Vampires and Werewolves and Witches, Oh My (4/4/2012)
The random jottings on world-building had got as far as where rain falls and was about to get on to rivers. Then something about living things and ecologies and eventually I might have gotten around to to some humans and cultures and histories and social structures and all that sort of thing. But a blurb I had read to me today makes me want to just zip ahead for a moment, just for a moment, for the benefit of those for whom world-building seems (apparently) to be an utterly pointless exercise.
If anyone who reads this is thinking, even a little bit, about writing a story with a contemporary setting with vampires, werewolves or witches in it, please please please for the love of all things supernatural, give at least SOME thought as to the impact and interactions such creatures will have on society at large. I can think of so many examples where this has been done and done well, to the point of being the dominant theme of the book, but even paying some simple lip-service to the idea that the fact that witches/vampires/werewolves exist might mean something more than having a touch of supernatural to add to ones feisty go-getter heroine or tall dark mysterious hero is probably a really good idea. Or am I missing something. Is it just a guy thing to wonder why vampires burn in the hidious light of the day-star but seem to be just fine in – and in fact positively enjoy - the reflected hidious light of the day-star that is otherwise known as the full moon. Or indeed in the hideous light of the night-stars which is basically exactly the same. Or to wonder what an immortal super-powered creature might do over the centuries to protect themselves and their interests and how they might do it, and how they might struggle (or not) with the advance of technology. Or wonder what their lives might have been like for the last four hundred years? Or to watch a typical werewolf transformation scene and even before the inevitable nope, special effects still can’t make this not look stupid, think hey, that violated the law of conservation of mass!
Is it just a guy thing to think that creatures such as vampires and werewolves and witches should carry more meaning than merely character with dark yet sexy allure.
It’s just me, isn’t it.
I’ll get me coat.
/-!
Oh, and your fairies too.
April 7th, 2012 at 2: 41 am
Dude I really like your Memory of Flames series but could you please organize your site better and break down the world that you’ve created? Like I’m confused about which books belong to which series?
Is the Black Mausoleum #4 in the Memory of Flames series? And if so why set 2 years in advance? Will Snow and Kemir still be around? I hope so. It seems kinda random to just drop everyone and move 2 years in time.
Then I’m trying to find out about the novel titled Dragon Queen. I guess first and foremost IS it a novel? Or is a short story? And is it about Zafir?
And then The Kings Assassin…where does this fall in the series of books? I’m so confused at this point as to which novel I should be anticipating and what comes next….