.

Just be sure you get your correct century. You'll get slammed for that.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

How do you want your vampire to act?

I can swallow a lot of bullshit for a fantasy that I really like. I can deal with annoying side characters, or weird scenarios, or what have you, but what has me turned off of vampires at the moment is how they act.

Consider this... If your vampire is from the eighteenth century, that means that he is a minimum of 213 years old, and could be anywhere from that to 312 years old. He is an old man in a powerful sexy young body. So often, ancient vampires act like stupid petty callow youth (case in point, twilight) when they are several decades (and in some cases centuries) old. Consider the vampire's age, and run with it.

Have him reference history that he witnessed/lived through. Was he a soldier in any old wars? Did he witness an assassination? An invention? Have him be confused/amused/frustrated by modern technology, have him speak in a semi-archaic (without getting annoying) manner. Maybe when he gets stressed, he slips into 'thees and thous'.

You have an ancient character, make him fascinating.

 

[SmT3040]

How do you want your vampire to act?

I can swallow a lot of bullshit for a fantasy that I really like. I can deal with annoying side characters, or weird scenarios, or what have you, but what has me turned off of vampires at the moment is how they act.

Consider this... If your vampire is from the eighteenth century, that means that he is a minimum of 213 years old, and could be anywhere from that to 312 years old. He is an old man in a powerful sexy young body. So often, ancient vampires act like stupid petty callow youth (case in point, twilight) when they are several decades (and in some cases centuries) old. Consider the vampire's age, and run with it.

Have him reference history that he witnessed/lived through. Was he a soldier in any old wars? Did he witness an assassination? An invention? Have him be confused/amused/frustrated by modern technology, have him speak in a semi-archaic (without getting annoying) manner. Maybe when he gets stressed, he slips into 'thees and thous'.

You have an ancient character, make him fascinating.

I have an idea with how i want him to act, but i might have slipped up on the era he is from so before i go making myself look like a fool gotta research time lines. But beyond that, the way i see Reggie, is an old man who has a lot of wisdom and intelligence but it always comes out as being patronizing and sarcastic, unless hes speaking to Alyssa then he is being an arrogant asshole.

 

[JulieBlueBelle]

I'm going to second Cruel's suggestions with the added suggestion that if you reference points in history that your vampire might have faced, you may want to watch Highlander movies or part of the series. They did an excellent job of showing previous time periods, and their modern immortals were experts on many time periods with authentic artifacts from several. Just a thought.