Why are vampires frowned upon now?

Chanelley · Jan 20, 2009

As a sidenote, I'm not 100% sure where this goes, so feel free to move it wherever.

I've been scouting a lot of forums, and reading a lot of reviews and opinions recently, and one thing that seems to stand out is people's dislike of vampires now. I'm a big vampire fan, in fact, my story I'm querying has vampires in it (but they're not the sole aspect or premise of the plot). I seem to get frowned upon for writing about them now; as if I'm less creative than other people for using them.

What is so bad about vampires now? I'll read ANYTHING with vampires in, and watch anything. I have friends who will too. But it seems like every time I come onto a forum and mention my book has vampires in it, I get the roll of the eyes. Another unpublished writer has a book about vampires; just someone else jumping on the bandwagon.

I heard vampires are still hot in the market right now, but it seems you can't write about vampires without it being compared to a popular TV show, book or movie now. I, myself, have had this done to me. You know the shortest amount about my story (based on a 10 line query), but you see the word vampire and instantly I'm told to stop writing and stop querying.

What has happened to the love of vampires? Where did it go and why is there so much anger towards them? Am I alone in still loving the concept?

Sneaky Devil · Jan 20, 2009

<jumps up and down waving her hands in the air> WOO HOO! finally one of my own....aaaahhhhhh!

I LOVE VAMPIRES! I'll read just about anything with a vamp in it but it's true that a lot of peeps around here prefer werewolves over vamps. I'm currently on a WIP that has a vamp as the lead so I know how you feel.

HEY FOLKS! WE NEED MORE VAMPIRE LOVE HERE AT AW!!!!!

CaroGirl · Jan 20, 2009

My only guess is an over-saturated market, spurred by the popularity of the Twilight series. Perhaps the same could be said for books about teen wizards who go to school to learn magic.

scarletpeaches · Jan 20, 2009

Certainly not alone.

There's a lot of folks saying vampire books don't sell. Just like a lot of folks say chick lit is on the slide. They're wrong on both counts.

The problem is in both genres, there's so much crud being churned out, to get on the vampwagon. Lookin' at you, Stephenie.

The bigger a genre gets, the more people try to cash in. And the more people try to cash in, the more chance there is of shite being published.

Good books always sell, no matter what the genre.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 20, 2009

I would think with Twilight's success, vampires would be in even MORE demand.

scarletpeaches · Jan 20, 2009

Good Christ, no. Smeyer's done more to turn folks off of vampires than...than...a really, ugly, smelly naked man saying "I eat poo and it makes me immortal!"

CaroGirl · Jan 20, 2009

Either that or the idea of vampires is just stupid.

(don't hit me, please)

Sneaky Devil · Jan 20, 2009

good one scarlet!

scarletpeaches said:
Good Christ, no. Smeyer's done more to turn folks off of vampires than...than...a really, ugly, smelly naked man saying "I eat poo and it makes me immortal!"

DeleyanLee · Jan 20, 2009

Chanelley said:
I heard vampires are still hot in the market right now, but it seems you can't write about vampires without it being compared to a popular TV show, book or movie now. I, myself, have had this done to me. You know the shortest amount about my story (based on a 10 line query), but you see the word vampire and instantly I'm told to stop writing and stop querying.

What has happened to the love of vampires? Where did it go and why is there so much anger towards them? Am I alone in still loving the concept?

Well, anyone who tells you to stop writing and querying is stepping WAY out of bounds, IMHO. Write what you love, regardless of outside opinion. And if it's marketable (such as vampires have been for a long time and will probably continue to be), more power to you.

OTOH, I'm vastly bored with vampires. We're back in the "Same Stuff, Different Day" zone with them, like we were back before Anne Rice reinvented them for the modern age. With very little change in anything outside of special effects, it's just the same old thing to me. Personally, I'm not angry about their popularity--I just don't share it. Now when someone comes along and reinvents them again (probably after this wave of popularity has died off), then I'll take another look and see if I like 'em or not.

Noah Body · Jan 20, 2009

Vampires and zombies still move books.

Good vamp fiction will be bought. Bad vamp fiction won't.

People who refuse to rep or buy professionally-written vamp fiction probably have a bias or two they need to overcome. We may be at a low tide mark right now as far as vamp fiction goes, but by this time next year, people will be wondering where all the vamp fiction is, and demand will go up. Smart agents and editors will be ready. Dumb ones won't.

veinglory · Jan 20, 2009

The approval of something is mediated by how much you like it, and how much there is of it. So no matter how much the avergae person likes vampires, the more vampire books there are on the market the less, on average, people will approve of it.

Chanelley · Jan 20, 2009

I've got to love and hate Twilight for this. SM pathed the way for vampires in YA fiction, but she also has such a popular and often suffocating book, that people have started to hate vampires because of her. I can't stand her version of vampires, but there are aspects I like. My thought process on it was that if sooo many girls love Twilight, surely they'll be after anything remotely to do with vampires in the YA genre right?
But I think I'm wrong. I don't seem to be seeing an interest in vampire stories, only a hatred. Even a book that's written well will still get put down for being 'another vampire story'. I went onto an agents website today and they clearly said: No Vampires.

The other problem I have is that you write about vampires and you're called unoriginal, so you spice them up a bit and people complain they're not the 'right' type of vampires. I can't win!! I'm glad others feel my pain, though!

Oh, and Deleyan, I won't name names, but they are a member of this forum. He told me to stop writing my book, stop querying it, jump of the vampire bandwagon and enjoy my dilapidated hat or something, because my work wasn't original enough for him.

StevenJ · Jan 20, 2009

DeleyanLee said:
Well, anyone who tells you to stop writing and querying is stepping WAY out of bounds, IMHO.

Very true.

Chanelley, if your writing is good enough, you'll doubtless find yourself published no matter what you write about. Don't give up.

Captshady · Jan 20, 2009

IMO Vampires went from horror/suspense to romance. Most often, if I read a vamp novel, there's some woman pining for the vampire, and few fear the vamp. The one wanting to kill the vamp is the antagonist these days, and the vamp's just got to have sex with someone, most often, voluntarily.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 20, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
Good Christ, no. Smeyer's done more to turn folks off of vampires than...than...a really, ugly, smelly naked man saying "I eat poo and it makes me immortal!"

Um. I thought I turned off my webcam when I did that.

Chanelley · Jan 20, 2009

That is true, Captshady. I write about both good and evil vampires. The one who doesn't feed from humans but goes to a blood bank, and the one who lives for the kill and the chase. The second one is so interesting to write about.

kristie911 · Jan 20, 2009

Chanelley said:
Oh, and Deleyan, I won't name names, but they are a member of this forum. He told me to stop writing my book, stop querying it, jump of the vampire bandwagon and enjoy my dilapidated hat or something, because my work wasn't original enough for him.

Don't listen to them. That's out of line. Write what you want and if it's good, you'll find a publisher. If nothing else, tell the story you want to tell and move on, whether it ends up published or not. If you don't, that story will probably pull at you even when you're trying to write something else. For me, at least, I write because I have to, being published would simply be a bonus.

Captshady · Jan 20, 2009

kristie911 said:
Don't listen to them. That's out of line. Write what you want and if it's good, you'll find a publisher. If nothing else, tell the story you want to tell and move on, whether it ends up published or not. If you don't, that story will probably pull at you even when you're trying to write something else. For me, at least, I write because I have to, being published would simply be a bonus.

That's exactly it for me, too. At this point, I don't think my stuff WOULD sell. But the journey is the fun part, being published is a nice fantasy.

seun · Jan 20, 2009

Going by the amount of vampire books I get at work (usually with a guy on the front with moody good looks), there's still a big market for them. Same with misery memoirs and the total shit that is chick lit.

Personally, the glut of vampire books I get bores me to tears but that's just me. For the amount being published, I'd say it's an overdone market but it's still a popular one.

scarletpeaches · Jan 20, 2009

I don't think any genre itself is inherently shit, seun, but the bigger it gets, the law of averages says the more chance you have of finding badly-written cack.

There are a lot of good vampire books out there...not least the 16k words I have rewritten of my trunk novel. There's a lot more sex in it and the vampires enjoy doing what they do.

DeleyanLee · Jan 20, 2009

Chanelley said:
Oh, and Deleyan, I won't name names, but they are a member of this forum. He told me to stop writing my book, stop querying it, jump of the vampire bandwagon and enjoy my dilapidated hat or something, because my work wasn't original enough for him.

Hey, it's a big forum with lots of people. Some will be spot-on, some will a little off, some will be complete out in left field--but generally all will be well-meaning. The trick is, figuring out who to listen to and who to ignore. I use my gut as the only ruler whether or not to listen, but that's me.

seun · Jan 20, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
I don't think any genre itself is inherently shit, seun, but the bigger it gets, the law of averages says the more chance you have of finding badly-written cack.

Let's have an arm wrestle. Whoever wins is right

Cyia · Jan 20, 2009

Write the best vampire novel you can; ignore everything else. If it's awesome, someone will see the potential for profit and want to publish it. Try to find a different spin on the genre.

The MS I've got out now is a vampire book, but from a POV I've never seen focused on before (not saying it hasn't been done, just that I've never seen it) and that was enough of a hook to get a request for a full read with an admittedly AWFUL query. (I wrote it before I found SYW here.)

scarletpeaches · Jan 20, 2009

seun said:
Let's have an arm wrestle. Whoever wins is right

I'd win because you fancy me and you'd do anything (including let me win an arm wrestle) to make yourself think you stand a chance.

Now.

Let's talk vampires.

Chanelley · Jan 20, 2009

I have partials and fulls out with agents right now, but if my book was to be published, I don't want to be put in a bad category because I'm apparently uncreative to write about vampires. Would people not even give my book a go just because it had vampires in it?

Why are vampires frowned upon now?

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