Writing a vampire story — or any story, really — is rewriting and knowing when to throw things away.

Almost as important is knowing when to reach back into that trash can and save that pearl you accidentally threw out with the shells.

The vampire story salvage project

I released the original two “Shadowdance” novels a decade ago. The first, By Virtue Fall, had a four-star review, although it had relatively few reviews in total.

It felt like nobody got to the second one, For Her Sins. *shrug*

I had always intended to write a prequel. With those books largely forgotten, I decided to relaunch the whole series as a trilogy.

I diligently pumped out the first new Shadowdance novel, Two Sisters, in October of 2023.

If an author releases a book in the woods, does it get read?

Ain’t gonna lie. The lack of reader response despite a two-month marketing push that included Instagram ads and a few book tours was pretty demoralizing, to the point where I stopped writing for the better part of a year.

Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo influence my writing

I wasn’t writing, but I damn sure was thinking about writing.

It’d always been a dream of mine to write a story in the style of Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Part II.

For those of you unfamiliar (why do I even talk to you if you’re not familiar with The Godfather, Part II? Sacrilege!), the movie is two stories in one.

The first chronicles Michael Corleone’s ascent as the new godfather of the Corleone family. The second story chronicles his father, Vito’s, establishment of the Corleone crime family and Vito’s ascent to the role of godfather.

I already had the two books to complete the trilogy, but I wanted By Virtue Fall, originally the first book but now the second, to be a better bridge between Sisters and the now third book, For Her Sins.

Harking back to Coppola and Puzo’s masterpiece, I decided to tell two stories. The first would be Adriana Dupre‘s story from the original book, with modifications.

The second story would be an original tale that picked up directly where Sisters ended. It would reveal what happened to the Safia Edris character from Two Sisters.

Redrafting By Virtue Fall

I outlined Safia’s story. Even got to writing some of it. Ran into an exposition scene I couldn’t get my head around. It all died on the vine of the writer’s refusal to write.

Not wanting to stall By Virtue Fall, I decided to go back to modifying Adriana’s story to bridge the trilogy better.

The immediate problem I saw was that the middle book was about thirty thousand words shorter than the two other books. I figured I’d fix the problem by adding content. The story would explain how Adriana reached the beginning of the original By Virtue Fall story and provide more insight into her actions.

I also softened the blow of a plot point I never appreciated. Threw in some Easter eggs for the next trilogy, too. Yes, I will get to that trilogy. Illusion of Love is too good a title, and with The Vampire Lestat hitting screens, my vampire pop star, Valentina Lorena, can ride that train!

Salvaging the Safia vampire story

An element I established in Safia’s story is the concept of the vampire thrall. Not something new in the world of vampire stories, but new to my Shadowdance urban fantasy saga.

I created an entire backstory as to how one became a thrall, emotional story beats, powers, and the relationship between thrall and master.

Now, it seemed, all of that would go to the wayside as I abandoned that story for a spell.

But as I got to bulking up By Virtue Fall, I realized I could still use that concept but introduce it differently.

Now I present Roland Pierce, a character I established for the Illusion of Love trilogy, and his thrall, Zou Shui. While building Fall, I reclaim my thrall concept and bridge not only Sisters and Fall, but this trilogy to Illusion too.

Making progress on my vampire story

I’m back in the swing of (re)writing By Virtue Fall.

I have a concern that the new beginning might take too long to get Adriana into the story, but I’m gonna continue drafting and sort it out in the editing phase.

Worst case, I cut the extra opening chapters and turn it into a free release to whet readers’ appetites for the By Virtue Fall launch. That is, after sharing it with my newsletter peeps (you ARE on the newsletter, right?).

Whatever I decide, I’m on better footing now than I was two years ago.

And don’t you worry. I’m going to finish that Safia story because it’s a banger. I think I’ll be better able to get my head around it without the burden of having to weave it in and out of Adriana’s story.

Discard, but never destroy your cast-out stories

Fellow writers, heed my cautionary tale. Never throw out anything you write. Never know when it’ll be needed elsewhere, and give you just the kick in the pants you needed to get going.

In the meantime, you can sample the Prologue from Two Sisters by clicking this link.

Or, if you’re really eager, head over to Amazon and get either the eBook or trade paperback version of the novel. If you’re a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read it through that program for free!

About those banner characters

The three images in my banner for this story are (from left to right), Safia Edris, Roland Pierce, and Zou Shui. AI-generated, yes. As I’m operating on concepts, I find AI use acceptable for images.

But that cover is gonna be all human, baby!