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Hello, Fantasy group! I just joined, and I thought I would introduce a topic right away.

Vampires. They’re dark, they’re bloodthirsty, they’re— emo? Well, that does seem to be the favorite trend nowadays. In literature and on the screen, vampires are portrayed as chisel-faced drama-queens. Hopefully most of us know that wasn’t how vampires used to be— the first (or at least one of the first) vampire film, Nosferatu, featured Count Orlok, who was far from emo, and continents away from hot. He’s frightening and vulgar, and most definitely not the kind of guy you want leering at you from across the schoolroom.

Then there’s the legendary Bela Lugosi Dracula. While he has the good looks and charm that Count Orlok lacked, he’s anything but an emo-boy. He’s still scary despite his appearance upgrade.

And then, on the opposite end of the spectrum of Nosferatu, are the vampires from Twilight and Vampire Diaries. Hints of deadliness (not scariness), but mostly just whiny and dramatic. This type was/is so impactful that when anyone thinks of a vampire story, heaven forbid a vampire love story, they jump to conclusions about the story’s themes.

I have brought this topic up for those who love writing about vampires, but don’t want their readers to roll their eyes before they finish the first chapter. I’d like one of the goals of discussions to be how to make a relationship between a vampire and a human painfully realistic.