A week ago, I described the inspiration and development of my first book, “The Cabin: a Time Travel Adventure.”
I had a great time writing my second book as well. I titled it "The Food." You might recall that the early oughts was the era of the vampire story – novels, movies, TV series. Some were pretty good: The works of Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris’s “Southern Vampires” series. And some, I have to say, were rather ridiculous. Why, after all, would a 150 y/o vampire be in high school?
So, I asked myself what a real vampire be like?
Michael Dalton came to mind. The novel was set during the Great Recession of 2008-2011, and in my beloved Narvaez County. Michael was working on an MFA degree in nearby University of South Florida. But a series of misfortunes left him unable to finish his degree. What he needed was more time. As luck would have it, he had become aware of a vampire living in Tampa. If Michael could become a vampire, he would have all the time in the world.
But what is a vampire besides a type of serial killer?
So, a realistic vampire novel becomes a police procedural.
On to Narvaez County, which was the setting of “The Cabin.” It was a place I knew thoroughly. I had fantasized about Narvaez during each phase of its history and prehistory. And I was most familiar with the Sheriff’s Department.
My protagonist was to be Paul McCready, a taciturn, hard nosed cop inspired by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry as well as Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. My love interest was a young deputy named Donna Parker.
But something strange happened. As I wrote, I discovered that, tough as he was, Paul McCready was damaged. A divorced Iraq War veteran, he was plagued by chronic pain. And he had a hard time staying motivated in his job. Only his friendship with Sheriff Watson kept him in his job as second in command of the department.
And I fell in love with Donna Parker. Her mother had died when she was quite young. Her father died while she was in college. Her friendship with the Sheriff had landed her a job in the Sheriff’s Department. She was promiscuous, had a drinking problem. But the other cops liked her, dated her, nicknamed her “Blondie” and so she was popular – almost a mascot in the department.
Assigned as a partner to Paul McCready, Donna wastes no time seducing Paul. And she and Paul are on the front line in the hunt for the vampire Michael Dalton when he shows up in Narvaez County.
The novel goes on to deal with the world between worlds, known as the Miasma. The greater vampire Community is discovered. We learn of Donna’s deepest, kinky desires. As well as the iron core that makes her a formidable enemy of the vicious vampire, Michael Dalton.
Writing this novel was a transformative experience for me. I didn’t feel that I was inventing the characters. I was discovering them, learning about them. I learned about their dreams, about the supernatural beings that influenced their lives.
I learned that it is possible to love my characters, to hate some of them but to see the world through the eyes of the villains.
This book showed me why people become writers. To write a novel is to live in the minds of other people, to walk around in other worlds. It is an amazing experience. It becomes an addiction.
Unfortunately, I’m well on in years and so can’t make long term plans. But if I last for another year, I think I will rewrite “The Food” as a special Kindle edition trilogy. Donna, Paul, and the other characters have lived on in succeeding novels. But I would like to revisit them when I first got to know them - one more time.