I had an idea quite a while ago that I've been playing around with. Typically, vampire fiction is either horror or romance so I had a completely different idea to try and get rid of some of the tropes associated with the genre. I have a basic idea of the setup and a handful of characters and possible ideas already but I want to hear some opinions. What tropes do you want to see broken? What things are you sick of in these kinds of stories? What might be interesting to read about? And how should I try to disassociate from other books/stories/movies in this genre that have a more negative reputation? Just curious to hear what people have to say!
In my opinion, I think the vampire-romance idea is way overdone, but if you to want to include romance in your story, absolutely do it. And the problem that I see with most vampire stories is that the author lets the character being a vampire be their sole personality trait. If you're creating a vampire, you should focus on the character's traits as a human first and then add the fact that they're a vampire in. Even if you just include simple traits like if they're introverted or extroverted can go a long way to helping the audience connect to your character more. So basically: don't let the fact that the character is a vampire get in the way of other qualities that your character could have.
Thanks for the advice. I had already decided from the start that I don't want it to be a romance. I'm trying to work on his personality and I think it's pretty okay so far (although there are still a handful of blanks). I've been wanting to make his character different than the "woe is me, angst angst angst" trope and I think I've done that fine. Some of the minor characters though, I realized could use a lot of work. I'll definitely keep this in mind. Thanks!
Consider: thrilled to be immortal, Italian vampire who is devastated about no garlic and crosses etcetera, demon-vampire, etc. An interesting idea overall!
