Tired of Vampires?

I want to write a Vampire novel, and i have basic ideas and plots that I LIKE and want to work with. I'm trying to switch them a little, because almost everything about Twilight I do love and would include in some way in my own novel (love story, Vampires being a secret, etc). i bring up Twilight for obvious reasons--despite what people think, and a couple of the books aren't that good, but I love the movies-- they are a mega success and worked for one reason or another. When I look around online there is backlash against more Vampire novels with the 'been there read that' attitude, but I do believe it's all in how you write, present it, and any differences you create. Good writing is just good writing. I don't think Twilight has ruined it for future writers of Vampire genre, if anything I see it as what people seem to want and love. I don't understand how Vampires (or Zombies, or Werewolves) will ever get old. but that's just me.

I also think Twilight is successful because it came along when Vampires were at a lull, and differences that she did have (no fangs, sparkling) were just different enough. Plus, Bella and Edward had good chemistry, which helped, not to mention a love triangle with Jacob and the Werewolf/Vampire riff was good too. And last of all, luck.

But I'd like to ask if anyone is tired of Vampires? Do you like Vampire love stories? Or like them as killers to be hunted? If you like Twilight, why?

I worry about adding my Vampires to the pile, but writing about something I love want is what makes me want to write.

 

It seems, in my opinion, that humanized Vampires--that is, vampires that cry, love, and scheme--was not actually at a lull when Stephanie Meyer wrote Twilight. There were also a lot of Vampire movies and TV programs of this nature that came before or around the time of Twilight (e.g. Blade, Underworld, True Blood, etc.).

This is open to opinion, but I think the reason why Twilight was so popular was because the characters were relatable and were catered towards teenagers: young girls are teenagers; young moms used to be teenagers; and older moms can still remember being teenagers. On top of that, like you said, love triangles (when done right) can be very appealing. And lastly, I think part of the reason for Twilight's popularity is that it featured a female leading role with emotions that are relatable to a female following.

For me, I am sort of tired of the Vampire thing. My wife loved the Twilight books (and the movies). In fact, she actually broke down in the theaters during Breaking Dawn Part 2. Hilarious.

I think the trend as of late, that I have been seeing is bring back old, vintage stuff and polishing it up with emotion: Vampires; super heroes, Bruce Wayne is plagued with self-doubt (Dark Knight), Spider Man doubts his role as a super hero, Clark Kent has identity problems and struggles with love and life (Smallville).

I think if you want to reuse an old idea, you must introduce a new concept to it. Obviously, it gets more difficult as people begin staking claims to the various facets of the subject (and you do mention some of these facets on the subject of vampires). You could entirely redefine the concept of vampirism, which is only limited to your imagination. By the way, it's been awhile since I saw the movie, but I thought Priest was a fun and fresh outlook on vampires and vampire society--sort of an action / comic book approach.

 

If you wanna write it, write it. You don't need validation. Just go for it. I won't give you my opinion cuz you won't like it

 

Vampires have certainly lost some of their mystery, simply from saturating today's scene. I even had a dream the other night where the story I was working on included a character who was a vampire. All I could think was, "what the hell? That's not even interesting."

My problem with Vampire love stories is that I feel like it bungles the whole concept of "vampire." Vampires are supposed to be corpses that feed off humans. They're creepy nocturnal predators. Making them fallible to love, especially to loving a human, instead of a fellow vampire, seems as silly as a human being falling in love with a donkey.

I could see a man hopelessly in love with his wife-turned-vampire, or a man who has sold his soul to hell, clinging on to his last sliver of humanity and falling in love with someone. But these are hopeless scenarios, as hopeless as a robot thinking it loves a human.

I think people really need to step back and think what it might mean to be a vampire(under any semi-rigorous definition), and what it means to love another person, and to engage in a love affair with another person.

If you want inspiration, watch the wisdom of crocodiles, it stars Jude Law as an ambidextrous, multi talented, cunning vampire who feeds off the emotions of women he manipulates into loving him. That's a vampire story, which is dark, romantic, and sticks well enough to the concept of vampirism, while recognizing it can never dwell into true love territory.


This answer is of course only for people who ask your sort of questions. If you don't want to stop and think, write whatever fantasy comes to mind, but the inherent nature of such ideas, like Twilight, will be automatically exposed as silly when subjected to questions like yours.


What I would suggest to any girl/guy wishing to recreate the yah yah's she/he gets out of Twilight, or the like, is to ask his or her self what is it about this type of vampire that I find so thrilling and then to extract that element from Twilight, and try to fit it into a story with less contradictions.

Well, it sort of peaks my interest that the male love interest could kill the woman he loves at any moment but fights it for his love of her. Yeah, that's romantic, but what ultimately happens? If its really that threatening, of of two things has to happen. Either he gives in and kills her, or he leaves her, or better yet, kills himself (you can't go wrong borrowing from Shakespeare). That's just the way I see things.

 

I loved the Twilight movies, though I never read the books. I do think vampires are at a saturation point right now, but audiences are fickle and have a very short memory.

I agree that it doesn't matter the subject, it matters what YOU do to it.

It's like cooking. Two people can make a chicken dish, but it's up to the cook whether it's chicken nuggets or Lemon Pepper Cappellini with Chicken Cutlets Brasciole. Add in your own spices, cut it a different way, and viola!, you've made something special that people will want.

 

Yeah. There a blog out there that explains the appeal of Twilight is about the Bad Boy TM whom the innocent heroine turns good or something. A phenomenon that may not be unique to females (see: hooker with a heart of gold) but is a distinctly female take on this sort of thing. Twilight's success had nothing to do with vampires aside from making the Bad Boy a vampire and therefore a literal monster, but with most of the monstrous qualities removed or toned down so he can still be dreamy.

I think vampires are tired and were tired well before Twilight was ever a thought in Stephanie Meyer's head. They just aren't all that scary anymore because they are too well know. When you have a scene where people are sitting around trying to remember how to fight off vampires (From Dusk Till Dawn), the monsters aren't scary anymore. Part of the mystique of vampires or any monster is mystery. The average person is too savvy on vampire lore for there to be any mystery. You don't even need to introduce a movie nerd character to explain all this stuff to the audience. They already know.

The problem is that it's tough to create and then maintain that air of mystery. The xenomorphs from the Alien franchise have long been too well known in their own right to be effective anymore, but how many interesting creatures like that can be made? The movie the Cave tried to have a neato monster design, but they just kind of looked like the xenomorph.

I see vampires as a tool that can still work if used properly. It just rarely is. It'll never work as it used to, but someone can always find a clever twist for it.

 

Twilight is a different and very interesting romantic story. This movie has described about love in a very different way by showing love between a vampire and a human. I wanna to hear a lot of vampire stories!!

 

I do think that the vampire concept is a bit tired, as current popular culture is saturated with it at the moment. Twilight has a lot to do with that, for a younger audience, while True Blood and its Sookie Stackhouse novels, has done its part for an older audience.

That being said, I think the appeal of the vampire myth has staying power, and will always be with us. The vampire character exhibits a lot of characteristics that make it a great character. First off, vampires are frightening.

1. The vampire is scary, on a superficial level, because it is nocturnal, it bites, it sucks blood, it kills. In that regard, it appeals to our instinctive perception and fear of monsters (bats, snakes, rabid dogs, etc.) A monster that can only appear in the day isn't half as frightening.

2. The worst monsters are the ones that are most like us. Human monsters are more frightening than non-human monsters. Serial killers are more scary than Godzilla. Werewolves are more scary than regular wolves. Why is that? Because we see ourselves in them. Even aliens from outer space and giant sharks are only scary when we anthropomorphize them, when we realize that they're not that different from us. When we think that they have intelligence, motives, and desires. Then they're like us, and that is truly dangerous. To me, that's fascinating. And from Bram Stoker's Dracula to today, it's the human side of vampires that draws us and scares us, isn't it?

3. Intelligence is frightening. Monsters that exhibit human characteristics are frightening and interesting, but even more so when you suspect that they might be even more intelligent than us. An alien race of superior beings, a robot or computer system with advanced artificial intelligence. A brilliant criminal mastermind. The suspicion that we might be in an inferior position versus the "monster" is particularly attractive in storytelling. The force of good is the underdog, fighting an almost futile battle against a superior force. That's another allure of the vampire. He has hundreds of years of experience and knowledge, he is highly trained and intelligent. Not to mention, he is far more physically attractive, well-dressed, and culturally sophisticated than the mere mortals. It's attractive, and it's frightening. We almost wish we could be him, don't we? To give a counterexample: zombies are scary, I think in part because they're human. We see ourselves in them. And yet, the mythology of the zombie is that they are completely devoid of intelligence. So they are scary as a physical force, when they number in the hundreds. But in smaller numbers, or one on one, they aren't scary at all. They're just dumb animals. I think that's why zombie movies have often been made into pseudo-comedies. They're funnier than they're scary.

4. Another classic element of the worst types of monsters, are the ones that can turn US into THEM. If you are bitten by a werewolf, or a zombie, or a vampire, you become one of them. Star Trek's "Borg" will "assimilate" you. The computers of The Matrix will take over your mind, and you will become part of it. The Bodysnatchers will inhabit you. This conversion element is one of the most terrifying in storytelling. For one, it suggests a fate worse than death. What can be more frightening than death? Second, it presents a problem for those fighting the converted monsters. They are fighting enemies that used to be friends, which is a powerful storytelling element leading to internal conflict. Further, the number of monsters increases, so the survivors are increasingly outnumbered as they fall. The fear of the future is not that a lone survivor will have to fight one zombie, werewolf or vampire, hand to hand on even terms, but that a lone survivor will be alone in a world fighting against thousands or millions of monsters, facing impossible odds. That fear is a powerful one too, as it sucks away the protagonists' hope, and introduces the internal conflict of deciding whether or not to give up. Many of these stories feature suicide as an option - the ultimate "man vs. self" conflict.


At the same time that vampires are scary, they are also appealing in a way that many other monsters are not. Generally, no one would want to be a zombie, a werewolf, or a serial killer. But a vampire, well, that presents a value proposition that is harder to dismiss out of hand. This is why vampires are generally portrayed as attractive, well-spoken, and sexually seductive. If so many things are scary about vampires, there has to be something attractive, to provide some of the push-pull in the story. But the real kicker, obviously, is immortality. What could be more attractive than living forever? It's the holy grail, the one thing every living thing has ever wanted since the first single-cell organism sparked into life. And the vampire represents that - the ultimate gift. The allure of that is hard to underplay, and yet almost all modern vampire stories underplay that, strangely. I also find that they underplay the negative side of immortality. Although it's something that we instinctively seek, it's also something that, on a conscious level, we realize would be a very bad thing. Immortality devalues life and relationships. It also leads to all kinds of other problems, which I think would be interesting to explore. I'm surprised more vampire stories don't do that. One of the few exceptions I've seen done in movie form is "Daybreakers" with Ethan Hawke, from a few years ago.

Anyway, I'll stop there. Hopefully some of this was thought provoking. I think the character is timeless, because there are so many themes to explore. Good luck with your story, and hopefully you find a new angle on it.

--- D

 

Don't forget the sexual element of vampires.

 

I am tired of steroetypical vampires. The ones that all typical girls like; vampires in Anna Rice and Twilight. All vampires should be monsters because that is how they were orignally invented. Like Dracule, alhtough he is a charming handsome devil, he is pure evil because he lost his faith with God. He fuck girls, drinks their blood, and kills their boyfriends. Dracule is all about greed and pleasure.

Sometimes when you try to reinvent something, you in up screwing it. Plus if your story will be both horror and romance, it still needs to be scary. If it isn't scary, then it is bogus.

I don't like Twilight because it's just me. I think it is nothing but a girl's fantasy with cheesy drama. But the first film is okay. However it gets carry away with the next films.

I don't care if a book has good writing and a good story. If the monsters are revented into something that makes them less of a monster, even if the purpose is to make them sympathic and romantic, then that book is nothing but a piece of shit! If I am a publisher, I would reject it. I only accept what I like as a reader. No bloody thirsty monsters, no deal.

If I plan to write a vampire story, I would make it orignal and different. My vampires will remain as monsters, but not the tradition vampire monsters. They can be aliens, demons, or sick cannibals. Vampire genres will never die as long as something new is written about them.

I also think that there should be more werewolf stories because I feel there isn't enough of werewolf stories out there. It is always about vampires and zombies. Where are the werewolves? Write a werewolf story instead of a vampire story. But don't make them shape shifters too. They need to be hairy and blood thirsty humanoids for god's sake.

One vampire movie I like is 30 Days of Night, because the vampires are true monsters. They kill on sight, they look scary, and they are intelligent. Plus they have a good mystery behind their race. Read the graphic novels to learn more about them.

If you want to write a vampire story, make it unique. Don't make it like Twilight. There is enough Twilight books out there, unless you make the typical vampire boyfriend controlsome and evil.

 

I personally will never get tired of vampire stories. Several of my friends will agree with me. However, I do agree that if you want to break into that plot idea and make it huge, you will need to find that something special that makes it stand apart. Either way, go for it, and when you are done, let me know and I will be happy to read an excerpt you post on here.

 

Dracula is my favorite book. I love the concept of the vampire as a monster and as complex, more human character. There are so many things about vampires to write about but if you want it to be a love story try not to be cliche and go as far as possible from Twilight. Well maybe you don't have to stray too far away but just be original. I know that's dumb to say but with a topic like "Paranormal Romance", as the aisle in my local bookstore is labeled, you can't be too careful. I would love for someone to bring back respect for the Vampire. Good luck!

 

I think that modern authors are bringing vampires closer to superhuman or alien status and further away from the demonic creatures of folklore.

But to answer the original question ... it depends on how you present them. Anything can be made fresh and interesting if the author is talented.

 

I loved Twilight. I love vampires. I will read more vampire books. I liked Twilight because I could see the story very easily. It was written in a way that just sucked you in. I know, I know a lot of people HATE twilight. I'm not one of them. I like traditional vampires too. Interview with a vampire is one of my favorite books. I think twilight was successful because of the love story. 90% of the readership was females. There wasn't a lot of fighting action, but there was a lot of romance action.

 

Stories about vampires will never die. Never.

Though I think Stephanie Meyer lacks greatly in the writing talent department, I did love Twilight. It came out when I was in high school, and I think (now) nostalgia is almost a part of it.

That being said, I and many others are always going to be drawn to the supernatural - what part of being a vampire isn't appealing? Maybe the drinking blood part for the more squeamish out there, but you can always take out your enemies, bad guys, etc. You exist in the night, never die, have amazing strength and speed. That may be a bit more "classic" vampirism, but that's the sort of story I want to read.

Anywho, write for you. If you like it, chances are someone else will, too. Just please, please, please don't make them sparkle. *gag*

 

I'm sick of vampire, because well, it's been overdone since the 90s (Buffy anyone?). However I don't mind a new take on them so long as it is not the re-hashed emo-drama stuff we've been spoon-fed for decades.

 

I have mixed feelings about vampires, to me I would read more - and even more romance IF they were a little more scary, and a little more violent. I don't think I could stand another self-hatred-over-wanting-to-drink-blood melodrama.

True to this belief, I'm writing a vampire story (though with parody elements). I'm unsure if it would ever sell, but it's a lot of fun to right. And most important to me, the vampire characters are in a debate of whether or not to keep humans as slaves or if they should pay for blood not really because of moral implications, but because it's so easy to kill a vampire due to the influx of vampire novels (but its also easier to seduce idiot girls).

 

To be honest, I'm sick of people going on about things they are sick of in books and films. Be it Twilight, the Hunger Games, 50 Shades of Grey, or whatever. If you don't like it then don't read it, or watch it. If you are not really interested then stop complaining. Find something you are interested in, and do like, and enjoy that instead of jumping on bandwagons and spewing the same mindless drivel you can hear from any hipster in any Starbucks on any day of the week.

What baffles me is that the Harry Potter series is worse than Twilight in many ways, and yet doesn't get half the hate. If you want to be a good critic why not go after the stuff people are not talking about instead of, again, jumping on bandwagons.

 

You could always create your own monsters with vampiric-like tendencies and an adherence to some of the vampiric lore. If you do want to write about vampires, then make them your unique vampires with your unique plot. Make them meaningful, memorable and somewhat terrifying. I don't mind vampires, as long as I can relate to them, and they're well-rounded. I have ideas for a vampire story I could write, though I'll have to figure out how to make my vamps unique.

 

Amen to all of the above! If you want to gripe, get a Twitter account. But if you're a writer, write something worth reading. Provide an alternative.

Be part of the solution, not part of the background noise.

 

I don't like reality TV shows and so I don't watch them. But it still annoys me that they exist because a lot of them promote poor behaviour because mean people are more entertaining than nice people. Why shouldn't I be upset when these shows have a profound impact on the people around me who in turn have a profound impact on me?

Thinking that just because you don't like something you can avoid it and it won't affect you is almost solipsistic. The world, however, is holistic.

 

You might want to google that word. 'Solipsistic' is really more of a thought experiment, and it means nothing exists outside the self, and if you think that's what I meant then ... I don't know.

Sure things like Twilight can be unavoidable, and it can be annoying. But you know what, I don't bitch and moan about it either. And I don't - which is what I was saying - jump on the critical bandwagons of 'Oh, Edward from Twilight is such a creep! He hangs around schools and watches people while they sleep and blah blah blah'. Whenever I hear this I always think something not unlike 'Good, do you have any of your own thoughts on the matter?'

It seems fashionable to hate on certain things. Sure, Edward might have been a creep, but there is worse stuff in Harry Potter and that series (for some reason) is beloved. It's one thing to be aware of something and know you don't like it/are not interested in it, it's another entirely to be aware of something and keep going on about it.

What I am really saying is I've got more important things to do with my life than repeat other people's opinions for a bit of internet cred.

 

The inference being that if you don't believe anything outside of your own mind exists then therefore nothing outside of your own mind can affect you.

There's also a reason why I added the qualifier, 'almost'.