If you're writing a novel with supernatural characters, you have the hardest job in fiction in my mind. No, I'm not just saying that because I'm writing novels with supernatural characters either. It truly is hard to do.

When writing a romance novel or a sci fi novel or an adventure novel, you have somewhere to go. There are source books for romance, science texts for sci fi, and do you really need help on an adventure novel? There's books out there for the Chick Lit writer, for the contemporary fiction author, the mystery writer. But for the supernatural writer? Nothing.

When deciding to write about vampires, I had to turn to other books about vampires to find out what the traditional myths were. Thank goodness for the folklore section of my library. When researching werewolves, there was little to nothing serious out there. How about shapeshifters? Forget it.

If you're looking for help in creating the powers or special abilities of your supernatural character, you need to go on what you already know. To explain those abilities, try to be as real as you can.

My vampires have special abilities based on their DNA. Werewolves can only be men (but I'm going to be messing with that one later on). Shapeshifters come in two classes. What's the difference between a werewolf and a shapeshifter? You'll have to wait and see.

If you're interested in writing a book with supernatural characters, it doesn't hurt to read what other people have written with similar characters to your own. I've read the Twilight saga (many, many times), the Dark Hunter series, the Vampire Diaries, the Sookie Stackhouse Novels, and I've watched just about every vampire movie ever made. I also read a lot of manga like Millenium Snow and Vampire Knight. You have to do what you have to do.

Don't get discouraged when using characters that aren't human. Remember one powerful thing: If you can't find research material on it, then it probably doesn't exist yet. What's better than an original idea?