So....is it just me or is the vampire genre overly saturated and losing its finesse?

[tulemag93]

I'll be honest here,

I blame Twilight.

There I've done it, you'll probably grill me with barbecue sauce, and a side of corn.

BUT. I. SAID. IT

[Jenny-Toons]

I'd say it's become more redundant than anything else. At least these days, vampires are more or less seen as romantic paranormal partners than actual monsters. Not that there's anything wrong with it per se, but when that's all you see, it can definitely get boring because it feels like the same format.

I guess you could say Twilight kinda made it more popular or brought it out in a bigger light, but it's been going on for a while. I remember stumbling upon some vampire erotic that was made in the 80s that could easily fit in today's time XD

I think the best thing to do when it feels overly saturated is to just go back to what made you like vampires (or any genre) in the first place. It even helps to take some of that inspiration and create your own stories, maybe adding your own twist.

I know for myself, I have a love for vampires that resemble Nosferatu and Dracula, as well as Stephen King's take in Salem's Lot. So I often use those inspirations for my story ideas.

And there's still hope! There are still some creative pieces out there that dive away from the romantic aspect. I'd really recommend What We Do in the Shadows as a movie that does that ^^//

[AnakngTinapay]

I liked Vampire themes because of the Castlevania videogame series. Specifically from the GBA up to PS3.
Outside of this, not much. I can say I'm closed to Konami's creation than other interpretations of it.

[silverraven0]

Speaking about vampire novel... I still love interview with the vampire.

[LordVincent]

Having recently launched a vampire romance comedy comic on Tapas that flew to the front page quite fast, I'm sortof chuckling here wondering if I'm the cause of this thread...
But I'll assume I'm not.

As far as I'm concerned, vampires are mythological beings, and fiction exists for entertainment. As long as it entertains someone and doesn't hurt anyone, all is fine and dandy. There's no "true vampirism" because vampires the way they were "originally" spoken of do not exist. The rest is all up to personal preference.

I like vampires and I do actually enjoy the sexy romantic type 'cause of some silly goth obsession, to be honest. Pale gorgeous black haired men in victorian glothing who live through the night in dark environments drinking red fluids? Yes. Give me all of that.
I'm not into Twilight primarily because of the bad writing, the sparkle-in-the-light thing and the attempt at shoving mormonism down all the reader's throats. But will I judge someone who likes it? Nah. You do you and I do me.

If you want grim scary ugly vampire stories, why not write one or lift forward the stories that you see containing them?

There's no "loss of finesse" here because there is no objectively better version. Just stick to the ones you like and be happy

[punkarsenic]

the attempt at shoving mormonism down all the reader's throats

wait, what? i never paid attention to the series, can you elaborate?

[punkarsenic]

when a genre or gimmick is particularly popular, there will be a trend of some people jumping on the bandwagon solely for a quick buck - harry potter garnered many series in a similar style, the 90s had angel everything everywhere. a lot of really good content comes from these trends, but some bad content too. the fact that theres so much content makes the bad content stand out, and can lead to audience exhaustion, but like WWDITS there'll always be clever people telling great stories in that genre that anyone can enjoy. maybe the wider audience that adopted buffy and twilight are losing interest in vampires, but there will always be an audience for them and creators who love them sincerely.

[LordVincent]

This is mostly lost to my memory, but there was a lot of stuff about waiting until marriage, especially in the last book. As soon as they got married, they fucked so hard that they broke the bedframe (if i remember correctly) with no protection and ofc bella gets pregnant.

Vampire boy tries to convince her to get an abortion because the fetus is practically killing her. Others agree because the fetus is PRACTICALLY KILLING HER. Bella insists on having the baby. This would all be fine because it's her choice, but all the people who are for the abortion are written as disrespectful and emotionless babykillers pretty much. The anti abortion message is blatant and it basically is saying that any good and pure pregnant woman will give birth to a baby even if it kills her.

[punkarsenic]

ohhh so less mormonism and more generally conservative christian approach to sex and reproductive rights

i thought u meant the werewolves were like a banished tribe of israel or some shit

[daniellekoste]

Are we in 2008? I didn't know it was still cool to hate on vampires and twilight over 10 years since the series premiered

All I'm saying is you're acting like 'i blame twilight' is an edgy opinion that everyone is going to hate on you for, when it's literally been the mainstream opinion to hate on vampires for years now. Yes. Since twilight.

i would not say the genre is over saturated. Actually, yes there is lots of vampire stuff, but it's all the same stuff. And vampire novels are definitely not in the mainstream like they once were.

What I've noticed in the mainstream tradpub scene is actually a revamp (pun intended) to vampire novels lurking on the horizon, that will likely hit the scene in the near future. A lot of people who grew up on twilight are over hating and realized that it actually wasn't the worst series around, and want vampires back. Good vampires.

My debut novel was a new take on vampires, self published, and did really well, because the truth is, people like vampires, they just don't like what exists currently and good vampire stuff is rare.

[tulemag93]

well, your assumption is correct, your not the cause. @daniellekoste As stated in my original post, I think twilight(or lets just fairly say novels like twilight) removed the actual nature of Vampire that the original folklore intended: beings or creatures of darkness controlled by their blood thirst not sparkles!

Then again, you can't blame the lady from trying to make a different version of vampire cause it worked. I personally love the Anne Rice take on Vampires, as well as the original Van Helsing franchise, not so sure about how I feel about the movie though.....

[daniellekoste]

I'm not praising twilight really; as you said, it did a lot of things to the vampire lore that I didn't necessarily appreciate, but what I do appreciate is that twilight did for vampires what Anne Rice did for them. Twilight reinvented vampires for a new generation, which is what vampires (and all lore in general) need sometimes. To give twilight the most minimal credit, it got so many non readers into reading and that's a huge thing.

Like I said perviously though, I do think most vampire fans are looking for something new in the genre, so there's room for even further growth and reinterpretation. With the way that popculture is going (I'm thinking of Shape of Water specifically as an example) it's fair to say that were on the brink of a "real monsters" romance boom, and I'm personally looking forward to what potentional that opens up for not just vampires but other paranormal beings

It's an exciting time for beast fans, to say the least.

[spadesart]

as someone with a comic about vampires, i'm writing it because its fun to dive into their behavior/species details(?) and play with how a big group of them would interact instead of one vamp around a big group of humans

[SleepingPoppy]

Nope!

Is there actually even much new vampire content going around right now? Disney says ZOMBIES are in, so I don't know. I actually feel pretty under saturated as far as vampires go, though I'm excited about @LordVincent's new comic. But mainstream I haven't heard of any new vampire things coming out. If you know of a bunch of awesome vampire content about to be released, please tell me about it so I can get excited! I am ready to be saturated!

I know not everyone loves the vampire thing, but I think they're fascinating from the horrific to the handsome. Vampires are ripe for one to explore sex, humanity, LGBT issues, and so much more. It'll be a long time before I get sick of exploring all the possible themes a good writer can draw out from vampire lore.

And I mean, I blame Twilight for lots of things, but vampires aren't going anywhere. Much as I hate them, I also think it's good to step back and remember Meyer is a lady that had an idea, wrote a thing, and worked really hard to put it out there. While she shouldn't be off the hook for the messed up messages in her book, I doubt any of it was malicious or intentional. She's just some lady. The best response is to make better content, and give money to better creators.

In conclusion, vampires are the best, more vampires please.

[LordVincent]

I actually feel pretty under saturated as far as vampires go, though I'm excited about @LordVincent's new comic. But mainstream I haven't heard of any new vampire things coming out. If you know of a bunch of awesome vampire content about to be released, please tell me about it so I can get excited! I am ready to be saturated!

Well I'll link my comic I guess: Moonshine (Warning right ahead that it will contain a lot of mature/sexual content and is sortof silly in nature)

I'll also link @stnmaren's comic because it's gorgeous and you should check it out: SPIRE

[bakasama25]

If you're talking about different spins on vampires, I rather have pop culture vampires be more like the kind from Lost Boys or I Am Legend (the novella not the Will Smith movie).

[SleepingPoppy]

If you're talking about different spins on vampires, I rather have pop culture vampires be more like the kind from Lost Boys or I Am Legend (the novella not the Will Smith movie).

(The movie would have been much stronger with it's original ending)

Sure, but also like tons of other awesome vampire movies, books, and tv shows. Pop culture has room for lots of rich and diverse vampire stories! Some can be scary, some can be sexy, some can hit a sweet in between spot.

I literally own The Vampire Encyclopedia, so I'm ready for ALL THE VAMPIRES.

@LordVincent I already subbed the day you released! And I agree Spire is gorgeous, I'm not subbed yet, but I plan on subbing and marathoning it some time in the future. It looks amazing. ((but not other people have links and can go get themselves some good vampire comics!))

My next comic is planned to be a vampire one, but it'll be years before I have time to start it unfortunately.

[Rhombik]

I feel this way about the supernatural genre generally. I think there's a lot of supernatural romance stories which is fine but I don't see a lot of writers doing much to play around with the genre, or challenge anything, or change the tropes. It seems like it's stagnating a little.

And there's still hope! There are still some creative pieces out there that dive away from the romantic aspect. I'd really recommend What We Do in the Shadows as a movie that does that ^^//

What We Do In The Shadows is awesome!

[Im_moron]

only thing I know of the vampire genre well is the first book of the blood of eden series (the immortal rules)

[skippyjoeskilling]

Just 'vampire' as a genre is so general i dont think its possible to get oversaturated. Theres plenty of great examples of totally original vampire work, Madeline McGrane's vampire comics come to mind. Though, yeah, the supernatural romane (especially the overly hetero-oriented delicate human woman and her scary vamp bf) is getting to be a little much.