Now Or Later? Trouble Deciding . . . . . .

Made-up terms that you don't explain are obnoxious.

For everyone's reference, a "vyca" is the Borg version of a vampire. (Ya know, in case you weren't aware. I've never seen the term used before, personally.)

As for the question:
It depends on where you are going with the story. You'll need to givve more info. Sorry.

BlackMagic528 said:

Suppose you're going to be looking after a new vamp* on her first night, just to keep her get through it (the cravings are always at their worst on the first night). Now, it's pretty much a given that a new vamp is going to feed from a human (preferrably a willing one) at some point during the first night. The decision is:

Do you hold her back until she gets a handle on her senses and things? Or do you get it out of the way early, so you can move on to other things?

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The first thing that pops out to me is, who is "you" - who is the character stuck vamp-sitting? Is he Louis - compassionate, ridden to the ground by conscience - does he care about the moral implications of feeding from a human and believe emphatically that it should be undertaken with care? Or is he more of a Lestat, hedonistic and power-drunk - humans serve as food and play - in which case he'd probably just get it out of the way without heed to whether it is violent or controlled. Me personally, it would depend on my mood, I could see myself going either way depending on which side of the bed I woke up on. But I think this choice would tell a lot about the character, and that first feeding probably powerfully shapes a new vamp's attitude and technique for later feedings (I'm thought-referencing how trauma/nurturing in infancy shapes people)... so you're right to think it over carefully.

My brain is broken tonight, I hope that made sense.

And meh, the unexplained made-up term didn't really seem to affect the gist of the question. So I ignored it. But Borg-vampire is a neat concept.

Actually, we've never met before. Apparently, this term is specific to your work. (All the more reason to have explained it.) I was not aware of that, so I assumed others might know what it meant. Didn't want to sound pompous. Vampires are rarely within my area of focus, so for all I knew, it was a common term in the vampire community. Thus the parenthetical disclaimer.


You've hit the Borg comparison spot-on. It's a superficial analogy. Many sff fans know what the Borg are. They are a collective species. Your vyca also have a collective conciousness, so "vampiric Borg" is a quick and easy way to explain the concept. Most people won't assume that the vyca are also a eugenics obsessed race that go around absorbing other races and their technology. Not a big deal.

As an elaboration on my response to the question, see Bohica's answer


Bohica- The reason I explained the term, even though it doesn't necessarily have an obvious effect on the question, is that if the vampires are collective, then the question becomes why does the new vyca need to be helped personally at all, if they could just get support from the collective? But since I've now learned that vyca don't connect all at once, then that question is now moot.

BlackMagic528 said:

Do you hold her back until she gets a handle on her senses and things? Or do you get it out of the way early, so you can move on to other things?

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You're looking after a vamp, but what do you want? What's stopping you? What does the vamp want? What's stopping that?

E.g.:
So: give the babysitter a motive. Put the motive in conflict. Then the answer's easy.

Liosse de Velishaf said:

Made-up terms that you don't explain are obnoxious.

For everyone's reference, a "vyca" is the Borg version of a vampire. (Ya know, in case you weren't aware.

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware, and there's a really good chance a vast majority of other potential readers won't be, either. More importantly, I'd bet my firstborn cat that the concept of a "Borg" vampire is protected by a Star Trek trademark. Otherwise, the term "vamp" is generally taken as some kind of seductress from some decades ago. In any case, it sure doesn't work for me.

caw

I think I can sum up my response quite succinctly with this:

Learn to read the whole thread before commenting.

Liosse de Velishaf said:

I think I can sum up my response quite succinctly with this:

Learn to read the whole thread before commenting.

Click to expand...

Vamping is like making coffee. I like to watch people make coffee, but only if they are sucking blood out of somebody at the same time.

When I take a vamp or Biscayan Borg Vamp (BBV not to be confused with the BVM, Blessed Virigin Mary) out for their first cup of coffee...I like to watch them get all twitchy (you know how it is before you get your first cup) and then I get them a chocolate layer cake full of human excrement. They always sniff at it and look disgusted. I don't know why. Something in a BBV just doesn't like that smell...know what I mean?
Then I fall asleep and when I wake up the cake is still there and I still need more coffee.

This reminds me of an episode of moonlight I was watching.

All of my writing and interest in vampires through my WIP is from the fighting and killing them POV, so I'm not going to be much help with that.

but try checking out that series.

I'd drive a stake through her heart and not have to worry about her running off and biting innocent people. But then again I have no sympathy for vampires. I just like seeing them get killed.

But accidental homicides add conflict!

Actually in all seriousness, I watch Angel every now and then, and if I remember he was on pig blood at one point. Don't know if he ever got off of it, but I only loosely follow the series.

I can't relate well to vampires on the other level to be honest, as I've never seen them in a "touchy feely" sort of way. I find them best portrayed as maybe not cruel, but a calculated sort. The ones that do dark things at night ring true to the origin of them as a whole. But that's the conventional route, and please don't think that I'm suggesting you stick to conventions.

Maybe your "veteran" vamp tries his/her best to stop the "rookie" from feeding on the first night, but alas she escapes somehow. It is then up to the "veteran" to find the "rookie" before it's too late. (before she feeds) This could add a degree of conflict between the two. The "veteran" can come off calm and collected as he "hunts her down", but yet the "rookie" is wandering around wildly and becoming accustomed to her new "life".

Holding the rookie back at first will cause conflict. Letting her get lose and out on her own will cause conflict. Having her wildly become accustomed to herself will cause conflict. And having the veteran hunt her down while going through her path of destruction will cause conflict, especially if for instance he runs across some bad situations of his own and is forced to clean up her messes (so to speak). Finding her eventually will cause conflict if she's not yet willing to go back.

The more conflict you can cause, I think the better. But that's just my opinion.