My Ramblings: Rules VS Vampirism

Rules VS Vampirism

In a live stream I was watching recently of a game involving vampires the two people who were playing the game got into an interesting discussion about why vampire lore is all over the place in books nowadays. They were essentially asking how "vampirism" evolved into Twilight from the classic Dracula portrayal. They didn't seem to like how the lore for every vampire book today was following different "rules" set by that specific author and how there was never a "consensus" as to what rules a basic vampire should follow. For example, some authors make it so vampires can walk in the sun with special spells or jewelry, while the classic vampire would get fried to a crisp if he ever attempted that.

For me, that's what makes vampires interesting even after all these years of reading paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels. I like how the author can shape their lore according to the universe they're creating in their specific novel. The more creative and innovative the author can get the better.

If there were fixed rules for writing about vampires then the vampire novels would eventually end up becoming boring and not to mention the if-you've-read-one-you've-read-them-all mentality that would be provoked in readers in the long run.

I like my vampire books with a big dash of innovation and if that means changing up what everyone considers the "classic rules" to being a vampire then, by all means, throw them out the window. All I ask is that the universe the author creates follows their set of rules so everything works harmoniously with each other in the most realistic way possible.

Would you rather vampirism have a set of designated rules?

Do you like where the vampire related books are going these days?

Let's discuss in the comments below!