Writer's Block: The Eternal Nocturnal Struggle

[author_by_night]

[Error: unknown template qotd]I'm inclined to choose werewolves, of course. Two words - Remus Lupin. ;) But vampires are kind of cool too.

I'm writing both a vampire and a werewolf, and it's interesting. Both are good, but the vampire always has that inner demon that sometimes comes out. My werewolf is a good person, but once a month he's a monster - and he will kill you.

Modern fantasy/sci fi seems to want to redeem both - I mean, you go from Dracula and The Wolfman to Buffy and Harry Potter, which have vampires and werewolves that are not inherently evil. In Buffy you have Angel and Oz, and in Harry Potter you have Remus, and there's a scene in one of the books where a vampire is at a Christmas party - and seems fairly harmless, although at one point they mention him looking hungry. And of course Twilight... I wouldn't call Twilight my favorite book series, but it does show werewolves and vampires as redeemable.

I do wonder how that came about - when the "monster" suddenly grew a human being's face. When the "monster" became okay. I suppose even in Dracula, there's some of that - not the redemption, but the implication that vampires can still think like human beings. Evil, sick and twisted human beings, but human beings. He plans how exactly he is going to kill his victims, rather than randomly chase them in a dark forest at night.

This could be an interesting thing to research, actually. Anyone have their own input?

Comments

[alexiscartwheel.livejournal.com]

I actually had a somewhat similar conversation with a friend recently. It's very interesting when writers come up with new twists on vampire mythology (such as vampirism as a disease, like akashsheiress mentioned). The vampires in the Twilight books and in the show "Moonlight" all broke the traditional rules, but in different ways. It seems like it's actually more unique now to stick to the perspective that vampires are all evil and sleep in coffins and can be fended off with crosses.

Portraying traditionally evil creatures as more human or redeemable is another way to make an old concept new and fresh again. I think it's also typical of modern storytelling conventions. Villains aren't really allowed to be evil just because; they have to have motivation.

That's all just my take on it though. I'm sure someone may have looked into it seriously before... though maybe not, since sci-fi and fantasy don't get tons of serious scholarship.