Writing vampires (including romance and scariness)
First off, I'm trying to decide whether or not to make the pairing het or not. I think it would be interesting if the vampire was the girl in the relationship for once, and if it were done well. But on the other hand, I think I would be able to "feel" the passion more if it were Guy Love, between two guys. Imo, there's not really enough romance books out there meant to appeal to a gay audience (unless it's yaoi, and about 80% of yaoi is rapeshit, so I don't count that), but I think it would have a larger audience if it was het. Whatch'all think?
Secondly, I also want to include horror elements with my vampires, and not just this novel in particular. How exactly do you think I could make vampires scary? Mine often hiss like a nest of poisonous snakes, and they have battle cries not unlike the ones in 30 Days of Night, but they're really only scary-looking whenever they have their game face. As for the vampire romance novel itself, how do you think I could incorporate a horror-like plot into it in addition to the pure romance aspects of it? I kind of want it be like 'Salem's Lot, only less depressing and with a happier ending. I think it could help if I incorporate the POV of several of the victims, and not just the main characters.
What about Gothic horror specifically? Does anyone know much about Gothic horror? On a related note, how about making vampires a cross between the traditional Dracula and Carmilla type and the more modern types like The Vampire Chronicles or The Vampire Diaries?
To clarify, the vast majority of vampires in my universe are evil, unrepentant mass-murderers, and by their very nature their sexuality is at least somewhat predatory. That's another problem; balancing out the evil that comes with being a vampire while still making the protagonist a good guy.
Here’s some of my “traditional” traits:
· Reflections: Vampires have reflections like anyone else. However, once they become powerful or old enough (about four centuries, younger if powerful enough), their skin becomes reflective to the point that it does weird things in certain forms of flash photography.
· Shadows: Vampires initially lose their shadow upon being turned. This causes an interesting effect on their soul, in that causes some identity issues and emotionality not unlike going through adolescence. They eventually regain their shadow once knowing what their true self is like. They can also regain it eventually with the right magic. After regaining their shadows, they can get it to do things for them like flying out and spying on people during the day.
· Skin color: Vampires become whiter and whiter with age (as well as becoming smoother, less lined, and harder), though their skin darkens and their lips become ruddier after feeding. This is not necessarily a good thing, as it drives them further into uncanny valley, and an ancient black vampire actually laments the loss of her dark skin and regularly spends two days out in the sun to gain it back.
· Attractiveness: Alluring and seductive (ALL of them). More powerful ones or old enough ones do in fact have something uncanny or even a little sinister about their appearance, but most people would still find them to be attractive, even without the power to affect minds.
· Sleeping: They mostly sleep in coffins, but they can also sleep peacefully in the ground or just in a basement. Basically, anything that symbolizes being underground will give them peaceful sleep. They won’t get as much power and peace from sleeping in other ways, but they can sleep in regular beds just fine.
· Weakness to wood: Vampires are weak to wood, and it’s the best ordinary weapon material to use on them. It causes them pain, greater weakness them if it were just a regular weapon, and it takes a bit longer to heal from it. Wooden stakes through the heart are not fatal unless left in and certain other steps are taken, but a stake through the heart will reduce the majority of them to a deathlike state, especially if it’s left in. Wood is symbolic of the power of life whereas the vampires are undead.
· Running water: Running water has an effect on the majority of undead (as well as demons and land faeries), and vampires are no exception. Weaker vampires are more heavily affected by running water, but powerful ones are still effected by it somewhat. Most vampires who are older than 100 years (vampires younger than a century are called “fledglings”) can’t cross running water except under certain conditions. More powerful ones can cross, but they’ll be weakened for a bit after crossing, with older/stronger vampires being less affected.
o Here’s the ways in which vampires can cross running water:
§ Anything that effectively makes it so that it’s not them who’s doing the work of crossing the water takes care of this. Not just a mesmerized human or a horse, but a car works. A motorboat also works since it’s the motor doing the work, but for the same reason a rowboat wouldn’t work.
§ If it’s tidal water, then they cross with no problem at the slack and flood of the tide.
§ They have no problem going under water, and tunnels take of this if the tunnels go under the water.
§ Lastly, they can cross with no problem if there’s a ford. Bridges don’t work, but fords do. I did this because I think it should only be a weakness if it's not very deep.
· Garlic: Garlic is usually just a mild irritant, but stuffing the mouth with garlic is part of one of the methods of permanently putting down a vampire. Instead, the herb you want to use on them is Rosemary. Rosemary burns them and causes them pain, and ropes soaked in the juice will tie them up. Ingesting makes them weak and feverish, same goes for drinking the blood of someone who's been laced with the herb.
· Sleeping during the day: Vampires need to sleep during the day, and weaker ones will eventually fall asleep on the spot if they stay up long enough. Even really powerful vampires like a Millennial (vampires who’re at least 1000 years old) will be weakened from staying up all day and will need to sleep some time. Note that sunlight is fatal, unlike with Dracula, but older/stronger vampires have far greater resistances. Some really, really powerful vampires actually spend a day or two out in the sunlight when they tire of their white skin.
· Holiness: All undead are weak to holy/light, and a vampire’s weakness to symbols of faith is an extension of this weakness. A symbol does not have to be my universe’s equivalent to Christianity, and any symbol of something good will do if the user truly has faith in what it represents. Stronger/older vampires are less affected by the symbols themselves, in that one’s faith will need to be stronger when confronting them, but it definitely still works. At the same time though, older and stronger vampires are more heavily affected by holy ground such as a Cathedral. Most vampires will be unnerved and uncomfortable entering holy ground/buildings, but more powerful ones won’t actually be able to enter at all unless invited, and even then they may still be weakened. Note that the less evil a vampire is, the less affected by holy symbols they are. Holiness is one of the ways to permanently put down a vampire if it totally destroys a vampire’s body (such as pushing them into a lake which has been blessed, turning it into holy water).
· Invitation: ALL magical creatures are vulnerable to the invitations of a human dwelling, vampires being no exceptions. Any magical creature must have a definite, spoken invite from one of the humans who live there, or else they’ll have to give up a portion of their powers whenever crossing the threshold. Vampires, like dragons, elves, and Youkai work in an interesting way. They can physically enter so long as anyone living there (even a temporary resident or relative) invites them in, and they can mesmerize a person to do so. However, the invitation can be revoked, forcing them out of the house. However, they still must leave their power behind unless it's the rightful owner giving invitation of their own free will, and this cannot be revoked, but they can still be physically removed by rescinded and invitation. Also, a vampire can get around this by buying the deed to the house.
· Mesmerizing: Vampires have the power of the Mesmer, which works like compulsion in The Vampire Diaries, and at stronger levels the Spell Gift in The Vampire Chronicles. Some vampires can command the minds of hundreds of people without breaking a sweat. They also can cast telepathic illusions and have more subtle powers like fascination. But one can gain immunity to this by wearing bits of Rosemary in addition to taking a bath with it daily and regularly drinking it in a tea. This forces them to rely on more difficult to use powers (basically, look up the Disciplines "Dominate, Presence, and Obfuscate" on the World of Darkness wiki.
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Wall crawling: Most vampires can crawl on walls and ceilings, and stronger ones can actually walk on walls with the same ease a human walks on the ground.
Remember how I said staking them and stuffing the mouth with garlic is part of the way to kill a vampire? Here's how that process works. You need to cut the head off and drive a wooden stake through the heart (stronger vampires needing bigger pieces of wood, similar to in Buffy, and any wood with thorns and spines on it working the best), stuff the mouth with garlic, then burn them to an ash and then scatter the ashes. Fire on its own won't permanently put them down unless it's a certain type of fire. Psychically created fire (psychic powers are a type of magic power in my series) is one of the ways, as is nuclear fire (so nukes kill most of them). So even if you burn them up, they'll reform unless you also do what I just wrote.
Another way is to expose them to the light of the sun, which permanently kills them. Other ways to kil, them is, again through holy magic. Most other ways are magical, such as killing them through Necromancy.
I'll give a description of their other characteristics if anyone cares enough. I'll also include descriptions of the characters in question if anyone wants.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Anyone want any help with their own vampires?
Poll Vampire romance: Female vampire/male human, or Guy Love?