Why ghosts and Vampires do not travel outside West and Romania?

[Vikkram]

Why are the majority of paranormal stories based in Western countries or Romania? Do you think ghosts or other paranormal phenomena do not happen outside of these countries?

[Isis]

I have questioned this myself, and I think there are probably a few reasons for this. One may be that people are not as familiar with the lore outside of these countries. Related to that, I've also wondered if writers are hesitant to write outside the cultures they're familiar with--and when you consider the majority of writers are from the Western world, it becomes less of a surprise. I also think the reasons are probably related to the same reasons we have relatively few non-Caucasian heroes and heroines (relatively is the word, I'm not saying they don't exist). That said, looking beyond deeper sociocultural reasons...not too many are writing stories based elsewhere, and we can only read what's available to read. So I guess my ultimate answer to this question is to pick up a pen... (^_^)

[James]

I agree with Isis. English writers are just much more familiar with the folklore of the West. It requires a lot less research. It's not that Asia, Africa, and other places don't have their own compelling lore. I could suggest some books if you like.

[Mina]

Lol, love the question!

Actually ghosts are universal. I grew up in Bangladesh (South East Asia) on a steady diet of djinn (genie), ghost (those were really scary) and monster stories...now fairy mythology also existed, but to a much a smaller extent. :)

[Vikkram]

Thank you for all your valuable comments. I agree that part of the reason that majority of wirters are from West who do not want to research of beliefs and legends of other parts of the world. And they mistakenly think that since there readers are in the West there stories should be based there.

@Mina is quite right about the wealth of stories in the East that need to be discovered.

Consider how poor our literature would have been had no Writer discovered about a certain Count Dracula in a exotic place outside Romania?

[Rox]

It's the same reason why USA is the only target for alien attacks :)*see Hollywood movies and such*. Speaking of Romania , the Count Dracula was an invention of Stoker and it had little to do with the real Vlad Tepes. But in Romania there are ancient legends and customs regarding the walking dead , strigoi and moroi , some dating from before the roman conquest . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroi

In fact I have read few books with vampires in Romania , and it would be nice to read more considering I live in Romania .

[Mina]

Vickram E. wrote: "Thank you for all your valuable comments. I agree that part of the reason that majority of wirters are from West who do not want to research of beliefs and legends of other parts of the world. And ..."

I think more writers are discovering other corners of the world thanks to the cyber connectivity. And along with more Western writers exploring new territories, I think it's important to encourage writers from around the world to write and share their stories (again connectivity helps).

Interestingly, I write paranormal romance featuring djinns (genies). When I first wrote them, agents and editors said they liked my voice but my topic was too much of a niche...the Western market wouldn't really get djinns, so the stories wouldn't sell.

Well, I'm happy to say I didn't listen to them and there are readers out there interested in lesser-known mythologies. Just my opinion, but diversity makes the book world more interesting. :)

[chucklesthescot]

Vickram E. wrote: "Why are the majority of paranormal stories based in Western countries or Romania? Do you think ghosts or other paranormal phenomena do not happen outside of these countries?"

Of course we know that every culture has different legends, myths etc. That sounds pretty condescending to me.

Authors can base their books wherever they want. If they want to research other cultures etc, fine, if they don't, that's fine too. It is their choice. Not every author has time for countless time consuming hours of research into subjects, languages, cultures they know nothing about as they also have full time jobs. Not every author wants to risk writing about less familiar subjects in case the book ends up with factual errors and irritated readers from that country emailing to complain.

I think you are also underestimating readers. Readers from western countries enjoy reading good paranormal books wherever they are set. If the cultures or legends are well explained, location will not affect reader enjoyment.