Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
117,011
edits
So You Want To/Write a Vampire Novel: Difference between revisions
Fix persistent markup error
m (revise quote template spacing) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (Fix persistent markup error) |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
Literature about vampires has been around since the 18th century and for good reason. The vampire can be a metaphor for many things - [[Suddenly Sexuality|emerging sexuality]] or [[Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?|homosexuality]], [[The Virus|disease]], or even certain ethnicities. And down the years, the vampire has only gotten more popular, leading to even more interpretations.
Take for example these two quotes.
{{quote|''"The figure turns half round, and the light falls upon its face. It is perfectly white -- perfectly bloodless. The eyes look like polished tin; the lips are drawn back, and the principal feature next to those dreadful eyes is the teeth -- the fearful looking teeth -- projecting like those of some wild animal, hideously, glaringly white, and fang-like. It approaches the bed with a strange, gliding movement. It clashes together the long nails that literally appear to hang from the finger ends. No sound comes from its lips. Is she going mad -- that young and beautiful girl exposed to so much terror? she has drawn up all her limbs; she cannot even now say help."''}}
Line 20:
== '''Choices, Choices''' ==
Now that you've decided what kind of vampire novel you're going to write, here are some things to consider.
* [[Speculative Fiction/Analysis|Is it Sci-Fi or Fantasy]]? Depending on what kind of vampires you're writing about, your novel could fall on either side of the spectrum. If you try to [[Doing
** Overall, it is recommended you take the supernatural route, as the vampire is a creature rooted in folklore and scientifically explaining the phenomenon should only be done if you are feeling very ambitious.
* [[Character Alignment]]: Now you have to figure out what alignment your vampires are. Are they a race of [[
* [[Abnormal Ammo]] / [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells]]: Maybe your vampires can only be hurt with silver, or garlic, or some other [[Phlebotinum]]. And, if you've got heavily-armed, knowledgable vampire hunters, they'll want to use such ammunition.
* [[Your Vampires Suck]]: How does your vampire feel about the depictions of other vampires in movies and literature? Its usually easy to make an amusing scene where he lambasts them for being painfully inaccurate, but this has now become so common it might actually be a good idea to try subverting it, by having the Vampire be a fan of vampire literature, for all its inaccuracies. If you really want to throw this trope out the window, have him be a writer of vampire fiction.
Line 32:
* [[Characterization Tropes]]: You've thought up a grand plot and great vampires, but there's something missing: personality. Without personality, characters are cardboard cutouts, so it doesn't matter how well-written your plot is. Make sure to add variety with your characters' personalities and study other characters to see what works and what doesn't. Which brings us to:
* The Ubiquitous [[Mary Sue]]: Please don't make your vampires completely and utterly perfect. There is a way to make your vampires not [[Made of Plasticine]], but not [[Nigh Invulnerable|insanely overpowerful]]. This goes for the way your characters act, as well: if your vampires consider themselves perfect, that's fine. If ''other'' (non-vampire) characters consider them perfect as well, that's where it goes wrong.
** Also, if your vampires do interact extensively with humans, do not make them prefer one human over all the others for some ambiguous reason (i.e. "there was just something ''different'' about her") this makes it dangerously easy to stumble into [[Mary Sue]] territory (as countless fanfictions will prove.) Just because your story is fiction and some of your characters are supernatural beings does not mean that the intrapersonal dynamics between them do not have to be believable.
* Related to the above, do not put overemphasis on the sexual prowess or appeal of vampires unless you are writing porn. Simply because they are undead blood-drinkers does not make them [[Vampires Are Sex Gods|sex gods]]. Although this ''can'' be the case for characters with fetishes towards necrophilia and [[Real Life]] vampirism; it can nonetheless ruin the plot if it gets out of hand by inserting too much wish-fulfillment. This is not to say you cannot have a sexy vampire character; but avoid making the character sexy ''because'' the character is a vampire.
* The [[Vegetarian Vampire]], while not an inherently bad trope, can be quite annoying. One of the main drawbacks to being a vampire is the need for human blood. Easily substituting the need with animal blood or unused blood from hospitals makes the vampire condition less of a curse and more of an easily handled problem. If the issue comes up, have some significant drawbacks to these methods or an explanation why the substitutes would not suffice the need to prey on humans. Related; if your vampire absorbs life energy/chi/psychic energy instead of blood, doing so should harm the victim.
* [[Vampire Vords]]: Use them only vor parody, never vor serious viction.
* The Broody Vampire who constantly angsts about his undead bloodlust and curses [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|his endless immortality]] at every opportunity has been done. A lot. To the point where it's really, ''really'' annoying. Not that being a vampire might not suck -- particularly if you're someone who doesn't want to live forever while everyone you love ages and dies and doesn't like the thought of killing other people in order to survive -- but it's a very easy and potentially lazy crutch for angst, conflict and drama; the perpetually tormented vampire constantly [[Wangst|Wangsting]] on about something or other has swiftly moved into the realm of cliche.
** Some existential angst is fine, just don't lay it on too thick or linger on it too long.
== '''Potential Subversions''' ==
Tropes are made to be broken.
* The [[Byronic Hero]]: Vampires practically invented this trope, starting with Polidori's "The Vampyre" which was actually based on [[Lord Byron]]. Because of that, it's been done to death. Instead, why not make your vampire a [[Science Hero]] (he fights other vampires with the power of [[For Science!|SCIENCE]]!) or an [[Adventurer Archaeologist]]? If your vampire is the villain, make him a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] or a [[Heroic Sociopath]].
* Also, try deconstructing the typical heroines of vampire romance stories. Dangerous men may be attractive, but if your vampires are man-eating inhuman monsters it'd take a pretty fucked up woman to actually love one. Try making her a female version of [[The Renfield]].
* Consider also deconstructing or subverting the traditional weaknesses -- and traditional strengths -- of vampires. This has obviously been done with weaknesses -- the traditional weaknesses to garlic and crosses in particular have been commonly played with and subverted -- but consider other elements of the vampire mythos and how they can be played with. For example, guns; it's generally accepted that a vampire is immune to gunfire, and certainly won't be killed by bullets. This doesn't, however, necessarily mean that they are immune to the ''damage'' that being shot with a firearm can do to a human body, living or dead.
* How about averting the typical cliches that vampires have to be brooding or [[Ax Crazy]] and writing about a cheery eccentric vampire that doesn't understand that his/her [[Vampire Vords|Transylvanian accent]] makes them stand out.
* It may be interesting to do something of a double subversion and look up some of the older more obscure depictions of vampires in folk lore and base the vampires in your story on those (for example: giving them lesser known weaknesses, such as an obsession with numbers or the inability to cross moving water.)
** Since vampires seem to have been depicted with fewer and fewer weaknesses as time has gone by, it would be kind of refreshing to see a modern vampire story that featured vampires with some of the older more traditional weaknesses.
Line 61:
** Of course this concept would need to be written with the necessary subtlety, dealing with death in a mature, nuanced way, not a melodramatic, over the top, teenage-goth-girl-going-through-her-"suicidal"-phase way.
** Or, if you wanted to go a braver more controversial route, you could just go ahead and make your human/vampire relationship a metaphor for necrophilia itself and use the story as a means of exploring the psychological and philosophical basis of that disorder.
* Historically, writers have made good use of vampirism as an allegory for disease and/or sexual deviancy (playing on the fact that both sex and vampirism involve an exchange of fluids) but, if an author is to use these themes, he/she must do so with great care; if they are made too overt or are not adjusted with regard to modern sensibilities, they will only make your story seem painfully cliche and outdated.
Line 68:
* The color {{color|red|red}} is almost ubiquitous in vampire fiction, mainly having to do with a vampires need for [[Captain Obvious|blood]]. These displays of red can range from the obvious (roses) to something unique (perhaps a character literally wears rose-tinted glasses).
** Bram Stoker's ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'' featured the repeated imagery of red against white -- red blood against white shirts and white fangs, the wolves' "lolling red tongues and sharp white teeth", red prick marks against the white flesh of the heroine where Dracula had bitten her, et cetera.
* Traditional Gothic settings (crumbling old castles, overgrown cemeteries, deep dark [[
Line 78:
* Non-satire comedy
* Strip away the glamorization and make vampirism actually seem like a disease or a disability, the whole eternal youth thing can still be there, but add some other more gruesome physical symptoms that would make the audience really contemplate rather or not it would be worth it (can you say [[Body Horror]] ?)
** The primary flaw in most modern depictions of vampires is that there doesn't seem to be any down side to being a vampire or, if there is, it's very easily averted.
* How will vampires handle the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] ?
Line 85:
=== '''Set Designer / Location Scout''' ===
* If you're going for the classic [[Gothic Horror]], nothing is better than a [[Haunted Castle]] in [[
=== '''Props Department''' ===
Line 117:
== Literature ==
* Bram Stoker's ''[[Dracula]]'', which is practically responsible for the current popularity of vampires. It's been adapted many, many times over the years in many different ways (see film).
* The [[Lesbian Vampire]]: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's ''[[Carmilla]]'' back in 1872 invented this trope and it's been used quite often since.
* ''The Vampire Countess'', ''Knightshade (The Vampire Brothers)'', and [[Vampire City]], by French author Paul Feval. A [[In Name Only|not-quite-trilogy]] of vampire novels that predate ''Dracula'' by about thirty years, and an excellent exercise in [[Our Vampires Are Different|how weird vampires can be.]] Available in English from [http://www.blackcoatpress.com/ Black Coat Press.]
* Brian Lumley's ''[[Necroscope]]'' series, and Kim Newman's ''Dracula Cha Cha Cha'', both of which take the vampire novel and fuse them with the spy genres. The former creating a truly horrifying, nightmarish, vision of the Cold War, and the latter playing every Suave James Bond cliché for every inch of mileage it can get.
* Speaking of [[Kim Newman]], his ''[[Anno Dracula]]'' series -- essentially taking the premise that the heroes in Bram Stoker's original failed to stop Dracula -- is well worth a look.
* The [[Night Watch]] series does not necessarily center around vampires, but does deal with them at length in some very innovative ways.
== Live-Action TV ==
Line 145:
* ''[[The Vampire Chronicles]]'' novels by [[Anne Rice]]. The first book was popular enough to get [[Interview with the Vampire|made into a movie]] and the first few books were even well received by literary critics, but starting with the fourth book, ''The Tale of the Body Thief'', Anne decided to [[Protection From Editors|stop using an editor]]. The results were ... less than stellar.
** These books were ether the best the modern vampire genre had to offer or the beginning of the end for the genre (or both) depending on who you ask, ether way they are the [[Trope Namer]] (or at least [[Trope Codifier]]) for a lot of vampire tropes and played a substantial role in shaping what would eventually become what most people regard as the modern vampire mythos.
* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]''. Although it has a [[Your Mileage May Vary|massive fan base]], it is listed here for the so-called 'vampires' not being like ''any'' traditional folklore myths save for the need of blood and immortality. To cement the point, the author herself even admitted to [[Did Not Do the Research|having not done any research]] on the subject of vampires. it also for numerous reasons has a vehement [[Hatedom]], although [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|we don't really need to go into the specifics]]; it's very much a 'love-it-or-hate-it' property, and should be taken on those merits.
** These books are ether the worst the modern vampire genre has to offer, or the greatest love story of our generation, depending on who you ask, but only ask if you are willing to listen to someone talk about the books for at least an hour straight as both the [[Fandom]] and the [[Hatedom]] are equally passionate and vocal.
* [[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]]: These books are a little heavy on the camp and you can tell that the author has read a lot of romance novels but if you're a fan of both those things, or have at least a moderate tolerance for them, the stories can be quite entertaining and engrossing.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Vampire Tropes]]
[[Category:Write A Vampire Novel]]
[[Category:
| |||