Yet more random thoughts

[seriousfic]

Why are all urban fantasy heroes private investigators of some sort? Why not a wedding planner? Sounds easy, but imagine having to cater the wedding of a werewolf and a vampire. You just know trying to host a werewolf pack and a vampire coven in the same reception would be high-larious.

And the plots come up with themselves. Imagine an elf who wants to marry a Tam Lin-type character, or a gay vampire marriage. You think homophobia is bad now, imagine how it would be with vampires who were born when homosexuality was considered a satanic plot.

Plus, gay vampire marriage is fun to say. In fact, I think it'd make a good title.

Gay Vampire Marriage!

Comments

[lilpocketninja.livejournal.com]

vampires who were born when homosexuality was considered a satanic plot.

You don't think...? Nah.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

But it would explain why John Barrowman can't go out in direct sunlight. Other than that he's John Barrowman, I mean.

[lilpocketninja.livejournal.com]

And also the hypnotizing power of his teeth.

(Pee Ess: I know I still owe you a drabble; it shall be gotten to when school stops chewing on my head!)

[runa27.livejournal.com]

*sporfle!* Actually, quiet a lot of vampire stories had some seriously heavy homoerotic subtext, particularly if you were looking at female vampires, who almost inevitably (especially in cinema!) used to go after female victims. XD

LOL, I can see it now!

"But Vlad! You can't... you can't marry Peter! HE'S A... HE'S A HE! Why don't you settle down with a nice VAMPIRESS?? Or if you're going to go for a mortal, at least a FEMALE mortal!"

"You let Lorelai seduce women all the TIME! And have sex with Katarina! ALL THE TIME"

"That's different! They're FEMALE vampires! It's practically EXPECTED!"

Oh man... I totally want to write this now. XD

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

"But Vlad! You can't... you can't marry Peter! HE'S A... HE'S A HE! Why don't you settle down with a nice VAMPIRESS?? Or if you're going to go for a mortal, at least a FEMALE mortal!"

"You let Lorelai seduce women all the TIME! And have sex with Katarina! ALL THE TIME"

"That's different! They're FEMALE vampires! It's practically EXPECTED!"

RAW RAW FIGHT THE POWER!

Or a vampire who insists that, for the last time, he/she is straight and is sincerely not interested in vamping humans of the same sex. "What, just because I'm a vampire I'm also an omnisexual nymphomaniac? That's racial profiling and I don't have to take it."

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Private Eyes set their own hours and are usually their own bosses. That works well for vampires, mages etc.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

But gay vampire wedding! So much more interesting than vampire femme fatale or whatever!

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*lol*

Try Charlaine Harris. She has a were-tiger who's a event organizer.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

And her protagonist isn't a private eye. She's a barmaid!

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, a hot woman with a paranormal gift who goes around sexing up various species of mystical beings, so original.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Well, I find her lead character Sookie somewhat endearing. For instance, she regards her paranormal ability as a disability, rather than a perk. *lol*

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Still, it's like... a longcoat-wearing badass with a mysterious past and a perchent for sarcastic dialogue. Gee, where have I seen that before?

[runa27.livejournal.com]

Doesn't mean it can't be done well, or that it can't still be entertaining.

I mean, just because Harry Dresden roughly fits a long-used archetype since roughly the 1930s or '40s, does not make the books any less enjoyable to me. It's the actual plots and writing that counts, not how OMG ORIGINAL the premise is if you're summing it up in a single sentence. Remember: "original" is not the same thing as "good". I'm pretty sure the sparkling vampires of a certain series quite succinctly summarize this point. ;)

This is particularly true when you realize that at their core, almost every story concept and character concept that COULD have been done, already has been... generally for thousands of years. What you describe as supposedly "original" in the main post even has a name if you ignore only the fantastical aspect of it: "slice of life". And that's been done for at LEAST a few centuries, probably longer. The only difference is that now you want to add fantasy elements... just like Buffy really just took the concept of a Chosen One and swapped the usual gender role on it, just like urban fantasy in general is just urban fiction with fantasy elements, just like Firefly is just a Western in space, just like antiheroes and flawed heroes date back at least to the Epic of Gilgamesh... oh, you get the idea, I'm sure. There is nothing new under the sun, trust me; all modern stories are just variants of old story types, all of the "original" ones or ones that seem to have sprung up in the 18th or 19th or 20th or 21st centuries, really at heart, just a mashup of then-popular concepts with ones from stories and legends that have been enjoyed for millenia. Sorry, but being that I love stories, folklore, history, thus have an idea of how technically repetitive it all is when you get right down to it... can't help but feel that that simple fact means that judging it on a one-line description that happens to OMG SOUND VAGUELY CLICHE = somewhat ridiculous.

After all, again I point out that the only part of the summary of Twilight that inherently tells you it will be irredeemably awful, would be the "and the vampires sparkle in the sun, except it's not treated as a gag" bit. Which arguably is the least "cliche" (copied) aspect of the entire series. ;)

Keep in mind, cliches become cliches only because they are somehow popular; and things that are popular only become so because a lot of people decided they liked them. At some point in the past, every cliche surely seemed completely original, or failing that, at least true to the emotional experience or fantasies of human beings. Can you really blame writers for wanting to write something of a type that they and their readers happen to like? Because... if so, I imagine you'll have quite a bit of trouble finding much entertainment that meets your extraordinarily high standards. ;)

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*thumbs up*

Seconded. Also, nice to see another Dresden files fan. :)

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

I'm just saying that, within the field of urban fantasy, paranormal investigators have been done to death. Now that's not a problem if you define urban fantasy as something like "paranormal noir" in the broader field of sci-fi/fantasy, but if you want it to cover everything from Neil Gaiman to Mr. Miracle, then I start wondering how many writers genuinely have something to say and how many are just trying to be the next LKH. I'm not trying to be Garth Ennis with superheroes, I'm just scratching my chin and wondering why no one wants to do anything different. Of course, I also wonder why every Doctor Who episode has to come around to some alien monster making trouble... it doesn't stop me from enjoying them when they're well-done.

Of course, I could be a little bitter based on just how much UF sets up a paranormal investigator, then spends most or all of the book's running time on his or her personal life/problems/vendettas. I mean, so long as you're not using their job to impact the story, why not make them something outside the norm? I'd be much more interested in seeing the host of a cooking show (fine, "for werewolves") deal with an exorcism than a highly skilled "magical Navy SEAL".

[expletives]

I'd see that. In theatres. Repeatedly.

[runa27.livejournal.com]

I imagine the reason behind all the PI-type characters is because urban fantasy draws so much influence and inspiration from the noir genre, from which we get a lot of our ideas about gritty urban story settings and the like, and which also has the most iconic detective stories outside of L&O... and which also adds ample opportunity to have femmes fatales, which are really making a comeback nowadays. Additionally, even the non-urban modern fantasy series, like Buffy, tend to focus on supernatural mysteries of some sort, probably because it's a very versatile concept that allows you do wildly different stories from week to week and also (if done well) pulls the viewer in. I mean, it's pretty arguable that the genre of "urban fantasy" is mostly just noir-inspired modern fantasy. ;) Not sure you can judge it too awfully much for having a PI in the main role, when a good portion of it is meant to basically be "noir + fantasy". Although that said... Faith in the recent Buffy Season Eight comics was first shown in an urban setting - Cleveland, specifically - and arguably is not in a "PI" type role. Of course, there are also other genres that have traditionally mixed with noir, such as the Western, that come to think of it might make for some interesting fantasy (hell, Joss Whedon's already done it a bit with Serenity, just with science fiction instead of pure fantasy; that movie - heck, much of the TV series even - can arguably be labeled Space Western Noir). Damn, too many plotbunnies to keep up with lately!

Um, anyway.

I also think that if you look beyond TV and novels - into say, short fiction - you might find more "urban" fantasy that involves more things like (as you mention) wedding planners. In fact, your mention of supernatural wedding planners reminded me that I just read a few stories out of a book called "My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon", which is 100% about... you guessed it, supernatural honeymoons (which, quite naturally, rarely go as planned). IIRC, not all of the stories involved a supernatural PI, at least not an obvious one (the Kelley Armstrong story in that collection, for instance, actually is told from the perspective of a long-term werewolf trying to keep a non-pack werewolf from screwing up his honeymoon with his equally lycanthropic wife). The book is actually a sequel to a book called "My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding", which is... about exactly what it sounds like, though I haven't yet read it.

However, I will admit that your idea... I've already sort of had it XD Well, not so much the wedding planner angle (which I may just have to write someday... you're right, it's got tons of potential). It actually comes more from me working on a rom com (with vampires! I call it "Love Bites") and wanting to continue it through part of the wedding of one of the couples, while introducing werewolves. Because apparently it's virtually impossible for me to write fantasy on the same story for long without adding at least one werewolf. XD

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

I strongly recomend "My big fat supernatural wedding" tis very funny. :) Also has a Vamp/Were wedding by Harris that's pretty cool.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Actually, http://runa27.livejournal.com/ mentioning "My big fat supernatural wedding" reminded me there IS a Vampire/Werewolf wedding story in there. Sadly it's from the POV of a vampire bridesmaid but it's pretty good. :)

[chickenbird.livejournal.com]

First comes Gay Vampire Marriage, then comes the Fundamentalist Christian Vampire Hunters. With picket signs. Sharpened into stakes.