Vampires: Are they the ultimate bad boys?


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Vision 75

 

Vampires: Are they the ultimate bad boys?

By

L. M. David

Blog

Copyright © 2014, L. M. David, All Rights Reserved

 

Over the years, Hollywood has made vampires ultra-creepy, comedic and, recently, uber sexy. Vampires have gone from dark and blood thirsty to sparkly and able to go out in the sunlight when no one is paying attention. Personally, I adore the sexy, bad boy vampires. I also like the creepy, blood thirsty ones but not as much so they get a tight second place nod.

Why? Because sexy vampires make women feel special and what woman on this planet doesn’t want to be needed by someone? True vampires want human companions for their blood but hey, there’s pleasure associated with their bite which makes it all worthwhile. Again, it makes the recipient a treasure among others to have been chosen.

To me, vampires are boyfriends of the night, that clandestine night out where you can be someone you’re not, or as wicked as you want to be and not be told to stop, or asked what you think you’re doing. If you are shy, they have the ability to bring out a more enthusiastic you. And so on.

When I first started writing about vampires, it was with the intent to keep them as close to the traditional myths as possible but with a twist. Instead of being blood thirsty and maladjusted, my characters are like everyday people except with various degrees of social skills, or lack thereof. Whereas most paranormal romance writers believe vampires should have bank accounts that are bottomless, mine are not all wealthy and some have limited to no education. They also have personal problems like mortals, only with heightened annoyance. By that I mean problems mortals consider, on a scale of one to ten, a two, my vampires would consider the same problem a ten or higher. Angst in relationships with my vampires tend to make them irritable. They also become destructive, bearing thoughts of mayhem on the person, or persons, making them that way.

The vampires I write about also vary in sleep habits. Some prefer coffins, others prefer king-sized beds while the less fortunate sleep wherever they can find a place to hide. Some of my vampires can be in the sunlight, others are confined to the night. And then there are those who walk the night by choice after turning. Children turned before eighteen never see another sunrise. One of my characters also suffers with insomnia, talk about cranky. I’ve even introduced a shape-shifter who, by way of explanation, was the stone-aged version of the modern day vampire.

So what do I like most about vampires? The fact that they are humans with special needs who can be funny, angry and hostile in the span of a moment while devastatingly hunky and appealing in the next. No matter which way book trends swing, vampires will be my first love to write about. They are practically immortal and in my book, that’s also part of their charm.