Have Vampires "Jumped the Shark?"

Cyclops · Sep 1, 2007

As main characters, romantic interests, anything...are they overdone?
Buffy ended up in bed with a few vamps.
Paranormal romance is almost all about vamps.

My WIP is sci fi, but I'm playing with fantasy ideas for the next one. I have discarded Vamps even as villains because I'm thinking the market is saturated with the little blighters.

DraperJC · Sep 1, 2007

And yet, every week there is a new vampire novel on the shelves at B&N.

I think the more intriguing and controversial question is why vampires figure so prominently in women's fiction?

scarletpeaches · Sep 1, 2007

Because vampires are the sexytime.

RG570 · Sep 1, 2007

It is saturated but they just keep pumping them out. I don't think people are tired of it yet, otherwise half these idiotic books about plucky receptionists turning into vampires and having sex all the time all the while solving mysteries wouldn't be published.

I guess the question for an author would be is it going to be like this two or three years from now?

Sheryl Nantus · Sep 1, 2007

my vampire's a bad guy, through and through. He's not out to seduce you, he's out to kill you.

definitely *not* the usual.

DocBrown · Sep 1, 2007

Personally, I can't believe it hasn't been played out already. I considered writing a vampire novel 5-6 years ago and felt it had become too cliche.

So I guess you just never know until you try!

Death Wizard · Sep 1, 2007

Sheryl Nantus said:
my vampire's a bad guy, through and through. He's not out to seduce you, he's out to kill you.

definitely *not* the usual.

Sounds like my kind of story!

scarletpeaches · Sep 1, 2007

I don't think vampires will ever die (bo! Did you see what I did there)? They're as much a part of the writer's toolbox as characters with dark hair, or who are lawyers, or with the name Kate...oh. Wait.

triceretops · Sep 1, 2007

The readers dictate the sales. Vamps are here to stay. Big book deals on Publishers Lunch all the time.

Tri

veinglory · Sep 1, 2007

Yes and no. Anything that is a major theme in humorous chicklit has entered the realm of acknowledged cliche--but they can still work in serious books if you give the archetype a new twist.

ajkjd01 · Sep 1, 2007

Vampires themselves are obviously not "out".

Find a new twist with vampires and cash in....why not?

Irysangel · Sep 1, 2007

I probably shouldn't jump into this thread (being a little too close for comfort) but I wanted to say that even the 'cliches' still sell.

Cliches are cliches because people like them. They want more of the same. That's how Christine Feehan has all of her books hit the bestseller list. She writes what her readers want - more of the same.

I know of several urban fantasy deals that recently happened that had no 'spin' on a regular vampire story that I know of. The editor liked the writing enough to not care that it's an established trope like vampires.

And while my main character is not a vampire (not exactly), I do have vampires in the book. I actually had several editors tell me that the market was too saturated, and so I was pretty darn sure that mine would never sell. So I wrote new stuff. And then the old 'cliched' stuff sold. Go figure.

(As for names, if the name of your character is too 'weird' your editor might make you change it. One of my friends had a book bought by a big publisher. The first thing they told her was to change the 'unique' name - not all that weird, mind you - into something more mainstream. She didn't understand that, so she then picked the most boring name ever - and the editor loved it. I suspect that might be why you see a lot of 'Kates' out there.)

MattW · Sep 1, 2007

Vampires are ok...but spaceships are so lame. Don't use them.

Ali B · Sep 1, 2007

I agree with Scarlett, vampires ARE sexytime. Even more than camels. Even so, I think they have been used a little too much. Sexy vampires have been done to death. (Excuse the pun.)
On the other hand, so have zombies, Halloween masked killers, and the screaming chick who has sex and then gets axed, and they still sell in movies and books.

scarletpeaches · Sep 1, 2007

Has anyone written a book about vampiric sexytime camels?

IT WAS MY IDEA DON'T STEAL IT!!!

ChimeraCreative · Sep 1, 2007

I think vampires have been done to death. Maybe some can be thrown into the supportive cast (pro and antagonistic) but as a lead character I don't think there's much new ground to be covered. But folks love vampires and they'll always be around. I suppose I'm like Cyclops, I wouldn't feel right devoting myself to novel featuring a vampire when there are other things to explore.

I'll leave the handsome undead in the capable hands of the interested, the engrossed and the legions of vampire fandom. ^_^

-An

JohnDavidPaxton · Sep 1, 2007

My vampires are also bad guys. They aren't tormented. They don't have a wide range of emotions. Hell, they don't even have genitals.

They see humans much the same way a fox see's a rabbit. There's no discussion, or interlude. If they're full they let the bunnies go. If they're hungry they chase them down. And that's about it.

But consider the full range of human emotion and development hasn't been written I find it hard to believe that vampires, ghosts or aliens have been done in every way.

I guess you can go two ways with the whole thought of a vampire. You can make them a parasite that fits in or a hunters that seeks out prey.

ChimeraCreative · Sep 1, 2007

JohnDavidPaxton said:
My vampires are also bad guys. They aren't tormented. They don't have a wide range of emotions. Hell, they don't even have genitals.

Could be the twist we've been waiting for. What a cruel thing to do to beings described as 'sexytime'. This is why I leave the subject of vampires in the hands of others. ^_^

-An

lostintheweb · Sep 1, 2007

MattW said:
Vampires are ok...but spaceships are so lame. Don't use them.

Ooh, a vampire space ship. Watch out Mr. Spock.

scarletpeaches · Sep 1, 2007

Anne Rice has already done something similar to genital-free bloodsuckers. Her vampires are impotent.

maxmordon · Sep 1, 2007

lostintheweb said:
Ooh, a vampire space ship. Watch out Mr. Spock.

Already saw it in a library, and the worst part? it's a pirate vampire spaceship

Irysangel · Sep 1, 2007

Ilona Andrews wrote MAGIC BITES (one of my new favorite books) and she has a vastly different take on vampires. They're not sexy at all, and it works very well.

PeeDee · Sep 1, 2007

No, no! Vampire men who are sexy with long flowing raven locks and are world-weary from eternal years wandering the earth but are suddenly brought into passion and love by the beautiful buxom maiden who steps into their lives like a flame stepping into a hearth and she will love the mysterious man who only comes out at night and is named Sebastian and lives in an old mansion are still very original and fresh. Certainly!

Ravenlocks · Sep 1, 2007

PeeDee said:
No, no! Vampire men who are sexy with long flowing raven locks

You rang?

(I'm a chick, though.)

I wonder if it's too late for my story about a dark-haired lawyer named Kate who's a vampire.

PeeDee · Sep 1, 2007

Every now and then, I have a fun little idea for a vampire story, and I will never ever write any of them. It's the same as if I had a fun idea for a romance story involving a NASCAR driver. Creepy, and no.

Have Vampires "Jumped the Shark?"

Holding out for a Superhero...

Hopes to one day write for food.

Tumhe na koci puujetha

volitare nequeo

I just have to be faster.

She of Many Names

Company Man

Just Hanging Around

Been there, Done that.

Been there, Done that.

Penúltimo

She of Many Names

Where's my tea, please...?

How novel.

Where's my tea, please...?