Vampire Fans?

[Infamous as Elle!]

Looking for some insight since I can't possibly read everything out there in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre (at least without book holding hand cramps).

Is there anyone out there who avidly reads anything that involves vampires in the plot or as main characters?

I'm asking because I have a story idea and I need to know that I'm not inadvertantly ripping someone off with the story I want to write.  My previous graphic novel idea was eerily similar to The Cell, even though I came up with the idea a year before the movie came out.  *grumbles*

[Delarith]

No but I tend to avoid stories with vampires in them like the plague.  It was only how much I enjoyed the Alera books that made me start reading Dresden.  And the whole Twilight series (young vampires in love ) makes me want to retch.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Is there anyone out there who avidly reads anything that involves vampires in the plot or as main characters?

Not quite "avidly reads anything", but generally trying to follow most things with vampires that are not doing recycled Anne Rice/Laurell Hamilton angstmuffinery and similar cliches, so fire away and I'll see if it reminds me of anything.

[Infamous as Elle!]

This story would be more like vampires falling....err, out of love and in love and out again....centuries of snarky-ness.

Basically the premise is two people, bound together as companions but estranged in marriage (Vivian would say her favorite mistake), but she is a "psychic consultant" for a police department in a city yet to be determined and Dante is a medical examiner/coroner in Boston.  When suspicious deaths begin to crop up looking like copycat crimes from not only their past but also crimes that live in infamy, they end up having to team up to save the day....err, night.  Oh and they happen to be vampires.

I kind of wanted to combine my loves across different genres and have been looking for a way for years to do it.

Twilight, it ain't.  That whole series has some epic rants attached to it on my part, believe me.

I just tend to have the uncanny ability to come up with stories that are close enough to other stories that I don't even know about yet, to seem like I'm ripping my ideas off of them.  Frustrating to be sure.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

This story would be more like vampires falling....err, out of love and in love and out again....centuries of snarky-ness.
Basically the premise is two people, bound together as companions but estranged in marriage (Vivian would say her favorite mistake), but she is a "psychic consultant" for a police department in a city yet to be determined and Dante is a medical examiner/coroner in Boston.  When suspicious deaths begin to crop up looking like copycat crimes from not only their past but also crimes that live in infamy, they end up having to team up to save the day....err, night.  Oh and they happen to be vampires.

I'm not aware of anything like that done with vampires, fwiw. 

[Chiroptera]

The "estranged couple has to team up" idea is something I've seen in general, but not with vampires.  It would be interesting to see where you could go with that.

Twilight, it ain't.  That whole series has some epic rants attached to it on my part, believe me.

There's a hate thread somewhere in the Media section.  I'm sure your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[ballplayer72]

This story would be more like vampires falling....err, out of love and in love and out again....centuries of snarky-ness.

Basically the premise is two people, bound together as companions but estranged in marriage (Vivian would say her favorite mistake), but she is a "psychic consultant" for a police department in a city yet to be determined and Dante is a medical examiner/coroner in Boston.  When suspicious deaths begin to crop up looking like copycat crimes from not only their past but also crimes that live in infamy, they end up having to team up to save the day....err, night.  Oh and they happen to be vampires.

I kind of wanted to combine my loves across different genres and have been looking for a way for years to do it.

Twilight, it ain't.  That whole series has some epic rants attached to it on my part, believe me.

I just tend to have the uncanny ability to come up with stories that are close enough to other stories that I don't even know about yet, to seem like I'm ripping my ideas off of them.  Frustrating to be sure.

What kind of Vampires to you favor?  Obviously not crazy monsters cause you have MC's that are vamps.  Can they eat animal blood or do they need human blood?  can it be bottled or does it have to be fresh?  do they have to feed to live or just to use the superpowers?  speaking of powers, what can they do? is it full dracula with mental hoodoo and superstrength?  are they both unique?  

ps  NO SPARKLY VAMPIRES I HATE SPARKLY VAMPIRES VAMPIRES TURN TO DUST IN THE SUN THEY DO NOT SPARKLE  NO SPARKLES EVER

thank you.

[Chiroptera]

VAMPIRES TURN TO DUST IN THE SUN

Only post-Nosferatu for the most part, I think.  But yeah - sparkling is just wrong.

[Infamous as Elle!]

So far I'm working on their character sketches and pinpointing down their timelines so that I can go back and research potential paralleling storylines.

I'm also working on supporting character sketches.  Dante's best friend is Shakyamuni, Siddhartha Gautama actually.  He's actually an older character idea than Dante and Vivian Bianco but I never had a story really for him to fit into except a small vignette about his creation.  When I was in Thailand, I was reading a parable about how a King Cobra became enamoured of the meditating Siddhartha and so the snake gentle coiled himself beneath the young Buddha, rising up over his back and expanding his hood to shelter Gautama from the elements.  That tale, twisted just a bit, is the key to Shakyamuni's background.

I'm also sketching out potential threats to vampires on whole.  I thought about something like a Van Helsing society that investigate weird and paranormal things but from the other side of the spectrum.  They are the first to point the fingers toward the beasties that lurk in the dark, so the vampires usually end up getting the short end of the stick.  Sometimes Van Helsing is right but more often than not, they aren't.  They also have a collection of professionals and amateurs, so it's a toss up as to who is more of a pest.

In this world there are good vamps and bad ones too.  The biggest split is amongst the Dracul family but that's still a bit hazy for me.  I do know that conflict sparked off a war for years that may still be going on and I want the wars to slip neatly in amongst some of the bloodiest human conflicts in history.  There are always secret layers to wars and some of the biggest have been the deepest and darkest secrets of all.

Anyway....so I have ideas rolling around in my head.  I'm just hoping I can find interest in it long enough not to drop it.  That's my biggest problem, keeping motivated and interested.

I suppose I'll just have to write something that I really want to read!  Heh.

[Matrix Refugee (formerly Morraeon)]

Only post-Nosferatu for the most part, I think.  But yeah - sparkling is just wrong.

Trouble is, it's been part of the modern vampire lore for so long now, due to that, it's hard to completely tease it out. Although I like how they handled it in the sadly short-lived TV series "Moonlight": vamps there could go out in daylight, but it makes them very uncomfortable, while direct unobstructe sunlight (ie. one episode set in a desert) can make them deathly ill.

I might despise the Twilight series, but I have a feeling a lot of the kids who got hooked on it will go for anything with vampires because of it, so hopefully they'll find the better stuff, like Richelle Mead's "Vampire Academy", etc.

[Infamous as Elle!]

What kind of Vampires to you favor?  Obviously not crazy monsters cause you have MC's that are vamps.  Can they eat animal blood or do they need human blood?  can it be bottled or does it have to be fresh?  do they have to feed to live or just to use the superpowers?  speaking of powers, what can they do? is it full dracula with mental hoodoo and superstrength?  are they both unique?  

ps  NO SPARKLY VAMPIRES I HATE SPARKLY VAMPIRES VAMPIRES TURN TO DUST IN THE SUN THEY DO NOT SPARKLE  NO SPARKLES EVER

thank you.

Don't worry. *chuckles*  I'm a happy heathen so none of my stuff is thinly disguised religious propaganda AND I grew up on good vampire fiction from Stoker to Rice (early stuff, way early stuff...okay maybe just Lestat in his golden years).  The main conflicts that I see are less about good versus evil but more about how different people/groups/communities can develop a different moral compass.  So I'd like it to be that not everyone is entirely wrong but not everyone is right either.  I kind of like where Jim took his vampires but I see my version of vampires as just another race out there that happen to need more than just cheeseburgers and a good beer to survive.

I'm following along the main lines of everything precious about life.  Blood, sex and rock and roll.....well, energy.  Every vampire has the capability of drawing upon any of those resources.  They use them, though like anything, some have preferences and strengths but when one method might be difficult, another can be used.  Some vampires kill to eat, some don't.  They also can and are functional during the daytime (sorry), but they are basically like every other mortal out there when they have to wear their sunglasses, which is why the night is so darned nifty and the preferred time of true living.  The energy of the night for vampires is like the yellow sun for Superman. They don't sparkle though unless they've brushed their teeth really really well that day.  Vampires are kind of as varied as human beings and they don't have any real leader, just people they really respected in some capacity or another for their deeds or charming personalities.

As far as abilities, they have better than average strength.  No one is really sure if they can live forever but they don't age after a certain point.  They can certainly die if someone is hell bent on trying (which for good story purposes, will most definitely happen).  If you drive a stake through their hearts and cut off their heads, I'd say that's good enough to kill just about anyone.  I think each character is going to have something they're really good at and on the supernatural spectrum.  I just want them all to be as varied and as believable as possible.  A good hint is that Viv is going to have pretty impressive mental capabilities while Dante is probably going to be very talented at being good looking....ahem.  Okay okay, he's good at deductive reasoning and the science of the weird, maybe.

Anyway....literally just hatched this idea yesterday so it's going to take some considerable time for me to work out all the finer details.

Hope that helps though?

[Chiroptera]

That sounds interesting really.  Probably something I'd pick up and read if I saw it in a store.  I hope you proceed with your idea. 

Per vamps and sunlight - yeah, it's become ingrained now.  I can go either way on it.  It can be an interesting plot device that they can't come out in the sun.  It certainly takes away some of the "OMG! Vampyres r soooo cooool!!!1111" aspect, in that it would certainly be a huge drawback for someone's lifestyle.  On the other hand, vamps that can go out in the sun can almost be a bit more insidious because you could pass them on the street every day and never know.  (Just so it's balanced out by other weaknesses/drawbacks).  I guess I like for vampires to have at least one major aspect that would make someone think twice (or thrice, or four times) about wanting to lead that life. 

[The Corvidian]

Trouble is, it's been part of the modern vampire lore for so long now, due to that, it's hard to completely tease it out. Although I like how they handled it in the sadly short-lived TV series "Moonlight": vamps there could go out in daylight, but it makes them very uncomfortable, while direct unobstructe sunlight (ie. one episode set in a desert) can make them deathly ill.

I might despise the Twilight series, but I have a feeling a lot of the kids who got hooked on it will go for anything with vampires because of it, so hopefully they'll find the better stuff, like Richelle Mead's "Vampire Academy", etc.

Just have it where sunlight robs a vampire of most of their supernatural powers, and Elle de Valois, Dracul was a title, or a nickname, not a family name. The family name of Vlad Tepes , if he had a surname, it would probably be Bassarab.

[ballplayer72]

Don't worry. *chuckles*  I'm a happy heathen so none of my stuff is thinly disguised religious propaganda AND I grew up on good vampire fiction from Stoker to Rice (early stuff, way early stuff...okay maybe just Lestat in his golden years).  The main conflicts that I see are less about good versus evil but more about how different people/groups/communities can develop a different moral compass.  So I'd like it to be that not everyone is entirely wrong but not everyone is right either.  I kind of like where Jim took his vampires but I see my version of vampires as just another race out there that happen to need more than just cheeseburgers and a good beer to survive.

I'm following along the main lines of everything precious about life.  Blood, sex and rock and roll.....well, energy.  Every vampire has the capability of drawing upon any of those resources.  They use them, though like anything, some have preferences and strengths but when one method might be difficult, another can be used.  Some vampires kill to eat, some don't.  They also can and are functional during the daytime (sorry), but they are basically like every other mortal out there when they have to wear their sunglasses, which is why the night is so darned nifty and the preferred time of true living.  The energy of the night for vampires is like the yellow sun for Superman. They don't sparkle though unless they've brushed their teeth really really well that day.  Vampires are kind of as varied as human beings and they don't have any real leader, just people they really respected in some capacity or another for their deeds or charming personalities.

As far as abilities, they have better than average strength.  No one is really sure if they can live forever but they don't age after a certain point.  They can certainly die if someone is hell bent on trying (which for good story purposes, will most definitely happen).  If you drive a stake through their hearts and cut off their heads, I'd say that's good enough to kill just about anyone.  I think each character is going to have something they're really good at and on the supernatural spectrum.  I just want them all to be as varied and as believable as possible.  A good hint is that Viv is going to have pretty impressive mental capabilities while Dante is probably going to be very talented at being good looking....ahem.  Okay okay, he's good at deductive reasoning and the science of the weird, maybe.

Anyway....literally just hatched this idea yesterday so it's going to take some considerable time for me to work out all the finer details.

Hope that helps though?

I like most of that. Alot.  You have successfully gotten around the eating people thing which is good if you want a "good" MC.
The sunlight thing could use a little work i think.  It can be alright that they can walk the day, but i think they shouldn't have ANY powers if they are outside, not just diminished powers.  Or maybe if they eat people they still get their powers. Some sort of temptation/villian setup is always nice. 
Powers...  I like the mental stuff for your heroine.  The really good looking thing is a bit tooooo White Court for comfort (not to say i don't like the White Court angle of DF but you know it could cause some infringement issues).  Maybe you could have Dante be alottt stronger or alot faster than any "normal" vampire?  Or perhaps he could do magic of some sort?  Perhaps telekinesis or pyrokinesis?  Something flashy for those "damn he's such a badass" moments?
Perhaps you could make their powers stronger if they feed on people and snuff them out to give a temptation for them to overcome?

Also, what kind of "crimes for their past" do you mean?  Is it like ANGEL where your MC used to be evil and like to snack on virgins?

[Infamous as Elle!]

Just have it where sunlight robs a vampire of most of their supernatural powers, and Elle de Valois, Dracul was a title, or a nickname, not a family name. The family name of Vlad Tepes , if he had a surname, it would probably be Bassarab.

*nods*  They're pretty much just like you or me as far as vulnerability during the day.

Secondly, thanks!  I've watched many many programs on the History Channel and was always fascinated by Vlad Tepes' story.  The man was incredibly smart and ruthless.  Dracul is a title but it's also handed down in a certain family.  Sort of like the difference between Merlin and The Merlin.  I'll clarify it before it's read, believe me but I'm always fascinated and looking for more information, anything that can be helpful.

I'm probably going to boggle my own mind when I start looking into wars and how to build connections between them.  Especially if someone addicted to battle has to reinvent themselves.