Are ALL vamp books the same? - Page 5 - Writers Forum

seigfried007 · 10-02-2008, 09:55 AM

"Perfect" people do exist in real life--so does electrolysis and cosmetic surgery.

I prefer fiction to be a bit more honest though. It's not an escape if I can't see the characters and situations as real. I like real people in real problems (even in fantasy setting with non-human characters, the predicaments and emotional turmoil still have to feel real). Otherwise, I get jerked out of that suspension of disbelief when reading. And I can't keep reading. Without groaning and possibly flinging the book.

It's like wanting a villain to be 'human'. In the fantasy (non-genre) universe of fiction, you can have the good guys wearing white and doing all the right things and looking gorgeous; and you can have the bad guys deformed and dark complected and fat or diseased and wearing black and riding black horses (which may or may not spew smoke from their nostrils and glowing red eyes). If you want that, write it, read it, whatever. It has a purpose in fiction and is easily digestible--esp for young audiences and people who really need to look up to perfection and aren't fond of reality or anti-heroes. I can understand it, but I don't like it trying to pas itself off as reality.

Sir Twilight · 10-02-2008, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comma127

but isn't that why we go to books? If we could find it in real life, we'd be living it.

There's a balance between too much fantasy. Believe it or not, fantasy has to be slightly believable, otherwise we'd have boring books with 2D characters but awesome environments or something like that.

comma127 · 10-02-2008, 02:55 PM

Yes but realistic as they are, no book would actually mimic real life because it'd be too boring and mundane. There would have to be something to raise the blood and get adrenaline pumping. I'm sure there are ways to get that in real life, but in books it's almost insured you won't get hurt(physically). I agree, there has to be a balance.

Sam Winchester · 10-02-2008, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by comma127

Yes but realistic as they are, no book would actually mimic real life because it'd be too boring and mundane.

Have you ever read any true stories? Stories of people caught up in unbelievable situations? There is nothing mundane about real life. Some true stories are actually so unbelievable that you'd think they were made up.

For instance, I'm just after finishing reading Killing Pablo, the true story of the hunt for the world's most famous drug dealer. If you think bad guys in novels are bad, you should try reading this. Escobar killed 30 judges, 457 policemen, and committed 20 murders a day for two months at one point.

Real life is stranger, weirder, and more interesting than fiction.

comma127 · 10-02-2008, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Winchester

Have you ever read any true stories? Stories of people caught up in unbelievable situations? There is nothing mundane about real life. Some true stories are actually so unbelievable that you'd think they were made up.

For instance, I'm just after finishing reading Killing Pablo, the true story of the hunt for the world's most famous drug dealer. If you think bad guys in novels are bad, you should try reading this. Escobar killed 30 judges, 457 policemen, and committed 20 murders a day for two months at one point.

Real life is stranger, weirder, and more interesting than fiction.

Yes but in vampire fiction?

seigfried007 · 10-03-2008, 10:20 AM

why should vampire stories be so different from true stories? They're just people stuck in different circumstances than humans face. Wrap your mind around that and write them like real people--real people with all real problems and then some.

Like Sam said, real life is often far more interesting and gritty than fiction. No harm comes from exploring just how realistic you can make it. Great exercise.

comma127 · 10-03-2008, 11:39 AM

I dunno how much I'd love to read about a vamp that's trying to pay the bills, take care of a hypo kid and do a 9-5 job. The reason I go to vamp books is the action and the adrenaline. What I meant in the OP is the "he had chiseled, cold abs with a face of pure arrogance" types.