Today, the process begins with a quick thought on germs.

No, I’m not talking about microorganisms that can cause you to get sick when you don’t wash your hands regularly.

I’m speaking about the very beginning, beginning of an idea. Germs.

Ring Dragonz was born as a dream that I had back in 2001 that was so vivid I thought I was living a movie. In fact, the final chapters of Ring Dragonz are written almost exactly as everything unfolded in my dream.

As soon as I awoke from this dream, I was so excited about this story, characters, and the whopper with cheese twist ending, that ideas were spouting out of my brain faster than I could write them down.

So now what?

The Ring Dragonz germ (idea dream) supplied me with the characters, the villains, and the ending.

A good start.

Next up? Outline.

For Ring Dragonz, I made the critical rookie error of trying to write an entire book without outlining. Don’t make this mistake. In my excitement, I got a hundred pages into it, hit the wall, and became totally stuck.

So I went back to the drawing board and started outlining.

Because I’m a visual and linear thinker, I taped about sixty-five sentence strips together (those things elementary school teachers use in their classrooms) and started making a literal time line of events in the story from the first paragraph to the last.

This step took me about a month and a half, but was well worth it, because once finished I knew my book was all but written. All I needed to do was just follow the time line and write the manuscript as it was in the outline.

Another thing you need to do while hanging out here at square one: choose your audience. Who are you writing for? Are you writing for kids? Great. If so, what age group of young people? Adults? Okay. Young adults, or mature readers? Choose your audience.

Next, the genre (sci fi, fantasy, etc) should be getting clear at this point, too. Your initial germ should be pointing you in the right direction.

Now let’s look at I Was A Teenage Vampire.

SPOILER ALERT: obviously, if you’re going to follow this blog daily then you aren’t worried about the fact that you’re about to discover all this book’s secrets before it ever makes it’s way onto bookshelves.

The germ: Derek, a soon-to-be incoming high school freshman, finally hits puberty, only to discover that he’s a vampire (in a world where vampires live as second-class citizens amongst humans). Derek’s father helps him come to terms with his late-blooming identity as a vampire.

The audience: is high school age and up.

The genre: is fantasy, comedy, and a coming of age story. If that sounds like I can’t make up my mind, don’t worry. Many genres naturally overlap (or cross-pollinate), and I like to mix genres like cooking spices, combining them to create a great dinner.

The outlining: starts with me envisioning the finished book in my mind. What’s it look like? How thick is it? What’s on the cover? Who will enjoy reading it?

By asking myself these questions, I get the gut feeling that I Was A Teenage Vampire is about 15 – 18 chapters long. Using ten pages a chapter as an average, I know that this book will probably be between 150 and 200 pages long, and I envision high school teens (probably more girls than boys) reading IWATV.

I’ve also decided to follow the three act structure for this book, which is the most common story format: beginning, middle, and end (five act structures are usually reserved for long, dramatic works). This means I will try and divide the flow of energy (or action) into thirds, and make a conscious effort to make sure that each act is strong. I like to imagine three flowing tributaries coming together in a wide, rolling river.

With this in mind, the outline I have so far for IWATV consists of Derek, an awkward but honest teenage boy, waking up one late summer morning having finally hit puberty. Excitedly, he shares this revelation with his parents and siblings. However, only Derek’s father shares his enthusiasm.

As Derek’s summer closes and high school draws nigh, he and his best friend since elementary school, Body, are nervous about being incoming freshman. But even more troubling than that, Derek starts to notice some strange things are beginning to happen to him – things he can’t explain.

Soon enough, Derek’s suspicions quickly grow into a realization that he might be a vampire. In the world Derek lives in, vampires are a minority of humanity that struggles to be accepted. For this reason, Derek feels terrified to confess his suspicions to his family, or best friend, Body.

The evening news always leads with stories of vampire activists clashing violently with lawmakers and police for equal rights for all “human monsters.”

But then a supernatural incident occurs after school one day (notice I don’t even know what this scene will be yet), in which Derek’s father comes to the aid of his teenage son, leading Derek to confess his dark secret.

Derek’s father then surprises him, and alleviates his son’s guilt, by confessing that he, too, was a teenage vampire growing up. Derek is so thankful to have his father as an ally, guiding him amidst all his confusion.

So far this action comprises the first third of I Was A Teenage Vampire (along with the introduction of some bullying seniors at school).

One last note for today. I really like a story with a good prologue hook. But I wait and don’t write the hook until the entire manuscript is finished. Not everyone does this, but it seems the best way for me to gauge whether or not a book actually needs a prologue. My initial gut reaction is that IWATV probably won’t need a prologue. But we’ll see as we go along together here.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the broad strokes outlining of the middle action of the book