Previous Post Last weekend, for no special reason other than because I felt like it, I began to write a Vinnie de Soth novel. So far I’m 23,500 words into a manuscript that’ll need to be 60,000-100,000 words long. If it turns out well I’ll consider submitting it for publication. Now I’m still trying to find my way with this story. That’s often the case with my first drafts of long stories; they tend to change radically – and expand – during my second pass. This is especially true for Vinnie’s book, since I’m having to decide where to pitch the tone (somewhere between Parodyverse and Stephen King) and how much of Vinnie’s PV mythos to port across. My general rule of thumb on tone so far has been that Vinnie as a character remains pretty much the same. I don’t really make too much distinction between his “voice” in this novel and the usual babble-with-occasional-deadly-serious-moments stuff I’ve used here. However, the humour is shaded down; there’s quipping and some comedy but on the whole the tale’s a bit darker and closer to what someone might expect a novel about demons and demon-hunters would be. The problem is that its hard to write “scary” stories at the best of times. Too many authors mistake unpleasant for scary. I can sometimes manage to provoke a shiver but rarely in a story that also has fantasy and whimsy. I need to decide what I’m aiming for and aim for it. The world the story’s set in is a bit more “normal” than Vinnie’s previous haunt too. The story’s set in a place where superheroes don’t exist, aliens aren’t acknowledged, and vampires and magic are (wrongly) thought to be myth. For convenience’s sake I’ve moved Vinnie and his office to Soho, London. The next set of choices I had to make were about the cast of the story. To shift Vinnie more-or-less whole out of the Parodyverse and into his own stand-alone world required him to take some folks with him. My rule here has obviously had to be that only characters I’ve created and primarily written are available, and of those only the ones that aren’t simply renamed versions of actual comic-book cast members. Vinnie really requires the de Soth clan to be around, so that he’s got a family to be thrown out of. Although they may not play too big a part in this novel I’m assuming they’re around in the backstory. They may be relevant in a sequel. And with the De Soths comes the other Nine Great Houses, the mystical “royalty” of the occult underworld – the Anankés (including Pandemonica, Vinnie’s ex-fiancée), Hertzogs Incantantrixes, Harrows, the Coriomundis, Morgolath, and the Rouges. Sadly the del Lunes and the Darknesses had to stay behind because they’re not mine to walk off with. Likewise Urthula and her wicked uncle have made the jump, albeit under different less silly names. The Ghouls Under Gothametropolis are under St Paul’s Cathedral now. Mac Fleetwood’s mission is in South London. Mr Lye has a laundry in Limehouse and it still has a cast of interesting misfits needing redemption; only Ruby Waver has needed to be replaced. Then there’s the Rakshasa Court, the Flensing Man, the Astral Khan, the Westminster Necropolis Company, the Guild of Lycanthropes... I’m vacillating on appropriating Grace O’Mercy for two reasons. Technically I first wrote her, as a throwaway hostage in an Untold Tales, and I suggested her name in an online chat, but it was Al B. who decided to pen Night Nurse #1. I then offered Night Nurse #2 which revealed Grace was actually a vampire and established much of her unique status quo; but I remain unsure about this one. Also, Grace O’Mercy is a bit of an unrealistic name but I’m struggling to find a replacement that fits the character anything like as well. Obviously Vinnie can’t take Liu Xi with him, so I’ve turned the problem into an opportunity and created a new female lead who turns up as a client and drives the whole plot of the book. Vizh will like her; she’s had a tough life and people have done her wrong but she’s smart and plucky. You can get Vizh with that formula every single time. As for villains, scene four reveals a hidden vault under a London landmark that seems to imprison an armoured figure wrapped in chains… Anyhow, my reason for mentioning all this is to take views from you all on where to go from here. First off, do folks think it’s okay for me to plunder my Parodyverse writing and character store (some of which in turn have been borrowed from earlier writing I’ve done)? Are there ethical or legal issues I’ve overlooked? Secondly, any advice on tone and technique? Thirdly, how well or badly do you think the situations and cast might translate to a stand-alone novel? Reply to the thread or e-mail me using the button on the board. IW

I would echo what Killer Shrike said - that you should probably change the names of Mac Fleetwood, both because he's recognizable here, and also his name is a parody of a music group; Mr Lye (there are other ingredients in detergent!) because he's recognizable from here as well; and Westminster Necropolis Company because, oddly enough it's too close to the name of an ACTUAL company (the London Necropolis Company of Westminster). I kid you not on that last one.

Also isn't the Chain Knight too closely related to the Hellraiser franchise?

As for Liu Xi Xian here in the Parodyverse - I implied for quite a while in replies on the board that I half expected Vinnie De Soth to someday up and disappear in the middle of their relationship with no explanation, like he fell through a hole in the universe and vanished. Perhaps now's a good time for that - and whether the Hooded Hood is involved depends only on whether you want his name to not be used. He could be useful for making sure everyone forgets Vinnie's name, though there might be other reasons too.

For instance, I can think of a particularly dark story involving some bad guy managing to disappear Vinnie so well that even his name is gone, and before the good guys can retrieve Vinnie and his name, the bad guy is killed, making it impossible to retrieve both.

On a personal note, I'd be a little sad to see Vinnie go, but being that I'm one of the last few active readers here I can't in good conscience justify holding him here when he can be exposed to a larger audience (and his writer exposed to that also, as well as more money). I'm also a little envious that characters I've created, overall, have been seeing only declining success as the audience here shrinks and as my ability to move to a larger audience weakens.

Meanwhile, though, a question about the PVB for you and everyone:

I think, to continue, the PV might need a renewed cast at some point, sourced mostly from created characters rather than poster-characters. While it was founded on poster-characters, those posters simply aren't writing their characters anymore. And worse yet, quite a few of them are being retired and/or pulled because those posters don't want their namesakes continued without their presence. This is definitely a disadvantage of having real people's names rolled into fictional characters - often when the posters move on to places or careers where they don't want to get fired over a Google search, they'll try and disassociate their real names from the PVB. These possibilities currently hover over at least half of the Lair Legion.

So what do you think? Should we re-build the PV in a way that prevents embarrassing real people by transitioning to new entirely-fictional characters?

Then again, it's possible I'm thinking completely wrong. It's possible these poster-characters are leaving and shutting down their namesakes in the hopes it will cause the Parodyverse to discontinue in their absence; i.e. that they believe they are founding members and it should not continue without them. In a way, I can see that point too; if I create a universe, and decide to walk away someday, I might feel a little annoyed if other people are still writing it and using the characters long after I'm gone.

Do you think that may be a possibility? That me and those few of us still writing for the PV are going against the tide, against the wishes of its founders?