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:
I don't get the vampire hate either. Possibly some sort of Twilight backlash.
See, I just write vampire stories without using the word 'vampire'...seems to work.
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...
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).
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.
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.)
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!
Weird. Were they literary Conan stories?
Never mind, I can answer that myself. :)
I agree with Cate, totally Twilight backlash. I love vampires, and will be cheering for yours!
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.
I agree with Cate. I think it's just sparkly vampire backlash.
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...
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!
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.
They're getting my story, then, as soon as it comes back. I hope they're open to another vampire story.
I say search and replace the words "vampire" with "delicious chocolate." It's time to use psychological warfare.
Aha, subliminal influences!
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