For me it happened at age eight courtesy of a leather bound edition of Edgar Allan's: "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" the moment I set my eyes on Berenice's pointy fangs I became as obsessed as the pour mad scholar. That was my first vampire tale, odd because the vamp is the victim here, and since then I've been hooked.

I came to love the supernatural in both fiction and non fiction through Goosebumps and Harry Potter.

Favorite Supernatural being?

Easy, anything odder then the usual. I do tend to like witches and stuff more so then anyway else.

But something downright creepy would get my any day.

My favorite supernatural beings would have to be vampires and dark angels. Vampires have always fascinated me, and the prospect that some angel might have strayed from the path of "righteousness" has recently intrigued me.

But what really got me going was the talk about mythology and exotic supernatural creatures,I wonder if it would be a good idea to post something like the creature of the month, you know, so we could talk about them. We could use our knowledge of folklore and our personal background, and maybe even get a good idea or two to write a story.

Anyway: Welcome everyone!

Stephen King is what got me into scary stuff...or my mom, because she introduced me to stephen king when i was younger

I absolutely love him ^^

I was never not allowed to watch scary movies either...so that probably had something to do with my liking the supernatural and spoooky

I had the idea for "The House of Daria Vane" in my head for a while (mostly because some people I know have grown frighteningly attached to their house, and at the same time the housing market is in a downward spiral...so I combined the two), and I originally intended it to be a horror story. But then I realized it wasn't quite so scary as it was...I don't know...supernatural.

And then I discovered that half the Supernatural section on FP is peopled by vampire fans who are barely literate. :-) But it's the thought that counts, eh?

~Bitter Irony

I'm not even sure as I qualify as being a supernatural fan anyway, I've only worked three to the genre so far, one being a one-shot, one being incomplete, and one being a work-in-progress.

If you don't mind me hijacking your topic a bit, do any of you like non-supernatural subplots in there with your vampires or what not? xP

My favorite topics are ghosts

Second of all: I haven’t forgotten the creature of the month, I’m working on it.

Third: Oh please let’s play nicely, I don’t mind controversy but let’s remember insults come when arguments fail. And this is not a professional writers’ page, regardless of our personal competencies, we are all amateur here. Remember the original meaning of the word amateur, there has to be some love for the craft and/or the subject involved, we all appreciate writing and we seem to like the supernatural so let’s try to be civil. I don’t mind constructive criticism and I’m all in for freedom of speech but the world is a wide place and I think there’s room for everyone.

That been said: Ok so I’m one of those barely literate vamp fans. Let me try to make the case for them to be included in the supernatural and also let me try to answer Maese Riverdarb about the role of non-supernatural plots in a supernatural story.

IMHO any supernatural story depends on having a natural background, allow me to elaborate. A supernatural occurrence, something that defies our concept of what is natural or normal, requires the existence of the normal or the natural. In fact that’s been the case even from the beginning of the gender, which to me traces back to folk stories but doesn’t see the light in its present from until the gothic novels came to existence.

Hamlet’s ghostly father popping out of nowhere is not necessarily scary, but in a sense it is. It defies logic, it resists explanation and it’s not a normal situation, the unknown tends to be scary and I think that’s why the supernatural tends to be assimilated with horror. But it’s not only scary, seeing the revenant of your grandmother may be something you welcome, especially if she comes to warn you the plane you are about to board is going to fall down. Sometimes the supernatural is awe inspiring and it holds a certain appeal: who hasn’t wondered what it would be like to have ESP? Sometimes is enticing, like looking down on the abyss even if you have vertigo.

Ok I’ll bore you no more. To me the vampire embodies all of these characteristics, even if some of the awe has wear down since they are now part of the pop culture. They are walking corpses that depend on stealing life from others (blood, energy, whatever), last time I checked that wasn’t normal or natural. Sure they seem to work within restrictive boundaries, well not necessarily there are some pretty creative ways of dealing with vampires that doesn’t involve garlic or stakes, I think that they might be even be considered a challenge, to write about them without falling in the same all same requires a lot, I must admit I don't have it, yet, but I try and it's the thought that counts, isn't it? =P

Finally most people aren’t scared of them and that’s why they don’t belong in the Horror section, they have their fans they inspire awe, they titillate and sometimes they are scary, but in a very good way *teehee*. And *dare I say it?* they are now part of those ever elusive archetypes that are in the core of anything legendary…they seem to be here to stay. And to me the only other being that's more supernaturalish are ghosts.

I hope no one is offended by this, but frankly you said it yourself, this place is crawling with vamp fans and as you said in another thread you write thinking about the emotion you'll elicit, so: am I bold to presume you wanted to rock the boat a little bit? I love anything that spices things up. ;)

I know vampire stories CAN be well done, I've just--honestly--never seen it happen. Even published vampire stories always seem to be lacking in plot, or just really slow in getting to it. *cough* Rice *cough*. Yes, this is a sweeping generalization, but I've read quite a few vampire books, including anthologies, and I just can't seem to enjoy them. The irony is, I LIKE vampires. I just don't like the way people write about them.

~Bitter Irony

For the record, I think most everything that can be done in a vampire story has been done in a vampire story, and I don't think I'll read anything that will change my opinion in a long time.

I began liking supernatural stories and horror, through Stephen King's short stories. I just find simple stories of the unexplainable fascinating, and sadly limited.

It also helped that I am a huge fantasy fan. And for my 15th birthday my parents were nice enough to get me a "Field Guide to the Little People". A fantastic book about the fae myths of Europe.

Now that I'm actually writing all the little bits of information I've picked up over the years helps give me many ideas for various stories. It was simply a natural progression.

My interest in these things have stemmed from personal experiences and since then, I have interviewed others and taken their eyewitness accounts to better formulate some of my theories. I'm currently turning all of my writing into a fiction story titled Hinun. I mean, hey, if nobody will actually believe me, I might as well make it entertaining, right?

Thanks,

Lady Alera Van Hexis

Queen Regent of Darkness and Lust

My favorite evil supernatural beings are vampires and fallen angels, good are reapers, and neutral are psychics.

Right now my favorite supernatural being is ( well I have 2 ) Necromancers and Demons .

Mine was a combination of the horror movies my father watched and R.L. Stine. After that I was hooked, and nowadays my big obsession is the show Supernatural, which in my opinion is one of the best paranormal based shows since it draws its ideas from real legends and myths. If I had to pick a favorite creature, it would be a three way tie between Weres, Demons, and Necromancers.

I loved Goosebumps when I was a kid - the school library always had a whole row of them, and the television always showed Goosebumps episodes during Halloween (I don't know if they did it elsewhere, but they always showed the Mask ep in Australia). And then I got into Stephen King with the books.

My brother is a fan of horror movies, so he used to borrow a load of them and watch them with me (even when I was five).

Sadly, I've seen a lot of cliches in vampire fiction. Yes, I adore vampires. I've enjoyed a couple of werewolf and ghost ones, but unless they're really good, most don't catch my attention.

A stereotypical vampire plot would have some inhumanly smexy vampire enchant some beautiful teenager with hidden powers or some big secret, with a big bad vampire after her. She realizes her power or she gets bitten by the vamp to save her etc. and defeats the big bad vampire dude.

They all live happily every after for eternity (and whatever happens to the girl's family, the author usually misses out).

I read more than I write, really.

My first intro to the supernatural came when I was around and nine and started watching X-files. I lost intrest after a while and got into Harry Potter and other fantasy stories for the next several years. I got back into the supernatural thanks to Stephen King and H.P Lovecraft. Kohta Hirano's Hellsing is also a big influence on me. I actually didn't start writing my current story Of Secrets and Shadows (It's a working title) as the supernatural southern gothic story it's becoming. So I guess it choose me.

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