in which i beg shamelessly for your help

[ontology]

You guys, I am cross and depressed and faintly nauseated, and ABC has proven themselves to be a fat lot of pillocks by cancelling Pushing Daisies, and I've pretty much eaten all of my candy, and I don't want to go to work tomorrow, and, worst of all, my NaNo has a PHD in horribleness, and not in the nifty-goggles, I-will-kill-you-all kind of way. SO MUCH EXPOSITION SANDWICHED IN BETWEEN POINTLESS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT NOTHING. There is no pacing, no imagination, and my characters are all flat cliches who aren't even consistent. Also I don't even know where my plot is. I'm seventy-odd pages in, and still no Primary Vampire. But then, I don't even know what the end goal of this novel is -- or, for that matter, WHY THERE IS A VAMPIRE PROBLEM. Seriously, this is...kind of a big deal. Like, I have this whole idiotic CRAZY LONG section in which people are trying to convince Evy that they really, really need her on the vampire fighting front. Except THEY CANNOT GIVE HER ANY GOOD REASONS FOR HER TO BE DRAGGED INTO THIS. There's a lot of "but!" and "what if?" that is mostly me fishing for ideas as I write.

Seriously, I have absolutely no idea why the vampires are a threat. I have a vague inkling as to why Evy might be especially useful, but that kind of falls flat when THERE IS NO PARTICULAR THREAT. It's just, oh hey, vampires are evil. Some could kill us. WE NEED YOU, EVANGELINE. Also there was a vampire attack on the library and about thirteen people died, but NO ONE KNOWS WHY. ASLJKGDWJDGDGH. And it's especially difficult because I'm trying to walk the line between inconsequential and lame and OBNOXIOUSLY EPIC. This means: no gigantic vampire army trying to overthrow the king and take over England AND THEN THE WORLLLLD. Vampires =/= human, anyway. They don't want the same things humans want. What they want, I have no idea. The only thing I've been able to fall back on in my head is the idea that there's something going on with vampires being experimented on because of the oncoming WWI, except -- did anyone know WWI was coming? At all? There was a lot of tension, though, I suppose, so anyone could be interested in making their own little vampire army. (See? Now I run up against things that sound stupid when you type them up. VAMPIRE. ARMY. *FACEPALM*) Heck, the Russians could be all "LET US OVERTHROW THE VICIOUS ROMANOVS WITH...VAMPIRES!" Even so, that idea hasn't turned into anything more than extremely murky thus far.

So, um, a little help here? I'm not asking for you to fix my plot here, but I am just...defeated. I am at the end of my writing rope. (See? I used a really limp cliche. That evidences how bad things have gotten.) I am desperate for some kind of inspiration.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Prompt me. Please. Anything. A song, a quote, a poem, a picture, a plot device, a suggestion. Anything. I need to write at least a thousand words before I go to bed.

Comments

I know your pain

[last-archangel.livejournal.com]

I've got a short playlist I'm compiling just for you right now!

[bonny-kathryn.livejournal.com]

I'm on facebook, gmail, msn messenger, or aim if you want to chat about the novel. Pointless conversations are totally alright, because they are words.

[last-archangel.livejournal.com]

Chasing Pavements (http://www.mediafire.com/?ngyymdm2nzm) by Adele
I Have A Love (http://www.mediafire.com/?z4jdjnfz3md) by Hayley Westenra
Goodnight Demonslayer (http://www.mediafire.com/?xwjzyf5a1y0) by Voltaire
Eurydice (http://www.mediafire.com/?mwgwqw2nonl) by Rain King
It Is Better To Have Loved (http://www.mediafire.com/?dfxzyrflrjy) by Temposhark

[bonny-kathryn.livejournal.com]

Alrighty, so perhaps some helpful questions, perhaps not. Why does Evy fight vampires? Is she convinced? Does she do it for the good of the world? Was there a particular circumstance (Mr. Caruthers perhaps) which caused her to go all crazy and start killing vampires? Does she think vampires are evil, or does she want to try to redeem them? Does she find out why the vampires attacked the library? (And, btw, did they really attack the library, and if so was it provoked? Did they have to under threat of not getting blood or something?)

[such_heights]

♥ ♥ ♥ You can do it, Banui! *cheers on*

[aohdwyn.livejournal.com]

Well. I was going to say, I'm pretty sure the Germans knew about WWI, but thinking about it, I think it took them by surprise as well. The Archduke couldn't have been more shocked. WWII, on the other hand, was slightly more premeditated.
Does Dracula as a historical figure have anything to do with your vampires? I mean, where did vampires first come from? Did they originate with him? Where DID they come from, in your world? Does the oppressive smog in London help the vampires in any way? Could Rasputin have been a vampire? He seems very much the type.
Method of death and disposal of dead seem to be important to prevent people from rising as vampires, in legend. Could the high body counts and violent deaths of soldiers in war result in vampires? Or even, other icky types of undead? Could this be one of the things Evy's company needs her? Is there some NEW kind of vampire undead? Could it have anything to do with the Industrial Revolution? HOW are vampires made? Could it be turned into some kind of ... biological warfare? WAS JACK THE RIPPER A VAMPIRE ?!? ... I don't know, just throwing ideas out there! =) Hoping something helps. If not, just ignore me! I'd upload some pretty music for you, except I haven't got any on this computer yet. Alas.

[shadowempress.livejournal.com]

All first drafts suck. You can polish up later. As for plot devices...how 'bout a totally demented vampire bent upon creating a super race of vampires out of virgins between the ages of 6 and 24? I only a bit serious about that,btw. You could have a massive plot to turn London's Whitechapel district into a den of vampires who run the country in mafia esque sort of way.....

If you want I can make you up a cd with tons of depressing Cranberries songs on it as I have promised to do in the past and give it to you some time very soon.

[ressie-noldo.livejournal.com]

I am tired and running to maths right now, but remind me to give you my lecture on World War One some time? It is my very favourite bit of history ever, so I might be of some use.

[suangelita.livejournal.com]

Maybe there was some special book in the library, maybe it reveals their weaknesses, maybe they dont' want anyone to know they need or want it. If that's the case, why wouldn't they stage an attack in which missing books would be overlooked in the hubub of 13 deaths? Also, use the number 13 to your advantage. Maybe if 13 people were killed than something would happen to help the vampires. Maybe 13 ends up becoming a recurring number... 13 pages, 13 chapters, 13 vampires, etc...

[missbaxter.livejournal.com]

The thing about Evy that struck me as the most interesting trait from one of your previous posts was that her main source of power/strength has to do with stories/words/narratives. And if vampire society is structured in such a way that they don't want the same sorts of things that humans want, maybe one of the more important things in VampWorld are stories and myths. There's a sort of general sociological sense that our worlds are metaphorically created (i.e. ordered and understood) by narratives; maybe VampWorld is literally created by them ala Mirrormask? And they're running out and desperate for new stories and thus encroaching on the human world, which could be a threat in and of itself given that human = vampire snack.
Which would kind of explain an attack on the library (unless they were attacking strictly in the hopes of getting at Evy, which puts us back at square one.) Maybe Evy is both recruited and put under threat because of her authorial abilities? And I shall stop with the lame plot conjecture - don't know if any of that is helpful or not, so just in case, have a prompt:
"This living hand,/now warm and capable of earnest grasping,/would, if it were cold and in the silence of the tomb,/So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights/That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood/That in my veins red life might stream again./And thou be conscience-calmed,/See, here it is: I hold it towards you." -John Keats (currently turning in his grave at how I've mangled his punctuation - oh, the trials of typing from memory...)

[bornofstars.livejournal.com]

Argh, I wish I had something illuminating to say. I think missbaxter's idea is really cool, though. I'll let you know if anything comes to mind.

Good luck! ♥

[lostacanthus.livejournal.com]

I don't really know what to say to help :(( Sorry. But um, congratulations on your 33k? You can totally make 40k by Monday night! *jealous*

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

OMG LJ WHAT THE CRAP. I had a long, long comment typed up here that might or might not have been helpful and I posted it and it's all, "Error: Invalid form submission," so I hit back and of course it's GONE. And it's almost 1 a.m. and I'm so tired already and I'll try to re-create it tomorrow or something.

*shreds things*

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Crap, I never did this, did I? Of course now I have no idea what I meant to say.