Tags
Alchemy, Crique Du Freak, designer drink, Dogma, Dracula, House of Night, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, The Morganville Vampires, The Silver Kiss, vampires, War in Heaven
Vampires. I love talking about vampires. I have a ton of Did You Know…postsabout them, but if I’m honest, I’m not quite sure how the vampires in Lily’s world behave because she’s only had passing interactions with them.
Here’s what she knows so far:
Vampires and shapeshifters were strangely like their mythologies, but like not.
And they’re goth. Yup, that’s all they’ve given me so far.
In the spirit of the process—yes, I really just said that, hold back your cringing—I thought I’d work it out here.
My vampires so far have been fast, strong, and more animal than human. They’re derived from primordial gods with a lot of Roman and Greek influence. The gods in the Lily Graves series aren’t quite the same, shifting and satirizing the religion I grew up with—Catholicism.
Instead, I was thinking of a more traditional Dracula vampire—pale, romantic, dangerous type—mixed with typical teenager emo/goth. The inspiration comes from a few YA series, like The Morganville Vampires, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Cirque Du Freak, House of Night, and standalone, The Silver Kiss.
They all remind me of the distinct style that I’m flirting with, a shift that was both fun and terrifying for me as a writer. I like to dabble in the darkness, in the battle between sin and instincts, and of course, conformity. But I also like to kill off characters and smother them in sex…I couldn’t do that all willy-nilly as I’m typically inclined to because, yeah, young adult.
In any case, these guys are all way cooler than I was at that age. Smarter, too.
Wrap all of that up in dyed-black hair, white powder, thick eyeliner (for me it was sparkles), and dark lipstick. Let them have ridiculously weird inside jokes that feature llamas and bunnies and have banal taste in music.
Aim I painting the right picture here? Because this may hit a little too close to home. I once got accused of sacrificing babies and worshipping Marilyn Manson, but I loved the Backstreet Boys—and every single other boy band if I’m being really honest. Goth teeny bopper. Yup.
Okay, quirky picture drawn. Let’s move on.
I do know that I want them to have an aversion to sunlight. Does this mean tunnels or magic to get around town, and especially to school? I mean, they attend regular hours, so it must not make them that sleepy, right?
They obviously drink blood, but is it just human? Can they drink demon or angel or dragon, etc? Where do they get it? Blood-mobiles? Snatching up citizens? A designer drink? Volunteers? Man, the options are limitless. Maybe they’ve used Alchemy, which will be a growing element of the series as we dig deeper into Lily and Evan’s friendship.
It’s a start.
And religious symbols. Again, the possibilities… I love the Anita Blake series for the faith behind the object making it work, or the idea of the object needing blessed to work, like in Dogma. The one vampire I’ve had contact with painted a picture of Lucifer, so in a sense, he shouldn’t have an aversion to all religion.
This also relies on the heavy leans and leeways I’ve taken with the Biblical stories and mythologies—rather than the organized religion itself. I say this because I grew up with a lot of stories that other denominations went without, and some certainly were not anywhere in the books. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, in case anyone’s curious.
Let’s just say, I have a lot to play with: reasons for the differences between the god in the Old Testament and the one in the New Testament; why Jesus needed to come to Earth and die for our sins; and the real story behind the war in Heaven and what became of Lucifer.
I have a lot of nuances yet to figure out to say the least, but what I’ve discovered so far has me amped for book two. I can’t wait to plot it out at the end of the year.
Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.
If you’re interested in knowing more about different kinds of vampires, check out my top five Did You Know…posts:
- Did You Know…About the Scandinavian Vampire?
- Did You Know…About the Chinese/Korean Vampire?
- Did You Know…About the Mexican Vampire?
- Did You Know…About the Aboriginal Vampire?
- Did You Know…About the Ancient Roman Vampire?
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