Ask Me Monday: Yet another vampire story

Hi everyone!  Today's Ask Me Monday question is this:

Do you have fears when you decided to write The Immortal Rules as it has themes such as vampire (which was quite a common theme)? Why do, or why not? How do you feel when it is so well received?

Ah. Well. This is a funny story.  If you check out the back of the Immortal Rules, in the acknowledgements page, you'll find my quote saying that, at the beginning of my writing career, I'd sworn not to write a vampire book.  I felt, back then, that the market was already flooded with vampire books (this was at the height of the Twilight craze) and that I didn't have anything new to add.

I'd been toying with the idea of some kind of post apocalyptic story when my agent called, asking me what my next series would be after The Iron Fey.  I didn't have much to go on, really just the setting, but I wanted to write something a little darker this time around.  My agent seemed intrigued with the idea of a post-apocalyptic world, but then mentioned that my publisher was currently looking for a vampire series.  The genre that I'd sworn never to write. Outwardly, I said "I'll think about it."

Inwardly, I said: "Vampires, noooooooooooo."

So now I had two things to consider.  On the one hand, I had my dark, cool, post-apocalyptic world idea.  

On the other, I had vampires.  

So, I wondered.  What would happen...

...if I just....

...squashed them together?

And BOOM, The Immortal Rules was born.  

Well, maybe not that quickly.  But the idea of a post-apocalyptic world run by vampires hit almost instantly, and when I emailed my agent with the idea she thought it was awesome too.  I was a little concerned because, let's face it, vampires. As in, does the world really need another vampire book?  And when it did come out, I saw a lot of reviews that began with: "At first I thought this was just another vampire story... BUT..."

That "but" is all important.

So it was a bit of a relief to know that, despite my fears, I didn't write "yet another vampire story."  And you know what else I discovered?  Vampires are popular for a reason.  People love them.  They were popular when Bram Stoker wrote his story about the most famous vamp of all time, and they were around long before that.  Vampires, and the tales about them, aren't going away anytime soon. 

So, perhaps someday in the future (a LONG way in the future) if the opportunity to write another vampire series comes up, I won't be nearly so hesitant.

Hm, maybe I could do a spin off staring Jackal.  ;-)

Thoughts? Comments?  Questions?  Leave them below, and I'll see you next week for another Ask Me Monday.

-Julie