Vamping Up A Fangtastic Genre . . .

I've been surrounded by vampires just recently - well, not literally - but it seems everywhere I go there's talks of the vampire genre, or there's a vampire show on TV, or someone's blogging about them. Vampires vampires vampires. They're everywhere.

I used to love the vampire genre when I was younger. Back in 2000 I even wrote a script (later to be converted into a novel) and a group of us got together and made a film. It helped being part of an amateur theatre. I was surrounded by actors and people with the right equipment needed. We even comprised our own score for it. We were all really proud. The story line was your typical vampire plot. Old vamp makes new vamp; new vamp falls in love with girl; old vamp kills girl; new vamp leaves and swears that if ever they meet again he will kill him. Hundred years on new vamp meets girl who reminds him of old girl; new vamp and girl fall in love; old vamp returns and attacks new girl; new vamp kills old vamp, can't save girl and commits suicide.

Sounds like an okay plot, right? Wrong. As I said it's a typical plot. It's been used, used again, and then strained like a tea bag to get the last few drops out of it. The TV show The Vampire Diaries, I believe, may also be loosely based around this. The few episodes I've actually seen never persuaded me to believe otherwise.

Because of this I sadly lost interest in the vampire genre. The Undead were being killed. Then I picked up Anne Rice's Interview With a Vampire and I had to read more. Now she's one of my favourite authors. I love her vampires and they're not all stereotypical. It revived my interest for the subject.

AND then along came True Blood. I have to confess now, I'm a Truby fan. Maybe it's the whole Stephen Moyer or Alexander Skarsgard thing, or maybe it's the fact that again, like Anne Rice, I feel these vampires aren't stereotypical. Twilight, even though enjoyable, still revolves around the whole stereotypical plot of vampire falls in love with mortal girl. It does have a slight twist when the werewolves are introduced, and I have to confess, I like the background history that Stephenie Meyer introduces, but as Stephen Moyer said in an interview with Jonathan Ross, 'Edward Cullen is the SlimFast, Diet Coke of vampires'. With this I agree - but then Twilight is aimed for teenage girls (and in no way am I cussing the actors themselves).

So anyway, I've decided to revive my interest and write a vampire novella. The story line has been brewing since the days of us filming but I've never taken that step. Now I feel I have to. Vampires are calling me. Can you not hear them? This one, I hope, will see the return of dark vampires, to remind people that these are supposed to be predators. Maybe it might even reach Starfish PC's second launch in June.

Oh, and one last thing before I finish rambling: What is it about vampires and Louisiana? New Orleans seems to be the vampire capital of the world. Is this something that has been set in concrete since the days of Lestat and Louis or have I missed something...

Pic of the Week . . . Victoria Frances

I've tried something I never thought I'd try the other day. I was sitting at my computer, working through the most mundane job and surprised myself by feeling bored of all the music I have at the moment (which is a lot). I fancied something different, something to help take the boredom away.

So, flicking through YouTube (I wasn't skiving off the job, honest) I come across some audio books. I've never listened to an audio book. I've always read a book when not working, and when I am working, I usually listen to music. Anyway, I thought I'd give it go. What harm could it do? I have to sit here all day, and if I don't like it I can always switch to something else.

One of the first audio books YouTube took me to was Twilight. I'm not a huge Twilight fan. The films are okay but I don't ever see me buying the books, despite their popularity. It was then I decided to see what all the hype was about, and so clicked play on the first part.

Within three days I had listened to the entire book. I was stunned at how easily I adapted to listening instead of reading, and how it didn't interfere with my work. In fact it helped me concentrate on the mundane (is that a good thing or a bad thing???). I still haven't changed my mind about Twilight. I still won't be rushing out to buy the book, but at least I can say I've read it - ish (and yes, I'd still like to slap some sense into Bella a few times, but then I need to remind myself that is YA).

I like the vampire genre, but they have to classy for me to rave about them. One author in my eyes who has succeeded is Anne Rice. I love her work and her vampires. I don't know how she done it, but I instantly fell in love with her character Marius. Beats Edward Cullen any day.

So, for this weeks Pic of the Week, I thought I'd go for the vampire theme, and who better to revisit than Victoria Frances. I really love her work - almost as much as Marius, which is why I chose this particular piece.

Enjoy and have a bazinga of a weekend...hee hee...

Vamp Lit and I . . .

Routing through some of my old writing, I come across one of my old novels written in 2001 and couldn't help but smile. It is a typical, cheesy vampire story called 'Undying Love'. Back then I was doing a lot of work for the youth group of a local amateur theatre, and we come up with the great idea of making a film.

Of course this had to be a vampire flick.

So I come up with the story line and script, we cast our movie, knew the right people with the cameras and editing equipment, lights, music, etc, and we filmed it. It was, basically, one of the best times of my life. I loved making this film and we had so much fun.

So after it was made, I decided to rewrite the thing as a novel. It's the usual vampire falls for girl, vampire friend kills girl, vampire vows revenge etc.

I don't think I'll ever write Vamp Lit again. I used to love anything vampire, but when it came to films I was fussy. I like classy vampires, and I think it's really hard to make a classy vampire flick without it being cheesy. 'Interview with a Vampire' wins hands down for me. And the books are just as good. I love Anne Rice. She's one of my favourite authors (and her son, Christopher Rice, isn't too bad either), but now a piece of Vamp Lit would have to be something really special for me to pick it up.

But at least I can say I tried it, I wrote it, but it wasn't for me. Yep, the manuscript, 'Undying Love' is one for storage.