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Monthly Archives: August 2009

Vampyres

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The last couple of days in the blogosphere there’s been some discussion about the origin of vampire novels. A lot of these little kerfluffles I don’t care much about, though I skim with amusement and a certain sense of horror through such Internet/writing tropes as Authors Behaving Badly and the like.

The vampire thing got me interested so I fired up Google Books and did some searching. The history is pretty much as you’d expect. Horace Walpole’s 1765 Castle Of Otranto is the first ghost story/supernatural story, though I would think that Mallory’s La Morte D’Arthur deserves a nod in that realm given all the supernatural elements. However, the latter isn’t a story about a ghost, and Castle of Otranto is.

I did not expect, therefore, to find any novels about vampires prior to 1765 and my somewhat cursory review of Google Books bears this out. There are, however, quite a lot of writings that mention vampires. I exclude, of course, discussions of vampire bats, botany and other vampire references that don’t refer to mythical (or are they?) blood suckers.

One fascinating finding was the sheer number of writings in French. My French is barely good enough to get a sense of the works, but essays and definitions abound.

There are any number of essays debunking the existence of vampires some of which are interesting in as much as the authors were not aware that a corpse shrinks a bit and therefore it can look as if fingernails, toes and hair have grown after death, when it’s really just corporeal shrinkage causing the effect. Attempts to explain this away can get your brain in a knot.

As an aside, the contextual ads that appear on the results page of such a search are tres amusant. Did you know you could meet local Vampire singles? Gauranteed Real Sexy Vampires!

As a warning, the old fashioned S that looks pretty much like an F comes into play in literary discussions of vampires. It’s a bit disconcerting at first to see phrases that are actually variants of the verb suck rendered with what looks like an F instead. Vampires: Blood Fuckers. Apparently I’m 12 at heart. Do you suppose anyone giggled uncontrollably back in 1712?

I say, George, let’s read Father’s essay on Vampires again.
Heheheheheh!

Noted vampire books:

  • The Nightcap by Louis-Sebastien Mercier 1784. This may be one huge boring essay but for the part about blood fucking, er, sucking vampires.

  • I was briefly thrilled to find a book about Charlemagne; Histoire de L’empereur. Alas, it’s an OCR error. The phrase l’empire has been mistaken for vampire. Imagine the thrill of find out someone thought Charlemagne was a vampire! I would have cracked out the French/English dictionary to translate that one.

  • Everybody’s favorite Regency bad boy, none other than Lord Byron himself had a bit to say about vampires. The Works of Lord Byron specifically, a non-fiction bit about Eblis, the Oriental Prince of Darkness.

  • Robert Southey also got in on the vampire thing, in Thalaba the Destroyer

  • And, last, I think, but by no means least, John William Polidori wrote The Vampyre in 1819. Polidori, as you may know was Byron’s physician and one of the ones who rose to the now famous challenge Hey! Let’s write a novel! that produced Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.

  • I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1897. But that’s a whole other century (from the 1700’s) Edited to add: In case I type the numbers in the wrong order AGAIN, that’s Eighteen Ninty Seven!

So, who’s your favorite vampire? Charlemagne or Eric?

(Yes, that’s a joke. My love of Alexander Skarsgard as Eric on True Blood is well known in certain circles. I’m just widening the circle.)

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The Road Taken

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I confess that I have a very pretty commute to work. It’s not all that long (40-45 minutes door to door) but it’s through the vineyards here in Sonoma County, California. Every so often I actually notice that I’m driving through some lovely countryside. Mostly, I use the time to listen to the radio and find out what the heck is going on in the world. Quite often, though, I turn off the radio and think about my WIP (Wreck in Progress)1

Lately, there’s been some construction work on my route home and in order to avoid sitting in traffic ::::shudder:::: I’ve been taking the long way home. It takes longer, just under an hour, but it’s through the Sonoma Mountains then over and down into the valley to the back roads to my house.2 Until this detour I’ve been taking, I’d never been in the Sonoma Mountains, even though from my house we have a rather stunning view of them. Too often I take that view for granted, too. I live 30 minutes from the tallest tree in the whole freaking world and I’ve been to see it once since I was an adult. sigh

I think that I might, from time to time from now on, take this road not traveled to get home even if it does add few extra minutes to the drive. Sometimes, beauty is an end in itself. I do count myself quite lucky that my normal commute can be made without ever driving into a city (except when I get to work.) I think I’m even luckier that there’s a way home that takes my breath the way this does.

My apologies that my pictures don’t do justice to how pretty this is. Also, in order not to die in a flaming wreck of metal, there were prettier pictures I didn’t take.

Part of the drive goes through Glen Ellen (Population 992). You may be familiar with it as the city where Jack London lived out the final years of his life.

Please keep in mind that I took these photos with my iPhone. (I pulled over to take a couple of them.) The road is, in fact, even narrower than it looks in some of these photos. There’s barely room for one car.

1. OK, so that’s a wee joke. But whatever book I’m working on at the moment is always a wreck until the last minute. Most writers seem to explode that acronym to Work In Progress.

2 Rats. I forgot to get a picture of the giant chicken. Maybe tomorrow.

So, any roads taken you’d care to share in the comments?

007

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010

011

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What Can True Blood Teach Us about Crafting Characters

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A writing post today and just my opinion, as well.

I do not pretend to be an expert on True Blood, the hit HBO Series based on the books by Charlaine Harris, but I have become a fan of the TV series. A romance with a vampire hero is not exactly my cup of tea, and I rarely read a paranormal (but I love that friends like Carolyn write them!), so why am I tuning in every week?

I think it has to do with the characters. I love complex characters, those who are not wholly good or wholly bad but a mixture of the two. They experience pain, make mistakes, have flaws, but also are courageous, heroic, loving, loyal. Almost every character in True Blood is complex (except maybe Sookie, the primary heroine, although she is brave, loyal, and interesting in her own right).

The male characters are especially compelling.

Bill, of course, has all kinds of dark secrets. He is a vampire, after all. What I find most compelling of him is his single-minded love of Sookie. Even though external events and their differences (one being human, the other vampire) drive them apart, he is always there for her when she needs him. If he cannot reach her, you see his pain for not being able to save her. The hero who is unwavering in his love for the heroine is one readers can love.

Sam seems to be the Beta hero of the series. He is the perennial good-guy, but also has the dark secret of being a shape-shifter. In season two he is battling the mysterious Maryann, with whom he has a “past.” As a hero, a Beta with secrets and private suffering is also a great addition to any story. We want him to find love, because he so clearly deserves a good woman to love.

Eric is the darkest, most Alpha of the True Blood heroes. A vampire leader, he is dark and dangerous and powerful, but he also leaves the impression (to me, at least) that he has a secret good side. It keeps us guessing on whether he will be proved good or bad in the end.

We know Bill will protect Sookie at all costs; we know Sam will behave with decency; we don’t know about Eric. In the right story any one of these heroes would make the reader fall in love with him.

One more thing I want to say about True Blood. Each episode ends with a strong hook, one that makes you want to tune in to the next episode. This is the way to end a chapter! Keep them turning the pages.

What do you think of the heroes and characters of True Blood? If you don’t watch the series, what do you think makes for complex characters. Who is your favorite complex character (in the series or not) and why?

(Note: Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie, and Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill, just got engaged in real life!) Photos by Creative Commons

I’m almost done with my second “soldiers” book! Stay tuned to my website for the latest news about my books.

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Virtual Work

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Hello from the midwest! My son and I are on our annual two-week visit to Minnesota, on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, to be exact, so he can attend sailing school.

(Whenever I say that, I am hit by liberal PC guilt, as though it’s entitled and all for me to talk about sailing school. Which is run by the Minnetonka Yacht Club, fer chrissakes. And it is all entitled and stuff, but it’s a great opportunity for him, so I gotta just feel guilty and move on).

So I’ve been without son for at least seven hours every day, sometimes longer, depending. Bliss!

But, as I know better than anyone, I can procrastinate like nobody’s business. So today, my friend Liz Maverick and I had a virtual writing date: We got onto IM, I set a timer for 20 minutes, IMed “20 minutes–GO!” and we both wrote, not letting distractions like email or random cups of tea get in the way. It was an amazing way to work, and we were both stunned by our productivity. I wrote 1800 words, good words, too, which is almost twice what a ‘good’ writing day is for me.

When we are in the same state, Liz and I do the same thing at one of our houses; we set our laptops opposite each other, set a timer in-between (mine is painted like a ladybug, and I try not to set the ladybug butt opposite Liz, ’cause that bothers her), and we write for designated periods.

I think this method works for us because we are both competitive (as in, “I don’t want that bitch to have written more than me/I can sit in this chair pounding at the keyboard for longer than her”), both like companionship and if one of us is stuck on a plot point or something, we can just wave a hand and take a time-out. It’s really great, especially if you work alone most of the time, wich most writers do.

Today, actually, Liz and I brainstormed on IM about my hero’s backstory, and just a few minutes of back and forth conversation really helped me understand him. And hey, surprise, he looks like a cross between Clive Owen and Richard Armitage. Seriously, if I were any more predictable I’d be a Barbara Cartland novel.

I am back to writing a Regency-set historical, and I am loving it. It’s got the most “me” voice I’ve ever tried, besides my first book, which took three tries to get the voice right. Here’s a peek, as it stands now:

This was quite possibly the most boring evening he’d spent since he’d had his first drink, James thought as he walked into the room. The same dull people gossiping about other dull people, the same petty intrigues and scandals only obfuscating the inevitable ennui that enveloped every member of Society within a few years.

No wonder he’d bought a commission so many years ago. Yes, there was the threat of dying, but at least he wasn’t bored.

My hero, in case you couldn’t tell, has a dark soul. My favorite kind.

So how do you combat procrastination? If you’re a writer, do you have a writing buddy? And where are you going/did you go on vacation?

 

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