Wait a second. If I'm a writer, then writing the actual story should be easy right? Well, yes and no. But I'm not talking about writing one story in one book and leaving it at that. I'm talking about creating your own universe and remembering the rules you set into motion within that world.

The only way to make this understandable is to give away some of my own plot.

In my world, there are two different kinds of vampires. You can be a vampire if you're born that way and you can be sired into the world. I have to remember that siring a vampire is against the law. I have to remember that siring a vampire is tricky and not every vampire can do it. But the hardest part of my mythology to remember involved the werewolves.

See, in my universe, a werewolf can only be male. There may be an exception to that later on in the story, but for right now it's not possible. A werewolf can beget other werewolves if his wife has the werewolf gene in her bloodline (Ex. Her father was a werewolf or her grandfather was a werewolf or her mother carried the gene). Werewolves can change into wolves at any time and use the power of the wolf whenever they need it. But in the light of the full moon, they unwillingly turn into a half man, half wolf creature. They eat regular food and live in 'packs' together to protect their secret and their bloodlines.

It's hard to remember all those things when you go from one book to another. Then I get into the different kinds of shape shifters and it gets even more complicated. Plus the vampiric special abilities that make it possible for a vampire to walk in the daylight or turn into animals or whatever the case may be.

The only way I manage all of these things is to keep a notebook with every single rule laid out. And I have a continuity expert who keeps me on track. But I always remember one important thing when this gets difficult to do. If I mess up on my story just one time, the reader's illusion will be ruined. It's worth all the effort to make sure that the reader enjoys the story.