Sun, Surf and Vampires

I am taking a few days "off" and heading to sunny Southern Florida. I love the heat and the sun and before winter truly sets in I need to wear shorts, watch palm trees sway and use suntan lotion once more. I am taking a few chapters of my current novel with me. It doesn't have a title though I can see the cover image in my mind. I am wrestling with the ending and I am hoping that some sun and surf will inspire me to write a decent ending for my novel. I usually take a legal pad and write long hand - I don't know what it is but there is something cathartic about the act of writing. Obviously I am using a computer now and I do most of my writing on a keyboard but when I sit myself down in a beach chair near the waves I want a pad and pencil. Seems odd to be writing a novel about vampires while basking in the sun but I get to combine three of my obsessions: the beach,writing and vampires. I thought about getting an alpha smart keyboard so I can write anywhere but I still prefer long hand. See you all next week.

Thanksgiving

It was just my husband and I for the holiday so we went to another family members house to celebrate. Usually we have a houseful of guests, 20-25 people but yesterday there were only 14 of us and it felt just right. Halloween through the New Year's Eve is my favorite time of year. There is always one moment when it sinks into my thick head that the Christmas season is upon me. It has nothing to do with shopping or hearing Christmas music; it' a moment when I feel the Christmas spirit. We have all had holidays that are better than others and it is moments I recall that stay with me, like opening a closet in my parents house as a child and finding Christmas presents, or wondering why my oldest brother who was home between semesters from law school did not share my zeal to wait at the Christmas tree at 5am with my two younger brothers to open our presents. He sent us back to bed; or the first year I experienced Christmas after my father had passed away only two months earlier or spending the holidays broken hearted over a lover affair that was not meant to be, or the year my grandmother died at 1am on December 26th.

There are moments we all carry with us from year to year - this is our own personal history and for better or worse these memories stay with us. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I hope you all did as well.

Writer's Block

I haven't been writing as much as I would like to these days with Thanksgiving coming up this week, family commitments, etc. It's a tough balancing act. I had written out my novel using plot points for each chapter and I have been living with these characters for over a year now but as I hit the home stretch I am not satisfied with what I have written in terms of the last few chapters. I decided to put it down for a while as I mull over how I want my novel to end. I don't want to kill anyone off (well one or two characters maybe) and I am not sure if my two leads finish this novel as lovers, friends, enemies or what? Writing gives you only so much power over the lives of your characters and then they start fighting back. Once I get my website up and running I will be posting snippits of my current novel and other short stories I have written. I find my two main characters doing a push me pull you, come close go away type thing as I struggle to come to terms with their relationship. Maybe it's up for grabs and my novel should just end after a crazy few days in the life of one mortal woman and the vampires she had become intwined with. I hope once I post pieces of my novel I will get comments, suggestions, etc because I think it is helpful in the early stages of novel writing to have people you trust critique your work. Anyway, I shall do my best to pick up and see where my characters take me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Inspiration for Characters

I was sitting here at my work desk mulling over some of the inspirations/influences for my vampire characters in my current novel. I have gotten into the habit of cutting out photographs from magazines, etc. whenever I spot somone who's physical description appeals to me in some way, shape or form. I like keeping files of faces because I never know when I will need one. I sometimes see people who fit a character. One of my main characters is based on a beautiful stranger I happened to see in New York City on a rainy October night in the Skylight diner. He was tall with very long blonde hair and dark eyes. He was young, probablly in his twenties and one look at him and I knew he was "my vampire." I guess it happens like that - people who you don't know and most likely will never meet can be the inspiration for a character. Thank you blondie wherever you are!

Vampires Vs. Werewolves

It is Sunday and the moon is full tonight and boy can I feel it. Just being out and about among people - they just act differently and drive much more aggressively during a full moon. I have not written in over one week due to so much family stuff. I was writing daily but it has become difficult. Now with Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas looming on the horizon it will be harder to find the time. I am considering a laptop so I can sit in front of my fireplace and write. Sounds utterly serene and conducive to putting ideas and emotions on paper. I began my last blog with a commentary on the movie Dog Soldiers. I discovered it by accident and I really enjoyed it. It is the type of movie where the action begins about 10 minutes into it and does not stop. A few surprises along the way which kept this viewers adreneline flowing.

I saw Underworld Evolution when it first came out and I did enjoy but for different reasons. I could not help but notice the differences in the depictions of the vampires vs. the werewolves. Perhaps not so much in literature but in movies vampires are generally handsome or beautiful, well groomed, rich and extravagant. Werewolves seem to possess none of those qualities. I began to wonder why and I open this up for debate and discussion with anyone who comes along to read my blog. In Underworld Evolution, the vampires live in a gated mansion, drink blood out of silver goblets and dress impeccibly (in black of course). The werewolves have none of the amenities that the vampires possess. Is it because they are half man and half animal? Does that give them less status than the undead? Just food for thought.

I recently opened the New York Times Men Fall Style Magazine and found an photographic essay on "The Damned, Hell Bent Threads for the Eternal A Lister" featuring an assortment of beautiful young male models dressed in top of the line designer clothing. It is tantilizing to say the least. Vampires are "in", vampire novels more popular than ever and although the reasons for this trend are not the topic of this blog I can't imagine The New York Times running a similar photoessay featuring young male werewolves. What would it be called? The Fuzzy?

Dog Soldiers: Terror in the Scottish Highlands

This is a site about vampires so why Dog Soldiers? This is a great horror flick set in the Scottish Highlands. I am generally curious about depictions of werewolves vs. the depiction of vampires in both literature and the media. And I'm gonna add more to this when I'm less tired ;)