Vamps

RobinLayne · Sep 8, 2005

Humbledmac said:
but dude my point is that in a sense vampires are represent some dark parts in humanity, past a present. did you know the first vampire Dracula was inspired by a ruthless king who would stick his enemies up on poles in the middle of the city just to scare other people. it was also based off of a queen who would bathe in young girls blood to stay young

Dracula was not the first vampire. I wish people who choose to write about vampires would do some research first! Many groups of people have believed in vampires way back before the time of Christ. Transylvania was one place that claimed a lot of them, but many other countries had their legends, and they differed in many ways. I only heard recently that the real Count Dracula (aka, Vlad Tepis) drank some of the blood of his victims, but I don't know if it's true. Bram Stoker's Dracula wasn't even the first vampire novel that was written and popular, although it may have been the first one with a Christian approach. There was Vinney the Vampire, which I think was performed as a play, Carmilla, and I can't recall the name of the one that was probably most popular before Stoker's. But his book, and later movies that came from it, became the basis of the general stereotyped idea of vampires. It's well written. He got ideas from legendary sources as well as history.
If you want to be published, I suggest you read what you can, watch what you can, and polish up your use of the English language. Do something beyond the stereotypes. Say something new. Surprise your readers.
Blessings to ya!

Solomon Kane · Sep 8, 2005

RobinLayne said:
There was Vinney the Vampire, which I think was performed as a play, Carmilla, and I can't recall the name of the one that was probably most popular before Stoker's.

Actually that's Varney the Vampire that your thinking of. He appeared in "penny dreadfuls" several years before Stoker. although in fairness a play was written that was based on the character. It closed after only several preformances.
The other vampire your think of is most likely Lord Ruthven. Created by John Polidori and finished by Lord Byran, it was published in 1816.

Humbledmac · Sep 9, 2005

RobinLayne said:
If you want to be published, I suggest you read what you can, watch what you can, and polish up your use of the English language. Do something beyond the stereotypes. Say something new. Surprise your readers.
Blessings to ya!

What do you know about my writings? have you read any of my stuff? do you know where i'm going with the vampire image. no you don't. cause if you did, you would know that i am changing the image of the "stereotypical" vampire. so i'd appreciate it if you would not tell me to "polish up on my english language." whatever the **** that means

RobinLayne · Sep 11, 2005

Kane, thank you for the corrections. You are right. That research I made was a bit ago.

Mac: I didn't mean to make you mad, and I wasn't directing those comments all at you. It's true I don't know much about your story. I was just advising you and all would-be vampire writers to be original because vampires are everywhere these days and it's hard to get in if you don't have something new to say. I'm not assuming you don't! I'm still watching to see whether my own story is original enough. So please chill out.
Regarding the English language, you don't know what it is? It is the one Americans, Britons, and some other peoples speak and write. I'm not the first person on this strand to note that you have made noticable grammar or punctuation errors in your posts. This would imply either that you are too much in a hurry to proofread your posts or that you normally write this way, maybe don't know better. It doesn't look professional, and if that is how your manuscripts read, editors won't be interested. If you're just writing for yourself, that's fine. I shouldn't have assumed you wanted to be published. But I can show you just from your last post some places where you could standardize your writing to fit the universally-accepted style:
1. A sentence should always start with a capital letter.
2. All forms of the word I (I'm, etc.) must start with a capital letter.
3. Questions must end with a question mark. ("Do you know where I'm going with my vampire image?")
Some writers make exceptions for reasons of their own and get away with it. The poet e.e. cummings always wrote his name, and the word i, in small letters. It was not an error on his part or an ocassional mistake; it was, instead, his trademark, like a signature. He knew the rule, and he deliberately broke it.
Please note my final words in my last post. I was trying to bless you, not to flame you. If you don't want other writers to help you become a better writer, it's my opinion that you either say so or stay off writer's forums.

P.S. I also think it's more effective for soldiers in God's army to fight against the real enemies (you know, the ones that aren't flesh and blood) and not each other. Those uglies who are against us all have, I think, whispered in your ear that I'M against you. It's simply not true!
May God heap more and more blessings on your head, no matter what you think or say . . . but I do hope you stop thinking I'm out to get you, even so.

Robin

Humbledmac · Sep 14, 2005

RobinLayne said:
Kane, thank you for the corrections. You are right. That research I made was a bit ago.

Mac: I didn't mean to make you mad, and I wasn't directing those comments all at you. It's true I don't know much about your story. I was just advising you and all would-be vampire writers to be original because vampires are everywhere these days and it's hard to get in if you don't have something new to say. I'm not assuming you don't! I'm still watching to see whether my own story is original enough. So please chill out.
Regarding the English language, you don't know what it is? It is the one Americans, Britons, and some other peoples speak and write. I'm not the first person on this strand to note that you have made noticable grammar or punctuation errors in your posts. This would imply either that you are too much in a hurry to proofread your posts or that you normally write this way, maybe don't know better. It doesn't look professional, and if that is how your manuscripts read, editors won't be interested. If you're just writing for yourself, that's fine. I shouldn't have assumed you wanted to be published. But I can show you just from your last post some places where you could standardize your writing to fit the universally-accepted style:
1. A sentence should always start with a capital letter.
2. All forms of the word I (I'm, etc.) must start with a capital letter.
3. Questions must end with a question mark. ("Do you know where I'm going with my vampire image?")
Some writers make exceptions for reasons of their own and get away with it. The poet e.e. cummings always wrote his name, and the word i, in small letters. It was not an error on his part or an ocassional mistake; it was, instead, his trademark, like a signature. He knew the rule, and he deliberately broke it.
Please note my final words in my last post. I was trying to bless you, not to flame you. If you don't want other writers to help you become a better writer, it's my opinion that you either say so or stay off writer's forums.

P.S. I also think it's more effective for soldiers in God's army to fight against the real enemies (you know, the ones that aren't flesh and blood) and not each other. Those uglies who are against us all have, I think, whispered in your ear that I'M against you. It's simply not true!
May God heap more and more blessings on your head, no matter what you think or say . . . but I do hope you stop thinking I'm out to get you, even so.

Robin

Whatever man. i'm over it. i just don't to do that to me, especially if they don't know me. as for my grammer and writing, for all those have said something or thought that this is how i write, forget it. i don't bother punctuating or any of that other stuff because i'm usually pressed for time.

and as for that P.S., their you go again telling me what is wrong and what has happened. did you ever stop to consider that correcting a complete stranger on a open topic would cause some tension? you know what, this event has shown me that i'm done with this forum. i'd thought it better than my last one, but i was wrong. good-bye forever.

mikeski52 · Sep 14, 2005

To Silver Saint: Of course Vampires don't exist. It's a story element, it doesn't HAVE to exist. And as for the nature of something being altered by God, how about when Saul was confronted by God and turned into Paul?

RobinLayne · Sep 17, 2005

Sorry, Mac. Guess that's all I can say.

Received · Sep 17, 2005

Speak o' th' devil, I'm actually reading Bram Stoker's Dracula as we speak -- the story is wonderful, at many times poetic, extremely psychological, in short nothing I would have expected. Read this if you want the classic vampire formula before your eyes.

Solomon Kane · Sep 23, 2005

For anyone who might be interested. Here's a link to a discussion on the Graham Hancock website. The topic was the origin of the various vampire myths and if they had a common source.

http://www.grahamhancock.com/phorum/read.php?f=5&i=8170&t=8170

RobinLayne · Oct 29, 2005

To "Received":
I love your signature. It is quite encouraging to me. Yes, I was quite impressed with the novel and its sense of good and evil. No movie holds a candle to it. Instead, the movies all give it a bad name. None even are faithful to the characters and plot. And many people today are unaware of some of the ideas about vampires that Stoker used. Still I think it can be argued that to write a horror story that people will widely enjoy today you have to employ elements that have not been used before. But a good style and an interesting approach are always welcome and can be inspired from such classics. Most people today don't have the same attention span they did in Stoker's time, thanks to TV and video games, so they prefer more action and a faster pace in their reading. I want to own a copy of Dracula. It has parts I'd like to quote as general responses to the realities of the spiritual realm. Maybe I've already said that, I don't remember. It's been a long time since I followed this thread, and right now it's late and I'm nodding off.

Anyway, to Kane: Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

Solomon Kane · Nov 3, 2005

I want to own a copy of Dracula. It has parts I'd like to quote as general responses to the realities of the spiritual realm.

I recomend getting the Essential Dracula edition. It is a excellent edition with copious annotations which bring additional detail to the story. And insight into the time period in which it was written.

Also, in includes the first chapter of the novel which was edited out prior to the first publication.

FreezingRooster · Nov 5, 2005

I've been asked by a friend to write a feature length vampire film! He is insistent that it's about vampire(s) so i was wondering if you guys could feed back to these possible ideas:

IDEA #1

Set in the 19th Century...

A ship carrying private cargo suddenly suffers from a fire which destroys the sails of the ship. Miles away from anywhere, and with several vital crew members dead, the survivors attempt to work out a way of escaping to wreck before it sinks. However down in the cargo hold one of the crates has opened to set loose a vampire, fresh from over 100 years of sleep and ready to take a bite out of the remaining crew members.

IDEA #2

Set towards the end of the Second World War...

As the Allies close in on Germany, a British team stumble upon what transpires to be Transylvania. Attacked by a group of vampires, the soldiers take refuge in a tank, only to have it break down. Soon the survivors must choose between facing the vampires outside, or the starvation inside.

IDEA #3

Set in the Modern Day...

A vampire and a lycanthropist spend the night fighting near a university campus. Both become fataly wounded by the battle and contaminate a pair of teenage lovers by biting them, making him a lycanthropist and her a vampire. As the original warriors die the newly contaminated warriors begin to hunt each other down in a large powerplant instilation. Meanwhile their parents, a mutual friend and a former teacher start to track them down, unaware of their new states. The group are unwilling to harm the pair, yet they know that if the nuclear reactor is damaged during their fight, it could be lights out for half of Europe...

IDEA #4

Set in the Modern Day...

A bounty hunter has managed to track down a serial killer he has been hunting for some time. After collecting his reward he decides it's time to retire from bounty hunting and settle down with his wife. His last duty will be to witness the execution of the killer he has just brought down. However whilst the killer is on death row, a vampire clan attempting to swell it's ranks attacks and contaminates the killer, breaking him loose. The bounty hunter vows to track the killer down, unaware of his former enemy's new state.

PM me to let me know what you think! Also, if you don't feel like reading all of these, could you describe what your perfect vampire character would be like? obviously they're a bad guy lol.

avatarblade2000 · Nov 5, 2005

FreezingRooster, I like your 4th idea the best, being it's the one I recognize the least (the 1st is a lot like CHUPACABRA: BLOOD SEAS, the 2nd is like RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN or BLOODRAYNE, and the 3rd is a lot like UNDERWORLD conceptually). That's a scary idea, the undead hunting down only killers and psychopaths to swell their ranks, opposed to targeting angsty teens and college students...

...however, I do have to say that I agree with a lot of what Silver Saint said; I'm not sure what context that RobinLayne took it in, but she's absolutely right in a lot of areas as well, so I have to agree with them too. ALWAYS bring up rebirth in a discussion like that, whatever context...

...and, again, vampires are good metaphors, just like Solomon Kane pointed out, but for only certain things, and in the end, we must come to terms that they aren't real, at least in the way legends present them. If anything, people who believe themselves to be vampires or want to become vampires are a good metaphor, because everyone in the world wants to be something that they're not, something they were not meant to be; some people to go to such lengths to actually make themselves look and feel like vampires (like those guys who implant the ceramic fangs into their gums, for example) just goes to show that people have an inward innate ability to commit to a want or a cause - so, if you're writing a story with a Christian moral behind it, just compare that commitment to the Christiain commitment. If one person is so adamant and motivated to make themselves a vampire, SOMETHING THAT DOES NOT AND CANNOT EXIST, then they have just as much energy and adept potential to become a great servant of God. Why not come over to the other side, where there is genuine reward, right? At least it's a lot less MESSY...

Paladin Dave · Nov 5, 2005

I myself think vampires are severely overdone.

They are overly glorified, and most vampire stories I have skimmed have involved them running from bounty hunters, being assassins, or meeting in clubs and threatening eachother, all sorts of crap that sounds like it is geared towards angsty teens.

They are interesting though, as an allegorical character, and I LOVED Dracula. I like undead stuff in general, but vampires are just given too much freedom or power in many cases, IMO.

Tricia4Jesus · Nov 5, 2005

I love them too. They don't bother me in fiction. Any one read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series books here?

VickiY · Nov 6, 2005

Dear rooster...I am scratching my head over the plots. Perhaps they would make more sense if you explained your twist on vampires, as yours do not seem to be following the classic characteristics of vampires...things like walking in the sunlight, and not being paralyzed by running water. The fourth plot has the most potential...I like the idea of the vampire clan choosing the most wicked people to "convert". Best of luck!

VickiY · Nov 6, 2005

Oh...and for those writers with consistently poor grammar....I recommend The Deluxe Transitive Vampire .... a VERY good grammar book with a gothic theme to it.

FreezingRooster · Nov 6, 2005

Well the twist in plot #1 is the vampire has as much to lose by the ship sinking as their victims, so whilst they need to kill the crew to feed, they also need to keep them alive in order to reach safety.

the twist in plot #2 is that the vampires in the area around the tank need to be taken out in one fell swoop before the rest of the army arrive and get bitten themselves. The crew inside the tank, along with some refugees from the town must figure out how to eliminate a city of vampires when they have little ammo and a totally decrepid tank.

the twist in plot #3 is that the two creatures fighting each other were once lovers, and it is their own parents who are hunting them down. this is intended to add an emotional edge as no-one WANTS to kill each other, but they have to.

the twist in plot #4 is that the bounty hunter doesn't realise the criminal he is after is now a vampire, and can't figure out why weapons don't work etc. It isn't until they witness another of the escaped convicts who has been turned into a vampire feed on an innocent victim that he realises what has happened.

avatarblade2000 · Nov 7, 2005

...

...

My hat is off to you, Rooster. Awesome little alternatives there. Suddenly I want to see how all of them turn out. You've got a good thing going there, being I think that most every story ought to have some sort of twist or major plot reversal...

...I just wish I could've come up with those!

Megachihuahua · Nov 7, 2005

Vampires are trite.

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