Wandering Thoughts of a Writer: Anne Rice

Showing posts with label Anne Rice. Show all posts

Okay, who loves Anne Rice, raise your hand?

*raises hand*

Me! Me! Me!

I grew up reading her vampire chronicle books and The Witching Hour series.

I love them.

I remember when Interview With The Vampire came out in the theater. I didn't think Kevin would dig it, but he did. He really, really, liked it. In fact, the following week we saw it again and now we own the movie on DVD. I’m not a fan of Tom Cruise, but he did a good job on his role as Lestat. However, Tom doesn't look like him. Billy Idol totally does though . . . well, when he was younger.

Anyway, I came across this interview Anne Rice was kind enough to do. I thought I’d share it with you because it’s about writing.

Enjoy. J

Anne Rice, video, writing advice, 0 Comments

When somebody asks me what my favorite book is, more than a few automatically pop in my head: 1984 by George Orwell, The Stand by Stephen King, Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I love them all and have read them more than once and will probably read them again in the future.

I grew up reading Anne Rice’s vampire chronicles, and if you haven’t read Interview With the Vampire and love those types of stories, I suggest you go on Amazon and buy it pronto. She is the Godmother of Vampire stories.

Interview With the Vampire is about Louis who became a vampire in 1791 at the age of 25. He was living in Louisiana. He had a plantation on the Mississippi, near New Orleans. After his brother died, Louis drank all the time and lived like a man who wanted to die but didn’t have the courage to do it himself. In his heart, he truly wished to be murdered. He tempted fate several times by walking the black streets and alleys alone and passing out in cabarets. One night he was attacked, just a few steps from his door. Not by a disgruntled sailor or thief, but by a vampire.

The vampire Lestat.

Both Lewis and Lestat are great characters.

If you haven’t read this book . . . trust me, they are.

Lestat is arrogant, impetuous, a nonconformist, self-involved, yet in his heart he’s lonely and seeks answers to his deepest desires. He gave Louis the “dark gift” as he calls it, because not only did he want Louis' wealth but his companionship as well.

This tale is a very dark and romantic one in a sense that it romances vampirism. Anne Rice did a fabulous job with this story, so much so, it makes you wonder if it’s real.

I can go on and on about it, however, I don’t intend to make this post a book review on it. But like I said, it’s a damn good book and so is The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of The Damned–the other two following this one.

Anyway, back in the 1990s a movie of Interview With the Vampire was made. Brad Pitt played Louis, which I thought he did a wonderful job at. But when I heard Tom Cruise was playing Lestat, I was not happy.

Tom Cruise looks nothing like Lestat.

You know who looks like Lestat?

Billy Idol.

This is what Lestat looks like:

I have to admit, though, Tom Cruise did a wonderful job playing the part. To be honest, I’m not a fan of his work, but I think this was his best role ever.

Just so you can get a taste of what I’m talking about, here are clips from the movie. It captures the darkness of the story perfectly. Oh, and in the book, Lestat turns a six-year-old orphan into a vampire, which wasn’t a good thing to do. You’ll have to read the book to discover why he did such a selfish thing.

I have to say, since I grew up reading this book and the rest of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles, and I write in this genre, this is my favorite story.

Anne Rice, Billy Idol, Brad Pitt, characters, dark, Interview With the Vampire, Tom Cruise, Vampires, 2 Comments

I heard from my editor the other day, and he is so ready to read and edit my next book in this series, however, I need to do the second round of revisions before I send it to him. There is something missing, though, and I haven’t quite pinpointed it yet.

This next book, Dark Spirits, is much darker than the first book, therefore, I have to get into a dark frame of mind before I start this next round of revisions. I’ve read that Stephen King listens to Metallica when he writes. I don’t know if it’s true, but if he does, I can see why. I mean, checkout this verse in Metallica’s song Enter Sandman, which by the way is a kick ass song:

Hush little baby, don’t say a word.
And never mind that noise you heard.
It’s just the beast under your bed.
In your closet, in your head.

I started reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, which is a good book so far. I’m thinking though, I should be reading something much darker, to get me into that mind set. I was talking to my Goodread’s buddy about Anne Rice’s Vampire chronicles (Interview With The Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of The Damned, etc.). I told her she needs to read it because they’re awesome.

The reason why I’m bringing this up is because I should probably be reading those vampire chronicles, instead of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, because they’re much darker than that book. But I started this book, so I’ll finish it.

I’ll find another way to get into the mood I need to do my revisions . . .

I know. I’ll watch clips like these, from the movie Interview With the Vampire and The Queen of The Damned.
　

　
Yeah, I know these are vampire scenes and my series has nothing to do with vampires, but this will work. It also helps that it’s cloudy, rainy, and cool out today.

So here we go.

*rubs hands together and sits up straight*

Let’s do this!