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Whats with Vampires?

Really thats all I see now on this site and alot of others. Whats with them? Do peopl forget the origins of them or something? There is a reason why they are evil.

Actually.. I would liketo correct something here as I've done a lot of research on the legend of vampires.

the vampire legend has been around since ancient times- most commonly seen in ancient egyptian heiroglyphs. They were originally portrayed to be immortal people that walked among us (yes, in daylight... no, not freakin' sparkly). They drank blood. They loved mortals, and not just for food. It is believed the first vampire depicted in the heiroglyphs was later portrayed to be one of the 'gods'.

It was as time passed, that the legend evolved into a creature of the night- confined to the darkness and would turn to ash in the sunlight. They were then labeled evil demons.. and people began practicing rituals to keep corpses from coming back as vampires (i.e. bricks in mouths, holy water sprinkled on the body and coffin, etc etc.)

Then, the legend evolved yet again due to Bram Stoker mostly... and later Anne Rice.. romanticizing them (again, let me clarify that. It was not the first time that the legend had been romanticized.. just in published literature, it was)

I am a proud fiction writer of vampires. I feel that legends are going to evolve. Just like werewolf legends have evolved...

It's also the whole idea of the immortal life. The idea appeals to the human race. In all time periods, it has. Take alchemysts (I probably spelled that wrong, sorry) for example. Many of them killed themselves trying to figure out the secret and the special 'potion' to live forever. Many people fear death, and would jump at the opportunity to live for an eternity- watching the world grow and evolve.

These are the modern times. Who's to say that our 'vampires' now, necessarily have to kill people to sustain their thirst?

The romantic idea of living an eternity with someone you love is also very appealing. That is why people love vampires so much I believe. Dark, mysterious, immortal..

I understand that they are currently very popular and maybe a little overdone, but it depends on how well someone can pull off the subject while staying original.

its just a sign of overuse

Vampires have gone from villians (dracula), to anti heroes (Lestat), to just heroes. same with serial killers, (see dexter)

but then you get cop shows and medical dramas going the other way, (see the shield and nip/tuck)

They are fun to write about and can be cool.
That is how the originals were written, but vampires can be anything you want them to be because your the author and you control the characters and story.
I have vampires. Only two of them are evil though out of the four that I have. Well, main character vampires.

Not all vampires in the past were evil though, many were also wrongly prosecuted like witches. People in the old country sometimes didn't really die, but the people thought they did and so when they woke up and started showing those symptoms and thus some vampire legends were born. Not evil, but people thought they were.

My personal favorite is the legends of the type of vampire that dies either of suicide or had done some horrible sin, comes back to life and visits old family members then proceeds to suck the blood of their victims from their toe. Also not really evil, but can be seen as such. Some of them were romanticized over too as some made love to their spouses. I need to double check my vampire encyclopedia though because I think I might have a couple different legends mixed up, but how cool of a story would that make?

The thing is vampires are so varied and looking at lore there are hundreds of types and attributes so really they're fun to play with because you can change them around. While sparkling is a little silly it's unique and different. Everyone has their own interpretation.

I do admit I like reading vampire stories about the older type, like pixie's egyptian ones (I have an egyptian vampire in my story too ) and especially the ones that look like little monster, you know some of the older european legends. You know the ones; ones that have to stop to count a pile of beans, others that look like gremlins, not just the modern beautiful ones (though I like those too).

One of these days I will run a contest asking only for these kind.

(talk about long winded )