It’s always the same when I have an idea. I grab it in my mouth and take off like a German Sheperd with a hot dog. I have no idea where I am going or what I am doing with it, but I have it and it’s mine now.

I have two interesting ideas:

1. A slave that doesn’t want to be freed but would rather go back to a life of servitude.
2. Treating vampires like junkies rather than the sexy but troubled icons that they are now.

I have no idea how to go any further with these ideas, but they are so good, I am not getting rid of them. I really want to develop them past this point, but with one, I need to fill out the middle – the only problem with that one is time. The second one is a lot trickier.

In the rules I have set up, there is little in the way of magic or supernatural aspects. Vampires aren’t super strong or mesmeric creatures. Crosses don’t affect them, nor does any amount of faith. They don’t grow fangs and nibble at your neck to leave two neat little holes. They have to use implements to get to the blood, which doesn’t nourish them as much as give them an incredible high. My problem with this one is simple, but brain-wracking: How do I end this darn book? The fact that it’s called Forever Junkie doesn’t mean it’s going to be solved in three acts and a commercial break.

There are some things I am keeping as far as lore goes – sunlight still burns, they are vulnerable to fire and stakes destroy their body. I wanted to go the Old World of Darkness route and say that stakes merely paralyze them, but I’m trying to stick to the true lore as much as I can while trying to make things new.

The one piece of lore I am struggling over is if the head vampire dies, the ones he or she created are freed from the curse. In the context of the story, it gives me a tidy ending. The main character tracks down the vampire that took his blood, kills him or her and everyone lives happily ever after.

That seems too simple of an ending for me. I like happy endings, but one that comes together a little too pat isn’t my cup of tea. Of course, I can’t make it easy for the main character either. They’re going to earn their happy ending, but the kill-the-master seems a little too mystical for this particular book.

Then again, I am talking about creatures that burst into flame upon being struck with sunlight, no matter the SPF of their suntan lotion. Maybe a twitch of the mystic is needed here.

OK – how about this?  Main Character’s sire (or dam, it’s the 21^st century here) is killed, but it doesn’t remove the curse, so the character goes off and finds a Narcotics Anonymous group and the book ends with his introducing himself.  I like that. It’s an ending to his story – it’s upbeat enough for me, and it’s not entirely mystical. It makes sense.

Now I have to outline and write it. Hopefully during this year. Next year, I want to really focus on fantasy and sci-fi…with some elements of horror in it, of course.

Well, thank you for sitting with me while I worked this out. Please check the right hand side for books by me and dear friends – they’re all good, or I wouldn’t have them there. Ta-ta for now.