Vampires/Stories About Them

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Hi, this is my first post and I have a question. It's kind of got to parts/sides and it's about vampires/stories about them.

For readers: With the influx of vampire literature into popular culture (Twilight, True Blood, Vampire Chronicles, etc.) do you find yourself bored with the subject? Jaded maybe (this is me, not naming any names)? What do you look for in a good vampire-centered story? What do you avoid? Do you like your classic vampires or are you interested in variations?

For writers: How do you make your story different? What cliches do you avoid? What rules do you stick to? Do you find it's a turn-off or turn-on when you tell people you are writing a story about vampires? Do you work with the traditional vampire (no sun, garlic, wooden stakes) or do you stick with blood-sucking and go off-road from there?

I'm just curious because I'm writing a story about a human girl and a vampire that started out as an anti-Twilight thing to tease my sister (well that and Noah Cyrus' pelvis, but never mind).  It's really changed a lot since then, and no longer has a thing to do with the Twilight series (this is me also saying I have nothing against it now, it's not really my thing, but I can see the appeal, end disclaimer), for or against. (In fact it's more about child soldiers and recovering from abuse, but that's another set of questions.)

I was just curious to see what other writers have to say on the subject. Thanks for your time!

Comments

[rephen.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. I totally know what you mean. I sort of on a similar thing.

I kept trying not to write about it, but my bestest friend scolded me and said, "Everyone wrote about humans. When's THAT gonna be tiring." But yeah, the recent influx of vampire-themed stuffs are really getting to me. Somewhat.

I'd love to read your work :).

As for me, I havent actually read Twilight, nor seen True Blood. I've seen a few Vampire movies, Interview and Underworld, and Blade, and Let the Right One In, and so on, though.

Anyway! :)

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Some day I'll be brave enough to put some of my story up (it's just bits and pieces right now). Thanks for putting up your friend's bit of wisdom. I guess I'm just wary of the genre, even if the whole vampire-aspect isn't the focus of the story. Thanks again for commenting! ;)

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

I think I'm bored with the current vampire tropes, not necessarily vampires themselves. The modern vampire is not what the old folk tales and myths were; it's become a sexual and romantic trope when the original stuff was more about wasting illnesses in a pre-modern medicine culture. I also like stories like 'Let the Right One In' and (name forgotten) where the vampire trope was one of addiction.

I find romanticizing vampires as heroic good guys kind of creepy actually - since they are basically blood sucking predators, not good spouses.

I think that making it new again could easily mean going back to the older roots of the myths; illness and fear, mystery and contagion. Make them dark and *truly* deadly as opposed to the trappings of danger and death, turn them back into monsters.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

I never thought about vampires like that, "wasting illnesses in a pre-modern medicine culture." That's really interesting!

I was wondering, in the case of Let the Right One In, Eli isn't necessarily a "good guy" but he/she did have a good side. Is that kind of balanced out because he/she is dark and deadly?

I was just wondering, because I like your idea about returning to more mythic or folkloric vampires. Thanks!

[dazedpuckbunny.livejournal.com]

Your vampire story is anti-twilight, and involves themes of child soldiers and abuse recovery? HOLY HELL keep writing! It sounds like an amazing theme. Have you read or seen "Let the Right One In", now that's a proper vampire tale.

I adore vampires but I prefer them as mean nasty villains that need to be staked. I don't mind early Anne Rice, but the de-fanging of the modern vampire is ridiculous. I love reading any vampire story that stands apart from the rest. Classic cross fearing, holy water sizzled baddies are fun as well, because nowadays no one uses those tricks.

I do have a vampire manuscript, and I picked from a lot of Gypsy mythology to create the vampires, and I wrote on a theme of teenage isolation and cults. Researching vampire mythology is actually quite rewarding. Different cultures have wildly different ideas and serve as great inspiration. Even a simple wiki-search pulls up some cool stuff.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The story's not so anti-Twilight now, the characters have definitely taken on a life of their own. And I LOVE Let the Right One In!! Eli is more kick ass than all of the Cullens put together!

I love the sound of your vampires! Gypsies, cults and teen isolation? Um, awesome! And I love wikipedia-browsing! I'm pretty sure I failed my Civil War test because of that... ;)

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you for commenting! I like sound of your not-neutered vampires! And I hope you keep going with the story, once the vampire-overload passes, it sounds awesome!

[lady-fellshot.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, there isn't anything that one can do with a vampire that hasn't been done before. Vampire as monster, vampire as sex object, vampire as sexy predator, vampire as person with fangs, baby vampires, vampire bunnies...

I'd try to avoid them altogether or if pushed, use the vampire as an inhuman monster since it doesn't seem to show up as often these days. I can think of only a handful of stories with nos feratu as inhuman monsters... and they are all better played out than any of the vampire romances (IMHO). It might work better with your story to use cunning monsters.

I appreciate sticking with tradition for the most part. The vampire books I really like (Dracula, 30 Days of Night) use those limits well. Odd ball individual powers are ok, but I find I need most advantages to have limitations attached to them, but I need that for all characters, not just the undead ones :)

Run with the child soldiers and recovery from abuse themes, have a plot, characters with more than one dimension and character motivation then no one should confuse your work with that... unremarkable series.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your advice! The last thing I'd want is to be in the same time zone as that... unremarkable series. ;) And I totally agree about limits to super-powers. It's annoying when you find a character that is just too perfect to, you know, exist. Thanks again!

[thorarosebird.livejournal.com]

I've always thought of vampires in the traditional sense, and I agree with what's been said above about how they're being turned into good guys/heart throbs. I avoid reading and writing vampire lit but I commend anyone who can write it well and with a fresh voice.

Looking forward to hearing more of your story! :)

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[rosalinda-143.livejournal.com]

Actually no I don't. Frankly I love vampires -except for the one's in Twilight. I look for action, battles, death, and then after all the struggle a happy and/or neutral ending. I avoid... well I don't really avoid any kind of vampire books. I like the romance human+vampire novels -except for Twilight -and in some cases dhampire+dhampire or moroi+moroi or... well you get the point. Well I haven't read Anne Rice or Dracula, but I am planning on reading them in the near future... maybe...

Different? Huh, well the ugly truth is I'm writing a human+vampire romance novel (and it's not based off of Twilight), but it does have action, battles, and death in it (I'm still deciding on whether or not I want a happy and/or neutral ending). I stay away from Mary-Sue's, I stick to some of the rules of vamprisim and vampires. Sometimes it's a turn-off because the people who have read Twilight, say 'oh great another romance vampire novel just great' (well not those words exactly, but you get the point right?) and sometimes it's a turn-on because it has vampires. But at least all of them give it try before judging me. It's kind of traditional (they don't sparkle, they can be stabbed with a steak, sunlight hurts them but doesn't turn them to dust and I'm still deciding on garlic.)

I'd like to read your story, and maybe you could read mine? It's on my blog... oh but you have to be a friend, so add me and I'll add you.

peace.love.happiness.

- Rosie

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting, and being friends sounds good, I'd love to read your story! :)

[rosalinda-143.livejournal.com]

Your welcome, and I just added you! ^.^

[clawfoot.livejournal.com]

Okay, Stephanie Meyer did not invent the vampire genre. Vampires aren't really new, and there's not been any real "influx" of vampire novels so far as I can tell (though they are enjoying a bit more popularity of late). One made a big splash, yes, but there have been a lot of vampire books out there for a long time.

I personally burned out on vampires after reading Brian Lumley's Necroscope series back in the mid-80s. And that was even before I discovered Ann Rice's Interview With the Vampire (published in 1976), another wildly popular vampire series.

I am still in love with werewolves and zombies, however.

Keep writing. There have been vampire books since before Dracula (1897) and there will be vampire books after Twilight.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you for putting a little perspective on this, I think it's easy to get a little caught up in the current craze! ;)

[svenjaliv.livejournal.com]

First of all: If you want to write a vampire novel, write a vampire novel.

Secondly, I'm not really a fan of vampires. What I absolutely can't stand is the glorification of them these days. He's so pale and so dead and he wants to drink my blood, oooh, swoon. I don't like that, simply because I don't see how any of that can possibly be attractive. They don't have to be "traditional" per se--in fact, legends on vampires seem to vary quite a lot anyway--but they should be dangerous at least. I read some of Twilight and even though those guys were officially dangerous, I never actually felt any of that danger.

The other thing about vampire novels like Twilight (but probably not restricted to it) is that they tend towards angst. Which just gets annoying. But that's because I hate angsty, whiny characters in general.

But I wouldn't condemn a book purely because it features vampires. If the blurb sounds interesting or even just if it has interesting characters and is well-written, I'd read it. Generally, I like stories when they feature some new stuff, some interesting variation on a theme or trope, originality, that kind of thing.

I'd just be careful that you're not defining your story and characters by Twilight (even if they're the opposite, they still depend on it to define them). Doesn't sound like you're really doing that anymore, but it's something to watch out for.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I don't really get the obsession with vampires that pre-pubescent girls are getting, but I'm pretty sure you could read something into it and frankly it's kind of creepy. And I definitely have to watch using Twilight as a What Not To Do guide, I don't want to have anything more to do with that series than I have to. :)

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

Wow. I totally got a lot out of this, thank you! And thank you for the good luck!

[polkadot-cat.livejournal.com]

As a reader, I tend to avoid vampire novels because a lot of them rife with clichés, and that's the one thing I can't stand in a fantasy/sci-fi novel, regardless of vampires. So when I want to read/watch something with vampires, I look for originality, interesting takes on vampirism, well-developed characters, and no high school. I'm sure somewhere out there is a brilliant vampire novel set in high school where the characters aren't annoying and the plot isn't predictable as hell, but it is unfortunately buried under a Mt.Fuji of vampire high school nonsense. And trust me, I'm not looking down on high school fiction, either--even when I was in high school, I didn't like most of that literature because it never felt genuine or engaging or interesting, and I felt like it was looking down on high school students, if anything.

Vampires generally haven't interested me in the past five years or so, but the most recent time they have was in the Swedish film "Let the Right One In" (which I saw someone mentioned above)--I'm the opposite of a horror film buff, and I freakin' love this movie. It's truly film as art with a wonderful plot and characters. I think you just have to see it to get it.

I also tried to watch "True Blood". That was engaging for a while, even though I totally thought it was Edward/Bella again, which is interesting, because apparently the True Blood books were written way before Twilight (wtf, Stephanie Meyer). I watched almost all of the first season, mainly for the other characters who weren't Sookie and her vampire bf--those characters were really great, and created interesting, believable drama in this really cool Louisiana world. But then the plot went down hill, and I lost interest.

There's this film coming out, called "Daybreakers," and I want to see it like mad--it's set in a world where almost everyone is a vampire, and humans are harvested for blood. But what do they do when all the blood is gone? Yes, I got that quote from the trailer. It looks really excellent, and seems rife with political drama. I always appreciate when someone takes fantasy and gives it a political edge--I think that makes it even more interesting, and brings out people's natures/humanity or inhumanity, so the story isn't just about cool powers, it's about actually dealing with those things realistically.

That's why your story seems really interesting--incorporating vampirism and real-world child strife could be a really cool idea. I'd love to see a snippet of it, if you have any plans of posting it here in the future! Good luck writing.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

I totally understand the ick-factor of high school literature (I'm in it and every time I read some of it I wonder if the writer ever WENT to high school). And I loooove LtROI, such an amazing movie (now I want to read the book). True Blood is good because of everyone EXCEPT Sookie and Bill, agreed. Plus Louisiana is amazing. I've seen the Daybreakers trailer and it looks incredible! Hopefully I can muster the courage to post a little bit of my story! Thank you!

[amarmylaidie.livejournal.com]

What do you look for in a good vampire-centered story?

Humor. I don't like vampires who take themselves too seriously. Christopher Moore gets this right. Definitely read him.

When reading vamp lit/watching vampire-centric films and television, I find myself very critical of it. Probably because my mother is a vampire FIEND and has been since before I was born so I was brought up with an acute sense of what an awesome vampire is and what a bullshit vampire is. Twilight = bullshit. Barnabas Collins and Lestat= Awesome. Dracula is king, of course. :P True Blood = ...Eh. Not bad.

So, when someone tells me they're writing vamp lit, despite the fact that I write and read it myself, it does turn me off before they tell me what it's about, because so much of it just... sucks. You gotta prove to me that your vampire piece is worth reading, I guess. (Yours sounds pretty interesting and unique, by the way.)

But I also am writing a story about a vampire at the moment, but his vampirism is not the the focus of the book. It factors in to the plot, but it's not the focus. For instance, someone looking for a "vampire novel" would probably be disappointed in mine.

I avoid too much romance, I avoid angst at all costs, my vampires can walk in the sun and can lead relatively normal lives. Another thing that I say is don't make the vampire ultra-sexy. Yes, they're foxy. Yes, we know this, but if you make them too sexy they're just going to be one big blood-sucking cliche no matter what. :P

Anyway, that's my two cents. I'm sick of the Twilight crap leikwoah, but it will go away eventually and I do think that the genre will pick up again eventually. I hope, anyway. ^_^

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

I guess what matters in any story, vampires or no, is that it's worth reading, huh? And I definitely made my vampires not-so-sexy. They aren't ugly exactly, but they didn't just walk of a runway. ;) And here's hoping Twilight won't define the genre forever! Thanks!

[katherineokelly.livejournal.com]

Twilight's renown for being utterly sucky is pretty much as big as the renown of Twilight itself. You're not the only one who's had the idea of writing an "anti-Twilight." In fact, I'm pretty sure every vampire-lover who hates the way Twilight franchise has already had the same thought and tried the same thing.

I'm pitching my urban fantasy novel to agents right now (goblin protagonist in modern-day Olympia, WA) and reading a lot of agent blogs and they are apparently inunndated and sick of novels with vampires, werewolves, and fairies. They say it's been done to death and the writing must be absolutely top shelf for them to even look at it.

With a glutted market and agents burned out from so many people submitting anti-Twilight manuscripts, you may consider trying an entirely different premise. Publishing is ultimately a money-making business and I've read that once something is "hot" (like vampires), if you only start writing once the popularity wave has hit, the wave will have already gone by the time you're done. You've got to predict popular trends before they hit, not follow them, or you'll end up with a book that no one will buy.

But if you're writing just for fun to tease your sister, go for it. ;)

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see how the market would be sick of the whole deal. I didn't write the story to ride any wave, and I've moved away from the whole Twilight deal, but thank you for the agent advice! Good luck with your novel!

[amethystrse.livejournal.com]

Vampires are very in right now but you're right, the market is saturated with vampire stories.

In my novel (icon) I made the main character a vampire...a psychic vampire. Basically a mortal who has to feed off of life essences of others. She can die and get sick, she can go out into the sun, etc. But the ability to draw in energy like she does winds up helping with the rest of the novel perfectly.

BTW...in the original myths vampires had no problem with the sun and garlic and whatnot. They weren't as powerful in the daytime but the sun didn't destroy them either. That whole thing didn't start until...eeep...I can't remember the name of the movie. But basically it's Hollywood that created that part.

I like Lindsay Sands version of vampires. They are immortals who have nanites in their blood (started in Atlantis). They need to either ingest blood, suck it through their fangs (the nanites created the fangs so they can do this), or have it in an IV. It's such a cool series she has going on.

[trykynyx.livejournal.com]

I read about psychic vampires somewhere, it's an awesome take on the typical vampire! Mine are more biologically based: photosensitivity and a lipoprotein-deficiency. Lindsay Sands' vampires sound awesome, I guess I have to read her! Thanks for commenting!

[amethystrse.livejournal.com]

Oh I definitly suggest her books as she is an awesome author. They're paranormal romance and just so much fun to read.