Social Novel Writing is now on Facebook!

Join us on our new Facebook page. I created a Social Novel Writing Facebook page because, hey, Facebook is fun, but also because some people don't normally use the software that subscribes to blogs. I'll make sure to spread the word on our Facebook page about new posts and forum discussions.

On a separate note, I'm betting that some people in our SNW community are artists or photographers. If you'd like, I'll figure out how to make a photo page on our blog and Facebook page so that you can display your work and get some fans. Would you like me to do that?

We now have forums!

We now have forums! Woohoo! I think this will be much easier for everyone to have discussions in the forums than via comments on my posts. This way, the discussions won't be interrupted every time I make a new post.

I do not, however, know how to run a forum, so any suggestions or help you have for me would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

Character and plot developments

Chris has created a new character to add to the novel: "a rogue-ish human who plays both ends against the middle to make a living, but isn't overly ambitious." I think this is an excellent idea! By his very nature, he's a complex character whose moral ambiguity will keep our readers guessing and expand on the theme of betrayal that I started with Moxie and Cy.

Please tell me all you can about this character so I can stay true to your ideas as I write him in. What are you picturing in your head? What is his personality? Appearance? Male or female? Name, age, family, social status? What are the flaws and strengths in his character? How does he play both ends? And which ends? We have several: the upper class magic users seeking to crush steam technology, the government trying to maintain order, the upper-class people trying to use steam technology to their advantage, the poor rebels who are stealing the steam technology and altering it with magic to fit their own purposes, or anything else along those lines that you would like to use. Is he, for example, feeding information about the poor rebels to the rich while also helping the rebels steal steam technology? What skills does he have?

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Plague is caught up in what Moxie promised to the sidhe for his help in reviving Cy. He suggests two ideas. I put a poll on the right side of the screen. Please vote on which path you would like our story to take. Plague's first idea is that Moxie promised to continue replacing parts of Cy with steam-built parts in order to remove his "essence of fey." The effects of this idea on our story are:

1) The sidhe who helped revive Cy is the minion of the person to whom Moxie made the promise. (He can't be the receiver of that promise because he didn't know that Cy was part fey until he started using magic on him.) Who is the person to whom Moxie made the promise? Why does he want to remove Cy's "essence of fey," and why Cy? How does this tie into Cy's murder? Presumably the "master" is not the one who wanted Cy dead; indeed, he has a vested interest in keeping Cy alive. Why? And is Cy a special case or are there others that they're experimenting on? If there are others, is Moxie involved in them? Does the master want to wipe out all fey or just hybrids? And why would he not simply kill the hybrids? Next you have the minion. He couldn't have known who Cy is because he didn't know that Cy was part fey. So how does the minion fit in? Is he now disillusioned with his master or employer and will he turn against him?

2) Moxie and the "master" had to believe that they could force Cy to keep replacing parts. Cy, of course, would venomously oppose this. How did they think that would work? And then there's Moxie. It's plausible that she would "repair" Cy once to save his life if she truly loved him, but you wouldn't sentence someone you truly love to a horrific life of having his body parts replaced. Therefore her love must not be true love, but obsession. Moxie becomes a villain, not an ally, although she could turn into an ally later on once she starts to understand what real love is. The other result is that Cy will seek to escape and prevent these replacements from happening, and that will become a central part of the story.

Whether we go with this as the promise or not, I have to say that I love the idea of that parts of Cy's natural body continue to be replaced with steam-built technology throughout the story. It plays in very well with our nature vs. technology theme. Even if it's not Moxie's promise, I think we should still use the idea. The replacements could be forced on Cy because the magic can't sustain his natural body (since he should be dead). His extremities could start dying or rotting, and then he and Moxie would be seeking a way to save himself throughout the story.

Plague's second suggestion is that Moxie promised to manipulate Cy's memories in order to coerce him into, or out of, some task of which only he is capable of performing. It has to be "into" because otherwise they could have just not revived him. So what is this task and why is Cy the only one who can do it? This option requires that the sidhe knew that Cy would have memory problems. Either a) he created those problems though magic, which means Cy could find a way to reverse the effects, or b) other people have been revived in the same manner and had the same problems.

Please vote on which option you prefer.

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A while ago, Plague as said: "There's a war on the way steam vs magic. Both sides would imaginably be fueled by the the politicians, manipulating the two sides to their benefit... This could be a great way to introduce that steam dragon. they've been building it since things started getting heated, and eventually they get it completed. Would the main characters be involved in helping find the necessary parts to finish it? Would Mixie be directly involved with the build? For that matter is she directly involved with such a faction period?"

Would anyone like to expand on this?

(And sorry, Plague. I just realized I used Moxie instead of Mixie. Would you like me to change it?)

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Plague also decided that "the earth elementals live underground, and are going to be near, or at least nearer to the steam engine... That [is] going to make the magic they're using a lot stronger... The remergence of steam technology up top is going to end up syphoning some of that power from them, distributing it more throughout the world. This loss off magical power for them could very well be why one, a few, or even a number of them have headed to the surface. Investigating these changes in their power."

Anyone want to develop a gnome/earth elemental character for us?

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If I haven't mentioned any comments or ideas that you've had in this or other posts, please let me know. Your ideas are valuable and I don't want to miss them by accident! If you have any other ideas, or if you'd like to develop Cy, Moxie, the sidhe, or any other characters, please feel free to do so. Thank you!

Chapter 1, part 1

Cy stared through a red haze at a patchwork metal ceiling, panic squeezing his lungs. He shouldn't be able to see. His eyes were closed, damn it! He could feel them... well, one of them anyway. Only one. Oh, God. That eye snapped open. He tried to open his mouth to scream--and couldn't. His jaw scraped open, adding to the agony in his skull, but his lips were sealed shut. Sharp points of pain blossomed around them, and liquid dripped down his cheeks. His scream vibrated against his sealed lips, emerging as nothing more than a pathetic whimper.

His brain couldn't make sense of any of this. He couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, past the sharp pain lancing through his flesh. The misery was so intense, it made his limbs twist and ate away at all other sensations. There was only the pain and a mind-numbing cold. He was so cold that a glacier may as well have taken root in his chest, and yet he could feel the stifling heat and the ungodly humidity of summer in Slag City pressing against his skin and making the air thick enough to chew. Oh, yes. He was home. He knew that at least.

Voices drifted from his left. A man and a woman, arguing. The two had been at it for some time, Cy realized. Did they know he was awake? He didn't dare turn his head to see. One, it would hurt too much. And two, he didn't know if they were his friends or enemies. Cy's lips twitched with ill-placed humor. Enemies, definitely. It's not like he had many friends, being a hybrid and all. Of course, he didn't have many enemies either... did he? He couldn't remember. He blamed the pain. Although, if it wasn't his imagination--please, God, don't let it be his imagination--the misery was starting to ease.

"He's part fey. I felt it," the man accused. His voice was smooth and cultured--money, definitely--and held a deep, sensual layer of seduction that marked him as a full-blooded sidhe. Cy sighed, blinking back tears. If he let it, the faerie's hypnotic voice could take his pain away. It whispered sweet promises of wildflowers and sunlight, freedom, if he would only give in. Hell. No. The disgust dripping from the sidhe's tone could have eaten through steel. Cy's fingers itched to flip him off.

The woman was slow to respond, probably fighting the same pull as Cy. Arguing with a sidhe was always so much fun. Her boot scraped the floor as she stepped back. "Yeah, so?" she finally said. Her country lilt colored the ugly drawl of the city slums into a soft caress. The fear constricting Cy's lungs loosened. He knew that voice. Loved that voice. If he could just... remember... There--a flash of memory: the two of them tangled in bedsheets beneath an open skylight, gasping for breath as they watched the stars glitter beyond the smog. Moxie had cuddled beside him to trace gears on his chest, a habit of hers, and Cy's fingers curled in her cinnamon hair. Do you love me, Cypher? she'd asked. You know I do, he'd breathed, and she had shivered, no more immune to his half-sidhe voice than she was to that of the bastard standing before her.

The memory splintered and Cy growled in frustration. He couldn't pretend anymore that the pain was mucking up his memory. Something was very, very wrong. Like being able to see with your eyes--eye--shut? He shuddered then noticed the patchwork metal in the ceiling again. His breath caught. No. Please no. He knew which levers made those skylights open, baring the workshop to the open air.

"He'll hate you for what you've done," the sidhe was saying. Then his voice deepened, becoming husky, hungry, as his darker side peeked out. "And you lied to me." His feet whispered against the floorboards as he stalked toward her. "Do you know what happens when you lie to the fey?"

"Oh, shut it," Moxie snapped. The faerie hissed and she gentled her tone, but gave no ground. That's my girl, Cy thought. Knowing her, she had a pistol in her hand and was packing cold iron shot. "I didn't lie," she said. "I told you he was human and he is. So what if he's also part fey? If that bothers you, leave."

Silence fell between them. All Cy could hear was Moxie's fast breaths, the sidhe's low growling, and the rapid beat of his own heart. Cy tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't work right and the pain was excruciating. Black winked in and out of his vision. What the hell had happened to him? All he could recall was blood pooling around him and a silky, condescending voice--this sidhe's voice. Oh, God. Did Moxie know? He fought the lethargy in his limbs, even managed to move his right arm, only to find that he was bound to the worktable.

Finally, the sidhe said, "You would claim a hybrid as one of your own?"

Moxie didn't hesitate. "I would walk through hell and back for this man. Hell yes, I claim him. He's mine." 

The sidhe laughed. [To be continued]

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Please post your comments. What would you like to have happen next, or later in the novel? I integrated several plot threads into this scene. Please pick up on any that interest you and run with them.

Or tell me about the characters. Moxie is a steamer, a mechanic and inventor of steam technology. Cy became involved somehow with a rebel faction and was murdered. Moxie and this sidhe brought him back, integrating steam technology into his body for the parts that were destroyed. Moxie had to promise something major to the sidhe in exchange for his help. I'm thinking some sort of betrayal that will play out throughout the rest of the book, such as spying on that rebel faction for him for whatever reason. Whatever she promised, it's something she'll have to struggle with because breaking a promise to a faerie is basically a death sentence, and a long and torturous death at that.

I've also started some themes that we can play on: Betrayal. Love struggling against what should tear lovers apart (death, betrayal, etc.). People's need for the natural world even while living in a highly industrialized city.

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you.

New series recommendation

If you have a book or series you would like to add to our We Recommend page, please email me with the title, author, genre, and a short description. For a series, please also list the book titles if you have them. Thank you!

Signs of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson
Dark urban fantasy
Recommended by: Plague
When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert. By rights, she should be dead. Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset - a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow - seeking answers to whom or what she really is and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure. But the nightmare is just beginning - for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful Shadows want her for their own.

The Scent of Shadows
The Taste of Night
The Touch of Twilight
City of Souls
Cheat the Grave
The Neon Graveyard (releases 5/31/11)

Setting developments

Magic and steam technology are mutually inclusive
"The two feed off of each other and can not exist independently." This suggestion stumped me for a while. How could magic not exist without steam technology if steam technology is new and magic existed long before it? I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. Thank you, Plague, for coming up with an answer.

Deep underground, there's a steam magic machine that powers magic [we so need a different name for it though. Any ideas? And where did this thing come from anyway?]. It creates this special kind of steam that has mixed with the atmosphere [should we still call it steam or something else?]. People pull the steam from the atmosphere to fuel their magic. This steam also powers steam technology.

• At one point, both magic and steam technology existed in the surface world, but for whatever reason [ideas?], steam technology faded out. Now it's reemerging [why now? who's doing it?].
• People are now finding pipes underground. The concentrated steam makes it so they can create much more powerful magic and machines. [Who's finding the pipes? Who controls it? What affect is this having on the balance of power?]
• Magic is generally believed to come from within. Even most, if not all, of the magic users don't know that they're pulling steam from the atmosphere.
• There are steam pockets where the atmosphere feels heavier and magic works better.
• Magical creatures like faeries and dragons evolved [or were created?] after the steam magic machine began working.
• If the steam magic machine is destroyed, creatures that are reliant on magic will die (or at least be severely crippled).
• Faeries are trying to bring down steam technology, not realizing that steam is necessary for them to live.
• Some people have the ability to pull steam from the atmosphere and create magic; many do not. Steamers can't, but have learned to create machines that do, so now people who can't use magic on their own can use magic through the machines. This is completely shaking up the balance of power in their society.

Races

• Humans are the most common race in our main city (because, let's face it, we breed like rabbits).
• Our world also has faeries who are modeled loosely on European folklore, such as the Highland daoine sidhe ("theena shee") and sluagh ("slooa").
• Gnomes are not faerie folk. According to my research, they are actually earth elementals of the same class as slyphs (air), salamanders (fire), and nereids (water). They belong to a dead science rather than folk tradition. It was believed that man and all mortal creatures were made up of the four elements, but that elementals were pure, each native to and compounded of its own element. Gnomes live underground, moving through earth as freely as if it were air, and their function is to guard the treasures of the earth.

Our faeries
In Celtic and English folklore, faeries are either fallen angels, the decedents of deposed gods (such as the Irish Tuatha da Danann ("tootha day danan")), or the unforgiven dead. Our fey have different origins, but the "flavor" is the same: dangerous, powerful, and capable of great magic and deceit. Some are benevolent (though still vengeful and dangerous if insulted or angered), some are mischievous or meddlesome, and some are murdering and cruel.

Other traits:

• All faeries, even those that otherwise appear human, have a defect or deformity that they can't always hide. Hooves, tails, tentacles, extra fingers or limbs, a hollow back, etc.
• Faeries prefer nature and most have an aversion to cold iron, including tempered steel. Most have an instinctual dislike for steam technology.
• Most are secretive by nature and abhor anyone who breaches their privacy uninvited.
• Our faeries are notoriously capricious. Many are shallow. All are easily insulted.
• Humans and faeries are mutually distrustful.

Our gnomes
Gnomes being earth elementals actually fits very well with our steam magic machine. Let's say that they were created to protect it or evolved around it and are now protecting it. I'm having an extremely difficult time picturing gnomes as dangerous adversaries though, so let's just call these fierce little guys earth elementals, shall we?

We'll apply the term "gnomes" to the small number of earth elementals who have semi-recently emerged onto the surface and insinuated themselves into society. These buggers are similar to the gnome tinkerers that we all know and love, but with a dark side and a secret past that we can slowly reveal throughout our novel. [Why did they emerge on the surface? What are they trying to do? What do our gnomes look like? What are they trying to accomplish with their tinkering?]

Balance of power
The government in our city-state is a corrupt republic. People have to pay to vote, so only the rich and some of the middle class are able to vote. Those in power tend to stay in power, and over time they've become corrupt.

Magic users are mostly upper class because of the power they hold and the value of their magical services. The steamers - the mechanics who build steam technology - are mostly middle class, but are not rising up into the upper class from their new trade because the cost of materials is so high that there's only a small profit margin. They sell to the rich, who are the only ones who can afford steam technology, so most of the steam technology is controlled by the rich.

There's an entire substrata of poor who are stealing steam technology from the steamers and the rich and using magic to convert it for their own uses.

Until steam technology reemerged in the world, there was only one main political party, made up mostly of magic users and rich people, who held all the power. Now some of the politicians have split off from that party and created a new one. They're exploiting the steamers and using steam technology as a power boost and running on a ballot of change.

Between the oppressed poor, the steamers never being able to get ahead, the conflict between traditional magic and steam technology, the new political party, the unstable government, the poor stealing the steam technology, and some revolutionary/anarchic factions in the lower, middle, and upper classes, the city is on the brink of violence or all out civil war.

Miscellaneous notes

• At some point, maybe we should have a fight between a real dragon and a mechanical steam dragon.
• I finished the manuscript for my second children's book. Yea!
• I have a great image in my head for our first scene, so I'll be writing that this weekend.

Please
Pick up on any point that you're interested in and run with it. Make some decisions, flesh out your ideas, and jot down some notes in a comment. Thanks!

Resource of the day

I'm writing a real post tomorrow, but in the meantime, check out this free writer's tool: OneLook Dictionary Search. You can enter things like *ther* and it will search online dictionaries for words that have "ther" in the middle of them. You can even narrow your search by categories such as animals.

Why is this useful? Two words: children's books.

I just finished my first children's manuscript - it's a concept book on animals, colors, and pronunciation - and I could not have done it as quickly or as well without this site.

Here's a puzzle for you:
Without using onelook.com, come up with animal names that have a "z" or a "v" in them AND contain only one or two syllables AND are easy for toddlers to recognize and pronounce. The animals must be mono-chromatic and make sounds. You have 10 minutes. Go.

Hint: "zebra" and "aardvark" don't count.

A few ideas yield many questions!

Basic decisions on setting
Let's use epic fantasy as the basis for our setting then - bizarre and beautiful magic, fantastical and mythological creatures, and swords and weaponry all set in a world of our own creation. For spice, we'll toss in some steampunk technology (as per an offline chat with Plague). That will be a great juxtaposition for the smoother workings of magic, and it will give us some of the gritty feel that's been so popular in novels today.

I've been intrigued lately by the breakdown of social order in dystopic societies, so I'd like to add that in. It's an element that's typically found in science fiction and cyberpunk, but I think it will translate well into fantasy. It gives us some built-in conflict that will turn into plot threads later on, and it will also make our novel very timely, playing on the undercurrents of social and political unrest here in the U.S. right now (due to the recession, unemployment, the health care bill, the bipartisan stalemates in Congress, etc.).

So our world has:

• A wide variety of mythological and/or magical races
• A high level of magic

The dominant culture in our novel has:

• Steam technology vying for dominance over the older, better established (and probably safer) magic
• Great gaps in economic status between the rich and the poor
• Anarchic factions within the populace
• An antiquated government struggling (and failing) to maintain order, or one that has recently collapsed
• A high level of crime and violence in the streets
• Survivalist mentalities, particularly in the poor

Please answer
Putting these ideas together raises a ton of questions (see below). We can pursue the answers to any of those questions to further develop our setting, design conflicts for our plot, develop characters, themes, etc. Please pick one or two questions that interest you, either your own or any of the ones listed below, and run with it, posting your answer(s) in the comments. Or if you already have ideas for characters, plot, or themes, please post them.

Sample questions
(Only pick one or two to save your sanity!)

Races
What races exist in our world? Humans? Faeries? Dragons? Dwarves? Gnomes? Should we use the creatures found in folklore? The folklore of what culture(s)? How closely should we stick to that folklore? Should we make up our own races?

What races dominate our world? What race dominates the main culture in which our story takes place? How mixed is our society? Are there many different races living together, only a few, or does our main culture consist of only one race? How do the races interact? Hostilities? Alliances? Are some races subservient to others? How did they get that way? Is the ruling class a different race than the rest of the populace?

Magic
How does magic work in our world? What are the laws by which it operates? Can each person only work certain types of magic? Who is able to work magic? What does it take to use magic? How common is magic and/or magical items amongst the populace? How does the government/rulers view magic? How do the common folk? Are certain types of magic outlawed? Why? What's the punishment for breaking that law?

Steam technology
How does it work? Who has access to it? What are some commonly used machines? Rare, new, and/or frightening machines? Are there any steampunk-style cyborgs? Are they cyborgs by choice? How is steam technology used? Which factions support steam technology? Which don't? What does all of this mean for the layperson? The government? How do magic and steam technology interact? Are there machines that use both?

Government
What type of government does our main culture have? Dictatorship, totalitarian (ruled by one party), theocracy (the rulers' claim to power is religious), monarchy, parliamentary, republic, anarchy (no government; e.g., the government collapsed after a civil war and now rival factions are fighting for control), or something else entirely?

Economy
Capitalist, socialist, communist? A combination? Something completely new and different? Or has the economy collapsed? How does this affect the common folk? The rich?

Social order
Caste? Social class? Racial divides? Gender divides? Are people divided by profession? How did there become such a large divide between the rich and the poor? Is there a middle class? What's changing about the social order right now? Who is fighting to better their status, what are they fighting for, and how are they fighting (peaceful, violent...)? Is a certain race, gender, class, caste, etc. being oppressed or is seen as a scapegoat? Why? Does anyone oppose this treatment?

World events
How does the social unrest and/or crumbling government affect the people? Is another race or culture taking advantage of the dishevel in order to attack and/or take power?

Side notes

• Can anyone recommend some steampunk novels for me? I'd like to read some more.
• Check out the article I just published: Improve your mood in 30 seconds.

All ideas are welcome!

Dear readers and visitors,

Some people have questions about the sort of comments I'm looking for and who is welcome to post. Everyone is welcome to post! All comments and suggestions are welcome, whether you want to get involved long-term, are just passing through, or simply want to read along and see how we design and write a novel.

As for comments, please say whatever you would like. Suggestions, half-formed ideas, your reading preferences, whatever intrigues you at the moment, what you'd like to read but haven't seen out there, feedback on what we're doing - anything really. This is a completely organic process. Your thoughts and ideas are valuable, no matter what they are.

You also don't need to wait for me to bring up a subject. I may be talking about designing the setting, but if you have a character idea, please add the comment. Likewise, later on when we're writing the narrative, post your ideas for the climax even if we're still back on chapter one.

Keep in mind that no aspect of a novel is independent of the others. You don't just sit down and develop a setting. You toss around some ideas for setting and write down the broad strokes, but then you have a great idea for a character and he helps you nail down some setting details, and then--oh, look at that! A conflict popped up and suddenly you're blindsided by plot...

Basically, the writing process is a chaotic mess that somehow coalesces into an amazing story. And that's with only one person involved. Make it a social process, and any hope for organization flies out the window. I'm totally okay with that. Having run Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games, I'm even used to it.

So just have fun, okay? That's all I ask.

What genre should we write?

First we need to decide what genre we want to write. Choosing a genre gives us a rough and highly adaptable guideline for our setting, plot, or both. Of course, the best novels mix the author's original ideas with aspects from several different genres (see "Tangent: The Development of a Genre" below), so when I say "rough and highly adaptable guidelines," I mean that in spades.

For social novel writing, I think a fantasy/sci fi setting is our best option. Setting our novel in our own world gives us the most freedom for everyone to be creative. Also, the people I've spoken with offline while conceiving this new blog prefer fantasy, sci fi, and horror.

So, my friends, what sort of genre/setting would you like to use? Here are some popular examples to help stir up your creativity:

• Epic or high fantasy - the classic sword and sorcery novels. Elves, dragons, magic, etc. in a sudo-medieval world. E.g., Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
• Dark fantasy - a cross between horror and epic fantasy, often includes dark supernatural creatures, some very nasty villains, or an anti-hero as the protagonist. E.g., R.A. Salvatore's Underdark novels, Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy, Brent Week's Night Angel trilogy.
• Dark urban fantasy - dark fantasy in a contemporary setting. E.g., Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (see below), Kim Harrison's The Hollows/Rachel Morgan series.
• Contemporary fantasy - elements of high fantasy in a contemporary setting. E.g., Terry Goodkind's The Law of Nines, Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
• Steampunk - early 1900's or Victorian setting where steam power is widely used. E.g., Cherie Priest's Boneshaker or the Final Fantasy video games.
• Cyberpunk - advanced technology (e.g. cyborgs) in a post-modern setting where there's a breakdown of the social order. E.g., the anime series Trigun, the Matrix movies.
• Futuristic fantasy - combines the advanced technology of sci fi with the magic of fantasy. (Technology powered by magic? High-tech elves?) I don't think this genre actually exists yet, but it could be fun to write.

 
Tangent: The Development of a Genre
The best novels mix the author's original ideas with aspects from several different genres and/or mythology. Successful mixes sometimes even father new genres. For example, you can easily track the relatively new and currently popular dark urban fantasy genre back to its origin with Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) - Combines mythology (vampires) with a contemporary setting; establishes the horror genre. (You could go back further to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), but that is more psychological suspense than horror, and at that point in history, the novel itself (i.e., a long work of narrative prose) was considered a genre.

Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (1976), the first of her Vampire Chronicles - Breaks new ground by presenting vampires as sympathetic protagonists. We'll call this contemporary paranormal fiction.

Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures (1993), the first in her best-selling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, is one of the first dark urban fantasy books as we know them today. Hamilton combined contemporary paranormal fiction (i.e., vampires and lycanthropes in a modern urban setting) with horror and crime fiction. She also added a good dash of humor and gave us one of the first hard-as-nails, plucky female protagonists that have become so popular in novels today.

P.S. If you haven't read Hamilton's Anita Blake series, you should. It's one of my favorites!

About social novel writing

This is a social experiment that allows a community of creative people to collaborate on the creation of a new novel. You tell me what you want to have happen. I bring your ideas to life through the written word.

Why I'm doing this:

I started writing as a teenager because the stories I wanted to read didn't exist yet. Since then, I've met so many creative people who are burning with ideas for stories, characters, and settings, but who lack the time or writing skills to bring their ideas to life. This blog is for you. Let's create the stories you want to read.

The mechanics of social novel writing:

To start a novel, we need a basic premise, a setting, and a few characters. From there, the process will be very organic with all aspects of the story evolving as you give me suggestions and feedback after each scene.

On your end, this is simple: post comments with your ideas about characters, setting, and plot line, what you think should happen next, how you think the novel should end, etc.

My end is far more complex. Based on your initial suggestions, I'll create a bare-bones skeleton of how I think the novel will progress. Naturally, this outline will change over time, but a writer needs at least an idea of where a novel is headed in order to create intrigue, incorporate important elements for later use, and to keep the story from meandering off into nonsensical tangents. I'll also be incorporating many different ideas into one novel. By necessity, I am always the final arbitrator of what goes into the story. Please don't be offended if I don't use something - some ideas simply won't fit into the story. Hopefully we'll be able to use them in the next novel.

Let the experiment begin.