45kb of vampires + internet privacy issue :)

[jack]

Vampire fic has reached 45KB = 7k5 words. Apparently the rule of thumb of 'average word is 5 letters' is pretty much spot on for my writing. Measuring writing by the byte seems crude somehow, but it's certainly quick :)

• Chapter 1: Rat PoV. http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~jv233/fic/saldini_chap_1.html
  
• Chapter 2: Maurice PoV. Late night bookshops are a godsend (so to speak) for vampire detectives.
  
• Chapter 3: Random extra PoV. It's not a vampire without evening dress, so it's formal hall time.
  
• Chapter 4: Maurice PoV. Exposition chunks are broken up into conversation, and someone turns up dead, ie. plot.
  
• Chapter 5: Maurice PoV.
  
• Chapter 6: Rat PoV again at last. Some vampires have problems worse than mild depression. But not feeling the cold is good if you live rough. We learn why exactly we're reading a book by a talking rat.
  
• Chapter 7: vampirechat.org transcripts. I liked this. How can come Maurice knows anything when he was abandoned by his sire? There's an anonymous internet message board! DR4CUL4R :)

I do need suggestions:

It's set in cambridge, but I've changed the name of everywhere in it. Virgin Mary College is a bit like trinity, but where Kings is. The university is run in a different way. Borders, Chilli's, etc appear but with different names. Keeping the originals makes it feel more real, but falls down whenever I need to dpeart from reality. Fiddling works almost as well, but seems gratuitous. Which should I do? Should I invent a city name as well?

I seem to rush through it a bit fast, but it'd never make a novel. Probably 15kwords would be optimal, though I probably won't make it that high -- which is probably also the worst possible length of a story :)

The rat is roughly Maurice's familiar. What is his name?

Vampirechat requires sponsorship from two members to join. How anonymously is this possible? If it's set up on a server trusted to be independant and the source code made available, could it be done without a central authority?

Comments

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Also, I'm thinking Neverwhere with the place names. Keep 'em but reinterpret them (Knights' Bridge). Sounds deliciously surrel anyway, keep up the good work :-)

Thanks. The trouble with that sort of approach is that in my mouth it all sounds like bad puns, which I have about the right amount of already, so generally amusing names is ok, but being an explicit parody wouldn't quite work for me.

Surrounded by all this creativity I wrote a couple of beginnings over the weekend but I don't really think I'll ever finish them (too much else to do!).

Oh dear, I know the feeling. What were they about? One day perhaps the common threads will come together and you'll know your one story! :)

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

Names which are clever but ultimately just puns lead one down the road of Piers Anthony :-) To be avoided at all costs!

The stuff I wrote -- beginnings of average heroine fantasy, TBH. Just things that needed writing. And half a sketch which I will finish one day, based on an improv remark made in a pub.