Saturday, April 10, 2010

No love for the vampires

Would editors please stop hating on the vampires? There's plenty of life (so to speak) in a good vampire story. If people didn't want to read about vampires, there wouldn't be 10 million UF/paranormal romance books out there with sexy emo vampires in them. So why do I keep seeing the equivalent of "no vampires allowed" in magazine guidelines lately?

Obviously, it's hard to write a good vampire story, but then it's hard to write a good anything story. I don't see editors tagging their guidelines with "No aliens!" or "No precocious children!" It's just the vampires that get the special treatment. No wonder they're so emo.

Why yes, I do have a vampire story I can't place. Why do you ask?

(Note: I used the word 'vampire' nine times in this post. Ten if you count the title.)

17 comments:

Cate Gardner said...

I don't get the vampire hate either. Possibly some sort of Twilight backlash.

Josh Reynolds said...

See, I just write vampire stories without using the word 'vampire'...seems to work.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Yes, I did notice the excess usage of the 'V' word. It does seem unfare to pick on one monster in particular. A good story is a good story. I'm sure that you'll find the right home for it (their gain). Mind you, Josh had a good idea...

K.C. Shaw said...

Cate--That's all I can think of too. Stupid Twilight, ruining it for us. My vampires don't sparkle, dammit!

Josh--Now I have to reread my story. I swear I didn't use the word vampire either. Maybe I should make them zombies instead.

Alan--Possibly my story is not as good as I think it is, too. Although Shimmer did shortlist it (with the note, "I don't think the editors will go for a vampire story," which of course they didn't).

Aaron Polson said...

Well, here's the thing. Zombies get the same hate in the short fiction world. Novels, gawd. They're crawling with them. Try to sell a zombie or vampire story (maybe even one with both) to a respectable short fiction market, blammo.

K.C. Shaw said...

Actually, I did start noticing the zombie-hate after I started noticing the vampire-hate. I don't know why. Zombies are practically cuddly compared to other monsters. (Maybe that's why.)

Jamie Eyberg said...

When I was a slush reader for a lit magazine I came across an ungodly number of Conan the barbarian rip-offs. a literary magazine I tell you!

K.C. Shaw said...

Weird. Were they literary Conan stories?

Never mind, I can answer that myself. :)

Katey said...

I agree with Cate, totally Twilight backlash. I love vampires, and will be cheering for yours!

K.C. Shaw said...

Thanks, I hope they do make it into print. I've got a book with vampires in it too making the rounds (actually two books with totally different vampires). Obviously I need to write about something else for a while.

Danielle Birch said...

I agree with Cate. I think it's just sparkly vampire backlash.

BT said...

You may have already been to these places, or possibly be targeting markets higher up the food chain but I sold a vamp story to Night to Dawn, and another to Yellow Mama so I know they're taking them (of course Night to Dawn is but you know what I mean).

There is no reason to not send a vamp story to any publication if you think it's good enough and comes at things from a slightly different angle. All they can say is no and it's not like we've not heard that before...

K.C. Shaw said...

Danielle--I should include a note with my story that says "These vampires don't sparkle." Or maybe not.

BT--I love this story so I was trying to hit the top-tier markets first, but since they've pretty much all said no, I was looking through Ralan's and got increasingly dismayed at the "no vampires" thing (thus the post). I'm not familiar with Night to Dawn; I'll have to check them out. Thanks!

Jamie Eyberg said...

I can say that Night to Dawn is a really nice looking magazine. It was a good home for one of my stories as well.

K.C. Shaw said...

They're getting my story, then, as soon as it comes back. I hope they're open to another vampire story.

Fox Lee said...

I say search and replace the words "vampire" with "delicious chocolate." It's time to use psychological warfare.

K.C. Shaw said...

Aha, subliminal influences!