What are the basic traits of vampires in literature?

by Usonian

Question by Meg:

What are the basic traits of vampires in literature?

I want to write a short story about a vampire, and I want to make sure that I stick true to what the majority of society views vampires as and the original mythology of vampires. I need examples from vampire mythology and popular literature.
If I see another thing about Twilight I will seriously scream. When I was talking about popular vampire literature I meant stuff by people like Anne Rice, Laurrel K. Hamilton, and etc. Not Stephanie Meyer.




Best answer:

Answer by Aeon135
great question
vampires have always existed one way or another through history, however they have rarely had much in common, for example in some stories vampires are the good guys, in others they dont bite you to suck blood, they cut you. in others they arnt interested in humans at all while at other times they are presented as servants of satin
the only characteristic vampires have always shared, something all vampires throughout history are shown to do is: obsessive compulsiveness, ie: if you drop a bunch of match's on the ground, a vampire HAS tp pick them up, if he see's an untied know, he MUST tie it, there always obsessive compulsive, that's the best tip i can give ya!
if you want to read a popular authors views on vampires try darren shan

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