I'm gonna hit it BIG in Urban Fantasy!

So, dunno how many readers we've got here on the board, but I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the genre Urban Fantasy. Basically it's where you've got a character (usually a woman) who lives in a city in a world that coexists with things like magic, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, you name it. In many these series the supernatural elements are out in the open (that is, the general public knows about it) but some they don't, the point is though, that's the basic prototype: urban meets fantasy.

For whatever reason there's been a HUGE explosion of these type of books of late. I'm no expert on the genre's beginnings but I'm guessing most of them spring from success of one series in particular about a tough chick who used to hunt vampires (lately though, she mainly just has sex with them. Seriously, that's pretty much the whole course of the novels at this point.)

Anyway, the other day I was thinking, you know what? I could start my OWN series of this stuff, and it'd be a shoe in for the best seller list. So, I started brain storming and here's what I came up with.

Okay, first we'll have a HOT looking twenty something year old chick (thought about doing a guy, but let's face it, more chicks read books than guys.) Since "normal" humans are way too dull to star in these type of stories, my chick is going to be a half Shade. What's a Shade you ask? Hell if I know! I guess they're sorta like vampires, but not entirely, so that I can throw in "new" stuff. I guessing maybe part ghosts or something. It doesn't really matter, because we're going to have PLENTY of books in the series to explore exactly what Shades are.

Besides, the girl herself won't even know fully what Shades are because her shade mom, or maybe dad (remember she's half shade) died when she was very young. OR DID (S)HE?? I'll have her SAY in the first book her parent died, but since she didn't witness it, you can't call me a liar if I decide to pull her parent out as a twist mid book somewhere down the line (probably when the sales get low.)

Now, she's got powers! What powers? I don't know... she's only half shade, so they won't be "blow you out of the water" powers... at least not yet! I get the feeling she'll conveniently discover new and greater powers as the series progresses. Powers which will put herself and her friends in danger. In fact, I'm willing to bet her surviving parent, and maybe some distant relatives have been trying to KEEP her from learning about her powers in order to protect her from.. well, herself.

And the legions of mysterious enemies who want her dead.

One power I know I'm going to give her is she can become partially invisible. She uses this ability to try and get information about people she's investigating or something. This will lead to her overhearing and witnessing all sorts of lurid things I can go into graphic detail about, all the while having her be uncomfortable (but excited) about the things she's seeing. As the series goes on she'll worry about "what she's becoming" morally and emotionally.

Now, most likely she needs a job, I guess she'll fall into the position of being an investigator or detective of some sort. Or maybe she has a day job and occasionally "consults" for the police. I'm thinking though maybe having her do an ordinary (read: boring) job in the first book, stumble onto something, and then decide she can make a living with this whole "looking into stuff" thing and switch careers.

Now, social life... she's got to have a couple backups, sidekicks and friends. Of course, we need a few semi-wacky, wisecracking non humans. First up will be a semi-perverted sorcerer who's stuck in the body of a talking parrot due to a spell gone wrong. (We'll learn more about the hows and whys later.) He'll be our comic relief, as he makes all kinds of crazy and lewd comments, especially at "normal" guests who drop by, leaving our girl to fumble around trying to explain why her pet knows how to say such filthy things.

Then we'll throw a female friend who can be the know-it-all who does research and gives moral support. (Not certain about what she'll be yet, but being as I said before, that plain humans are boring, she'll be something cool.) She's way more open about her sexuality than our main girl is, and makes comments that'll even top our parrot wizard. I'll even drop hints that she might have a lesbian crush on the main character so I can boost readership amongst the lesbian crowd. (Cause there's nothing like pandering!)

And of course, we need SEXUAL TENSION! Cause no female wants to read an ongoing fantasy series like this without the ST! First book I'll introduce... Azrael. He's a full shade who may (or may not) know something about our heroines background. And of course, he's handsome: he's got a ripped body, longish hair, also wears tight pants (but rarely, it seems, a shirt) and is aggressively pushly when it comes to wanting to be with our gal.

Despite him at times being ruthless in ways of accomplishing his goals and protecting his "clan", he's not an out and out bad guy (cause what's the fun in that?) but we'll get to know he's definitely *dannnngerous*.

Also, in spite of his occasionally dickish behavior, she'll immediately be attracted to him because, hey, women always tend to respond to handsome jerks. But she'll be totally conflicted about her feelings on this, and it'll create all sorts of tension, especially when he reveals something tender about himself, which will explain (and of course, justify) the whys and hows of the way he is.

Anyway, he'll be bouncing around in and out in for several books. They'll be forced to team up against a common enemy a few times, have lots of arguments about being who they are versus being what they should be, morality, and all that. Plus, I'll throw in a scene early on where they fall into a body of water, and, after nearly drowning, she'll come to regret that she didn't wear a bra that day, but also notice how well his shirt clings to his biceps. (Gotta keep describing how muscular he is at least once a book, just in case some of the readers are forgetful sorts.)

Then, to complicate things, I'll introduce another potential boyfriend around book three or so. They'll hit it off okay, but she worries inside that he's too "normal" for her, and the fact that he seems too nice might be a cover for something. This will lead to the whole, "Is this too good to be true, or am I just paranoid and can't accept being happy" internal debate. Of course, he'll also be a regular human (for the most part), which will cause him in to be put in danger a few times, and she'll have to come to his rescue (ha, what a twist, huh?) In the process we'll learn our girl isn't the best at relationships, and her beaus tend to either be jerks who were good lays, or decent men who left cause they couldn't take how crazy her life was.

In the meantime we'll have some murders, missing artifacts of ancient power showing up suddenly, and hopefully unexpected revelations about the main and minor characters to fill in the plots of the series.

Depending on sales, by book seven or so, I'll shake things up by changing the setting, having our heroine go outside her comfort zone and we'll learn about even MORE bizarre creatures that inhabit this world that have only been briefly mentioned (or hinted at) before.

So, what do you guys think? I think I've got the formula for whole FRANCHISE of best sellers here!