Post by Admin on Sept 2, 2016 16:27:56 GMT
I asked her questions and she talked to me. This was pretty much typed as she gave it to me. Yes, I know its weird to have compartments in my head that work on stuff when I'm not looking.
Anyway, This was my introduction to Luciana (Lucky) Donovan
Vampire Story
Name: Luciana (Lucky) Donovan (Donovan isn’t the name she was born with. Just acquired down through the years. She changes her last name on an as needed basis)
Occupation: she writes and studies creatures of myth and legend. (I’m sure there is a title for this, I’ll have to google for it, I guess) She is brought in as a consultant to debunk things that go bump in the night.
Physical Description: Born in a time when humans were physically smaller. Lucky was born in Italy during the time of the Renaissance.
The time of Da Vinci, Michaelangelo and more famous names that I’ll figure out when I research the era.
She is dark haired, (think a young Sophia Loren), dark eyed. Small, waifish in the way people are who are food deprived as a child. Think Audrey Hepburn who suffered malnutrition growing up during the war years in Holland. Height: 5ft, 3in. Curvy (again think Sophia)she has long ago lost her accent although she speaks many languages fluently.
Unfortunately, a lot of those languages are done with archaic pronunciation. She speaks it the way she learned it. Just because she can speak a foreign language doesn’t mean she uses it where it can be overheard. She is unobtrusive, very good at blending in. Doesn’t like to call attention to herself.
I don’t normally like vampire characters. The common view of them is so evil and awful.
I’m approaching this character as if a person was really exposed to a virus that mutates DNA.
It doesn’t change what the person basically was but it most definitely gives them new skills and new burdens. How would I feel if tomorrow I woke up and found out I could not survive except by drinking blood. How would I adapt? Could I adapt? Would I even want to? What kind of changes would it make to my thinking, to my heart.
Traits: Positive: Intelligent, caring, curious, a good cook, strong-willed, tenacious
Negative: has to drink blood periodically, if she drinks from an animal sometimes
unexpected side effects, short tempered if faced with rudeness or wrong-doing, cynical,
Characteristics of a vampire: (according to me, my own personal take on it)
Genetic mutations, can no longer digest food or drink, organs unused may atrophy. Absorbs everything needed for life from blood. The blood is not something they can get along without although they can drink blood from anything. Taking from a non-human host will produce unexpected side-effects as the body absorbs the host’s DNA. Effects are temporary. One reason the vampire prefers human hosts. Lucky prefers to take from the wrist, not the neck. She is grateful and reverent for the gift of life. Much like the Native Americans before they would go on a buffalo hunt. She regrets what happened to her but has strong will to survive.
A vampire possesses the ability to glamour, to hypnotize the host. This is a genetic adaptation that allows the vampire to charm the host into willingly being a food source. It’s a gift from vampire to host. Food is life. A vampire does not take, not in the traditional sense. To take would be to profane the life source. All of this is based on my perception of a sane vampire. Insane, which happens, is a whole different aspect.
Senses are heightened. As a top of the line predator, solitary, alone, the hunting senses have to be honed. Their sense of smell, their eyesight, their hearing. All these are beyond measure. Sense of taste atrophies from disuse. But the memory of food remains. The vampire longs for favored tastes. Sometimes to the point where it becomes torturous. Lucky is a gourmet cook, working with top quality products brings her to almost orgasmic pleasure but not a bite can she taste. She tells people that she is allergic to everything under the sun. Suggests to others that she has to feed by a feeding tube. Of course, nobody every sees this part of her anatomy. She gathers great sympathy for this supposed disability. If they only knew.
Vampirism is rare. The person becomes a vampire after being infected with the disease. Not everyone will be susceptible. The turn is excruciatingly painful and quite often the person who acquires the mutation will go insane. Those that survive the change learn to adapt. Learn to survive. The gift is a body that is stronger, faster. The mental shift takes the vampire to another level. Sleep becomes unnecessary although they do slow down during daylight hours and cannot tolerate direct sunlight. Not because it will cause them to burn up but because the sun drains them of energy. Because they don’t eat normally, cannot replace liquid easily, the sun is dangerous for them. Dehydration, bad. It triggers an uncontrollable urge to feed. An urge Lucky most definitely wants control of at all times.
The genetic mutation does bring with it side effects. The hunting range for a vampire is large. They are solitary hunters, not tolerating intrusion of another vampire. This is one instance when vampire instincts take over. When a vampire’s hunting instinct takes over, he/she possesses little rational control. They are truly the most dangerous predator on earth. At least, one on one.
A vampire cannot reproduce. And because of this and the fact that they are solitary loners, they value children. A child is a precious commodity. Not just as a potential food source (and no vampire, no sane one anyway, would damage a potential food source.) While a vampire is dangerous, one on one their solitary existence is perilous. They will never do anything that would expose their existence. Numbers can outweigh power.
They feed, and because blood is life, they have to feed often but they take the blood in as humane a way as possible, leaving the host weakened but undamaged, they don’t leave behind anything that would identify the host as being a blood source. They try never to feed twice in the same place. When they do feed they use their gift of glamour, trying their best to leave the host feeling very, very good. They erase any memory of the feeding. They cover their tracks well. Lucky will not feed from someone she considers a friend. It offends her sense of right and wrong. You don’t name food.
A vampire will not willingly, (again if sane and rational) want to expose another to the virus that turns them. One, it very seldom works, Two, no two vampires will tolerate being within the hunting range of another vampire. It triggers a territorial war. And a fight between two vampires never ends well.
My short story will start with Lucky receiving a phone call from a friend wanting to hire her to examine a series of murders. Of course, the murders are believed to be the work of a vampire, which everybody knows is a myth. Lucky knows that if a real vampire is at work, being in the vicinity of it’s hunting range will trigger some instincts in her that are very hard to control. But, there is a child involved. And she reveres children. She’s pretty sure it’s a hoax but there is real danger involved.
Not sure of the details but the story will fall into the 3500-7000 word range. And of course, there will be another vampire in the picture. Not guilty of the murders but it will be very interesting to see if Lucky can control the urges that being in the presence of another vampire will trigger. Should have lots of conflict as well as lots of personal tension. And I can’t write without humor so there will be some parts that will be unavoidably humorous.
Anyway, This was my introduction to Luciana (Lucky) Donovan
Vampire Story
Name: Luciana (Lucky) Donovan (Donovan isn’t the name she was born with. Just acquired down through the years. She changes her last name on an as needed basis)
Occupation: she writes and studies creatures of myth and legend. (I’m sure there is a title for this, I’ll have to google for it, I guess) She is brought in as a consultant to debunk things that go bump in the night.
Physical Description: Born in a time when humans were physically smaller. Lucky was born in Italy during the time of the Renaissance.
The time of Da Vinci, Michaelangelo and more famous names that I’ll figure out when I research the era.
She is dark haired, (think a young Sophia Loren), dark eyed. Small, waifish in the way people are who are food deprived as a child. Think Audrey Hepburn who suffered malnutrition growing up during the war years in Holland. Height: 5ft, 3in. Curvy (again think Sophia)she has long ago lost her accent although she speaks many languages fluently.
Unfortunately, a lot of those languages are done with archaic pronunciation. She speaks it the way she learned it. Just because she can speak a foreign language doesn’t mean she uses it where it can be overheard. She is unobtrusive, very good at blending in. Doesn’t like to call attention to herself.
I don’t normally like vampire characters. The common view of them is so evil and awful.
I’m approaching this character as if a person was really exposed to a virus that mutates DNA.
It doesn’t change what the person basically was but it most definitely gives them new skills and new burdens. How would I feel if tomorrow I woke up and found out I could not survive except by drinking blood. How would I adapt? Could I adapt? Would I even want to? What kind of changes would it make to my thinking, to my heart.
Traits: Positive: Intelligent, caring, curious, a good cook, strong-willed, tenacious
Negative: has to drink blood periodically, if she drinks from an animal sometimes
unexpected side effects, short tempered if faced with rudeness or wrong-doing, cynical,
Characteristics of a vampire: (according to me, my own personal take on it)
Genetic mutations, can no longer digest food or drink, organs unused may atrophy. Absorbs everything needed for life from blood. The blood is not something they can get along without although they can drink blood from anything. Taking from a non-human host will produce unexpected side-effects as the body absorbs the host’s DNA. Effects are temporary. One reason the vampire prefers human hosts. Lucky prefers to take from the wrist, not the neck. She is grateful and reverent for the gift of life. Much like the Native Americans before they would go on a buffalo hunt. She regrets what happened to her but has strong will to survive.
A vampire possesses the ability to glamour, to hypnotize the host. This is a genetic adaptation that allows the vampire to charm the host into willingly being a food source. It’s a gift from vampire to host. Food is life. A vampire does not take, not in the traditional sense. To take would be to profane the life source. All of this is based on my perception of a sane vampire. Insane, which happens, is a whole different aspect.
Senses are heightened. As a top of the line predator, solitary, alone, the hunting senses have to be honed. Their sense of smell, their eyesight, their hearing. All these are beyond measure. Sense of taste atrophies from disuse. But the memory of food remains. The vampire longs for favored tastes. Sometimes to the point where it becomes torturous. Lucky is a gourmet cook, working with top quality products brings her to almost orgasmic pleasure but not a bite can she taste. She tells people that she is allergic to everything under the sun. Suggests to others that she has to feed by a feeding tube. Of course, nobody every sees this part of her anatomy. She gathers great sympathy for this supposed disability. If they only knew.
Vampirism is rare. The person becomes a vampire after being infected with the disease. Not everyone will be susceptible. The turn is excruciatingly painful and quite often the person who acquires the mutation will go insane. Those that survive the change learn to adapt. Learn to survive. The gift is a body that is stronger, faster. The mental shift takes the vampire to another level. Sleep becomes unnecessary although they do slow down during daylight hours and cannot tolerate direct sunlight. Not because it will cause them to burn up but because the sun drains them of energy. Because they don’t eat normally, cannot replace liquid easily, the sun is dangerous for them. Dehydration, bad. It triggers an uncontrollable urge to feed. An urge Lucky most definitely wants control of at all times.
The genetic mutation does bring with it side effects. The hunting range for a vampire is large. They are solitary hunters, not tolerating intrusion of another vampire. This is one instance when vampire instincts take over. When a vampire’s hunting instinct takes over, he/she possesses little rational control. They are truly the most dangerous predator on earth. At least, one on one.
A vampire cannot reproduce. And because of this and the fact that they are solitary loners, they value children. A child is a precious commodity. Not just as a potential food source (and no vampire, no sane one anyway, would damage a potential food source.) While a vampire is dangerous, one on one their solitary existence is perilous. They will never do anything that would expose their existence. Numbers can outweigh power.
They feed, and because blood is life, they have to feed often but they take the blood in as humane a way as possible, leaving the host weakened but undamaged, they don’t leave behind anything that would identify the host as being a blood source. They try never to feed twice in the same place. When they do feed they use their gift of glamour, trying their best to leave the host feeling very, very good. They erase any memory of the feeding. They cover their tracks well. Lucky will not feed from someone she considers a friend. It offends her sense of right and wrong. You don’t name food.
A vampire will not willingly, (again if sane and rational) want to expose another to the virus that turns them. One, it very seldom works, Two, no two vampires will tolerate being within the hunting range of another vampire. It triggers a territorial war. And a fight between two vampires never ends well.
My short story will start with Lucky receiving a phone call from a friend wanting to hire her to examine a series of murders. Of course, the murders are believed to be the work of a vampire, which everybody knows is a myth. Lucky knows that if a real vampire is at work, being in the vicinity of it’s hunting range will trigger some instincts in her that are very hard to control. But, there is a child involved. And she reveres children. She’s pretty sure it’s a hoax but there is real danger involved.
Not sure of the details but the story will fall into the 3500-7000 word range. And of course, there will be another vampire in the picture. Not guilty of the murders but it will be very interesting to see if Lucky can control the urges that being in the presence of another vampire will trigger. Should have lots of conflict as well as lots of personal tension. And I can’t write without humor so there will be some parts that will be unavoidably humorous.