simple, action-packed, fun, vampire hunter story in the medieval ages with edge, gore, and a character writing, simple character that aren't really deep, but good enough.
I feel I overwhelm myself with big worlds when I'm not used to that yet, so I feel it's best to just start with something simple and small and work my way up there.
I'm not gonna lie, this is a long laundry list for "simple." Writing good action with good pacing is a challenge. Making it fun is it's own challenge. Vampires can be considered simple since it's such a popular trope, but oftentimes it comes with a healthy dose of lore, especially if it's going to include vampire hunters. In fact, that can be even harder. The medieval ages specifically is incredibly complex, unless you just mean medieval-adjacent, which is easier, but still it's own challenge. Edge and gore is pretty simple if you're simply going by 2026 standards. You might as well throw in aura and vibes if that's what you're going for. Character writing is never going to be simple, and you pay for it when you don't make them reasonably complex. Chainsaw Man for instance is having a
helluva month because people finally realized that the MC is literally as stupid and simple as he appeared to be. It's clearly intentional, but that isn't really helping fan backlash. Readers typically prefer characters have at least a bit of complexity to them, and adding just a bit is almost as difficult as making them overly complex.
I don't say any of that to discourage you. Quite the opposite really. Don't be intimidated by the concept of big worlds. It's just as difficult to write smaller ones. If you embrace your idea fully and take your time with it, you'll end up with something whole. If you're worried about it getting too complex, then write the outline first. Not every story has to explore every nook, but if you know the story you're trying to tell, then good pacing is a replacement for everything else. There are many stories where we never really question the character or the world, but that relies on the story being the character and setting itself. By that, I mean if you really don't want to worry about the world or character, you just have to make sure your story stays on track. John Wick, the movie series, is a pretty good example. The 15 minute prologue is enough to justify the rest of an action-packed narrative for several movies. Given, they're not shying away from diving into the character or world of assassins, but they let it stay in the back seat.
If you have time for research, I'd recommend reading up on "Bottle Episodes." Largely to save money on long-running seasonal shows, (or as a homage) shows often had one episode that reduced the set pieces to just one. This was preferable to a lazy clip show recapping past events, though many bottle episodes were just that. The good bottle episodes have the characters in one room, but the viewer won't notice since so much is going on. Off the top of my head, I believe
Always Sunny In Philadelphia had one with the gang stuck in a sinking ship, and
Friends had one where everyone was getting ready for an event, but the shenanigans resulted in them never leaving the apartment.
Okay, so what? You're writing a novel, not a television show or movie. Well, the structures of these episodes can help realize just how much can be done with limited resources. Whereas bottle episodes usually focus on the characters, how they utilize the small set may help tighten your story structure. Similarly, seeing the bare-minimum setups of critically acclaimed action movies may help get the more tedious aspects of your story out of the way. I'm not seriously recommending this, but if you write medieval, that technically requires a lot of research. If you write it in modern times, or a fantasy version of medieval Europe, you're tapping into very recognizable tropes. If John Wick was a novel, it'd take very little exposition to explain New York City. It'd take very little detail to explain how he gets from Point A to B. If you go with a general medieval setting, there's a huge workload difference between "this book is about a rookie vampire hunter hunting down vampires across the lands" vs "this book is about a veteran vampire hunter that is dealing with a small group of vampires in this one specific town."
All the power to you! /yap
