( Welcome to Alex Taylor, the author of The Wannabe Vampire, a lighthearted urban fantasy novel of a modern vampire and his stalker to For The Love of Reading! [ Don't miss out on the novel being FREE today ] on Amazon.com! So-- without further ado, here's Alex Taylor! )
The truth is, the idea of a vampire tale has been with me as far back as elementary school. Back then, I played supernatural make-believe games involving witches, ghosts and vampires with my two best friends. I was, of course, always the vampire.
Vampire characters managed to stay with me throughout my youth. In high school, one of my favorite movies was Love at First Bite, a comedy film starring George Hamilton. My favorite novel was The Vampire Tapestry, written by Suzy McKee Charnas. By the time I went college, I'd decided to write my own vampire tale. I can remember spending many hours discussing my character with a college friend.
Unfortunately, my plans for writing a vampire novel in college were derailed by several things. By the time I'd settled on the idea, my college career was almost over. I was focused on graduation, preparing for a move, finding a job, and spending as much time as possible canoodling with a long-distance love interest. Although I did start a novel about a vampire named Michael ( which I wrote on a 1930's Underwood typewriter ) I never finished. I had a general idea about the character, but I didn't have much of a story to put him in. My life got in the way, and I never got more than maybe 25 pages of the manuscript completed.
It wasn't until earlier this year that all these ideas began to solidify in my mind. My spouse and I had recently rediscovered Dracula: The Series, a wonderful 1990's television program filmed in Luxembourg that starred Geordie Johnson in the title role. Between that and the release of Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, I once again had vampires very much on the brain.
What finally pushed me over the edge to start writing was that my spouse resumed nagging me to write a book. It was something we'd talked about off and on for years, but I'd never done anything about it. Writing wasn't something new to me, as I'd written a number of short stories in high school, I'd kept a journal for a significant portion of my life, and I'd run a now-defunct blog for six years. It seemed I was at a time in my life where everything fell into place. I grabbed a stack of index cards, outlined my plot, and started writing. In 25 days, the first draft of The Wannabe Vampire was complete.
The inspiration for my vampire, Michael Alexander, came from a great many places. Certainly the idea of a living vampire, as opposed to a supernatural one, came from Weyland in The Vampire Tapestry. Although Michael is very much a living being, as opposed to being undead, he still retains many of the traditional vampiric traits that Weyland did not possess, such as fangs and a sensitivity to sunlight.
In the end, I discovered that I was writing about the kind of vampire I'd like to meet. Just like everyone, Michael isn't perfect. He tries to quietly make his way in a sometimes-confusing modern world, while his life is turned upside-down by both a ghost-obsessed stalker and the girl who moves in next door. He is sensitive, sweet, and quirky, yet he still is very much a vampire trying to make his place in the world.
I hope you'll enjoy reading about him as much as I enjoyed writing about him.
The Wannabe Vampire will be available FREE on Amazon
( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EEQ1LQ ) from July 13-15, 2012.
Alex Taylor's website can be found at: http://www.alextaylor.info
I'm so happy to have Alex come by today - also exciting is to see a cover I made make an appearance on For The Love of Reading!
