"I'm trying to sleep, damn it! Go away," I said.
"But this is brilliant stuff! Listen! I've got a '57 Mustang, and I was turned into a vampire in 1974--or you can change it within a few years. I'm working on who my neighbor is... get this, my neighbor lady is a psychic! She's hounding me, and doesn't know I'm a vampire, yet, but she'll learn it sooner or later and that will eff everything up for me--"
"WAIT A MINUTE!" I shout to this voice. "I don't have a pen or paper on me... I want to get some sleep here."
"...and then she comes to my door pretending to 'borrow' something. Or maybe she has a piece of my mail that somehow got into her box... something like that. You have to throw us together. It will be great!"
Okay. It's me again--without the voice. You go through this as a writer. A new character, a new idea a new whole story comes to you in the middle of the night--in the middle of EVERYTHING you're doing and interrupts the flow. Damn it! GO AWAY!
I'm in the middle of final go-through of the 4th book, and have another book--the only other one I plan on writing this year, and here we go again....
This character's name has been haunting me ever since I saw it somewhere: Peter Warlock. I don't know if I'll keep the first name. If it's someone famous, I don't know where I saw it. But over the past 3 or 4 months I was wondering what sort of character/person he was. Was he a magical person? Did his name fit him? Or was I going to go with something else? Then, a few weeks ago, The Voice came to me out of the blue. He began yammering his whole deal--and it was worse than that. It was the story in his voice. Did I get it down? I don't know if I did it justice, but I tried. Mr. Warlock isn't a warlock at all. Well, here, in his own words is how he puts it....
From Peter Warlock, Private Eye
My name is Peter
Warlock, PI. I investigate anything. I've even investigated
paranormal happenings when things were slow. Once did a ghost
invasion, and that was pretty wild. It was a poltergeist. Nasty
fucker, but you know, I got him to leave. You never know what sort of
strange situations I get into.
Same thing with my
name. With a last name like mine, you'd think I was a wizard, or at
least dabbled in the art of witchcraft, or wicca. Nope. But I like
how it keeps people guessing, and helps keep them from inferring that
I'm really a vampire. No one else, except a few close friends know
what I am. That's because they're vampires too. The rest of the
humans have no clue. By the way, I get my blood from the hospital.
Got friends in low places, if you get my meaning. He's a vampire
too, which makes things really easy for me to get information when
something comes in and I need to check it out. Like a rogue vampire
out of control, and one of his vics come in on a gurney, that sort of
thing. It's up to me to find the stupid fuck and either put him straight or take
him out. One way or the other I always do my job.
Why is it that
vampires portrayed on TV or in the movies have cool, ultra modern
digs? Me, I've got a small one bedroom, utilities included and I'm a
bit behind on my rent. I keep ducking my landlady because I'm
perpetually a bit behind on rent, and have to wait until I get a
client—and they pay me. Yeah, I'm not one of those rich bastard
vampires who've been around a few hundred years who manage to somehow
accumulate wealth (most likely steal it from those they've attacked).
I'm an honest vampire, trying to make a living—and not get caught
at it.
Anyway, I've
changed my locks on my door so that my landlady doesn't barge in here
demanding pay, or try and evict me. I really don't want her to storm
in on me while I'm sleeping—during the day. Yeah, that would pretty
much freak her out if she catches me in bed because I sleep in the
raw, no blankets or sheets, either. I don't think she'd want to see
that. Well, maybe she would, but I'm nothing to write home about. I'm
medium build and height, brown hair and eyes, and I could pass for
good-looking, but I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm handsome.
Wait. That's my
phone. I'd better see who it is... it might be important.
Okay, that's about all I've got so far. At this juncture, I know things will change. As to when I get to write about Mr. Warlock, I have no idea. Got my fingers busy at the moment.
How many times does this, or has this happened to you? New character/ a voice comes to you and you haven't got time to write about it?
