yes, i'm still babbling about vampires
Oct. 29th, 2008 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ontologyThis morning I woke up and lay in bed for a while waking up a bit more. After a while, I stood up, stretched, turned towards the window, and yelled.
It's been snowing all day. This morning we were quite elegantly frosted over, with great gusts of flakes drifting hither and thither (but mainly downwards). Look, I don't think it has ever snowed before mid-November in a place I have lived. October's not over yet! What is this madness? (This is not Colorado!) Even odder: the temperature is supposed to shoot up to sixty degrees by Halloween.
Anyway, I've been thinking about vampires. (Surprise surprise.) By the way, Victorian and Edwardian London seem like excellent vampire territory -- lots of chances for people to go missing or turn up dead without many people wondering unduly about what happened. I imagine that there are two reasons for vampires to feed on people: one is purely the need for food (blood), and the other, more powerful, is psychological. I'm not entirely sure how to balance the two, or how much I plan to go into it, although I've always been interested in the aspect of the vampire mythos that involves vampires stalking or befriending their prey before finally feeding on them. Also? It takes longer than thirty seconds to drain an entire human body of blood, Joss Whedon. "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems," says River Tam, only what comprises an adequate vacuuming system of this type? (It's okay Joss, I still love you to bits. Except when I want to SET YOU ON FIRE, but that's -- well, you expect that.) Anyway humans don't usually devour their food without taking time to savour it; why should vampires? But I digress. Some claim that it isn't just blood, but the life source that vampires thrive on through the blood -- so, do happy, alive people have a stronger flavour or sustainment value than, you know, emo kids? This is rather morbid speculation, I know; bear with me. (Or backspace. It's okay!) I imagine that a lot of vampires would feed on the paupers of London to slake their general hunger, but the real feeding would be from people who aren't so destitute that they make absolutely no mark on the world?
Jonathan was here today; we watched some Death Note and discussed each other's NaNo projects. I've come to the conclusion that for my own sanity, I really ought to write down a vague outline of the first few chapters, so that I have some idea of what to write about until the story reaches the unforseeable point when it takes a life of its own. I needn't follow the outline religiously, but it's nice to have a guide. Also I have discovered that I actually know very little about Evangeline's personality or history: there are some wide strokes (she's stubborn and passionate; she loves books; she's very devoted to her family), but all of these are, by themselves, on the level of cliches -- they need detail to make them real. I am, however, reasonably confident that most of these things will establish themselves as I write and discover her voice; if I map out her personality in too much detail before writing even begins, she'll end up stiff and inhuman.
One thing I have discovered, and rather like, is that she is very happy with her life: this is not especially usual for my characters, oddly enough. They always seem to be struggling out of something. She's had difficult times; their family is middle-class in an era when the middle class could be somewhat precarious; but mostly things have worked out in the end and she's dealt with them. She has no great scar or sorrow, but she isn't emotionally and experientially shallow, either. Also: she is happy with her life, but she is not complacent with her life. She's open to and interested in new experiences, and doesn't hate or resent the new life she's thrown into because it's different -- some of it is even better -- the thing she hates is the sudden lack of security, which has been present in her life more or less always. While the family may have had monetary struggles in the past, their lives have never been in danger, and there's always been a sense that no matter what happens, they still have each other -- and anyway the worst that could happen would be sudden illness, or losing enough money that they'd have to leave their home for the country, or someplace else smaller and less comfortable. Now her life is daily threatened, and that threat extends, however slightly, to her family, as well.
Anyway, you lot are weary of reading all of this nonsense by now, but I am in many ways sorting things out as I write them, and quite a lot of the last paragraph was coming clear in the writing down. So.
Also, hair-cut tomorrow, and possibly dyeing as well. Huzzah!
It's been snowing all day. This morning we were quite elegantly frosted over, with great gusts of flakes drifting hither and thither (but mainly downwards). Look, I don't think it has ever snowed before mid-November in a place I have lived. October's not over yet! What is this madness? (This is not Colorado!) Even odder: the temperature is supposed to shoot up to sixty degrees by Halloween.
In short, the stripey knit fingerless gloves I bought for three dollars are quite possibly the best investment I have made in quite some time.
* * *
Anyway, I've been thinking about vampires. (Surprise surprise.) By the way, Victorian and Edwardian London seem like excellent vampire territory -- lots of chances for people to go missing or turn up dead without many people wondering unduly about what happened. I imagine that there are two reasons for vampires to feed on people: one is purely the need for food (blood), and the other, more powerful, is psychological. I'm not entirely sure how to balance the two, or how much I plan to go into it, although I've always been interested in the aspect of the vampire mythos that involves vampires stalking or befriending their prey before finally feeding on them. Also? It takes longer than thirty seconds to drain an entire human body of blood, Joss Whedon. "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems," says River Tam, only what comprises an adequate vacuuming system of this type? (It's okay Joss, I still love you to bits. Except when I want to SET YOU ON FIRE, but that's -- well, you expect that.) Anyway humans don't usually devour their food without taking time to savour it; why should vampires? But I digress. Some claim that it isn't just blood, but the life source that vampires thrive on through the blood -- so, do happy, alive people have a stronger flavour or sustainment value than, you know, emo kids? This is rather morbid speculation, I know; bear with me. (Or backspace. It's okay!) I imagine that a lot of vampires would feed on the paupers of London to slake their general hunger, but the real feeding would be from people who aren't so destitute that they make absolutely no mark on the world?
Jonathan was here today; we watched some Death Note and discussed each other's NaNo projects. I've come to the conclusion that for my own sanity, I really ought to write down a vague outline of the first few chapters, so that I have some idea of what to write about until the story reaches the unforseeable point when it takes a life of its own. I needn't follow the outline religiously, but it's nice to have a guide. Also I have discovered that I actually know very little about Evangeline's personality or history: there are some wide strokes (she's stubborn and passionate; she loves books; she's very devoted to her family), but all of these are, by themselves, on the level of cliches -- they need detail to make them real. I am, however, reasonably confident that most of these things will establish themselves as I write and discover her voice; if I map out her personality in too much detail before writing even begins, she'll end up stiff and inhuman.
One thing I have discovered, and rather like, is that she is very happy with her life: this is not especially usual for my characters, oddly enough. They always seem to be struggling out of something. She's had difficult times; their family is middle-class in an era when the middle class could be somewhat precarious; but mostly things have worked out in the end and she's dealt with them. She has no great scar or sorrow, but she isn't emotionally and experientially shallow, either. Also: she is happy with her life, but she is not complacent with her life. She's open to and interested in new experiences, and doesn't hate or resent the new life she's thrown into because it's different -- some of it is even better -- the thing she hates is the sudden lack of security, which has been present in her life more or less always. While the family may have had monetary struggles in the past, their lives have never been in danger, and there's always been a sense that no matter what happens, they still have each other -- and anyway the worst that could happen would be sudden illness, or losing enough money that they'd have to leave their home for the country, or someplace else smaller and less comfortable. Now her life is daily threatened, and that threat extends, however slightly, to her family, as well.
Anyway, you lot are weary of reading all of this nonsense by now, but I am in many ways sorting things out as I write them, and quite a lot of the last paragraph was coming clear in the writing down. So.
Also, hair-cut tomorrow, and possibly dyeing as well. Huzzah!
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 05:27 am (UTC)oh, I'd love to babble about vampires all day. I find them incredibly fascinating and I still cringe when I mention them and someone has to bring up Twilight. I think that there's a lot of opportunity in setting princesses against paupers for appetite purposes; you could have vampires who are thirsting over worthier stock but restrain themselves, and you could have backstories about -- how about vampires absorbing people's life stories (through memories) as they drink? sorry, random speculation -- but you could have backstories about the person and the life they lived. oh, I don't know. You could designate what is beautiful and worthy about a person, pauper or not. That would be endlessly fascinating.
Would you mind elaborating on your plot for nano? If not, that's fine, but I'd love to see where you're going with all of this!
edit: ALSO what are you doing with your hair? I am excited! Pictures! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 11:07 pm (UTC)how about vampires absorbing people's life stories (through memories) as they drink?
PAULINE THIS IS THE MOST GORGEOUS IDEA EVER AND MAY POSSIBLY HAVE REVOLUTIONISED MY NANO A BIT. :DDDDDD
no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 04:07 am (UTC)hahaha, I'm so glad my ramblings are useful! eee, I'm a bit flattered, and yay that I said that before you started! *grins*
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:14 pm (UTC)I was just thinking last night about how I want to outline the first few chapters so that I can at least have something to navigate with for the first days without suddenly hitting a dead end and panicking. :D I think it's a good idea, since like you said the book will eventually take on it's own life after a few days.
I'm kind of struggling with whether to write in first or third person, or rotating between first person of the main two characters and then going back to third, which will be confusing, but then again the whole storyline kind of is anyway. A big part of the feel of a story is who's telling it, and if the wrong person is telling it then certain important details can be left out, and while it might not be ruined, it turns out to be not as good as it could have been.
Also, my main character is a young girl. I haven't written a main character girl (okay, I don't really actually write much, just create people and talk with them a lot when I'm in lack of company) in two years, just mostly boys and a few grown men, so I keep thinking, "Maybe I shouldn... MAYBE I SHOULDN'T DO ITTTTTT." This is frustrating and kind of silly and maybe I should just be quiet and plot in a safe place.
And yay for your current music! I was listening to Chopin last night. He pretty much rocks.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:28 pm (UTC)Short articles on making the Good News kid less wooden:
http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/wc2-2.html
http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/wc1-7.html
http://hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/deeper-people.html