Do you have a story idea you'd like to write with a partner? Author Ian Hall has it down to a science. Read on to see how he does it!
Dragged by the Fangs into a New Genre
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| Buy it HERE! |
Have you ever woken up to find that you’re a vampire?
My writing partner, Lachelle Miller, did just that.
The day before I posed the question; do you fancy writing a vampire novel?
“Heck no!” came the reply (I paraphrase)
So I wrote my first 1000 words.
High School Football night; white uniformed marching band suddenly runs in every direction, and there’s Alan, clarinet player, being mauled/murdered by a visiting vampire cheerleader. His White uniform is blood-stained forever. Looking on is Lyman (me) and he’s lost a friend. He’s sad and angry, but he can’t help check the cheerleader out as she runs away.
Well, I sent it to Lachelle for evaluation, and that night, she grew fangs, changed her name to Mandy (visiting cheerleader) and began to tell the story from Mandy’s viewpoint.
Lachelle Miller was suddenly a vampire out for revenge, and the novel (Vampire High School) was on!
We began writing it almost like a spoof; a parody of itself. But before we knew, it had gotten VERY serious; we were passing the story back and forth at a prodigious rate. It virtually wrote itself, and we sometimes wrote over 4000 words in a single day.
Lyman (me) grew in stature, from geek to Vampire Hunter (a Helsing), and Mandy (Lachelle) went back three months and told how she and Alan had met. Plot-lines grew, characters fleshed themselves out.
It was fun, a great source of humor, and very exciting to write.
Man, those last chapters were superb.
A great climax that left us almost spent, breathless.
We finished the whole project, 58,000 words, in just over six weeks. (And that included editing, proof reading, ePublishing, cover etc)
Gladly, it didn't end there. In our collaborations, Lachelle and I each take one character, obviously crucial to the plot of the book, and take turns writing from their perspectives.
Six weeks further on… we have vampire book 2 finished, and 20,000 words into book 3.
The readers are reporting back that they love the whole structure, and of course, the characters and plot.
I’ve written Historical Adventure in the past, have been traditionally published. But I tell you, we’ve never had so much fun writing in my life, as doing Vampire High School.
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My biggest achievement to date (apart from the successful parenting of my darling daughter, Lorraine) is my published novel; "Opportunities: Jamie Leith in Darien." I'm not confined by genres, having equal success in Historical Adventure, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror and hard hitting gritty Crime.
I watch far too much football (Don't even think of calling it 'soccer'.) and at times chase a dimpled ball along carefully manicured countryside, with a collection of calibrated, graphite-shafted sticks.
I play guitar and sing in a folk/rock band, and would love to have enough money to tour the world's archeological sites until I'm too old to walk.
I love to write, and enjoy literary challenges of all kinds.
My blog is:
And my website is:
Thank you all so much for your time.
What an interesting approach!! Well done, you.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you do it! I wouldn't know where to begin writing with somebody else. I take my hat off to you
ReplyDeleteWow,
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool approach. Seems like you both inspired each other. And you guys had fun!
More power to you
Laurel w.