Brian Patrick McKinley's Blog, page 19

Why I Ignored Everyone’s Advice And Wrote Another Damn Vampire Novel!

So, why vampires?

That’s the question I’m most often asked when people ask me about my writing at all (it doesn’t happen nearly as much as I’d like, since I love talking about writing). I think the most concise answer I can give is that vampires give me a little bit of everything. In today’s world, vampires have the ability to transcend the monster role they were traditionally given and can now be just about anything. They are the monster that most resembles us. They are us. They are the best and worst parts of our natures amplified and given the power to enact their desires on a large scale. How is that not attractive to a writer? What’s more, being a minor history buff, I love having the ability to pull characters out from various parts of history and examine how becoming a vampire either changes or doesn’t change them.

I love researching the folklore of vampires in different cultures and bringing that into my work, but it’s probably fair to say that I’ve been more influenced by the newer Anne Rice style vampire. That crap with crosses and mirrors and holy water never made much sense to me. It’s all based on the idea that the vampire is inherently evil and that the Christian faith is inherently good, both concepts that I reject. Vampires start as people so, to me, there would have to be good vampires and bad vampires. And as for religion, well, what about a vampire that’s older than Jesus? Why the hell would he care about a Christian cross? People created the vampire idea to explain things they didn’t understand, but every good boogey man has to have a weakness, so they made those up too. I wanted to start from scratch with my vampires.

I started with the idea of doing a different take on vampires than what I was seeing out in the movies and novels of the time. This was many years back, however, so certain things have caught up a little. But I liked the idea of vampires having a society, a political hierarchy that explained why nobody knew about them. If you live forever, what do you do with your time?

We could hold a Masquerade Ball!

In most movies, all vampires worry about is feeding, but think about it like a person. How much of your day do you worry about eating? A society gives you what you need to survive (food) without having to work as hard for it, so you have time to do other things. In my vampires’ case, they spend their time building up their personal power so that nobody can mess with them. The more power and wealth you have, the safer you are. It’s been that way for hundreds if not thousands of years. All a vampire needs is to save some money and, over time, he’s got a fortune. Money is power in our world and power equals safety. So, that was the basis for The Order. Vampires are the true aristocrats of the world because blood is easy to get when you control the power of nations and, ironically, nations are easy to control when you can offer its leaders everlasting life, enormous sums of money, and the ability to dispose of their enemies.

So, I started off with science as my vampires’ basis just because I wanted to do something different and make them more plausible. However, I love seeing magic done well in a book. Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, for example, has fairies and magic and different species of vampires and werewolves and all kinds of stuff, but what makes it work is that Butcher explains his magic in a very specific way and keeps it consistent within his world. You know how things work in that world, which makes it feel real. I love that! When it’s not good is when it seems like an author is being lazy and describing things as magic because they don’t have the imagination to figure out a way to make things work any other way. Then magic becomes just a deus ex machina that the writer is pulling out of their ass to solve plot problems for themselves without doing the work. My novel also features some sort of magic, you could say, in the Jiang-shi which are the Chinese folklore vampires. They have powers and abilities that normal science can’t explain, but some of it can still make sense if you look at quantum physics. Or, you can believe that they actually have magic and that’s that. That’s my nod to the classic mystical vampire that can’t be explained away.

For the purposes of my novel, I combined the Jiang-shi idea with that of the “hungry ghost” that is a staple of Chinese myth. I explained the creation of the Jiang-shi as a Hungry Ghost taking up residence in the dead body and strengthening the po, thus re-animating the corpse. However, I wanted the Jiang-shi to have some distinctive features, so I made them unaffected by sunlight because my regular Vampyrs are. I also made them more psychic/emotional vampires than blood drinkers, though they can feed on blood that is strong with their emotion of choice. I gave them the traditional weakness to religious items wielded with faith because of the positive energy of the faith which clashes with the negative energies that sustain them. Naturally, given their origins, I wanted to make use of Taoist philosophy in their workings. I forget where I read this, but there was some Chinese demon or creature that tried to avoid sleep because their po was given a taste of their eternal punishment as they slept. I thought this was really novel and different, so I incorporated it into my Jiang-shi as well. For variety, I also gave them the Kuang-shi (which is really just the original pronunciation of Jiang-shi), which are the green and white furred monsters of legend, as servants.

But, after all that, there was still something crucial missing: why should a reader give a damn about any of this? The story in its final form began to take shape when I realized that I needed a viewpoint character to get the reader into this world. Originally, it was going to be done third person and I was going to follow all the vampires back and forth as they schemed and plotted, but it was all too much. There was nobody for the audience to really root for.

Originally, there was this guy named Avery who had just been brought in by Caroline and was kind of her side-kick. However, he never worked. Nobody I showed the script to thought the character belonged. I was going to get rid of him when it occurred to me that maybe the reason he didn’t work was because we weren’t seeing things from his viewpoint. Once I decided to write the entire book as Avery’s story, everything else sort of fell into place and the book became richer and more poignant. Here’s a guy who is coming into the situation with the same expectations that the vampire reader has, along with the same context, and so the reader hopefully is right there emotionally with Avery when confronted by these vampires that don’t act the way we’ve all been taught that vampires should act.

My name is Brian Patrick McKinley and my first novel is called Ancient Blood: A Novel of the Hegemony. I hope you’ll check it out!

Avoiding Cliches in Vampire Fiction

(Originally posted on vampires.com)

We’ve all been there. You’re reading a book you picked up on impulse because it sounded good when, a few chapters in, you’re struggling to maintain interest because every character and situation seems like something you’ve read a dozen times before in other books. Don’t you hate that?

Editors and agents go through that a hundred times a day.

Most likely, you’re reading this because you’re a writer, and not just any writer, but that particularly masochistic breed of writer that still wants to create new stories involving vampires. As a member of this breed myself, I can’t count how many times I’ve read or been told: “The market is glutted with vampire fiction. There’s no more interest.”

But, we wonder, if that’s true, then why are so many vampire series and novels still hitting bestseller status? If a first time writer can pop out a formulaic boy/girl vampire romance and make a mint, then surely there must be plenty of gold left to mine in the old vampire genre!

Well, yes and no.

I won’t pretend I understand the secret to the unlikely success of Twilight, but what I can say is that Stephanie Meyer wrote a story that she believed in and wasn’t afraid to remake the vampire to suit that story. Now, I make jokes about sparkling vampires, too, and I didn’t like the Twilight books, but there’s no denying that the author captured something that hooked readers. Of course, now the market is flooded with tender Young Adult series about misunderstood vampires and the sweet young girls who love them. That’s called chasing a trend.

Hopefully, you’re reading this because that’s not your style. You want to tell your story, the tale that burns inside you that you haven’t been able to find anywhere on the bookshelves. You don’t want to write another lame Anne Rice rip-off or Twilight wannabe!

I want to help. With that in mind, here’s some tips on how to avoid falling into the dreaded land of cliché when creating and writing your vampire masterpiece.

1. Be Aware of the Clichés!

This should be obvious, but it’s surprising how many authors don’t read as much as they should in their genre. Don’t assume that your idea is brand new just because you haven’t seen it in a movie or in your favorite series. Get out there and look at what other authors are doing! However, since no one has time to read every one of the literally hundreds of vampire novels published and self-published each month, here is a link to a wonderful website that explains and categorizes Vampire Tropes:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VampireTropes

Now, be aware that not everything listed on this entertaining and informative site is, in fact, a tired cliché that needs to be avoided. If you should find some of your ideas on this list, don’t despair! Many of these tropes have endured for decades or even centuries precisely because they are popular and accessible. What learning the clichés will do for you is make you aware of the wide range of well-recognized ideas that are already associated with the vampire archetype from centuries of stage, screen, and novel appearances. Once you know what the clichés and tropes are, you can make the critical decision of which to embrace and which to avoid.

2. Do Your Research!

It’s hard to argue with tradition or scientific fact and this can be to your advantage. Did you know that the traditional folkloric vampire of Eastern Europe bears more resemblance to today’s zombie than the suave, brooding Goth poster-child of modern cinema and literature? It’s true. There are even more fun surprises to be had if you research the vampires of other cultures. There’s the African Aswang, the Chinese Jiang-shi, the Roman Strix, the Norse Draugr, and the list goes on and on. There are literally dozens of rarely-seen vampire myths and legends to tap into for the author who is willing to step outside of the standard coffin.

Introducing modern readers to some of these lesser-known vampire types is a great way to not only breath fresh life into your story, but it also celebrates the diversity of the vampire archetype and pays homage to its world-wide cultural heritage. Authors and readers come from all ethnic backgrounds these days and the ability to explore new cultures is a strong motivation to read.

The other direction one can take is toward the scientific and realistic. Granted, this has been done before, but luckily there are nearly as many ways to explain vampire-like creatures with science as there are with mythology. There are limitations to this approach, naturally, since even pseudo-science will only let you get away with so much, but what you loose in the fantastic, you gain back in plausibility. Really, it comes down to the type of story you want to tell and where your sensibilities lie.

Whatever you do, however …

3. Be Consistent!

Once you decide on what kind of vampire you want, you need to follow that through with the rest of your story. If your vampires are created by magic, then their weaknesses should be magical as well. Give them the traditional Dracula set or pick and choose from the classics based on what vampires are and how they operate in your world. If magic exists and can create vampires, then what else is out there? How does magic work in your world and what are its limitations? That may sound like an odd question, but even magic needs to have some kind of logic to it. Jim Butcher in his Dresden Files series does probably the best job of magic seem real without losing any of its wonder that I’ve ever read. Plan your world view out, even if it’s a magical one, and make sure all of the parts work together.

If your vampires are more on the realistic side, then give the reader insight into what it feels like to be one. Those of you with a scientific background can have a ball with this! Don’t suddenly introduce implausible abilities because they seem cool, keep it real!

4. It’s All in the Details!

Nothing is more annoying to me as a reader than when an author just glosses over their vampires with generic descriptions of how beautiful they are, how fast they are, how strong, etc. with no attention to the ordinary. Clichés are the fall-back of the lazy writer, which is why they become so commonplace and ordinary. Some authors think: “Well, everybody knows what vampires are like. I don’t need to get into boring detail.”

My answer to this is: If you’re going to give us ordinary vampires like we’ve read before, then why are you bothering?

What’s everyday life like for the undead/infected? I’m talking nitty-gritty here. Can you imagine how bad a vampire’s breath must smell if all they drink is blood? What about that room-temperature skin? Does that sound sexy to you? It’s amazing how often these simple, obvious details are glossed over for the sake of “romance.” Personally, I like my characters a little more approachable. What does your vampire do when he/she’s not out feeding? If they can’t see their reflection, then how in the world do they have perfect hair?

This may sound like nit-picking to some of you, but the best way to avoid clichéd writing is to be specific. Know your characters inside and out. Know your vampires. Think about them—really think. How do they get through all the little day to day hassles that the rest of us deal with? Look at what Joss Whedon did with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. These were shows about heroic, romantic, epic characters that weren’t afraid to show the awkward moments and even laugh at them. Rather than demeaning them, it made those characters real and honest in a way that few shows before had managed. Even Anne Rice described how Lestat crapped his pants when his body died and the fact that his dick didn’t work. Those kind of unpleasant details help balance the fantastic powers that Lestat receives, creating a subtle balance that readers recognize from life.

A vampire’s life should not be all glamour, epic sex, and superhero battles. Invest some time and imagination into your vampires and you’ll bring them to life.

5. Flip the Script

This last bit is about making some of those clichés work for you. There are times when you just can’t avoid a scene or situation that’s been done before, so what can you do? Make it work in your favor by setting up the cliché and then taking a left turn! The most obvious example of this is Buffy Summers, who should have been a stereotypical monster victim but instead is a powerful Slayer destined to hunt the undead. That’s a cliché turned on its ear and successfully inverted.

The occasional wink at the reader or ironic commentary can freshen up a deadly serious story with unexpected humor. By the same token, leading your reader to anticipate/dread a standard trope moment and then subverting it can be a wonderful twist. Think of Raiders of the Lost Ark when the crowd clears between Indy and the Arabian swordsman; it’s a clear set-up for a swashbuckling swordfight, but Indy just shoots the swordsman instead and gets on with business. It’s a wonderful surprise moment!

Sometimes, when there’s no good way to subvert the cliché, even just acknowledging it can be enough to make it more bearable. This is especially true with villains who love to grand-stand, but be careful. Self-referential and ironic humor is starting to become so common that it’s threatening to become a cliché of its own, so I’d recommend being careful how often you resort to pointing out your own clichés. It’s always better to steer away from them in the first place whenever possible.

I hope this has been helpful and entertaining! My final piece of advice for all aspiring writers, whatever the genre, is this: Write what’s in your heart. Tell the story that you long to tell rather than the one you think people want to read. In the end, no amount of originality can make up for a lack of heart.