Concerning Vampires
May. 31st, 2011 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreFirst, check out this great interview with Steve Barber, author of Blob and the Sous-Chef, over at Diane Dooley's blog: Oh, The Horror!
Next, I've been thinking about the state of vampire fiction and my place in it, and came up with somewhat slightly rambling thoughts.
Here are some of the things folk have been saying about vampires in recent years:
I don't know if I speak for other agents, but I'm getting some serious vampire/faerie/zombie fatigue.
No More Vampire Stories!
No Vampires, Please.
Vampire Warning: Don't.
I am screwed.
Not really, because I have many more ideas to work with than the ones involving vampires, and by the time I get around to finishing up any one of them and submitting them successfully, it's likely the next trend will have come and gone anyway. And the preceding quotes don't in any way represent the entire literary universe. However, I do find it discouraging and depressing that so much of the reading and publishing world has OD'd themselves on the vampire genre, because it means my own vampires have to be that much more awesome to get sold or even noticed.
Of course it bears keeping in mind that, when you hear someone say they're "sick of vampires," usually what they mean is they're sick of woeful, romantic, tortured hero type "monsters" and the bland, hormonal teenagers who fall in love with them--all the paranormal romance that washed over the genre in the wake of Twilight. This being the trend, it's easy to see why someone who doesn't know ahead of time that the next vampire book they pick up isn't part of that might be more cautious about his or her reading choices. Hell, I'm more cautious about that stuff myself, and have become very reluctant and wary of looking for vampire fiction in the YA section in particular, just in case it turns out to be another sappy, melodramatic love story.
The problem with vampires, and my place in vampire fiction, is the divide between the newer fans who were introduced to vamps through Twilight and its ilk, and the traditionalists who are so offended by paranormal romance even deigning to call itself "vampire fiction" that they refuse to tolerate anything remotely similar. They want danger, violence, carnage, horror. They want monsters--proper monsters, not former humans who struggle with their identity and have moral quandries about what they must do to survive. And they definitely don't want even the suggestion of romantic involvement with mortals.
I unfortunately don't fit into either of those categories. Part of me wants to believe this is a good thing, because uniqueness is what will make a manuscript stand out from the pack. On the other hand, where is my audience? I have no interest in making young teenagers or their mothers swoon over my undead characters. I also don't want to strip my vampires of all their allure and seductiveness. It's part of their evolution as hunters--they appear attractive to their prey, it's how they haul them in for the kill. In some ways, the danger is part of the attraction. But it never ends well for the humans who fall for them. They're beautiful monsters, but they're still monsters. And they aren't always happy about their situations.
I know there's a market for this. I'm part of it, along with all the other readers who have loved vampires since before Twilight and will continue to love them after the fad dies out. The trick in the meantime is to pitch my fiction in such a way as to convince any potential buyers that no, really, my vampires are different. And then to make it true.
Next, I've been thinking about the state of vampire fiction and my place in it, and came up with somewhat slightly rambling thoughts.
Here are some of the things folk have been saying about vampires in recent years:
I don't know if I speak for other agents, but I'm getting some serious vampire/faerie/zombie fatigue.
No More Vampire Stories!
No Vampires, Please.
Vampire Warning: Don't.
I am screwed.
Not really, because I have many more ideas to work with than the ones involving vampires, and by the time I get around to finishing up any one of them and submitting them successfully, it's likely the next trend will have come and gone anyway. And the preceding quotes don't in any way represent the entire literary universe. However, I do find it discouraging and depressing that so much of the reading and publishing world has OD'd themselves on the vampire genre, because it means my own vampires have to be that much more awesome to get sold or even noticed.
Of course it bears keeping in mind that, when you hear someone say they're "sick of vampires," usually what they mean is they're sick of woeful, romantic, tortured hero type "monsters" and the bland, hormonal teenagers who fall in love with them--all the paranormal romance that washed over the genre in the wake of Twilight. This being the trend, it's easy to see why someone who doesn't know ahead of time that the next vampire book they pick up isn't part of that might be more cautious about his or her reading choices. Hell, I'm more cautious about that stuff myself, and have become very reluctant and wary of looking for vampire fiction in the YA section in particular, just in case it turns out to be another sappy, melodramatic love story.
The problem with vampires, and my place in vampire fiction, is the divide between the newer fans who were introduced to vamps through Twilight and its ilk, and the traditionalists who are so offended by paranormal romance even deigning to call itself "vampire fiction" that they refuse to tolerate anything remotely similar. They want danger, violence, carnage, horror. They want monsters--proper monsters, not former humans who struggle with their identity and have moral quandries about what they must do to survive. And they definitely don't want even the suggestion of romantic involvement with mortals.
I unfortunately don't fit into either of those categories. Part of me wants to believe this is a good thing, because uniqueness is what will make a manuscript stand out from the pack. On the other hand, where is my audience? I have no interest in making young teenagers or their mothers swoon over my undead characters. I also don't want to strip my vampires of all their allure and seductiveness. It's part of their evolution as hunters--they appear attractive to their prey, it's how they haul them in for the kill. In some ways, the danger is part of the attraction. But it never ends well for the humans who fall for them. They're beautiful monsters, but they're still monsters. And they aren't always happy about their situations.
I know there's a market for this. I'm part of it, along with all the other readers who have loved vampires since before Twilight and will continue to love them after the fad dies out. The trick in the meantime is to pitch my fiction in such a way as to convince any potential buyers that no, really, my vampires are different. And then to make it true.