Listening to Your First Instinct

Death Sword Cover

Last time I mentioned returning to work on Serpent Fire, the sequel to Death Sword. Initially, Death Sword was meant to be a stand alone, until Samael demanded I tell his story. Don't ask. Anyway, Samael's story continued, not only in Serpent Fire, but in a third book, Devil Inside. Unfortunately, Serpent Fire kept giving me fits, and Devil Inside came together faster, although that meant nothing if I didn't get Serpent Fire in shape.

What to do? Considering I wasn't contracted for a series, I had to submit each book on its own and hope the publisher would pick it up. Except Serpent Fire wasn't working the way I hoped, and any hopes of submission were quickly becoming unlikely. I even tried combining Serpent Fire and Devil Inside, given Serpent Fire was a novella and Devil Inside novel-length. But that's only because I cut out a significant subplot from SF.

Know how they say to listen to your first instinct? Yeah. Good idea, in this case.

I was smart. When I decided I wanted to write each book separately again, I wrote down the chapters and scenes from both Serpent Fire and Devil Inside, and used a different process, particularly "Chapter 1, Scene 1" for SF, and "Ch. 2, Sc. 2" for DI. Then a bit of info about what the scene was about and any corresponding plot point. All this done on index cards, which I then transcribed on Scrivener's index cards.

An extra bonus? Pulling out all the folders I had on the latter two manuscripts, I found detailed notes and character descriptions. Granted, some of the plot had changed, but it was enough to work with. Even better? I had the manuscripts available, too. Now all that remained was to reverse engineer the stories, making any necessary revisions, adding in the subplot, and hopefully getting them ready by Spring.

Why wait this long? Why not work on Serpent Fire and Devil Inside years before? Not that I hadn't tried, but I couldn't make the stories work then. Since that time, I've written five angel paranormal suspense novels and one novella. Not to mention, parts of another angel novel and an outline. Perhaps I wasn't ready to work on Serpent Fire until now.

Conquering NaNoWriMo a Word at a Time

I just hit the 50k mark on my NaNoWriMo novel, The Memitim. No, I'm not kidding: 5,000 words in 10 days. My hands hurt, I'm exhausted, and I will probably take tomorrow, maybe even Thursday, off.

But I'm not done. The projected length is estimated between 75,000 and 80,000 words. And I plan to write all that this month. Last year, I wrote 65,000 words in 21 days, so I know it can be done.

Writing novels that long is in itself a milestone for me. Only a couple of years ago, I would've balked at writing something that length. Let's just say I had to retrain my brain.

How did I do it? Plotting. Not only did I use Dramatic Pro to help develop the story, I used a program called WriteWay Pro. It's like Scrivener, in that you can break your story down into scenes and write in a non-linear fashion, then import the document into Word. I used WWP with my novel, The Judas Dilemma, currently sitting on a publisher's desk. (Fingers are crossed.)

What I like about WriteWay Pro is I can make notes about character, setting, dialogue, conflict, even notes on revisions for that particular scene. I think using it has helped me write faster. Not saying my first draft doesn't suck. I mean, we have to be realistic here. *grin*

But really, writing a book, whether during NaNoWriMo, or any other time of the year, is simply putting one word after the other.

Happy Writing!

Nine Years in the Making

This coming January, I'm slated to have shoulder surgery. As you might guess, this will curtail my writing, at least for a few weeks. So I've compiled a list of writing goals I want to accomplish before January 1. So far, I've written a short radio play based on a short novel, completed a 65,000-word thriller for NaNoWriMo, and, as of today, finished a short novel I began about nine years ago.

Yes, nine years. Cathedral Girl was my second NaNoWriMo attempt, following a "win" in 2004 with a historical vampire story. This project was my foray into studying angels and demons, which would culminate in the following publications, Death Sword and Exterminating Angel, and the unpublished drafts, Serpent Fire, The Judas Dilemma, and Hell on Earth. Hey, if you've got this knowledge available, why not use it? :-)

But why take so long? Part of it was while I knew how the story would end, I wasn't sure how to get to that point. I jotted notes from what I had and used a program called Writer's Blocks to flesh out the rest of the story. The result is a rough first draft, but that doesn't matter. What matters is I have something to work with.

I have a couple of partials to finish. While I'm hoping to finish one before my surgery, I'm not sure if I will or not. But if I can make a dent in it, that's better than nothing.

Exterminating Angel is Live

It's been over a year, but Exterminating Angel is now available. I'm a little nervous in that I have a Stoker-winning author reading it, but he was also a major inspiration, and I felt it only right to offer him a copy.

What are my plans for EA? Adapting it into a screenplay, and perhaps having a Facebook launch party, although I'm still debating that. I've written a spin off, although I sometimes think I'm really just procrastinating on another angel PNR. :-)

So, time to break out the virtual champagne and toss the virtual confetti. Say hi to Zaphkiel and company. Yes, some of them are archangels, but their behavior is anything but.

Blurb:

Making a deal with the Devil is the least of his problems.

Zaphkiel, a chain-smoking, hard-drinking archangel, never intended to unleash the sun demon upon the city. Bad enough his boss wants him dead, and this recent crime is the perfect excuse. The timing couldn't be worse. Somehow, Zaphkiel's executed lover, Caliel, is alive and reincarnated as Sean. Zaphkiel is thrilled to be reunited with Caliel again, but will his lover feel the same when he learns Zaphkiel's darkest secret?

Hired by Lucifer, Sean wants nothing more than to fit in. But how can he compete when the Devil's friends include archangels and a Tarot reader, and he was born without special abilities? Or so he believes. The Tarot hints there may be more to him than he realizes.

Recruited by the Devil to find the two pentacles sun demon Sorath plans to use to destroy the universe, Zaphkiel and Sean find themselves pawns in a game of power and control. If the archangel gives his boss the pentacles, Ophaniel will overlook his crime. But Zaphkiel knows he can't trust either Ophaniel or Sorath, and the deal he's made with the Devil could cost him not only his life, but also the lover he believed gone forever.

M/M sexual practices, occult themes, some violence, graphic descriptions

Buy Link: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/30226

Saying Goodbye

(Cross-posted from Darkling Delights)

Many bloggers will probably talk about saying goodbye to 2013, and reminiscence on what they've accomplished or wanted to accomplish over the last twelve months.

I'm saying goodbye, too, but not for the same reason. This past week, I turned in what would be my final round of content edits for Exterminating Angel. Now all I'm waiting for are the line edits and the galley.

Non-writers may not understand what it's like to say goodbye to characters we've spent months or even years with. For over two years, Zaphkiel and Company were part of my life. I came to know their fears, desires, what made them angry, their regrets, and other nuances that make characters unique. I can't tell you how many different beginnings I wrote. Characters that appeared in one version were excised in the next. Certain scenes, even entire chapters, hit the chopping block. But through it all, the premise remained the same:

"An archangel who unwittingly unleashes a demon upon the city must enlist the help of  Lucifer to stop it."

For me, Zaphkiel is an archangel who truly believed in what he was doing, but didn't realize the repercussions of such actions. He isn't perfect. Hard-smoking and hard-drinking, he's lived with a lot of regrets over the centuries. His closest, perhaps only, friend, Raziel, a fellow Throne angel, does his best to support him, but understands there are some issues Zaphkiel needs to deal with alone, including the death of his lover, Caliel.

But is Caliel really dead? Or is he reincarnated in a young man, Sean, who not only looks like Caliel, but has many of his mannerisms?

It was fun writing Lucifer, who worked on a need-to-know basis, although he often drove the other characters crazy. The only character he confided in was Raziel, although he shared a sobering truth with Zaphkiel.

Even though I'm saying goodbye to these characters, there's still a chance they might appear in other stories, although I've no plans for a series. So I guess I'm not really saying "goodbye" but "later."

Exterminating Angel Cover Reveal

I'm excited to announce the cover reveal of my upcoming paranormal/urban fantasy, Exterminating Angel. It's scheduled to release Spring 2014, and is about an archangel who unwittingly unleashes a demon upon the city, and must enlist the help of Lucifer to stop it.

A stand-alone, Exterminating Angel was written between books 1 & 2 of my Angels of Death series, which begins with Death Sword. One of my goals for writing angel UF is to twist notions of good and evil, to challenge readers' perceptions. I don't know if I'll succeed, but when I've pitched the story to people, they say they want to read it. But pitching and writing loglines is a topic for another post. LOL

Anyway, I really like the cover. Wasn't sure how Renee would interpret the design from my notes, but she nailed it, imho.

I've also made a trailer video for Exterminating Angel. I'll update it when I get more information. Enjoy!

What Did You Just Call Me?

Courtesy: MorgueFile.com

Titles. They're the bane of my writing existence. Either they come easily to me, such as "Death Sword" did,or I struggle for years to find the right one. Sometimes, I enlist the help of friends. That's how my short screenplay "Cemetery" was named. Even today, I doubt I could come up with a better title.

Titles not only need to grab reader attention, they need to give a clue as to the tone and genre of the book. For example, I'm working on a collection of short dark fiction that I plan to call Malice and Mayhem: Tales of the Macabre. This should give a pretty good indication of the subject matter.

Which brings me to my latest WIP, formerly known as The Zaphkiel Project. For two years, I've debated what to call this angel UF. Zaphkiel and A Discordant Melody were two titles I played with, but neither were very exciting. And A Discordant Melody sounded more like sci-fi. (Although who's to say I won't write such a story?) For those curious, it relates to the disruption of the planetary harmonics in the story, something I researched for this WIP.

I'm getting ready to submit The Zaphkiel Project, so I needed a title. I brainstormed, writing down character names and anything related to the book: Venus Transit, angels, demons, pentacles, ghouls, Tarot...

Nothing.

And then I wrote the title of a song by Blutengel: "Oxidising Angel".

That brought to mind the title "Exterminating Angel". Surely there had to be several books with that title. But this didn't seem to be the case. Instead, "Exterminating Angel" is better known as a movie by Luis Bunuel.

I doubt anyone will confuse my angel paranormal/UF with Bunuel's satire.

Detours Along the NaNoWriMo Freeway

Every November for the past several years, I embrace the novel-writing marathon known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The goal? Write 50,000 words in 30 days.

I like to joke I start October 1 with the knowledge I have 31 days to plot my story and work on character development. October 15 rolls around and I insist I can plot this puppy in 16 days. Then it's October 31, 11:59p.m. I have probably one character and a vague idea of plot.

Every year. Like clockwork.

This year, I wanted to write a phantasmagorical type of story, about a father and daughter who run a very special exhibit at sci-fi/fantasy cons.Part of it is inspired by my own con experiences and my love of animation.

Then my editor and I were discussing my on-again, off-again, mostly off-again, Angels of Death series. The second book, Serpent Fire, was giving me fits. I struggled with the revisions. The plot seemed contrived and, while there were aspects I liked, it obviously needed an injection of something. What, I didn't know. Ironically, the third book, The Devil Inside, was coming along better.

My editor suggested perhaps writing Serpent Fire as a stand-alone. I thought about it and realized Devil Inside could easily work as the second book. Serpent Fire received a lethal injection to make room for a new story, and one I'm having fun with, when I have time to work on it.

In this new version, Uriel, a demon-hunter, accidentally shoots and kills a demon who had permission to leave Tartarus. As part of his punishment, he's forced to serve under Sargatanas, a demon Brigadier-General, whose tough, by-the-book rules irritates the more independent mercenary angel. Sargatanas considers Uriel to be a proverbial pain and a detriment to the company, despite his exemplary sniper skills.

I'd never written such a story, with opposite characters playing off of each other. I thought it would be fun to make the demons strict and the archangel rebellious.

Unfortunately, I lost the plot sheet I'd devised for the story, which is holding me up. And having had to work on a story galley, plus reading for a contest, has curtailed my writing time for NaNo. I've come to the realization I probably won't "win" this year, but as long as I get words down, that's what matters.

As for my phantasmagorical story, well, I've debated writing it as a serial or perhaps writing it as a series of self-published novellas. I think four stories might work, depending on my research. I also have an idea to release four novellas based around the Memitim. But so far, these are only ideas.

Anyone else doing NaNo?

For more information: http://www.nanowrimo.org

I Quit! No, Wait...

So I'm at a crossroads. I don't know if I should continue writing my angel UF stories or throw them away.

Part of it is no one seems interested in my angel UF, although the sub genre is apparently very popular. For other authors. Me? Not so much. I seem to have better luck with the vampire short story I wrote.Go figure.

I've learned to stop looking at my royalty statements, reviews, Amazon rankings, etc. Too depressing. Well, the reviews are okay. I can live with them. Love my stories or hate 'em, at least there's a reaction. It's the apathy that sucks. 

I like my Angels of Death series and want to continue writing it. At this point, I'm revising the second book and have the third partially written.There were some other angel UF/paranormal short novels and novellas I had planned to write, including a few short stories. But if no one's interested, seems pointless. I do have other story ideas to write, so lack of material isn't a problem.

Yes, I understand authors need backlists and first books don't always sell. But that's not always true. And when I see authors recommending other authors' books, I can't help but wish I could be that lucky. It's like I don't know the secret word to get into the awesome club house.

Still, despite wanting to quit, I'm too damn stubborn to give in so easily. I just can't give the naysayers the satisfaction. Oh, I can retreat but that doesn't mean I'm planning to surrender. And I know there are those authors out there who would love to see me fail. Y'all know who you are. Sorry. Not happening. Years of being bullied and abused has taught me to never give in. And I sure as hell won't start now.

Radio Debut

I was going to write a post about leaving writing groups today, but instead I decided to talk about my first radio interview.

Now, as a rule, I like to joke I don't have a face for TV or a voice for radio. Which is why I'm usually behind the scenes. A few years ago, I shot and edited a local TV show called Carl Brown's Reality. I had been interviewed by him on another incarnation of his show but this time I was behind the scenes.

I've also been a freelance magazine writer and have interviewed different people in the community. It's a long way from journalistic writing to genre writing. And it's a long way from being interviewer to interviewee.

My biggest concern is sounding like an idiot and not saying anything significant. At least with writing, I can revise before submitting. Radio interviews? They're live. Of course, I edited the video episodes, removing noise, fixing bad footage, etc.

If you like, you can check out my Edin Road interview here.

Have a great week!

So Long, Farewell...

Oh, sorry! I didn't mean I was leaving. <g> Rather, I'm saying goodbye to the whirlwind that was April. I'm always a bit sad when BIAM_Writathon ends. Happily, there's another writing challenge in October (not counting November's NaNoWriMo).

I didn't achieve my goals of finishing revisions for The Ripper's Daughter or the Zaphkiel Project. I have faced my fears and returned to Serpent Fire, the second book in my Angels of Death series. Still awaiting word on two horror short stories.

Sadly, Script Frenzy was a failure. Never came up with a screenplay idea but I might return to the one about demons in the courthouse. A screenwriter friend is looking at my ghost screenplay but I don't know the status of that. Either he's really busy or the screenplay is really awful. LOL

Oh, and I finally got around to watching the anime Black Butler. Hello! Love this series. Can't remember who introduced me to it, but thank you! Now, as long as Netflix doesn't remove it from their streaming category.

But that's that. April's over and it's time to set the writing goals for May. Hopefully, I'll have some news regarding those submissions. Keeping fingers crossed.

Research – A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Perhaps it’s a carryover from my article writing days, but research is an integral part of my writing process along with plotting, writing, and revising.

The reason for research is simple: to bring an air of authenticity to the story. Even a science fiction writer is likely to consider the laws of physics when creating an alien world. Authors whose stories take place in different times study the customs, language, settings, etc. The Prohibition world of 1920s Chicago is far different from today’s Windy City.

I’ve been engaged in fact-finding since high school. Even then my stories were set in the past  (usually Prohibition). Plots take place during the French Revolution, Colonial America, and World War 2. Recently, I’ve started exploring the Victorian era but haven’t yet found myself brave enough to attempt steampunk. (More research is needed.) :-)

One of the biggest benefits of research is it can lead to interest in other areas. The problem is I can become so absorbed in the new information, I forget my original idea. (Which is why I write them down for future reference.)

Research can also be a starting point. For example, in Death Sword, Xariel, an angel of death, suffers from a sex curse as a result of his teaching the lunar cycle and his former relationship with Samael. During my studies of angels, Xariel (Sariel), also a Grigori, taught the lunar cycle, which apparently was forbidden knowledge. Whether or not he was actually punished for this action, or for simply joining the other Watcher Angels, is probably debatable. For me, the important thing is how this punishment affects his character as well as his motivation(s).

Is research necessary? Depends on the author’s preference. Me? I’m the type of writer to go so far as to find out the temperature of a certain location. For example, in a short story I’m writing, I need to know how cold it was during the Louisville winter of December 1917. This way, I know what my characters will wear and how they’ll react.

Apparently, it was pretty damn cold.

What's On My Shelf?

Aside from writing, revising, marketing, and social networking, authors also conduct research for the stories they write. While the internet provides information (often from dubious sources), books still remain a staple in my reference library.

I tend to buy books with the foresight I might need them later. This is especially true if they’re on sale. While I’ll probably buy most of my fiction in digital format, I’ll stay with print for my research material. I have a tendency to stick Post It notes on pages I refer to and flip back and forth. Easier for me to do with a paper book than an electronic one at this point.

What’s on my shelves? I thought I’d share some of the books I referred to while writing Death Sword and my current WIPs Serpent Fire and The Zaphkiel Project (which really needs a title). Since all three books are angel-centric, it would be best to start there:

Angels:

Angels A to Z (Lewis, James R. & Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy)

This was the first angel book I bought. I don’t remember if I planned to write about angels then. I think it was my fascination with them that prompted this purchase.

Book of Angels, The (Taylor, Renae; Thompson, Ruth; Williams, L.A.)

Okay, I’ll admit it. I bought this one because I love the artwork. But it’s actually got some interesting and unique information that’s helped me shape my Angels of Death series.

Dictionary of Angels, A (Davidson, Gustave)

A friend of mine, who’s quite well-versed in angelic lore, pointed me to this source. Took a while to find, but I’m glad I did. Comprehensive and rather eye-opening, it’s become my primary go-to reference when researching angels.

Dictionary of Demons, The (Belanger, Michelle)

What I like about this one is it challenges some preconceived notions about angels and demons, many of whom play dual roles of holy and fallen.

Encyclopedia of Angels, The (Guiley, Rosemary Ellen)

This is the book I refer to when I need to cross-check information.  

  

Tarot:

Spiritual Tarot (Echols, Signe E, M.S..; Mueller, Robert, Ph.D.; Thomson, Sandra A.)

It’s been a while since I’ve read this, but I remember it being very thorough on the meaning of the cards and the symbolism contained therein.

Tarot for Writers (Kenner, Corrine)

I use both the Rider-Waite and Celtic Tarot to develop characters and help plot my stories. Because they utilize the subconscious, the Tarot is also a great way to break through writer’s block.

That’s about it. If you have any reference books you like, please share. Thanks and enjoy!  

(Mis)Adventures at ConGlomeration

This past weekend I attended ConGlomeration, a local sci-fi/fantasy convention. Although not an official "guest," I was listed in the programming booklet under "Also Attending ConGlomeration" with a nice little write up and link to my site. 

ConGlomeration opened Friday April 22. The first workshop I attended was "Steampunk Tutorial Part 1." Christopher Boll showed us how to take ordinary objects and give them a Steampunk spin. We learned about creating a character, including that person's occupation, likes and dislikes, etc. Other discussions included cyberpunk and diesel punk and how steampunk can span different eras (up to about the 1930s).

Now it was time for "A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words.” The premise of this workshop was to swap stories and artwork. Artists and writers were paired off. The author would give the artist a piece of writing the artist would use to draw a picture. Meantime, the author would write a story based on a picture the artist had created.

I partnered with Christine Griffin, a portrait artist who’s done covers for Loose ID and Cobblestone Press. She let me choose a print from the art exhibit.

Copyright & Credit: Christine Griffin & Fantasy Flight Games

This was the piece I selected. Later I discovered it was for “A Game of Thrones” by Fantasy Flight Games. Anyway, I loved it so much, I bought it.

After explaining I didn’t have anything written, either, she asked if I wouldn’t mind a portrait. I wrote a quick description of Xariel and Karla from Death Sword. Then I remembered I had a sample chapter of Death Sword on my IPod. I let her read it to get an idea of the characters and she decided to draw Xariel.

Friday ended on another high note when I got a chance to meet artist Melissa Gay. Melissa has done covers for Apex Publications, including Lavie Tidhar’s Hebrew Punk. So yeah, I went all fan girl on her.  :-)

Day’s panels finished, I headed home to start brainstorming ideas for my artist/author swap story. I’ve been tossing around the idea of writing a story about a Valkyrie and her wolf. So it was a matter of dipping into a little Nordic mythology to come up with a work about a page or two long.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay up too late because the next day’s panel began at 10AM.

Even worse, I missed the first panel on Saturday. But I made the 11AM one, another steampunk workshop. Yes folks, this weekend was steampunk and writing.

After lunch found me awaiting my turn at the “Author Reading” panel. I was one of about a half dozen authors reading that afternoon and followed the guest of honor, Peter David. Luckily, no one fled the room after I started reading the first chapter of Death Sword.

However, what works fine in rehearsal doesn’t always cooperate during the performance. My IPod locked up. What? I was reading an E-book. Might as well read it from a digital device. Although I was able to continue, I went two minutes over my allotted time. (Sorry, Marsha!)

Overall, though, the reading was fun. Even if there was a techno glitch, no one really seemed to mind. (Maybe it’ll make people remember me.) Oh, wait. That might not be a good thing...

The last panel for me that day was “Going Digital.” I had been invited to be on it but somewhere along the line communication got mixed up and I ended up in the audience. (Shrug.) Nevertheless, I participated, giving my perspective and asking questions. It actually ended up being a lively exchange about where digital publishing is now and where it’s going.

Panels finished, I headed home to work on my story. After all, I had a Sunday noon deadline. 

I finished the story Sunday morning and headed to the con. Apparently part of my brain – the one that controls memory – decided to go on vacation. I was almost there and realized I’d forgotten my badge.

Yep. Another head-desk moment. Not only that, it was ten minutes to noon (the start of the panel) and I had to drive back 11 miles. Time to hit the interstate.  I silently thanked the DOT for raising the speed limit.

I arrived for the second part of “A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words” at 12:06PM. I was late but I wasn’t too late. Luckily, the audience seemed to like the story. If you like, you can read it here. (You'll have to scroll down.)

Copyright & Credit: Christine Griffin

Christine Griffin then showed us her version of my hero Xariel from Death Sword. This is the first time I’ve ever had an artist draw one of my characters. Damn, it’s like the coolest thing to see how she  interpreted him. Chris told me she even went back and reread the sample chapter to get a better idea of the character.

So, yeah, I’m stoked. And of course I had the pieces framed to hang on my wall.  

If you get a chance to attend a con, do so. It’s a great opportunity to meet other people (i.e. artists and writers) and to be inspired. 

To learn more about the con and the artists' work, click on the following links:


ConGlomeration

Christine Griffin (artist)

Melissa Gay (artist)

Full Steam Ahead (Almost)

So I'm getting ready to start the third draft of the as yet untitled Zaphkiel Project. Usually my titles come to me right away. For some reason my muse, who bestows clever titles, decided to take a vacation. At this point I may end up calling it Zaphkiel. But there's already a book called Raziel and another titled Samael, so yeah, I'll keep working on it. (Raziel is also the name of a character in the Zaphkiel Project.)

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out what my 50k writing challenge will be about. I don't normally write about vampires. Okay, there was that one short novel set during the French Revolution. For the sake of all our sanity, I won't release it on unsuspecting readers. Yet. (Evil grin.) Anyway, this idea about a vampire steam punk won't leave. Except it would involve steam boats and pirates as well, all set in Victorian Louisville.

Of course this means more research. I don't have a story yet, just a character who has what I hope is an interesting problem.

You Can't Do That!

Imagination. Writers are required to utilize it, to bring a unique spin on familiar themes. But what happens when readers, who heretofore demanded originality, cry, "You can't do that!"?

I'm not referring to obvious situations where an action results in a specific reaction. For example, if an ordinary person is shot, he or she will bleed. Now if the person has preternatural abilities then the game plan can change.

What I'm talking about are certain characters, particularly supernatural ones, whose actions have become defined by a set of unwritten rules.

Take the vampire for example. He or she is repelled by garlic, shuns holy water and crosses, turns into dust in sunlight, and is generally evil. A simple basic formula every writer crafting a vampire story should adhere to, right?

Um, yeah. Whatever. If that's true, then how does Miyu, the titular vampire from Narumi Kakinouchi's manga and anime Vampire Princess Miyu, move through the human world with ease? Holy water and crosses have no effect on her. She walks in daylight without fear.

Hellsing's Alucard uses bullets made from the silver of a melted cross. Unlike Miyu, however, he prefers the night. But his agenda is different from hers. He hunts other vampires. Miyu targets Shinma, god-demons who escaped when the gate between their world and the human one was opened.

Angels also seem to be forced into certain roles. Here the rules imply holy angels must always be good. Demons and fallen angels must always be evil.

Why? What purpose does it serve to pigeonhole these characters? If your vampire wants to work on the side of justice (Angel, Nick Knight) then let him or her. If your demon desires to fight evil, why say no? If he has free will then it would seem an individual choice. For that matter, why can't a holy angel become corrupted with power?

When we restrict our characters, we essentially shut off that part of ourselves which probably inspired us to write in the first place. We lose that ability to wonder "What if?"

Remember, you're the writer. These are your stories. Just because someone says your character can't do something, doesn't mean they're right. Challenge their preconceived notions. Give them something different.