Final Final Try on Stupid Novel

I am getting so tired of all my noveling coming to absolutely nothing.  To put another way, if I printed every version of this novel out, at this point I'd burn all the pages of each version in a ridiculously large bonfire.  I am just that sick of things not working! 

Well, today I realized what's been going wrong.  I'm not writing the story that wants to be told.  I'm trying to force an old version and a new version into a merged version where okay, I like bits and pieces of what I'm writing BUT they just don't blend.  I think I need to do a total rewrite using ideas (but no copying and pasting from work I already have) from the novel Victim Hero as well as the novel Borrowed Life. 

I'm not sure whether to set this novel in a fantasy human realm or a fantasy death realm, and there is a major difference as to how those stories would work.  On a fantasy human realm, the concept of death is perfectly believable (the female lead, no matter which variation, is a slayer) but death after death is a weird concept and human characters have little interaction with death creatures.  On a fantasy death world, death after death is a weird concept but exists on a daily basis and death creatures interact with other death creatures.  The problem is, slaying would work much differently.  How, for example, would an already-dead creature/person die?  Right now, the idea is that yes they can die and yes there is blood, but it's a much cleaner death and blood is more solid than liquid.  I'm thinking regeneration happens frequently, but that would make it seem like Caprice (female lead) accomplishes absolutely nothing if the thing she kills pops back up.  I do think it would be more fun writing how a death world works, however.  Then again, this completely destroys a lot of needed concepts.  For example, Caprice becomes a cambion (thanks to human Dakada and demon Zenaro) sometime in a life.  In order for that to happen, someone must be able to give birth to her.  If everyone is dead, I'd think their reproductive systems wouldn't function period or normally.  Maybe I could mesh my two ideas (for example, the majority of my characters are human living on a human realm, but death creatures cross over).

I'm also debating about the time period I set my novel in.  I want to start out in 1990 (the year I was born, interestingly enough) and end with the novel being super duper futuristic, but there are some problems with that.  The biggest is that in the second novel, royalty plays a huge role.  That would mean in this novel, royalty is more than figureheads.  Okay, fair enough, but in the true 1990 I'm pretty sure most royalty wasn't all that important in the roles they were involved with.  That's what fiction's for, I guess, but it'll mean a lot of research and/or writing everything the way I want and then in ten years when this is published, hearing from readers "But that's not how it works!"  I'll have to work out my time period issues later, I think, because while it's important to the novel, it'd going to slow me down if I don't just write.

There's a million other things bothering me about this idea, but I need something to keep me busy until the day I a) go to school or b)get a REAL job .  Today, my goal is to get the first chapter mostly written.  I think a good goal would be to start it out at ten pages, which I think I could do.  

Outline for New/Old Novel

Title: Victim Hero (which is the original title and has been changed from that to Borrowed Life and back again.)

Main Character: Callix Ruelo (changed from Caprice Ruelo, although Caprice Ruelo is used as a psuedonyme...and I apologize for butchering the spelling of that word)

Beginning: Callix Ruelo has an unusual life, and there's detail on what that means.  Death, demons, and a serial killer father, for those folks interested in specifics.  We learn that Callix looks like a horror movie dead girl and her appearance is so scary she frightens the demons who drop by to see her.  We learn that she is abused and should've died, except said demons are keeping her alive (as well as turning her into a sometimes cannibal).  We meet Eriko (demon who is an instructor at a demon slayer school, and yes the irony is intentional, and who commits to guarding Callix even though it is a bad idea/illegal) and Simmons (spirit guide who created Callix's body and cares about her, although he has his own agenda).  There is details of Callix getting cleaned up for the first time ever, and how it's a dramatic difference.  There is talk of the slayer school, and Eriko suggests maybe she goes to that.  Throughout the beginning, Marcell Ruelo (Callix's father) talks about buying his own circus and building an ultimate death machine and becoming the greatest serial killer in the world.

Middle: More talk of ultimate death machines and circuses.  Callix is torn between Eriko and Simmons and what they both want from her (in short, the two disagree with each other and take it out on her).  Callix has a run-in with a demonic shadow and Eriko swoops in, saves her, and begins teaching Callix about demon slaying.  Astrixto (demon king and Eriko's ultimate boss) visits Callix and makes her an offer to join him in the demon realm, which she rejects because "It's scary!"  Note that in this novel, Callix is never what you'd consider tough, although she survives ridiculous amounts of pain and towards the end, stands up for herself.

End: Callix, a slayer-in-training, returns to Marcell Ruelo's house because she feels like she needs to finish something.  Marcell Ruelo introduces her to creepy new wife Melissa (a clown) and his ultimate death machine (a funnel slide that has three blades at the end, which raise from a flap and chosp you up unless he decides against it).  Callix notices ultimate death machine is bad quality and will break the first time anyone uses it.  Callix uses it, dies, and Simmons takes her back to the spirit realm to work on her reincarnation.

Things to Keep in Mind: 

Callix is no older than sixteen by the end of the novel.

Callix is friends with these people: Garret, Jin, Zoello for boys and Karielle, Delivia, Debora, Ellia for girls.

Callix is in competition with these people: Tarquel, Anquil (although it's relatively friendly), possibly  Christien and Bricio if they still exist

There is mention of a girl named Henrie, but Henrie is more of a possibility rather than someone that exists.  Henrie does exist in books two and three, which are set one thousand plsu years later when Callix reincarnates, some of these other characters are dead or have their own children who are her age, and Callix's relationships with everyone from book one change.  So, there is that major thing to keep in mind.

There is a Briella and a Toriaun, and there is relationship drama because Callix wants Toriaun for herself.  In this version of the novel, Callix is a bit more interested in guys, but not much.  At the end of the day, the only thing she can be is Toriaun's buddy.  This leads to books two and three, when Toriaun is much, much older (keep in mind, he is a semi immortal and much, much older still puts him at about age thirty in human years) and falls for Callix in a different body.  Things get weird because he has an adoptive parent relationship with Callix, who was spirited away from her human mother the day she was born, before any other type of relationship.  That, however, is a more appropriate outline for books two and three.  In short, there is a love triangle of sorts and is it convoluted!

Karielle is a human/robot hybrid and it makes perfect sense in context.  Later, Tarquel becomes a hybrid as well.

Zoello is the first cambion Callix meets, and looks very much the way she looks in books two and three.  This is more a note to self because I have no idea what that is right now.

The creature villains of this novel are most definitely Snip Snips, but I'm torn between demonic rabbits, which was in the original draft.  This is something I'll have to work in.

The primary world for this novel is Escalli (water/forest world) but Simballa (desert world) is mentioned frequently, as are Baltian and Antareas (water worlds).