I say ';vampire story'; instead of a book Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named.If you could give one piece of advice to a vampire-story-inspired writer...?
I agree with a lot of the posts here. You want to keep your Vamps original, but still in the guidelines of what a Vampire has been based on for centuries.
Stay away from what Twilight has done to vampires. Shinny vamps who make babies? Yea, stay away from stuff Twilight has done.
Personally, I think there should be more Vampires like how Anne Rice portrays them. Go for a good old fashioned adult Vampire book. Make the vampires vampires! They thirst for human blood, they adore the feeling of life pumping out from their victim. Not this ';I only eat animals'; crap.
They -are- strong, no doubt. But they dont have special mind powers. Turning into mist is an ancient aspect though. You can always give your Vamps a bit of a kick to make them special, but nothing to outragous. Give them that terryifying, yet beautifuly cold deamener of a predator.
God, now I want to read some Anne Rice %26gt;.%26gt;If you could give one piece of advice to a vampire-story-inspired writer...?
Whoa so many people voted on this. I can't believe it, it's crazy.
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I would say ';do your homework.'; Don't just read the ';book-which-shall-not-be-named.'; Read Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Interview with a Vampire, and everything in between you can get your hands on. Sift through everything that's been done and come up with a new angle. To work, your story has to provide the genre with some sort of innovation, otherwise it's just more of the same.
And then, once you've come up with your ';angle'; of how your story and vampires would be different, really think about the characters and what their stories ARE before you sit down to write. It doesn't matter if you have tons of action and blood and romance, if you don't have believable characters that elicit true responses. The reader either needs to care about the characters, hate the characters, or be afraid of them. But one way or another, they have to be emotionally connected or the story is just words on a page.
Stick to real vampire lore defined by the master, Brams Stoker.
Many of the more recent vampire tales are full of made up crap. I read a story in which the hero vampire used sunblock will protect himself from the sunlight. Sun block doesn't protect humans how can it protect vampires?
That scene killed the whole story for me. I'll bet you didn't know that besides garlic, roses are also poisonous to vampires? I can think of several way to use that little known fact in a vampire tale, especially in a tale of lovers. How about you?
Being a vampire is interesting enough. Go back to the original roots of the genre, explore the limits of what vampires can and can not do and force yourself to write within those boundaries. Your stories and characters will be more believable and you will become a better writer in the long run.
From what I read on agent and editor blogs, the Paranormal genre, especially Paranormal Romance, is very, very red-hot right now (obviously). However, they don't want the same shtick they've been getting for a few years now - several very popular vampire books have completely worn that one out.
My advice? Make it fresh and original. Think of new scenarios in which to put these vampires. Make them different, but retain the fundamentals of vampire lore - as much as people complain, a certain famous author of vampire books did basically stick to the lore. She just found other ways to explain some things (i.e. coming out in the daylight).
There is so much that can be done that has not yet been tapped. Aspiring writers need to just open their minds further and move outside the realm of what's been done.
BE ORIGINAL.
Please.
No more teen vampires.
No more ';vegetarian'; vampires.
No more all-happy endings in vampire stories.
No more sparkling.
No more special powers per vampire.
No more weird vampires names (like Spike or Vintage or Bloodwilde or Kane).
No more first person angsty impressions of what the transition feels like.
No more people trying to escape their happy lives to pursue a forbidden vampire love.
No more werewolf wars.
No more werewolf friends.
No more vampire babies.
Just, for the love of God, be original.
Write a good old fashioned, cursed, can be killed by holy stuff and stakes, turn into mist and animals, can't see their reflection vampires and add a twist. I think the lets all hold hands and sing kumbaya, can we all get along vamps that live side by side with people is getting tired and made the once feared monsters too sympathetic and unscary. Make me wet my knickers and turn the lights on when I read about vampires.
I'd tell them that if they choose to write a story involving vampires, to not make vampires the central theme. Come up with an actual plot and fit the vampires in somehow.
I'd advise them to stear clear of writing a vampire romance novel. Everyone else is writing a vamp-romance novel.
There are too many popular vampire stories out there already :P i don't know how you'll stand out unless you are VERY VERY GOOD.
Ex: book which-shall-not-be-named
The Marked Series
The Night World
and so many more. It seems like everyone is writing about vamps these days, unless you have a seriously great idea, I'd try something different. =/
Stick to the vampire lore, that's what makes vampires what they are. Avoid things like sparkles. An original twist or two is okay, as long as it still leaves the vampires vulnerable and doesn't completely destroy vampire lore.
Don't make it like Twilight or you might just get hunted down by a couple hundred thousand people.
^^ Good luck!
My advice would be:
1: Try reading another book first. There are others out there...
2: Don't write your own book based on the fact that you simply don't want Twilight to end.
I would say: ';You can't write at all, go take lessons from Jk Rowling';
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