Vamps in Pop Culture

LC2010HIS

Hey
Do not throw imaginary books at me :rolleyes:, I know this vamp culture twilighter thing irritates some -
But
As some of you might know, I have been finishing my first novel, but ive been playing around with another plot, involving vamps, but do you think that ship has sailed?
Because everywhere I look, a new vamp book is popping up, all stories the overlap eachother.

EileenG

If you have a choice, I'd go with something else. Vamps are still selling, but are now a little dated. By the time you get your book written and to market, they could well be yesterday's news. Angels are pretty hot, also evil fairies.

pickarooney

Vikings are due a revival I reckon.

Antilles

Harry Potter gets made into a movie -> shedloads of boy wizard books published
Twilight gets made into a movie -> shedloads of teen vampire books published

If someone could figure out which fantasy series is going to get made into a blockbuster next, they could really clean up by pre-writing a few books in that genre

As for publishing vamp fiction now, if you had something ready to go, I'd say you stand a better chance of getting it published than ever before. If you're just starting, then I reckon by the time you have it polished and ready to submit, this vampire thing will be over.

Or at least, I hope so!

davyjose

Sexy Teenage zombies FTW!!!

Memnoch

This is always the way with trends and bandwagoning. The reality is that the only chance you have of actually hopping on that band wagon is if you have something written and ready to go at or soon after it takes off. As in when the first twilight book became a best seller, or even was made into a movie. Anything after that, is probably too late. Remember, publishing is a long, slow process and books can often take a year or even more to actually get to market AFTER being picked up for publication. So whatever has just been released, the author probably started working on it at least two years ago.

If you were to start a vamp novel now, by the time it came out the fad would be long gone, and this is always going to be the case.

Established writers (even mid-list ones) have a slightly better chance of hopping the band wagon as they can get a heads up from their agent that a trend is taking off (hence a few months notice) before all the books hit the market and everyone knows that it's now a fad. They can also seal a deal with their publishers before the novel is finished, all avenues that are unavailable to the unpublished throng.

The best advice I've received on this issue and that I believe will always stand an aspiring novelist in good stead is to write that which speaks most strongly to you. And if that REALLY is a vampire novel, then so be it. But don't try and write something just because you think it might sell. Certainly not if it's going to be your debut published novel.

davyjose

I think it was Charlaine Harris who set the Vampire trend going - with the True Blood books.

Of course, you could have your own aspirations, to start your own trend, rather than ride the coat-tails of a multi-millionaire.

Insect Overlord

Darren Shan was doing well for himself well before the advent of Twilight.
L.J. Smith had a few successful series based on vampires back in the 1990s.

There's nothing to stop another similar tale from being published, but to expect it to develop into a major international franchise would be unrealistic.

LC2010HIS

Hey guys
Yeah , on LJ smith, his story is way better than Twilight and Ive heard suggestions of Stephanie Meyer copying that
But, dont all these books link back to good aul Anne Rice! She had it down
I guess vamps are popular because its immortal, sexy, mysterious = money money - fact is, sex sells
But, unlike Meyer, it didnt come to me in a "dream" :rolleyes:
I love history etc and had interest in vamps.
Oh yeah, ghosts/ angels are class ...evil fairies -kinda scary haha

bigsmokewriting

Vampire books are still selling to some agents (i.e. books that authors probably started writing 1-2 years ago and won't be on shelves for another 1-2 years) but they tend to be ones that have a different slant on things (I read about a recent deal involving a book about an overweight preteen vampire, something along those lines... which is a vampire book but obviously not quite in the Twilight/paranormal romance field).

But there have been always been vampire books... trends come around again, and fantasy isn't exactly a new genre that developed solely because of Rowling, Meyer, et al.

owlwink

If you are going with Vampires, try do a little bit of genre mashing. Who knows how long it will be popular, but it will need to be kept fresh.

Killer_banana

if you want to write a vampire book, write a vampire book, if you want to make loads of money by cashing in on a fad, don't 'cause it's starting to dwindle now and by the time it would be released the vampire trend will long be over (well unless it's release would correspond with Meyer's release of 'midnight Sun' but I somehow doubt that...then again I'm just hoping that book gets scrapped).

Also if you do write vampire book, especially if it's aimed at teens, write something as original as you can. Just about every conceivable plot has been written and rewritten since this trend has started and it's now gotten to the point that if I'm looking at YA books I won't pick up anything that involves vampires, even just to read the back, because it'll most likely be a load of clichéd nonsense..okay so that turned into a rant but my point still stands, write something that hasn't been written before.