Sire: The NaNo 2018 Project

Back in September/October of 2018, I had an idea. It started with this video:

There was also this idea I had way back in the day where Howie was the leader of a vampire clan. (Think Kindred: The Embraced.) So I thought, why not combine the two ideas. Major difference: I had to have Kevin in this fic! Similarities: red eyes, Day Walkers, Gentri and that was about it. Beyond that, the story was my own.

I had an idea about how I thought it would go. November started and I took off on this 50k word adventure! It was the first time I had written BSB fanfic in years! By the end of the first week, I was three days ahead in my word count. The CD lived in my car. I listened to the song constantly! Words were flowing out of me! But then, the fire happened. I didn't write for three days, and when I did write, it was strange. I could sometimes get words and sometimes couldn't. I chalked it up to stress and kept pushing through. I managed to get to 30k in my story. I took that as a win with all that had happened. On top of that, that was about what I averaged for these events.

But when I went back and reread what I had written in the remaining weeks of November going into December, I realized the story had changed drastically. No longer was the plot I had started with the plot that it was following. Instead, it had become a subplot to something darker and more sinister. I went with it. It seemed to help.

I got stuck around a year ago in chapter 17, the climax of the story. I didn't want it to be told entirely from the main character's point of view. Plus, it just needed to be done right. So instead I worked on chapter 18. I figured knowing what was going to happen after would help drive what happened in that chapter. Almost six months later, I finished that dreaded piece. It then became ending this story. I had parts written. I dabbled in it. But I guess part of me didn't want to finish it yet. This was the story that had gotten me through the fire. Finally, in January of this year, I finished chapter 19. I knew then that it was all downhill from there. The last two parts were practically written.

But alas, another project had taken my interest. So I put it on the back burner. I got pressure to finish it from all over. But it just wasn't coming. Finally, after I finished the one project that had taken my interest, I decided to come back to "Sire." And guess what? It practically finished itself! I worked on it for two days and in both those two days, I managed to finish chapter 20 and the epilogue! In the timespan of a week, I had finished TWO monster stories! So here are the deets on this story:

Title: Sire
Final Word Count: 81,492
Summary: Howie is the leader of a clan of Day Walkers, half-human, half-vampires who are tasked with enforcing vampire law in Las Vegas. His clan is composed of his adviser, Kevin; his tracker, Nick; his messenger, Alex; and Brian, his new pet. They've been together for twenty-five years and things are just now coming to light. Having taken Brian as his pet, Howie is beginning to realize just how broken he is. He also realizes that Brian needs to reclaim his power over his past. But there are demons in the way; demons that seem to be coming back to haunt them. As the lawbreakers, or Gentri, seem to be growing in numbers, the leader of the vampires, Carson, is growing impatient with his Day Walker clans. He orders more clans to be brought in to help with the problem. One of the new clans, however, has ties to Brian that threatens to undo all the work Howie has done with him.

Want to read it? Read it here.