OK, I had a story idea, of a girl who grows up feeling convinced that deep down, she's not human, she's a vampire. Then she finally meets a vampire, and convinces him to turn her. I'd envisioned her feeling similarly to a transsexual character, except it's species rather than gender that she feels confused about. But then when I tried to research otherkin, I get all this kooky stuff about reincarnation and souls and such. Do you have to have weird new agey religious beliefs to be otherkin? What would it look like if she was otherkin but didn't believe in souls and all that stuff?
I don't know the answer to your question about the term "otherkin". I've not heard of it before or read about a vampire who is such a creature. I'm wondering if your girl-turned-vampire story is reliant on this word and its definition. Polly
I wasn't aware that reincarnation was 'kooky stuff', or 'weird new agey', for that matter. But what I did read about 'otherkin' is that vampire-people are a separate sub-group, so I would assume the religious aspects would not necessarily be included.
Sometimes, I find that wikipedia or google isn't really helpful unless your being specific. But then again I make things up as I go along.
Sorry, I guess I was being offensive in my phrasing. I'm an atheist, and unless I have to do so to accurately portray this character, I'd rather not make her have particularly strong religious beliefs of any kind. It would make it considerably harder for me to relate to her.
I would think "otherkin" is similar to "kinfolk." Third cousin removed twice is beyond my understanding. I would use "She is kinfolk." If questioned, I'd reply "What part of Kinfolk don't you understand?"
It's more important for your reader to be able to relate to her. Just sayin'... Why worry about a predefined notion concerning "otherkin" unless you are writing a present-day urban fantasy that involves existing fringe groups and cults? If that's what you're doing, you need to start researching them if you wish to be accurate and that's more work than most posters would be willing to do for you. But, if you're just loosely basing an idea on known groups, make it your own. Don't constrain yourself to reality, make it up as you go and then check to be sure you're being consistent within your own setting and fictionalized mythos. You've chosen to be a writer. That means that you're going to have to make stuff up, occasionally. On a possible hook for your atheist character who is living in a profoundly unatheist sort of setting, that's interesting and you could use that to very good effect. She would use anything from alien (extraterrestrial) influences to quirks of known physics, genetics and cosmology in order to explain her extraordinary.. extraordinariness. Run with that. Do some research on "hot topic" cosmology (Many Worlds View), quantum physics (String Theory, Quantum Teleportation/Entanglement) and genetics in order for her to develop her own "mythos" for rationalizing with her own world-view all the fantastic things she experiences.
