Vamps

Today's book I am working on, and actually I have been working on it since yesterday, is about vampires. So I thought I would stop in a say a couple of things to those of you who read the blog and are thinking about writing about vampires.

Vampires are super commercial at the moment, but since they have been super commercial at the moment a lot of readers have started to get weary about them. This is especially true to fans of the urban fantasy genre long before it became so popular. So what do you do if you really love vampires and want to write a novel about them?

I have one really big piece of advice. Make them unique. It sounds so simple, but really it isn't. If you are a reader who loves vampires, and you love Author A's vampire series, while you are waiting for the next book in the series you may just seek out another vampire book/series. Now what do you suppose that reader thinks when they open Author B's book about vampires and finds that the vampires from Author B's book are super similar almost exactly the same as Author A's. Well I'll tell you: they tend to dislike Author B. Most readers who have already developed an emotional relationship with Author A's vampires, will find Author B's vampires to be a poor man's imitation. Sometimes this will make them really angry, but more often then not it will leave them feeling ambivalent about Author B, not something you want to have happen if you are Author B.

So here is my advice. Read 5-6 vampires book, or re-read them, whatever the case may be. Make sure they are all by different authors. Now visualize the vampires you want to come up with. If your vamps remind you of any of the vamps you just read about, they need to be more unique. Come up with something that sets them apart from the others, let your imagination be your guide. It can be a strength, but even better, it could be a weakness. Giving your characters more to overcome always makes for more entertaining books.

While it is true that you are never going to come up with a 100% unique vampire, some elements will always be similar, you have to do something to make you vampire original. So when the reader reads your book, they think, wow that's a cool way to have a vampire, or even better they go and tell their friends about how this author they just read came up with a new take on vampires, and that they think their friend should check out the book.

My goal for the new year is to keep my audience up to date with what I am working on as well as tips I think you can use. Part of my service as an editor is to tell the author where I think there book needs to be stronger, or even where the authors strength is. So while I am working I will try and pick one thing or element that I can make universal and put it out there for you all to use. Hope everyone is having a good new years, I know a lot of people are back at work, so hope everyone is having a good week, and getting ready for the weekend!