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Post by The Curmudgeon on Oct 25, 2010 8:57:26 GMT 2
It was the (admittedly emjoyable) Vampire Diaries that got me thinking of this, because there's a show that likes to invent its own little details regarding vampires etc (a werewolf bite will kill a vampire! If you have any vamp blood in your system and you die, you become a vampire!) And through all kinds of medium, we're introduced and re-introduced to rules and regulations of all things vampire.
But what do YOU think of when it comes to vampires? Say, for example, you're writing a vampire novel. What stays, what goes? I mean..
In Blade, they have their own language. Why?
I remember reading a really old myth that you should spill two different colours of (I think) rice next to a suspected vampire tomb, because when they leave at night they are SO compulsive they HAVE to spend the hours of night sorting the two colours of rice into two bundles. Imaging putting that retarded law into vampire movie now.
There's an old kids horror book, Vampire Headmaster, that I loved. In that the fanged teachers banned baths because they couldn't stand running water.
But anyway, vampires to me, should die in sunlight, have no reflection and be stronger than everyone else. Not a fan of the garlic myth (why would they hate that?), I can live without the crucifix thing but they should always, always, have to be invited in a house first.
So what about you? Do you like vamps turning into bats and wolves? Can they fly like the Lost Boys? Should they sleep in coffins? Can they get their soul back from gypsies?
Continue.
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Post by trashcanman on Oct 25, 2010 20:59:24 GMT 2
Garlic is known as a folk cure with magical qualities and running water represents purity, which is why the vamps can't stand them. What I don't get is why a vamp can't cross over running water. I read a novel once where they trapped one by using hoses in an underground tunnel to confine the vampire above ground because he could not cross over the spots where water was running underground. Weird. Stoker actually stated that Dracula could move about in the sun (the vampire blood thing is also in there), but I prefer them to be limited to the dark. There's another old myth that vampires are scared of black dogs with white patches above their eyes. If you say so. I pretty much accept whatever a movie or book tells me (unless it involves sparkling), but there are some things that bug me. The werewolf bite thing is one. Do they drool garlic or what? That one goes back at least as far as Paul Naschy's "Hombre Lobo" series in movies and those are certainly the best instances of utilizing that one. Every other thing to use it has been pretty craptastic. I really am not a fan of synthetic blood. The entire premise of the vampire is not that they get nourishment from the chemical consistency of blood, but that they prolong their own life and gain power from stealing the lives of others. In my opinion, fake blood is a device that only waters down the vampire genre. I don't want vampires that can choose to kick back with a bottle of True Blood (although I love the show, obviously). I want vampires who are forced to drink the real thing (preferably from the tap) even if they are conflicted about it. I was actually bent on writing a vampire novel (or at least a series of novellas and short stories), but I just never got done researching. There's sooooo much that by the time I was satisfied with my knowledge, my life was much too hectic to consider writing more than the occasional review. I've still got all the story concepts in my head, though. Basically, I went old-school. The mythology is super detailed so I won't go into it in depth, but some shape-shifting, psychic powers, and the like were possible for a vampire once they accumulated enough power by feasting for centuries. More lives drained equals more power. They could also alter the density of their bodies (which are solid but not really real in a metaphysical sense) like The Vision to become rock solid, light enough to float/fly, or phase through solid objects briefly. There were also various vampire hunter classifications of vampires based on their behaviors. Wurdulaks are characterized by a compulsion to kill everyone who they loved in life. Nosferatu are obsessed with feeding on as many victims as possible. Succubi/incubi prefer to use sexuality to seduce victims. Aristocrats are the self-important Dracula type who want to live large and walk among high society or (in the older days) rule over an entire region as lords and ladies. I also had a character who had been one of the first scientists and had been studying genetics for so long that he had perfected the art and mixed it with black magic to create werewolves and other monsters as his personal bodyguards. Unfortunately, that idea was already taken in the Vampire Hunter D novels, which I found out later. In fact, as I researched I found out that a lot of these great original idea I had had already been done, which really did kill my desire to write some of these stories. Another example, I had an idea for a novella about a teenage runaway who returns to his family as a wurdulak and spends his nights trying to gain entrance to the house so he can murder them. The title was "Prodigal". Then I watched an episode of Angel that contained a very shortened version of the exact same story right down to the title. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prodigal_%28Angel%29Ain't that a bitch? But mine was more of a horror story with the kid returning each night to attempt and claim another loved one and isolating the rural family so they had no contact with the outside world (killing any neighbors within a days' journey on foot, destroying the crops and livestock, crippling vehicles) all the while taunting and begging his father to let him into the house so they can be together again. Still, it bums the hell out of me to see that most of my ideas have been done. |
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Oct 27, 2010 22:49:01 GMT 2
As a fellow writer, Trash, I more than feel your pain. I'm still struggling to get my novel written (a kids fantasy book starring real kids). As I always say when people ask me about it; I don't have huge plans or anything, but it will change the way books are written. Your ideas do sound good though, do you have any short stories or anything I could take a look at? Promise I won't steal your ideas. Not all of them, anyway.
The dog with white patches thing is hilarious. I would LOVE to see a horror film try that one now. And as someone who has yet to see Twilight (or convince Mrs C to watch it), what IS that sparkling thing all about? Why does it happen?
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Post by trashcanman on Oct 28, 2010 20:33:48 GMT 2
Don't know. Don't care. Changing the way books are written? May as well aim high. I've actually never written fiction before. Maybe if i win the lottery and/or get divorced I'll give it a try, but my family is to loud and too naggy for me to concentrate on creating anything while they are around.
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