So has anyone else noticed the glut of vampire fiction these days? Anne Rice, L.J. Smith, not to mention Stephenie Meyer. Every week it seems like a new vampire novel has come out, with some derivation on the folklore and theme. Because I am working on Mistletoe, and it will have vampires, werewolves, and witches as my bad guys in it, I’ve been reading some of the current and historical vampire fiction.
Here are my two cents:
Stephen King “Salem’s Lot”: chilling and intense read, which actually kept me up at night. One of his earlier works, it is one of his best. I thoroughly enjoyed the “classic” vampire, who is created by rite, sleeps in coffins, is repelled by garlic and holy water. Fantastic book.
L.J. Smith “Nightworld”: derivative and boring, with predictable plots and insipid characters. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed her “Vampire Diaries” back in the day, but these are not her best. The laws of the Night World (don’t fall in love with humans) are seemingly broken in every story.
Bram Stoker “Dracula”: the classic that started it all, and a terrific read. A bit more difficult, as language has evolved since it was published, but I really enjoyed the stark characters and the story. You almost felt sorry for Dracula in the end, and had a lot of empathy for the other characters as well.
Elizabeth Kostova “The Historian”: a bit more challenging, but also very good. Historical in nature, and thankfully nothing to do with cutesy vampires one would fall in love with. This is a harrowing tale of Dracula’s curse, and very well researched and written.
Stephenie Meyer “Twilight Saga”: has once again brought vampires into the collective consciousness of society. These books are a fast read, with little redeeming value in the grand scheme of classic literature. It’s hard to resist the relationships, but the mythology is a tad shallow.
So why am I worrying about vampires?
I’m worried that Mistletoe (which is the novelization of “The Lamb” which many of you are familiar with) will have a hard reception because of the glut in the market. Though it has little to do with vampires, really, they are a principal villain. I had considered various ways of modifying the mythology in order to make my vampire stand out from those in current circulation, but then I decided not to. I am going back to the classical vampire, the one feared by the Catholic Church as being a body inhabited by a devil, to be handled in the classical methods. These vampires are soul-less, incapable of empathy or emotion, and exist only to gain more power.
In short, you would never fall in love with one of these vampires.
Still, I worry. I wonder if I should focus on The Apothecary instead. That concept, at least, is completely new, and I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere.
I’ve invested a lot of time and energy in Mistletoe. I think I’m going to finish writing it at least, try to sell it to publishers, but if I can’t get anyone to buy it, I’m not going to be that miserable. I’ll just write The Apothecary. I know that one will sell.
Still just a little worried…
Maybe the twist of a vampire whom one could actually love was once a good idea–when it was an original idea–but now it’s been done to death (un-death? :p).
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like ultimate ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in the books I read anymore; I like three-dimensional antagonists whom you can pity and whose motivations you can understand, even if you don’t agree with them. However, I thought the whole point of a vampire was that they were soul-less, and nothing anybody in their right mind would want to fall in love with. Now they’ve become such a tragic romantic figure (that glitters!) it really makes me sick–why do women/girls always want to fall for the ‘bad’ boy?
Anyway, having evil vampires in your story–and not even having them be the focus–would seem to me to be a really novel idea nowadays (pun intended), and I think publishers would be just as likely to snap up such a story as reject it–unless they’ve got glitter gumming up their eyes.
There’s also the self-publishing route. I have heard of several places that allow the author to publish his/her own works. Through I’m unsure of the details in terms of cost, I’m sure the options vary as you could release a digital edition which folks could download using their various e-reader devices (kindle, nook, sony ebook, etc;) or release several copies in print as well.
found one!
lulu.com