Stories Behind the Story

Camp NaNo: July Edition was just spend working on backstories for various characters for my vampire novel-in-progress.

You know, the sort of music they like, how they got where they are, and that Nazi Germany apparently had something to do with vampire hunting. I'm not sure what yet, and I even said, out loud, "I wonder why that is?" as though I hadn't just written it and caused it to happen.

I have wandered down many rabbit holes of research, spending hours on such topics as:

• Post-hardcore bands
• The geography of Virginia in 1820
• The price of upright pianos
• Vampire-like creatures in the mythology and folklore of various places (of course)
• The history of what is now the Czech Republic

But now July is basically over (17 minutes left as I'm writing this), so I'm setting the weird research aside for the moment. I have a lot of information I don't yet know what to do with, and most of it will probably not even show up in the book.

Technically, my goal this month was to write things that won't be in the book. A lot of my secondary characters were very flat, and this was just an exercise to fill them out, and make them feel more like real people. Because I'm thinking that if I know them, even if all that is never mentioned on the page, they're going to feel like deeper, more interesting characters. I hope that makes sense. Like, I can convey more personality if they, you know, actually have one.

Anyway, that's really all I have right now. I just wanted to share that I am actually doing something.

I'll see you next time.